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Red Bulls have only themselves to blame for latest painful playoff exit

photo by Andy Marlin/USA Today Sports
photo by Andy Marlin/USA Today Sports

HARRISON, N.J.— An inch. Maybe two. That was how close the New York Red Bulls came to pushing the Eastern Conference Finals into extra time.

It never really seemed that close, however.

The Red Bulls were left at the doorstep of the MLS Cup Final for the second straight year, only this time they were left to watch their opponent lift a trophy in their home stadium. Jesse Marsch’s side was beaten, 2-1, on aggregate after getting blanked in the opening leg of the series last week, but the Red Bulls didn’t manage to make things interesting until stoppage time of the second leg.

Anatole Abang scored in the 93rd minute on Sunday, and his goal opened the door for a see-it-to-believe-it header from Bradley Wright-Phillips seconds later that incredibly hit the bottom of the right post before being cleared out shortly before the final whistle blew.

“It’s painfully unbelievable how that game ends,” said Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch.

While the series ultimately came down to the slimmest of margins, the Red Bulls were admittedly second best for much of it. Their attack was virtually nonexistent throughout the series, failing to create the type and amount of quality opportunities that had become the norm during their regular-season run to a Supporters’ Shield.

Defensively, the Red Bulls were not as bad over the course of the 180 minutes. That said, they were far from their best. The back line held Kei Kamara, Ethan Finlay, and Co. scoreless in the decisive fixture, but a major reason for that was the handful of strong saves that MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Luis Robles came up with.

Throw in the fact that the Red Bulls defense was caught napping twice, early and late, in the first leg and an argument can be made that their defense and attack were equally to blame for losing the series to Columbus.

“I just thought we were, for most of the series, outplayed, outworked, out-coached,” said Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty. “I thought Columbus deserved to advance. On the attacking end, we just weren’t good enough. We didn’t create many chances, weren’t sharp with the ball in the final third. Columbus, they gave up a lot of goals this year, and, defensively, they looked fragile going into the playoffs, but they defended very well.

“You have to give them a lot of credit. We had no ideas in the final third. It’s tough to take right now, but I thought Columbus deserved it.”

Boasting a healthy 2-0 lead going into the match at Red Bull Arena, the Crew took a more conservative approach, clogged the center of the field, and dangerously hit on the counter. The Red Bulls’ midfield triangle of McCarty, Sacha Kljestan, and Felipe struggled to make an impact as a result, but so too did wingers Lloyd Sam and Mike Grella.

Just as in the first leg, both Sam and Grella were held largely in check by Waylon Francis and Harrison Afful. The Red Bull duo’s inability to cause problems for the Crew’s fullbacks ultimately led to Marsch putting Sam on the left flank and Grella on the right in the second half to try and see if those different match-ups worked out more in his side’s favor.

The tactical move was more successful, but still not enough to truly trouble the Crew. Not until stoppage time, anyway.

“Columbus really tried to change and disturb the way that we try to do things and they accomplished it in a lot of ways,” said Marsch.

 

Comments

  1. This is a big test for Marsch. He has to learn some tactical flexibility. RB only started to get things going in both legs after Anatole Abang came in to try to take advantage of more direct play. He should have come in earlier, especially in the 2nd game.

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    • I am interested to see what the Redbulls look like next season. Having a single good season is not a real test for a coach, it is getting consistent results with injuries and locker room personalities that is tough. I also think it is weird that there was even a question about picking up Dax’s option.

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      • I suppose that one could argue that McCarty’s value will never be higher. Captained a SS winner,…MLS Best XI selection. If Orlando is interested and Dax wants want to return to Orlando to settle on near his home,…now would be the time for Red Bulls to make a deal. Consider McCarty playing behind Kaka!

        Mind you,…I don’t want to see Dax move on but from a GMs perspective this might be a move to make.

  2. There was never any doubt that Columbus is a great counter-attacking team and the RedBull have been suspect against the counter all year. No surprise that Columbus took a couple of its chances.

    The RedBull pressed high and dominated possession, punctuated by Crew counters, again no surprise. The surprise was the inability of the RedBull to make and convert more chances from all that possession. (Grella and Sam were largely ineffective simply because the Crew refused to come out and instead stayed back so they could defend the dribble with numbers; neither Sam nor Grella could find a teammate for a good pass with any consistency when the dribbles failed).

    RedBull need someone other than Sasha to be able to pull off come creative plays. McCarty and Filipe are good at harrassing opponents, but not so much at pulling off a clever pass that frees up a teammate.

    Reply
    • This is very accurate. And you’re right that it’s lame to blame the referees, but it doesn’t mean that it was incorrect. That said, all the players on the field had career years, with the exception of BWP, whose career year was last year. (And frankly, is misused as a target forward, particularly when no one else is running off the ball.)
      But literally every other player on the pitch had a breakout year:
      Robles, Miazga, Lawrence, Dax, Felipe, Zizzo, Sam, Grella…all had great seasons. (Perinelle was great too and his absence is arguably the reason Columbus steals those two goals against the run of play.)
      But in this series, particularly the second leg? The only player to rise to the occasion was Robles. (Actually Felipe was better than I’ve seen him in both legs.)
      Dax improved from the first game (everybody gets to have one crap match), but no one took the game. Miazga was shockingly bad; huge upside, but he’s still young enough to get nerves.

      Nonetheless, the team was one goal away from the finals. You look at the talent here, and there are no superstars (although I think Robles needs a callup; far more reliable than Hamid). Marsch saw what he had and formed his team’s strategy around it. What do you do next year? Ideally you replace Sacha, who has absolutely no bite. In a fantasyland, who’s your attacking mid? Ozil? Is that what this team needs?

      Since I’m not one of those Eurosnob guys who pretends to love Sunderland or PSG or whoever, I’m a little bereft at the end of soccer season. Hard time letting this go, you might have noticed….

      Reply
      • Having read Dennis and Conr’s post,…a couple notes on Saha Klestjian:

        1) Dennis notes that Red Bulls “need someone other than Sasha to be able to pull off come creative plays.” Really? Where was Klestjian over 180 minutes? No where to be found.

        2) Conr notes “Ideally you replace Sacha, who has absolutely no bite.” Agreed. When he was up against Tchani and Trapp,…SK disappeared.

        3) Check out Paul Gardner’s current piece on Red Bulls. The focus is on McCarty,…but nite that there is no mention of Klestjian,…as if he wasn’t there. I’ll read into that.

        Conr,…agree with your conclusion but the question is/should be as Gardner points out,…where can Red Bull find a Diego Valeri?

  3. I know NYRBs fans are disappointed by their team blowing it again. Blaming the referee is weak. The game was choppy, but the ref let the game flow. NY was committing their own hard fouls that were borderline cards with no calls. The reality is that NY had a lot of chances to convert on free kicks and corners, but didn’t. The high press wasn’t working and they didn’t make a tactical change, mostly because it is their only tactic (albeit a very effective one). Columbus was the better team. End of story.

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  4. Another season gone by same result. This team suffers a midfield problem. Can’t create, can’t contain. They are good but not elite and last night it showed. Dax, Sasha, and Felipe are good players but they are not great. This seasons low expectations gives the season an aura of false accomplishment which will lead to the idea of let’s do it again, but these three will not bring you a championship.

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  5. If the Sounders taught this league one thing, it’s “don’t put in more effort than you have to”.
    The Crew were up 2-0 from the opening whistle yesterday. They did not need to score. That was evident. The pressure was on Red Bull to score not the Crew. So, I think we’ll see a different Crew approach at the Cup and hopefully Cedrick will have another assist to Kamara for the game winner.

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  6. Props to NYRB on a great season and a deserved SS. But inches (and offside goals) aside, I think the Crew were better over the 180 minutes. And really, if Trapp had been healthy all year and Afful and Sauro with the team from the start, I think the Crew are serious Shield contenders.

    I guess we’ll find out next year if I’m correct on that.

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  7. Franco,…I think your headline for this piece is disconnected from the stark reality which Dax McCarty articulated so well. Columbus was better than the Red Bulls across the board. It’s not so much the Red Bulls have themselves to blame but rather Columbus was clearly the better team. The headline should have been more in line with McCarty’s sentiments which are,….Columbus is a better team.

    Kudos to the Red Bulls. Great regular season but the reality is that over 180 minutes they were second best.

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    • Columbus were better over the 180 minutes no question. I wouldn’t say they are just a better team period since RBNY beat them twice this season and finished ahead of them over the course of a 34 game regular season.

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      • I think Columbus caught an early break and disrupted the Red Bulls game plan. They were entirely reactionary, caught a fortunate counter at the end of the first leg (which Matt Miazga inexplicably watched from the penalty spot) and packed the box for last night’s game. They DID break out well, but were rarely dangerous, and they ceded possession by a large margin. Higuan has great feet but he’s slow as molasses. Hopefully Columbus has hidden flair for the finals.

        The real shocker was the refereeing. Very boring games where hard fouls went entirely unremarked, let alone punished. If a team is allowed to park the bus and foul outside the 18 with impunity, there’s very little a supposedly creative team can do to force a result. Particularly when the creative team seems to have lots its creativity.

        This is definitely sour grapes, but I say Columbus gets trounced in the final. That team has no heart. They played like scared teenagers at a college combine, wasting time from the very first whistle, flopping and rolling on every 50/50 ball. Kamara is garbage, with zero touch and tons of douchebag antics (before the second half — you wouldn’t have seen in on TV — he ran into the circle and kicked the ball away while RBNY awaited to kick off …TWICE; he drank Miazga’s water bottle and then spit it at him; he pretended to be tripped behind the play and collapsed to the ground on a RB counter but mistimed it, and he flailed alone, no players near him and, fortunately for him, no referee…).

      • Kamara was a clown – in person you could see some of the antics you described. If the referee does nothing to prevent timewasting I don’t blame the Crew for doing as much of it as they can get away with. From minute 1 they were taking forever to take throw-ins, goal kicks, corners etc. If he booked a few guys maybe they would have sped things up a bit. Again, despite, this Columbus deserved to win and if that BWP header had sneaked in at the end, RBNY would have been fortunate.

      • It sure looks to me like he was offside. I don’t think he was offside on his goal, but for his shot off the post, he was about a yard offside. Here’s a screengrab at the instant the header is played to Wright-Phillips:

        http://i63.tinypic.com/2v81nuo.png

        You can see he’s well past the last defender.

      • Image fail. The webpage cropped that image so you can’t see BWP. Click on the image to see the full photo.

      • Conr, good point. I think it is a response to the general idea that NYRBs were inches away from going to overtime, but again good point. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to talk about soccer incessantly.

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