HARRISON, N.J. – Last season, the New York Red Bulls enjoyed a stellar start to their campaign, going undefeated through their first seven matches.
In 2016, the taste of defeat came a lot sooner.
After a tough defeat at home, the task now turns to bouncing back ahead of a road trip to Montreal as the team will be in search of their first win of 2016. And while the team has stayed largely the same from last season to now, the Red Bulls are making a point to not look back at the past successes, or their failures.
“There are going to be very few talking points from last season,” head coach Jesse Marsch said. “This is a new season, a new group, a new movement, and today’s result doesn’t change my opinion of anything. I feel like we have a good group and good way of playing. We’re on top of games a lot and there’s more to our team than ever before, it’s just a matter of continuing to move forward in a really positive way.”
Toronto FC was able to take their chances well on the afternoon, punishing New York. It’s a bitter pill to swallow after enjoying a successful preseason camp in Florida, but it doesn’t mean much will change going forward.
“We can’t run with the same things,” striker Bradley Wright-Phillips said. “We’ll just look at the video, see what we’ve done wrong and we go ahead. We’re not going to change much. We’re a team that has a formula that works. Today was just unfortunate.”
For Mike Grella, there may be a silver lining to feeling the sting of defeat so early in the season.
“The lesson that we’ll learn here today is probably more valuable than even being undefeated so far into the season,” he stated.
Losing just three games at home last season, a loss in the home opener was a shock to say the least. But Marsch is confident in his team’s mental makeup and their ability to stay resilient in the face of adversity.
“We have a really strong group of men in that locker room that I know can handle any moment that’s thrown at us,” he added. “It’s a reminder that it’s never easy and we’re going to have to earn everything.”
