After the Red Bulls saw their Starting XI evolve over the course of three games in eight days, head coach Jesse Marsch said that although the technical staff ‘looks a little bit at matchups,’ he is comfortable making changes because of his confidence in their depth.
“There’s discussions within the staff about the starting group and the 18 and that’s a good situation to have as a team,” Marsch said. “It’s not based on the fact that we don’t think guys are doing well, it’s based on the fact that we have a lot of options.”
New York made six changes to their starting lineup twice last week, lining up differently in all three games.
Luis Robles said that playing with young players, such as Michael Murillo who made his MLS debut in Kansas City, is not a challenge for him because of each player’s familiarity with the club’s style of play.
“Our coaching staff does such a good job of spelling out how we want to play…for the most part its just about keeping guys engaged,” Robles said. “I don’t see it as a new challenge per se…I have to be a little more encouraging as opposed to getting on [them]. But the whole idea in order to make my game easier is to keep those guys engaged.”
After eight days without a game, Marsch will again have a lineup decision to make come Sunday against the LA Galaxy in an effort to stay unbeaten at home.
“We can look a little bit at what the game’s going to require on the day and we can draw on the right players,” Marsch said. “Even today, we played 11v11 a little bit to keep everybody sharp, keep everybody fit, keep everybody going on the big field so that when they’re called upon, they’re ready to go.”
