The New York Red Bulls have lost three-straight league matches for the first time since May 2017, but after re-watching the match against Minnesota, the staff don’t feel a need to make any drastic changes in the way they play.
“We're always thinking of how to get the most out of the team tactically, you know the style of play and personnel,” Head Coach Chris Armas said. “After watching the game back, even a few times, we've been so comfortable in the past of controlling games without the ball, and now we're getting better at controlling games with the ball. It was interesting to look back, but we’ve come in this week with understanding that in all of these games, we were still controlling the games. The goals just aren't coming yet, but the chances have been there.”
Even though the Red Bulls had a historic 2018 season, setting the record for most points in an MLS season, Armas mentioned that he and the team knew they would have to evolve as a unit in 2019, as teams start to figure out a better way to combat the Red Bulls style of play.
“Coming into this year we knew we had to evolve as a team, as teams have gotten better, rosters are getting better and now teams are changing more what they do against us,” Armas said. “I'm embracing that because it's right in front of us, and it's a good challenge for us because this is what we see in the playoffs.”
The team may not be converting on all their chances on the offensive end, but Armas wants his team to continue to push forward, as they've been in every game this season due to their defense, and according to him, the goals will start to come eventually.
“I think on both sides of the ball there is room to be sharper,” Armas said. “Right now, there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for error, we're just getting punished in some ways. Teams have done well to get there one or two goals on not a whole lot of chances. If we could have it any way, we wouldn’t want it to be 15 goals scored and 12 conceded. We have things sorted out on one side of the ball. We've given up six goals in five matches. We see that the works being put in, we believe in our attackers, and the goals will come. We're in decent spots. We just have to keep pushing, we believe in how we're working and why we're working. I've always seen that the results will follow.”
