New York Red Bulls head coach Bruce Arena is keenly aware that his team cannot continue to give away goals at such an alarming rate if they want to make any sort of run deep into the MLS Cup Playoffs -- if they even make it at all.
The Red Bulls gave up another bundle of goals Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss at D.C. United, after giving up four in a classic 5-4 win at home last Saturday against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Unlike the Galaxy, United pressured the Red Bulls in the midfield and were consistently organized and compact the entire match.
"Unless you score four or five, then, yeah (it's not good)," said Arena sarcastically about his team giving up nine goals in their last four games that included a 3-0 shutout win against Toronto.
"We gave up seven goals in two games and that's not going to win it especially if we're not scoring more than seven," echoed Red Bulls defender Jeff Parke. "We can score five the other day but we only got one today and that is not going to win the game for us."
Despite being very calm about some offside calls that Arena felt didn't go his team's way after the match, he acknowledged that his team made inexcusable errors that good teams in MLS will punish with regularity.
"Mental errors -- a lot of mental errors tonight," said Arena. "We obviously made a few glaring mistakes especially on the first goal and the third goal. Positioning was poor and they capitalized on it."
The Red Bulls allowed Fred to get an open shot from inside the penalty area on the first goal and the rebound was tapped in by an open Ben Olsen in the sixth minute. Olsen beat Chris Leitch to the ball following a simple run through the midfield.
They lost track of Luciano Emilio who ran behind the unsuspecting back line, latching onto a nifty back heel from Jaime Moreno, leading to Moreno's penalty kick goal in the 48th minute. The goal was Moreno's 109th of his career, breaking Jason Kreis' record for most career goals in Major League Soccer.
Christian Gomez was alone in the six-yard box on United's second goal as well just two minutes after they took the initial lead. Leitch deflected the Olsen cross from the right touchline that went directly to the wide open Gomez.
"They got in behind us and our line wasn't good," said Parke. "They cut a ball back, (Ronald Waterreus) made a save and we didn't follow up on the first one. The second one was just a good goal. They played it back across and he was just there. Gomez does a real good job of coming out of the midfield and putting pressure on the back and getting the goal."
The Red Bulls certainly missed Claudio Reyna's ability to hold the ball and control the tempo of the match in the midfield. Reyna has missed their last two matches with a nagging right groin strain. Reyna is the ideal link player between the midfield and top-flight forwards Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, which was missing.
Arena said his team attacked well "at times. Too inconsistent -- the ball is up in the air too much. We have to be able to pass better out of the back. We have to combine through the midfield a little bit better. But there are a lot of games left to try to make it better."
United did not allow the Red Bulls the time and space in the midfield that the Galaxy did, hence their attack lacked some of the flow it had in other matches. They marked Clint Mathis tightly the entire match, limiting his touches, allowing him only one scoring opportunity that came in the 13th minute when a hard left-footed shot from inside the box went just wide to the right.
"Of course they play a bit different. They get after the ball but we knew that going into it and we didn't execute tonight," said Parke, who also realizes that good attacking starts from solid defending across the back line.
"Just being more solid, being more consistent -- keep the play in front of us," he added. "As a line, stay together; tonight I think we were a bit all over the place tonight. That comes from being more vocal and understanding each other working better as a team. Just going out and performing like we did in segments of the game tonight. A 90-minute game instead of 25 or 30 minutes a night."
Despite the loss, Arena was very happy for Moreno, whom he coached for three years at United.
"I'm real proud to see it, though I'm not happy it came against our team," said a smiling Arena, who has maintained a friendship with the Bolivian striker. "He's had a marvelous career and I'm glad I've gotten to see so much of it. I'm honored to have been part of it. ... He's evolved into one of, if not the finest, players in the history of this league."
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
