New York Red Bulls: Faltering defense gifts Chicago the win

The New York Red Bulls suffered their first home loss of the season in the form of surrendering a gift to a hungry Chicago Fire team.

Two teams came into Red Bull Arena on Saturday in very different circumstances, both needing three points and nothing less – the New York Red Bulls and the Chicago Fire.

The Chicago Fire were desperately looking for their first away win of the season after a poor string of performances. After another loss at home against L.A, captain Dax McCarty voiced his frustration. 

“We’re below average right now and the results speak to that.”

On the other hand, New York Red Bulls have a challenging run of games ahead of them. Red Bull have a trip across country to L.A, then back for the New York Derby the following week. Securing 3 points for Red Bull would be vital in order to retain momentum in the league. And the defense has been stout at home historically, but particularly menacing in 2018.

Though it was newly acquired Aleksander Katai who chose to have his best performance in a Fire shirt so far.  The #10 in Chicago’s midfield scored in the 30th minute off an unstoppable volley from a cleared corner kick. Then later on in the 69th, against the run of play, Katai turned Aaron Long and attempted to round Robles but was hacked down for a penalty. Nemanja Nikolic stepped up and coolly slotted it past Luis Robles, who was lucky to only receive a yellow for the penalty.

Bradley Wright-Phillips got one back in the 81st through a scrappy scrum off a redirected corner kick, but it was too late for New York. This was another performance in which Red Bull dominated on the stat sheet, but was unable to secure 3 points. Jesse Marsch’s side out-shot Chicago 22-4 and controlled possession 63% to 37%.

Defense’s Perfect Start to 2018 Ends

Before Sunday, Red Bull had not lost at home, nor had they conceded more than once. That record came to an end in front of the home crowd on Saturday. When asked about The Fire exploiting Red Bull on the break Jesse Marsch was blunt,

I thought first half, our — like our man marking in the back was terrible, and it was because there was no communication, no alertness, no urgency.

Outside back’s Kemar Lawrence and Michael Murillo were spectacular going forward. Both we’re flying down the wings and putting in crosses, both players had 6 total crosses on the day. Though on the second goal, both Murillo and Lawrence, were pushed too high and wide to provide cover for Long and Parker. Veljko Paunovic’s tactic of spreading his wingers wide proved fruitful, as it allowed Katai to fake outside runs to cut inside.

But Jesse Marsch seemed more upset with his center back pairing of Aaron Long and Tim Parker. The two had a solid outing altogether, but what counts at the end of the game is the scoreline. It was the small details, and half-chances Chicago capitalized on, where the center back duo can partly be blamed. And to their credit, 6 games in and this was the first time the center back pairing conceded goals that we’re stoppable. Nonetheless, Marsch was again critical looking back at the goals,

And then, you know, like the first one comes off a corner kick; the second one comes off of a play where Aaron gets beat and now they are in on goal. We have to do better on those moments and we have to do better on set pieces. It’s a number of games now where off of set pieces we have not been good. So work to do.

It was an unfortunate loss for Red Bull who desperately needed 3 points ahead of their trip to L.A. Despite all the frenzy surrounding Zlatan Ibrahimovic and L.A Galaxy, when asked about the Swede, Aaron Long remained unfazed.

Yeah I mean more than that, I’m looking forward to getting a result, I think we need to get back on track, I think it’s a tough loss, a tough pill to swallow at home, but it’s another opportunity to get 3 points away from home which is always a big deal, so yeah very excited.

 New York Red Bulls now sit in 6th place in the Eastern Conference with 3 wins and 3 losses. L.A Galaxy, are coming off a 2-0 loss to Atlanta and now occupy 4th place of the West with 3 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie.