Hunter Freeman is a little sore. But that's to be expected after the right back played a full 90 minutes for the first time in two months. He and his Red Bulls teammates are also sore at themselves for a lackluster performance in a 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew.
But it goes beyond last Saturday night at Crew Stadium. The Red Bulls haven't played consistently well since beating Chicago 3-0 on May 24. What has followed is one win in the last five games. Yes, there's been a bevy of injuries and a plethora of changes, but the effort on the field has been lacking no matter who has stepped onto the field.
"Our performance was unacceptable," Freeman said. "It was the energy level from everyone who was brought on the field. To be honest, Columbus didn't do anything extra special. Early on, when we were winning, we were playing with good energy. You can have days when your passing isn't good, where there's something lacking, but the energy should be brought every game. It's what hurt us more than anything."
As a result of their poor play, the Red Bulls, once alone atop the Eastern Conference, have dropped into a tie for second place with Kansas City, one point behind the New England Revolution. But the rest of the East has gained ground and D.C. United (20 points), Columbus (18 points), Chicago (15 points) and Toronto FC (14 points) are all within striking distance.
"We have realized and always said that when we're doing well you just keep your feet on the ground and when things are not going so well you don't try to get too down," Red Bulls captain Claudio Reyna said. "From my experience, that's the best way to go about it."
The good news for the Red Bulls is that the team appears to finally be healthy. Freeman is back after being sidelined with a badly sprained left ankle. He struggled in the first half against the Crew, but he felt there was an improvement as the game went on.
"I felt I was definitely a half a step slow, it took some time to adjust. The second half was 10 times better for me," Freeman said. "Intersquad games are not the same. I wasn't able to play in a reserve game, which would have helped. I was kind of thrown into the fire."
The Red Bulls look to bounce back Thursday night against Houston Dynamo and already have a 1-0 win against the defending MLS Cup champions under their belt. In that game, the Red Bulls were reduced to 10 men after the first of Clint Mathis' two red cards this year, but Jozy Altidore took a pass from Freeman and beat Pat Onstad on the hour mark for the winner.
There will be no Altidore for the return match as the 17-year-old forward is with the U.S. national team at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada. But there is Juan Pablo Angel, who didn't play against Dynamo in April. For the first time since coming to Major League Soccer on a free transfer from Aston Villa of the English Premier League, last weekend the Colombian international struggled in a match.
"He lost a lot of balls," Red Bulls boss Bruce Arena said after the match. "The service to him wasn't good. He didn't do a good job. I think their center backs, give them credit, did a good job on Angel."
Angel was shut out in Columbus, snapping his club-record six game scoring streak. But the blame should be shared.
"The most difficult teams to play against are ones that have different people attacking from different parts of the field," Reyna said. "That's what we really need to do. We can't put all of the burden on Juan Pablo. His qualities are to score goals, being around the box and be dangerous. The supply has to be there."
That quality service is what Freeman provided before he rolled his ankle.
"I played in college with Alecko Eskandarian and he'd score pretty much a goal per game," Freeman said of his days at Virginia. "We basically just got him the ball and had him do the rest. I don't think we've gotten to that point. I think we're lacking individual creativity. We have to take the initiative and do it. We've got to take chances."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
