Bruce Arena isn’t quite ready to order the championship rings, but there is no denying that the Red Bulls have the stingiest defense in the league at this point.
Who knew that Hunter Freakin Freeman would run Marvelous Marvell Wynne out of town? Certainly not Clavijo.
I was kind of confused by that move, as well, when it happened, but I guess The Bruce knows what he is doing. To be honest, I didn't know much at all about Hunter Freeman or Dave Van Den Bergh and I certainly hadn't heard much about Ronald Waterreus before this season and now they are all integral parts of the rebirth of RBNY. The turnaround is astonishing.
Dude, Hunter Freeman is officially my boy after last game. Dude showed his true worth, I'm so glad we have him.
Don't forget the science of Red Bull. You start out really really hyped up and super-caffeinated. Then you have an extended crash where you have no energy. Translated: How many trophies have you won?
I have been very impressed with Waterreus from the start. Van Den Bergh has always been a good player, and Freeman showed that he is more than capable last game.
This no goals against will change soon enough... I'd say some time around June 10th we'l lsee them give up goal after goal... On a more serious note, I don't think anyone expected Bruce to be able to do anything with the team in just a couple months after taking over from Mo but looks like he made some very good decisions in the off-season, lets see if it holds up.
I'm refraining from making predictions for or against this team. Especially when I see the same posters who made wrong predictions posting new ones-- these posts don't just disappear. NY's defense looks much, much better than any forecasts I'd seen on Big Soccer. It was just a week ago that many Big Soccer posters were trashing NY for trading Wynne-- who would have thought that evidence that Arena was right would discredit such posts so quickly? They'll lose some games, and give up goals, but what impresses me about NY the most is that so far they are tactically very flexible-- possession-oriented in the first part of the Houston game (and in the Columbus game, but they didn't score), direct in the downpour against Dallas, counter-attacking against Houston in the second half. That more than anything else makes me think they'll be competing for trophies this year.
RBNY will give up some goals, that's a no brainer. It is great tho that every player interviewed has mentioned that there's good chemistry on the team. Parke and Mendes have played together on the back line for a while now, so there's some continuity. Duny's done his job, and Freeman (ex-Virginia player) has done his. Also, I think the team has given up few goals cuz other parts of the team are THAT much better.