Disgusting. Same problems we've seen for years. They go away for a while then reappear at the most embarrassing times.
Scoreline made this game look a lot worse than it was. Long makes his first big mistake of the year and the ref, who was harsh on us all game, gives a bullshit penalty. Aside from that we had our chances and couldn't put them away. Still disappointing to see us play down to the level of a worse team though. MLS teams as a whole are so bad on the road that I'm usually pretty forgiving, but having clearly tossed the KC game in prep for this one I was hoping the attacking six would be a little sharper going to goal. Kljestan still showed how much better we are with him in the middle compared to the 4-2-2-2, but he could have done more to take this game on his shoulders. Aside from Kljestan, only really have two thoughts on individual performances: Muyl said towards the start of the season that he was ready to shake his reputation as a "defensive winger" and show off more of his attacking skill. Well... what are you waiting for buddy? He constantly finds himself in the same situations that Sam would turn into goal scoring opportunities, and he still constantly makes the safe, timid play more often than not. Start dribbling at these fullbacks, start whipping in half-way decent crosses, start making some plays directly at goal. Murillo has stepped into two tough road games and held his own. He looks to have better attacking instincts than the rest of our right backs, and is clearly a great athlete. He and Taxi will make a pretty exciting pair of fullbacks if he can continue at this level.
Murillo looks like the real deal. Between him Taxi and Lade we're set. Our best chances have come when teams focus their efforts on the center of the 18 and then we move the ball wide to the end line and get in a hard grounded cross. Muyl has been able to deliver this albeit inconsistently. It needs to become his go to move every time because it either A: results in an immediate opportunity or B: pulls defenders to give 2-3 other players more room centrally. He and Royer are still playing too narrow and trying to force breakdowns through the center. It results in a lot of back and lateral passes away from danger while the opponents defense sets themselves. Play needs to be quicker and more direct. It doesn't even need to be sharp. Just the threat of moving the ball this way consistently frees space in the center of the park for Sasha to operate. Taxi has found so much success creating chances this year precisely because teams are choosing to defend the center of the 18 at all costs.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...wright-phillips-red-bulls-reluctant-superstar 10 Things with Bradley Wright-Phillips, the Red Bulls' reluctant superstar May 11, 2017 12:54PM EDT
It has been true for at least the Marsch era that this team does not benefit from rest periods, managing the starters playing time. It seems like they come out flat after a by week, and in this case it seems resting many of the starters only served to lose them both games. A better approach might have been a more selective rotation, and at the very least put up more of a fight against KC.
Back to back beatdowns---shameful performance this team is giving. The last minute goal by Red Bull really does not give a good idea of what the game was like. The 3-0 was more indicative of the way 2 halves of soccer were played. As usual losing is its own poison--once you start down that road it can very easily start to spiral out of control. Marsch has to find a way to break the team out of this slump quickly.
If Alex Muyl starts next week I may not even bother watching the game. I've completely lost my patience with his timid play when our attack is screaming for more creativity and production from the wings. Same would go for Davis and Felipe in the middle but with Adams gone (not to mention the Dax trade...) there's nobody else to fill in. We really need Collin back too, Perrinelle unfortunately looks past it.
This team has a lot of broken pieces. That's one of the worst games I've seen them play in a long, long time. They need new blood, because I can think of several players who aren't performing.
Three years is a long tenure for a Red Bull coach and Marsch is in his third year right now. Time to consider a change, or just more of the same? I don't know how much of the chaos that erupted in the off-season is directly due to Marsch, but barring that, it seems unlikely that management could oust Curtis to please Marsch, and not then turn around and hang the mess around his neck. Personally, he's demonstrated confusion as to the tactical requirements to win in this league, and hesitancy to make the bold moves necessary to improve this squad. He's a smart guy, but my gut tells me he's overthinking things. LA had a pretty simple game plan last night, body up, grab, and dive in, knowing that MLS refs turn a blind eye to deliberate physicality. Then, exploit NY weakness on the right side. Lade was victimized on multiple occasions last night because Boateng could beat him off the dribble or from a long ball and pace. When Zizzo came on for Lade, Allesandrioni got flipped over and the beatings continued. Davis may someday be a fine stand-in for Kljestan, but he's not being allowed to play that position. One could argue that a better player could stand in for Adams, nee Dax. If that's the case, it's time move on, because he doesn't look capable of being a d-mid in this league. Frankly, I'd rather see Metzger get a shot than continuing to try shoe-horning a player ill-suited for the position. And of course there's the continuing woes at central defender. It just seems like this club keeps going with the 2nd or 3rd choice option. Time to plunk down money and get at least one, better two 1st class defenders. If this team seemed like it was on track to improve, blooding new or young players, getting others healthy, I could be more patient. But most of this crowd has been around for a while, and the a lot don't seem up to the task.
While I'm on an anti-HG rampage here, I've never really understood how Davis earned such a reputation as an attacking midfielder. I think fans built up way too much hype around that part of his game solely because of his goal against LA last year. In reality he's shown very, very little creative play going forward. Like Muyl, he's a "safety first" kind of guy. He doesn't attempt much in the way of incisive passing, he doesn't have the ability to dribble at players, and he doesn't find shots any better than our other CMs. To me he looks like Eric Alexander pt. 2. Someone who you can plug into a few midfield spots and expect a reliable but unspectacular performance. And that's fine, every MLS squad needs those sort of role players on a cheap salary. But if that's who was supposed to replace Dax....
I'm not pegging it so much on that one goal, more so from his overall performances. I do think that in his current role, he has a tendency to play it safe, too much. Last night, there were times when he pushed up into attack, giving NY two attacking mids rather than two defensive ones, and he looked much better. But when he's positioned deeper and always playing the ball back, it's problematic. The whole thing with a d-mid is he has to be able to break pressure, playing it back all the time doesn't accomplish that very well. To me that is the sign of a player who thinks "I'm protecting the backline, so I must play cautiously," rather than understanding that getting the ball up into attack is the best way to ease pressure on defenders. Davis lacks confidence to play the position, which is dangerous.
Davis is an 8. Not a 6. Not a 10. And he could be a real good 8. Great? No. But he could be real good.
Agreed. He's got potential to be a solid MLS player at the two-way position. With better defense, maybe he could play a little higher and Felipe could hold down the back, but typically Felipe has been the 8 in the lineup, getting forward judiciously, taking free kicks, etc. Then again, Marsch doesn't really give Sacha too many early exits, and usually it is another attacker like Gulbrandsen taking his place, but that might be an opportunity for Davis to hone his offensive skills without the pressure to defend.
A 1-1 ended Toronto's winning streak at 6 games, which is tied for the fifth longest in MLS history. Robles saved Altidore's penalty kick.
I claim a little credit for our turning things around. I've caught virtually every NYRB match for the last few years, the good and the bad... except for the last 3 which for one reason or another I didn't watch a minute of. Last night I resumed watching.
Some things got a little better (back four) and some things still look off (midfield) The same word keeps popping into my head watching this year's team, and its that we are so damn slow. I don't only mean that in terms of foot speed, although we're lacking a lot of that too, but there's just no urgency whatsoever to keep the ball moving. I remember hearing over the past few years about how Marsch would have a shot clock set up in training to keep up the pace. How many times against Toronto did we see our guys get the ball in a decent spot only to come to a grinding halt because there was no clear move ahead of them?
They still need to work on how to counter effectively. That was the "plan B" tactical adjustment I was screaming for about 2-3 years ago. There was a chance very early in the game in particular where Grella took WAY too many touches after a turnover in our own 18. Then he passed it to Sasha and his first touch simply wasn't good enough. To your point @iced1776 I never ever EVER see this team counter effectively. They spend way too much time on the ball (or fumbling the ball) instead of playing it into space and letting the chips fall as they may. Press press press all you want, but if teams are EXPECTING that tactic and if you don't have a competent backline it's going to bite you eventually and it might bite you in a big game. And that's why we absolutely need another A+ CB. Someone who not only locks down the entire defense, but ALSO can immediately put us on the break after a turnover.
They are highly likely going to get another CB this summer, whether they are "A+" or not is for right now just speculation.
Collin is 31. I don't care when he comes back this year and at what level he plays at. He is going to go into decline very quickly if it isn't happening already. He is not the future of the team. They need to make a splash at CB to secure the defense for the future (and the short term!). I don't want to suffer through another poor decision the way of Zubar and/or Perrinelle. They've made this mistake sooooooo many times. It would be downright criminal to do it again. If the other team can't score you can't lose. Sign a CB with the total package.
A point per game will see a club finish near the bottom of the standings and well out of the playoff hunt, most years you need closer to 1.4-1.5 ppg, at a minimum. That said, it is interesting that Aaron Long ends up being this club's steadiest defender, despite this being his first year in the league, he's played every minute so far. It is these French Ligue 2 cast-offs that seem to be the biggest hang-up for the club management. They end up being way too expensive for the actual contribution to the club's fortunes. If you're going to pay 300-400K for a defender, make him a good one, not someone who is often injured and frequently out of form.
Long is pretty much a perfect MLS player... American, performs way above his pay grade, but no prospect of going abroad. He was obviously really impressive last year in USL but there's a big gap between there and MLS, I'm amazed at how much he's stepped up this year. He could reasonably be a mainstay in our defense for years to come.
Its not just CBs, we've been striking out across the board on "impact signings", which I consider guys making more than $300k. Since the end of the Henry era of splashing cash, we've brought in Kljestan, Zubar, Veron, Baah, Collin, Damari, Royer, and Gulbrandsen. Kljestan has been the only one that's been a consistent game changing player. The rest have either struggled with injuries or haven't yet lived up to their potential with our team. If we're going to rely so heavily on the academy to fill out the first team, we have to do better with the few veteran signings we make.
Yeah, count me as pleasantly surprised. I'm sure he started off #3-4 on the depth chart, but had to start from Game 1 because of injuries. Now he's the guy cleaning up other player's messes, for one thing, his foot speed is pretty good for MLS, so when Perrinelle gets beat, having long back there to close down is a huge plus. He's not perfect, but he is a great value. For 300K, I expect an Best XI caliber player.