WASHINGTON – You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have: another draw away from home.
In eerily similar fashion, the Red Bulls hit the road and found themselves in prime position to walk away with three points on Sunday afternoon, only to see that lead quickly evaporate in the second half during a 2-2 draw with D.C. United.
Yet still, the Red Bulls managed to walk away with a valuable road point on a waterlogged pitch against their longtime rivals. With eight games left in the regular season, New York stands in third place in the Eastern Conference and well above the dreaded red line.
On to the takeaways:
Mending the Mentality
At Red Bull Arena, New York has shown the kind of poise that would seem to make them MLS Cup contenders. But on the road, it’s been a different story.
After falling to similar fates in Philadelphia, Columbus and Los Angeles, the Red Bulls could not stop history from repeating itself as they conceded two second half goals after staking themselves to a 2-0 lead.
It is now a troubling trend that has been increasingly difficult to diagnose, as players and coaches alike are searching for the answers.
“If I knew [how to fix it] we would have done it already,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “When we get a lead, we have to personify the sort of confidence that’s going to permeate through the entire team. How do we do that? I’m not entirely sure, but I have a lot of belief in the guys in front of me, the guys on the bench, that no matter who is there we’re going to get the job done.”
After recently battling to two-goal leads against the Union and Galaxy, the Red Bulls could not manage to see out the game to the tune of three points. On Sunday afternoon, United managed to equalize the match in quick fashion, cutting the lead in half and finding the equalizer within three minutes of each other.
“On one level, it’s a real gutsy, hard, competitive, strong performance. If you can walk away with three points, you feel good about how you played,” head coach Jesse Marsch said. “But we let them back in and it has everyone searching for answers.
“It’s a mentality like ‘here we go again.’ Ultimately the hope is that we can find a way to manage this and come back stronger.”
Royer Debuts
After seeing fellow recent-signee Omer Damari make his MLS debut a week earlier, Danny Royer followed suit on Sunday afternoon.
The Austrian international was named to the 18 for the first time since joining the Red Bulls and entered the match as a second half substitute in the 76th minute in place of Mike Grella.
“When we put him in I thought he helped the game a lot. He did quite well,” Marsch said.
Royer was deployed on wide left and was active in his short stint on the pitch, creating a handful of good scoring opportunities for New York. A technical winger with a high work rate, goalkeeper Luis Robles was pleased with what he saw on the day.
“He almost took out Birnbaum; he’s got quite a shot,” Robles said. “He’s very attack-minded; he’s going to be huge for us going forward, so it was nice for him to be able to get some minutes. We have high expectations for him and we’re looking forward to the potential he has to bring to this team.”
Unbeaten Streak Rolls On
If you’re a “glass half full” type of person, then you can certainly point to some positives from New York’s latest result.
Despite the frustration that comes with a blown lead, Marsch made it a point to look at the silver lining.
“In eight games, 10 in all competitions, we haven’t lost,” he said. “There’s no panic. To panic about this would be the absolute wrong thing to do.”
Since dropping a 2-0 result to New York City FC on July 3, the Red Bulls have gone 3-0-5 in league play, while picking up four of a possible six points in Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League play. All things considered, it’s been quite a positive run of form for the Red Bulls.
“It’s a balance,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. “We can’t get too down because we are 10 games unbeaten and on a good run. The mood in the team should stay good.”
Still, the team has not turned a blind eye to their shortcomings, hoping to use their latest result as a learning experience.
“If we get to the playoffs and do something like this, we’ll be out and not going for MLS Cup,” Kljestan added. “We have to figure this out sooner rather than later.”
