HANOVER, N.J. – For the last two years under head coach Jesse Marsch, the New York Red Bulls peaked in September. This season, however, the Red Bulls couldn’t wait to say turn the calendar to October as they now face a fight to secure a playoff berth.
Winless in league play since a 3-1 home win against Orlando on Aug. 12, some of the Red Bulls' struggles over the past six weeks and in particular the past month can be attributed to fixture congestion. The Red Bulls played six league matches in September and were dealt a big blow in their US Open Cup final loss at Sporting Kansas City on Sept. 20. They failed to register a win in any of those matches, posting a 0-4-2 record in September.
They’ll try to right the ship with back-to-back matches at Red Bull Arena, starting with this Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps (5 pm ET; UniMas, Facebook.com in the US | TSN1 in Canada).
“It’s obviously a tough little run. We’re at home for two of them; we’re usually good at home. September is a bad month for us,” forward Bradley Wright-Phillips said following training on Wednesday. “Obviously I think not just performances – it’s just being knocked out of the Cup. That’s something we wanted. At least we get to say bye to September. It’s October now – it’s a new New York Red Bulls.”
Despite the lack of wins and points in recent weeks, the Red Bulls are playing some pretty good soccer. Even with the losses and disappointing draws, New York had more possession per game in September than they did in August (58.3 percent vs. 56.9 percent) and shots on goal (6.2 shots on goal per game versus 4.5 shots on goal per game).
That points to a team that needs to cut back on the individual mistakes to take advantage of their stylistic advantages.
After the recent string of results including Saturday’s 4-2 loss at Toronto FC, Marsch gave the players off until midweek, reconvening on Wednesday to prepare for Vancouver. The Whitecaps come into Red Bull Arena atop the Western Conference and as one of the favorites to make it to MLS Cup.
The Red Bulls will follow up Saturday’s match with a home game against high-flying Atlanta on Oct. 15. They’ll close out the regular season at D.C. United in what promises to be an emotional night in the final MLS match at RFK Stadium.
If the Red Bulls can’t come away with three points against the Whitecaps, they’d be extending their winless streak to nearly two months. Playoff standings at this stage of the season become hugely important, and sixth-place New York are now just four points ahead of a quartet of teams chasing them for the East’s final playoff berth.
Still, they only need one win to sew up a spot in the postseason. A loss on Saturday wouldn’t be the end of the world from a standings perspective, but it would be another hit to New York’s mentality during an already difficult stretch.
“It’s not a must-win in terms of we have one win out of three. If we can get a win here then we can start to think about ‘Maybe we can inch our way up the placing a little bit.’ But, it’s a mentality move for our group,” Marsch said. “It’s a moment where, now as much as it has been a difficult stretch – like I said there’s no looking back right now, there’s only looking forward.
“In some ways I can talk about the fact that we played really well in Toronto and that we were in many ways the better team. In other ways, it’s another game that we gave away and that’s as much who we are as the good play we’ve had. We have to come up with solutions.”
