The New York Red Bulls (11-9-6) return home on a 3 game winless streak to face the Eastern Conference bottom dwelling DC United (3-17-5). NY has taken four of the possible six points from their rivals United with a 0-0 draw for the Red Bulls home opener and a 2-0 win down at RFK less than a month later. The Red Bulls may not be thinking about the Shield when they take the field Saturday night but they should be looking at the standings. NY can either take first place with a win or see them out of playoff standings if the results fall against them. The last time NY played DC at Red Bull Arena of this importance: the Eastern Conference semifinals in which NY lost 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate).
After stumbling early in the summer for a few games, The Red Bulls seemed to avoid their full summer swoon gathering wins against the leagues top three teams over a month period. However, NY’s Shield hope has but all been dashed by their woeful road form and their unique ability to play down to their competition.
While the defense has done little favors for Luis Robles, it truly is the Red Bulls offense that is holding them back. Since the 3-2 road win over SKC, NY’s offense had been less than stagnant until this past Sunday in their 3-2 loss to Chivas USA. Tim Cahill and Dax McCarty both tallied with their heads from Henry set pieces. Mike Petke had promised some new faces in the starting XI against Chivas but all RBNY fans saw was Brandon Barklage return to right back after Olave was ruled out with injury. In the second half against Chivas, Bradley Wright-Philips finally saw field time and looked lively as he replaced the disinterested Fabian Espindola who was blanked on multiple occasions by Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy. Philips offered speed, creativity, and took players on as he headed toward the box, something neither Espindola nor Peguy Luyindula does. His performance reminded me of another short Englishmen’s debut back in 2011. BWP has been practicing with the first team all week, while Henry, Luyindula, and Espindola have taken their turns with the reserves. Another Red Bull who will likely start is Lloyd Sam over Eric Alexander on the right wing. Earlier in the season, Sam seemed to struggle while Alexander was stellar for NY. Now, NY’s attack has gone stale and Alexander has become predictable for teams to defend. Like Wright-Philips, Sam can take players on and beat them in the attacking third with speed and creativity. One more new face might crack the starting lineup come Saturday in new Aussie signing David Carney. Carney is a left footed player who can play in the defense or midfield. With Roy Miller out for a bit due to injury and international duty, Carney is really only fighting Kosuke Kimura for the left back spot while Connor Lade recovers from his knee injury.
It will not be the same faces the Red Bulls are used to facing in DC’s lineup come Saturday night. The US Open Cup final not withstanding, United’s season is basically over. Ben Olsen has been able to get a head start on next year’s roster, this season. While the same defensive line of Hamid, Korb, Woolard, Jakovic, and Riley, the rebuilding process has come in the midfield. While De Ro and Nick DeLeon have returned to the lineup, Pontius, Thorrington, and Marcelo Saragosa remain sidelined. In their place, Connor Doyle, Jarred Jeffery, and Luis Silva have provided offensive sparks and a midfield partner for Perry Kitchen. What remains to be known is if this lineup can continue to grow in cohesion and see a lead out.
One of the key factors in this game will be the matchup between Dax McCarty and Luis Silva. Red Bull teams of the past have often been punished by speed but they never had someone as good as Dax McCarty in reading the runs of players and breaking them up before they become dangerous. Dax’s main focus will be to break up the link up play between Silva and the guy Dc United traded him for, Dwayne De Rosario. The other main factor comes down to NY’s offense. Will they take advantage of a DC United defense that likes to react to teams after giving loads of space away in front of their penalty area? When given space, NY has generally been able to punish teams, often by playing balls in behind the defense where a NY player takes a shot on an angle, forcing keepers to make big saves. NY has taken 37 shots against DC United over two games and only two have found the back of the net. Give Bill Hamid credit, especially in both games he has had to stonewall Tim Cahill multiple times.
Saturday night can go a few ways for the Red Bulls and Mike Petke. While Petke has been talking about change for a few weeks now, if he keeps the same staring lineup and the team once again falls flat, fans will be clamoring for an explanation from Petke outside of a few angry post game words of disgust. Inserting new players in the lineup at this point in the season is not a gamble if you’re team is struggling. A 3 game winless streak against all inferior teams also shows that. Hopefully for Petke and the Red Bulls, that streak does not extend on Saturday.
