Nick Cushing hailed Gabriel Pereira’s influential performance in Saturday’s trip to Chicago Fire.
The Brazilian broke the deadlock at Soldier Field, netting City’s first goal of 2023 with a precise curled finish, before Fabian Herbers leveled for the hosts late on.
Lively and threatening from the off, Pereira produced a Star of the Match display earning deserved praise from his Head Coach in the post-match press conference.
“I’ve said for two weeks now – after the Nashville [SC] game, and at half-time – we have to give him the ball, feed him,” Cushing stated.
“If we give him the ball, he’ll make things happen – whether that’s just in the build-up, in our ability to retain the ball, or offensively creating or scoring goals.
“If we get the ball to him, he will give us more chance of winning football games. I thought at times, we didn’t do that well enough, but in the moments where we did, you really saw how dangerous he is.
“In the moments when he had the ball, he was really dangerous.”
The clash also saw the return of James Sands and Santiago Rodríguez, who both penned new deals with the Club earlier this week.
Sands started the game but was brought off just before Chicago’s leveler with cramp, while Rodríguez was introduced from the bench.
Cushing confirmed Sands did not suffer any serious injury to warrant his substitution, but admitted the midfielder’s absence was felt in the latter stages.
“He's okay,” the Head Coach explained. “He was just cramping. He hasn't played a lot of football over the last two, three months, and we know the nature of MLS is very intense. He started cramping and in the end, he needed to come off.
“I think you see he gives us control in the game, you can see his understanding of how we want to play, and how he really contributes to our build-up.
“I can see the maturity that he's gained being over in Scotland, and playing in Champions League, and the Europa League, and in the Scottish Premier League. He's constantly talking, and he's solving problems; he's helping other guys, and definitely taking a leadership role in the team.
“You see what he brings us, and how he controls the game – he regains the ball a lot, he's in the right positions for most of the game. He keeps the ball for periods so that we don't have to defend our goal because we have the ball.
“We lost a little bit of control in the game when he went off but hopefully, he'll be back next week and will keep going. It's a sudden one where Justin [Haak] has to go into the game. Of course, he’s warmed-up but he has to go into the game quickly.
“Santi only arrived yesterday so he’s not really gone through the preseason, and the real bulk of work we’ve gone through, so we changed the system, the shape and went 4-2-3-1 because it’s one he’s familiar with, playing in the #10.
“We put Keaton [Parks] alongside Justin, and we just lost a little bit of control in the game. The majority of our work has all been 4-3-3, and the way we played in the first half.”
There was more positive news as teenager Mitja Ilenič made his full debut, stepping in for the injured Tayvon Gray, and was also singled out for acclaim, while the Head Coach was also pleased with Matías Pellegrini’s contribution.
“Mitja for his debut was really good,” Cushing added. “I think you can see what he can bring to our team – he’s really physical, good technically, good going forward…
“To go straight into an MLS game and play like that, I’m really proud of him. He had a really good game.
“Matías I thought played well. Of course, he will think he can play better. We will see moments where we can improve, moments where he can probably help the team more, but at the same time, his work rate is exceptional.
“I thought he had a really good first half with the work he put in. It was just time we put Santi on, but I thought Matías had a good game.”
Reflecting on the draw at Soldier Field, Cushing was disappointed to have let the lead slip but was encouraged by a much-improved performance from the opening-day defeat at Nashville, especially in the first half.
“The positives were that we started the game better,” he said. “You see that we control the game with the ball in the first half.
“Of course, we give [Kacper] Przybyłko a chance, but it's from our giveaway. I think we dictated the first half – we controlled the game, we created the chance with Andres [Jasson] which is unlucky [off the post], we get the goal, and we really got into our rhythm quickly, which I was really pleased with.
“Second half, they came out, and they were really determined to try and get back in the game, and we have to control the game with the ball.
“There are too many moments where we're trying to attack the game, and we haven't had the ball for maybe a small period, which is the nature of our league, but on the regain, we have to we have to keep the ball for longer periods so that we can control the game in a really difficult home opener away in Chicago.”
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