HANOVER, N.J. – They haven’t been played off the park, but there is no getting around it; the New York Red Bulls are slumping.
After starting the season unbeaten through March and April, New York have now dropped three of their last five games while winning just once in their last seven following Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders.
Once the catalyst to their stellar form, the high-press system that has come to define the 2015 Red Bulls has failed to yield an end product in the offensive third. Scoring just six goals in their last seven games, it appears the well has dried up.
Yet the belief is ever present.
“Nothing’s changed,” forward Bradley Wright-Phillips said. “We take a lot of positives from the games we’ve lost, the games we’ve drawn and the games we’ve won. We always see positives and things we can improve on
The positives have been there, but the results have not.
In years past, Red Bulls sides mired in a poor run of form have looked to changeswithintheirpersonnel and tactics, as was the case in 2014 under MikePetke. However, current New York manager Jesse Marsch has preached patience with a system that has produced results in the early going, and he feels will once again do so.
“I understand why people have questions about different things,” Marsch said. “That’s what happens when you don’t get results that you need and should be getting.
“If we were playing in games where we were outmatched, where we were outplayed, then I think there would be more cause for concern about where we’re at with different things. I’ve tried to say from the beginning that this is a process. We've changed a lot of things, but thatdoesn’t mean that all of sudden, overnight, there’s going to be success.”
The formulaforsuccess, it appears, lieswithin the little detailsof a match rather than a total overhaul inmatch planning and overall strategy.
“I can’t really put my finger on it,” Wright-Phillips admitted. “Maybe just a bit unfortunate; there are balls just flashing across the box. We’ve just got to be a bit more committed to the cause and want to score. Someone else isn’t going to do it, you’ve got to do it yourself.”
As Marsch and his staff continue to stand by their approach, the confidence has continued to resonate throughout the locker room. Win, loss or draw, the Red Bulls have no plans of changing, at least not yet.
“Confidence is still high, we’ve still got a smile on our face,” midfielder Lloyd Sam said.“I’m happy with how it’s going. Last game we felt we’ve done pretty well so we’re not going to make any changes.
“Until we get absolutely played off the park, then we’ll start talking about it.”
