HARRISON, N.J. – Emphatic. Dominant. Convincing. Resounding.
Pick whatever superlative you like; New York’s 4-0 win over FC Dallas was truly a spectacle from start to finish.
Not only did the Red Bulls’ offense explode for their highest output of the season, the defensive core stood firm to record the year’s first clean sheet.
In the midst of their first winning streak of the season, the Red Bulls now face a two-game road swing with trips to Orlando and the nation’s capital.
The vibes are back; here are my three takeaways from a feel-good performance in Harrison.
Set Piece Magic
At the start of the season, the Red Bulls stated a desire to be amongst the league’s best at defending and executing set pieces, and Friday night’s display proved a testament to the latter.
In the 37th minute, four Red Bulls stood over a dead ball in a dangerous spot, about 25 yards from goal. What happened next was the type of implementation you can usually only dream about.
“Everything we try to do here is a representation of all of us,” head coach Jesse Marsch said. “We as a staff like to do some special plays on occasion. But then it's up to the players on the field, Sacha, to sort of quarterback what we're going to do. The thing that's great to see is they love the special plays, too.”
As the trio of Mike Grella, Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips readied behind the ball, Felipe shielded the ball to pose as a screen. After a series of feigned shots, Kljestan lobbed a perfectly weighted ball to the back post. Sal Zizzo found himself unmarked at the back post, redirecting the pass across the goalmouth for Lloyd Sam to tap home.
Impeccably drawn up. Flawlessly executed.
“Jesse, Denis [Hamlett], Chris [Armas], those guys work 24/7 to try to create new things,” Felipe said. “We’ve been training this for a long time. Last year, we scored against Orlando and tonight we score again. We’re happy because we work so hard on that during the week.”
A difficult art to master, the Red Bulls displayed the importance of the set piece on Friday night.
“The execution on that one was really good,” Marsch added. “They don't all come off. But when they do, they look pretty fantastic.”
Defense Stands Tall
For as much consternation surrounded the team’s early season struggles in the final third, their defensive frailties were perhaps more troubling.
Entering the night, the Red Bulls owned the league’s worst defensive record, conceding 17 goals through their first eight games, a record Luis Robles was “keenly aware of.” But on Friday night—against one of the league’s most prolific attacking sides, no less—New York managed to keep Dallas off the board.
“The clean sheet is amazingly rewarding; I can’t tell you guys how much that means to us,” captain Dax McCarty said. “I feel like we’ve really let Luis down. With all the accolades he’s been getting, he deserved this shutout. We’ve all watched the goals we’ve conceded, and he could do nothing about any of them. We were just totally leaving him out to dry.”
That was hardly the case for New York on Friday night, as the Red Bulls gave Robles very little to do over the course of 90 minutes.
From top to bottom, the defensive effort seemed to be ratcheted up a notch or three, and finally, the Red Bulls were rewarded for a clean sheet.
“Everyone on the field knew that was the emphasis,” Marsch added. “There were some moments late in the game where they come and almost put up a play. A bunch of guys diving around, flying around the box, sprinting back to try to recover, to do everything they could to not give up goals.
“That's what we've said. Sometimes it's tactical and sometimes it's making a play. But often times it's just how bad do you not want to give up a goal. Are you willing to throw your body in harm's way? Are you willing to make a tackle? Are you going to sprint 80 yards to try to prevent someone from getting an open shot? We saw that tonight. That's something that we needed to see and it was really good.”
Road to Recovery Continues
Some tried their best to hide it, but there was no denying the elation with the Red Bulls’ locker room, and who could blame them?
The first quarter of the season was about as trying as you could imagine for the Supporters’ Shield champions, but Friday’s win was not only a massive boost in the league table, it was, in my ways, purely cathartic.
“I think the performance from top to bottom was nothing short of fantastic,” McCarty added. “Defensively, our guys deserve a lot of credit. Chris Duvall came in after giving up a tough goal against Kansas City and I think he learned from that. Me, Felipe and Sacha wanted to control the midfield, and our attacking guys were buzzing.
“But I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves. It does feel like we’re back in a sense, but I’m going to continue saying that we have a long way to go.”
Throughout the losing streak, Marsch continued to preach a similar message to his side, and the Red Bulls finally caught some breaks on Friday night to see their hard work pay off.
“There’s a quote in our training room that says, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going,’” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “Jesse continued to remind us that we have to keep going. So it starts with him all the way to the last guy; the belief has to be there, and it hasn’t floundered at all.”
With two straight wins in tow, the squad is hardly taking the time to rest on their laurels. With a road trip looming, the Red Bulls will take the weekend to enjoy the result before getting right back to work.
“In the tough moments, we tried to continue to reinforce all the things about confidence, belief, who we are, what we're about, that in tough moments you get stronger,” Marsch said. “I feel like we're in a good place right now.
“Now, that doesn't mean anything because next week we've got to throw it all out there again and prove ourselves again. If we get too ahead of ourselves, all of a sudden you start to slip. Right now I think the level of concentration and commitment and the mentality right now is at a really good place. We've got to just keep pushing here as we go forward.”
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