The stubble resting upon Peter Nowak's face perfectly exuded the relaxed nature of this week's press conference.
The Philadelphia Union's head coach was calm while answering questions, unlike last week when he entered into a 20-minute argument with Marc Narducci, the Philadelphia Inquirer's beat reporter, over questions about the return of Sebastien Le Toux.
Nowak focused mainly on youth and addressed multiple questions of what his method was for working them into games and other reasons behind recent tactical moves.
"You try to find the way to inject the new life, the new enthusiasm into the lineup," Nowak said.
While stressing that he was trying to figure out a way to get the Union out of its early season slump, Nowak defended his lineup choices, saying that he doesn't change it as much as people think.
"This is the tree and you have the branches, right, and they are together, right?" said Nowak. "We have this core of eight, nine players..."
When asked about the one or two open spots every week and the statuses of the younger players on the squad, Nowak referenced the inclusion of Zach Pfeffer, the team's first ever Home Grown Player, in the starting lineup twice in 2011. Nowak stated that the youth has a role to serve, but the players must make the most of their opportunities.
"I don't hesitate and I'm not shy to do that [play young players]," said Nowak. "I'm giving them a chance now, on their own, to find out how they can contribute to this team."
He went on to talk about Chandler Hoffman's debut and described it as one of the aforementioned chances that he wanted to give to the younger players on the team.
"You got the chance, you step in you step up, you take it, okay, you don't, you wait," Nowak said. "We're just gonna go slow. I think Chandler did a pretty good job."
Next up for the Union is a two week break, something that Nowak feels is great for the younger members of the team.
"This is more time right now to not only to refresh the memory and the battery as well, but also to [escape] the pressure and games," Nowak said.
Philadelphia will come out of the break on April 14 against the Columbus Crew at PPL Park.