HANOVER, N.J. – With six points over their last two matches, the New York Red Bulls are finding their form after a slow start. But it’s more than just luck that has turned things around.
Following consecutive home wins over Orlando City SC and FC Dallas, the Red Bulls have looked more like the side that collected 60 points en route to the Supporters’ Shield just a season ago. But despite the change in results on the field, not much has changed tactically.
“A lot of it has to do with more pure running, on and off the ball,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan told reporters on Monday afternoon. “The pure effort and the standard of defending has to be at a high level, and it’s been very high in the last couple of games.
“It’s a commitment to the system and a commitment to being more dangerous in the attacking end and being on the move off the ball. The speed of play, the ease at which we play one and two-touch, our movement on and off the ball, it’s made it hard for other teams to defend us.”
Through their first seven matches, New York’s attacking core struggled to find ways to be consistently dangerous. The league’s top scoring unit a season ago, the end product was simply lacking in the final third. But with seven goals over their last two matches, the Red Bulls are rolling once again.
“You can look at the last two games and the amount of second balls we won was great from a defensive standpoint,” goalkeeper Luis Robles told NewYorkRedBulls.com. “The commitment to win second balls, to be on the move was great. That then launches us forward, and we obviously have some very dangerous guys up top. With them scoring goals, it makes us all the more difficult to play against.”
Friday night’s win also marked the team’s first clean sheet of the season, a welcome sight for head coach Jesse Marsch.
“It’s primarily been preventing chances not giving up as many goals,” he said. “But we’re also more committed and dangerous in the box. We’ve had an edge on the field to not just wait for plays to come our way, but to initiate it ourselves and go after the game.”
While bounces have not always gone their way in 2016, Friday night saw a particularly fortuitous play fall in their favor. Still, Marsch insisted that his side must strive to make their own luck rather than hope for their fortunes to turn.
“Against Dallas, I thought we made our own breaks, and Sacha’s goal is perfect example,” he added. “In the past with some of our losses, we felt like we weren’t getting breaks, but I kept telling the guys that they have to make their own breaks. They don’t just come by fate or being lucky, you have to make your own breaks. So now, we’re going to do that by pushing the game every day, push training every day, and get better and better.”
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