New York Red Bulls @ Montreal Sat-July 28, 2012 at 7PM [R]

Game will be on MSG! Well the Bulls are in 1st place in Eastern Conference with 38 points and 13 games left to go in the regular season. Bulls played well vs Philadelphia especially considering they were on their 3rd game in 7 days with two of those being in oppressive conditions. Game at Montreal will be important if the Bulls want to contend for the Supporters Shield. San Jose is 5 points ahead. Oh by the way Dane Richards scored his 1st goal a few minutes ago for Vancouver in their game vs SJ. Will Barkla be OK? Borrajo was good on the attack by was burned a few times on D. No Ballouchy for this game I assume... If Meara is OK the play will he supplant Gaudette? What about Pearce and Tainio? Will Titi play? I seem to remember Sapudo Stadium has artificial turf. Lots of questions for the Bulls this week!

I don't know where you read the Saputo has artificial turf, but it's natural grass.

Great! I wasn't sure as last year when the Bulls played there it was turf. As is Olympic Stadium, no?

San Jose has lost so this game is becoming ever more important a win will leave us 2 points behind with the same amount of games played. We were the far superior team last time we met and that was with 10 men, just keep Palsson out of the lineup and we should be fine. Pearce should be ready to go soon, if not the next week, Solli should be able to go imo.

Hopefully we'll see something like this
----------Henry---Cooper
Lade-------Lindpere------Le Toux
---------------Dax
Pearce---Conde--Hulk--Solli
--------------Meara

If Pearce can't go insert Miller and If Solli can't go insert Barrajo

I'm not sure about Stade Saputo last year but this year the definitely have grass. Good fro them to be playing in their SSS not in the monstrosity known as the Olympic Stadium.

Montreal has been struggling. 3 losses in a row for them. They also have a midweek friendly but that probably won't be that big of a factor. We've beaten them twice this year, hopefully we complete the sweep. If we want to be an elite team, we need to go on the road and win these types of games.

Hopefully Meara, Pearce, and Solli back. That would give us a huge boost. And who knows about Barklage. I would play it safe with him especially if those other three are back, no need to rush him and risk further damage. I would like to see the midfield stay the same but maybe with Solli starting out wide left and Lade coming off the bench. But Lade has earned the minutes. Maybe ease Solli back in to the team.

Digging a little deeper:

NY are 1st place in the East, one point ahead of KC. They are five points behind San Jose and one behind RSL, with a game in hand on both, for best overall record. Also, the forwards are scoring again, after a long drought, Cooper with 13 goals and Henry with 10 are the 2nd and 4th best in the league. Add in LeToux and it makes for a potent mix of scoring threats. The real eyesore is the health, or lack thereof, of the defense. Barklage gets hurt on Saturday to add to the woes of Pearce, Solli and Marquez. Though some players can be counted as midfielders, they have 11 players who have lined up in defense this season, almost half of all the 23 rostered field players. Other than Lade and Ruthven, I think, the other defenders have spent at least some time on the injured list. In the case of Conde, it has been multiple occasions. Between Conde and Pearce, you have two all-star caliber defenders, and they each have missed significant time. That creates a pretty big hole in the center. Which, typically, you'd have filled with playing Marquez in the back with Holgersson, but they too have missed time. So, it's an issue that could derail an otherwise stellar season.

I hope Backe find the "Cojones" to keep Marquez on the bench until he demonstrated that in reality he want to play, I hope also that Backe line-up Borrajo again if Barka can't, give the kid a chance to prove him self, any way I don't see Solli as a improvement instead of him....Borrajo beside that he get burn couple of time he did a very good job to be his first time and fight those electrical stomachs shocks that a people suffer when is his first time, (For anything) .....So now that he knows what is going on there, will be much easy for him and could end in a new surprise discovery like the one with Lade, Barka and Ruthven...

In some place somebody write that he don't understand when the fans pinpoint the Coach if something is going wrong, Well: I will tell you why, a Coach's don't have to play favoritism with the players, like Backe is doing on the RBNY, Holgerslush, Ballouchy and couple of others.... maybe because we win the fans forget all the more than 15 mistakes that Holgerslush did last game, that easy cost us a couple of goals, but because we wasn't needed more than one to win, the people don't say anything, but that is enough damage to sit a player especially if you have who to play for him like Ruthven or even Keel.... Ballouchy and Miller with those behind the attack line passes are another players that the coach suppose never, ever start them again, but he insist on that, and this three cases are his fault, no body else and when he play this people we have to pinpoint him for the mistakes and lost that we suffer, so, this is some of that occasion when you criticize you coach....
One thing to remember, a player get pay to play good period, so when he do that, isn't necessary to go over head foe one play he did good, hell; that is why he get pay for, and not to make wrong or bad plays, and when something wrong is going on, we have to protest and look for the wrongdoer and tell that he is a CRAP, and that is that....

Wow! Tim Cahill of Everton is a now a Red Bull... This is potentially a great line-up:

Meara/Gaudette
Barkla Hulk Conde Pearce
Dax
Cahill Lade
LeToux Titi KFC

I'd prefer to stick with the 4-4-2 and keep Le Toux further out wide, he played very well there in the 2nd half of Seattle and all game against Philly. Lade also does not fit in very well in a 4-3-3, he stayed WAY too far wide against Seattle and took outlets away from the other midfielders, if you are gonna run that formation its gotta be Lindpere instead of Lade.

There's no way Cahill would actually participate in this game would he?

No way he plays in this week's game as he still hasn't formally signed yet but he could be available in early August!
My line up is flexible and not a true 4-3-3 and the way Lade has played of late he deserves to be on the pitch ahead of Lindy IMHO.

Out wide, I'd agree, Lindpere really is just too slow to play as an out and out winger in MLS. On the other hand most of our attacking will probably be going down the right flank through Le Toux, so maybe it would be better to have some more experience and discipline on the left and use Lade as an impact sub like we did against Chicago. Tough call, the fact that most of our players can do multiple positions leaves a mindboggling amount of potential lineups

I actually feel that Lade would play much better than Lindpere in a 4-3-3. That is a new formation for this entire team and it is up to Backe to get them to learn the system, a midfielder in this formation needs to be able to play more like a box to box midfielder and Lindpere is better going straight up and down with relatively less lateral movement

Yeah but Lindpere is better in tight spaces and more discpline than Lade is, and a 3 man midfield requires a lot of short touches and intelligent movement off the ball. Right now I feel that Lade's decision making is just too slow to thrive in that set up, whereas his athleticism can shine out on the wing.

I realize it was their first attempt at the formation against Seattle, but even during those first 30 min as the two attacking midfielders in the 4-3-3 Lindpere was far more involved and dangerous than Lade was.

I'd be very surprised if we have Cahill for this game, he has to finalize game and physical, ect. I bet they debut him in the Tottenham game with Teemu.

Le Toux is a better right winger than Solli, use Solli as a sub for any of the three forward midfield positions.

As I said elsewhere, the squad continues to get deeper. With Cahill inbound and a healthy Solli and Tainio, the club has about 7 to 9 players who are all capable of starting, or have started. Some of those players (Dax and Lindpere) are going to get the majority of minutes. But there is the potential for some rotation, using players who are in form and healthiest, without much drop off in the level of the team. That is a very good thing. I'm really not so worried about who starts. I can see a Tainio-McCarty-Cahill 3-man midfield working well, as well as a 4-man with Lindpere joining the group. Then again, Lindpere-McCarty-Cahill-Solli would be interesting, too. It's all very tantalizing.

There is less depth at forward, so Backe will not go 4-3-3 all the time, just to be able to rotate that line, too. I think Henry starts about every game, but there is no reason he has to play the full 90. If anything, I'd expect us to go 4-3-3 more at the beginning and put on an extra mid later in games when the game is decided to lock in a win.

I don't think that Lade strong position is Defender; he is more mobile as a Midfielder, at RW or LW he will be more effective than as a defender, I like chess and a believer that the best offense is the best defense, so, I will love to see:

Meara/Gaudette

Barke......Conde......Pearce

McCarty......Lindpere

Le Toux......Cahill......Lade

Cooper......Henry

If Cahill is the player that we all think he is, the rules change and we can become mobile and more flexible team....
Be aggressive, innovative and go for the jugular of the enemy and you will be the winner....

Assuming Cahill and Pearce isn't ready for Montreal this would be my lineup. If Pearce is ready he obviously goes

----Henry--Cooper
Lade--Lindpere--Le Toux
-----------Dax
Miller--Conde--Hulk--Solli
----------Meara


Subs:
Keel or Ruthven in for Conde
Palsson in for Henry(78th minute or so for added defense)


It should be fun watching the French connection in Montreal. But I might be a bit worried having Solli at RB as Le Toux probably won't give him any protection so it's probably important for Dax to help out Solli as much as he can.

2-1 Bulls, goals by Le Toux and Lade

I like your line-up metz but you know Hansey will not replace the Statue!

Can you believe Alecko wrote this?

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/07/24/cahill-new-york-red-bulls/index.html#ixzz21aHakBIu

I like his lineup when and if Cahill becomes a Red Bull:

-------------------------- Meara --------------------------
-- Barklage --- Holgersson --- Conde --- Pearce --
------------------------ McCarty -------------------------
------------------ Lindpere --- Lade -------------------
-------------------------- Cahill ---------------------------
------------------ Le Toux --- Henry -------------------

but what about KFC?

I don't like the Lindpere-Lade partnership in the midfield tbh. We know that Lindpere isn't too skilled with his right foot so I think that's a bad mix tbh. I love Lade and I think he'll be a great player but I think with the talent we have available he'll be best served as a supersub t0 give teams nightmares with his aggression/speed in the second half. Remember Lade is only a rookie and he does have a few games where he does struggle(but the effort is always there).

I think this would be the best lineup
-----Henry--Cooper
Lindpere--Cahill--Le Toux
------------Dax
Pearce--Conde--Hulk--Barklage
-----------Meara

With Solli and Lade alternating. We have tons of flexibility..

The 4-4-2 lineup with one DM has been working extremely well for us and we finally have better personal to pull it off. I think the main difference is that we'll see Cahill be basically deployed more up the pitch, almost near the box at times and with Henry basically dropping back like he normally does. I think it can be deadly tbh..

This will be a deadly offense

I think that now with Cahill the best formation will be a 3-5-2, but I will not like to see it, because
the problem with the RBNY is that when they are playing look like they don't train before the way they will play the game and when three or four of them crowded the center of the field to try to come for the same ball and one of them get this first the rest freezes because they don't know what to do next and with not reason at all they start passing the ball back-heel, I guess so to get out of the embarrassing moment.... So, the way to go if Backe don't fix this anomaly before ......is a 4-4-2....