ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Matrix Midwest) - On Wednesday, St. Louis CITY SC Interim Head Coach David Critchley and several players addressed some major questions during the club’s end-of-year press conference.
The topics included goals for next season, young talent, the focus for training, and more.
Here’s What They Had To Say
Goals for next season:
“First and foremost, I would tell the fans, ‘thank you,’ as I did when I finished the season, for their support during these two difficult seasons,” said Critchley. “I know it’s not easy to show up in the cold, the wet, the rain, and support this team, but they’ve done an unbelievable job at that. The second one is that there is a very good foundation built within this team. It does need to be improved absolutely, because look where we finished in the last two seasons. But with the right work in the offseason, with the right profile of players, with the right processes put in place by now, Corey [Wray] and the coaching staff, I do believe, with the right couple of pieces added in, this can be a competitive team for next year.”
“Me, personally, I try to put myself in a position where I can be the best of myself,” said goalkeeper and Captain Roman Bürki. “When the training starts again, I’m going to be ready to give 100%, to push everybody on the team and hope that we have changes that are happening at the moment, like in our team and our club. So, I think everybody, every player, is excited about what’s coming, and I think that’s a good thing to look forward to, and a reason to obviously be hopeful that next season will be better.
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Lessons learned:
“One thing I learned is that I tried to communicate to the team, to each person, much more than I did last year,” said midfielder Marcel Hartel. “And also, especially to train hard in my offseason to get prepared for the preseason and to help everybody be happy. Even in a difficult situation that they know is okay, they can maybe come to me, we go out for coffee, we think somewhere, have a short conversation and try to do the best to help the team in the end.”
“We’ve played multiple systems since I’ve been here,” said midfielder Chris Durkin. “And I think when Critch came in, he identified what the players think will get the most out of what we have right now. I think we played a system that was high pressing. I thought we were scoring maybe two to three goals a game. It felt like we just needed to sure up the defense, which we did towards the end of the year. I felt like roadblocks are injuries, like having [Roman] Bürki out for however long that was, [Henry Kessler] dealing with several things. I was injured and re-injured, and the list goes on for multiple players. [Tomas Totland] took a while with his hamstring, and these are all things that can’t be identified as all soft tissue or all of this. I mean, there were a lot of really unlucky things that happened, and I know that injuries aren’t an excuse; everybody deals with injuries in a season. Obviously, the run of form where we didn’t pick up any results, I view that as a major roadblock. Because we felt like it was against us, the refs were against us. But we had to flip that around and just focus on what we could do; I think a little bit more. But overall, I think this year was a great learning lesson again. And I think now we have two lessons in two years, and surely there’s no more opportunity for that. I think now we have to get it right.”
“I can say it’s pretty cool to have these six months to know the league, to know the players and to prepare for the next season,” said defender Fallou Fall. “It’s something that has helped me a lot with these 10 games I played here. But it’s helped me a lot for my adaptation for next year, and to do better.”
Individual updates and training:
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“I think when I thought that each game was a reflection of if I was going to get my option extended or not, it was very crippling, almost,” said Durkin. “It was like I was in handcuffs, and I wasn’t able to play freely. And then you throw in the birth of my son and adding a third person to my family, then that added additional pressure. So, there were some compounding effects that definitely felt like I was restricted in a way, and when I just kind of threw all that aside and focused on my process. I worked with the sports performance coach here, Greg [Young], and we spent a lot of time in his office just going through how to get the best out of myself. What does the best game look like for me, and how can I check those boxes and not focus on something that is largely out of my control? So that was a great learning lesson. I’m really proud of the work that he and I did, and there will be further work to come.”
“I think I’m somebody who gets pretty bored pretty quickly,” said forward Simon Becher. “So, I think these extra weeks of training were really good, having these four weeks to train and look at video. Take some time for some individual work. And then, work with strength and conditioning, a section of our team and take a week or two off and then again, ready for preseason. As a competitor, as somebody who loves to play the game, I don’t like to step away for too long and just continue to look forward to have a growth mindset and be ready to attack 2026.”
“The biggest point for me is to get healthy,” said forward Cedric Teuchert. “To get back in my form, to go on the field without pain. And that’s the first point. And then, of course, I go back home now to Germany, continue the rehab, what I did the last months here. And then hopefully I comeback back for the preseason with new energy for 2026.”
“I need to score more and more options, and this is all because I am a striker,” said forward Sangbin Jeong.
What the team needs:
“You need immediate success, that’s obviously very, very clear, but you also need to build a sustainable model and culture and club where guys keep coming through the system and guys keep pushing the experienced players on the team,” said Critchley. “There’s nothing better than watching young guys come in, perform well, and then test the experienced players. The experienced players want it. The young players are obviously showing that they deserve to be there, and it builds a sustainable, successful model. So, it’s super important. Again, we’ve done a great job in our club. So far, we’re pushing guys from the academy to the second team and now the second team into the first team environment. We just finished this offseason with probably eight, 9 to 10, guys from the second team and academy training with the first team players and the professionals. So, it’s great for those young guys. It’s also great for the experienced players.”
“I think we need a very good preseason where we can improve our game plan and how we want to play next season,” said Hartel. “And also, the mental stuff that we get prepared for the season, because it was my first completely full season. And I have to say, it’s also a mental thing to go through this league without a lot of breaks. You play the whole year with not that many breaks. And the fitness part is a big point. We were not fit enough in the beginning of the season to go for the whole year. And if you’re not able to go 90 minutes, 100% it’s set you back a bit. And then in the last minute, you maybe concede some goals where if you are 100% on this level where you maybe not concede. So, there are some points where we have to build on, and we hopefully can work on it in the new preseason.”
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