A Good Display of Potential

Improvements everywhere on the field gave the Red Bulls what they deserved.
The lineup didn't surprise me except for one decision. If you read last week's post you'd know how much I love Markus Holgersson. Not a whole lot. I was hoping that having Conde back would rid Holgersson of his starting spot. But of course the scandanavian was picked over Keel. Fortunately Holgersson had a decent game which I credit to Conde's communication, organization, and leadership in the defense.
With midfield I'll start with Marquez. Many including myself have criticized his work rate and effort.
Marquez doesn't make it any easier on himself when he plays a phenomenal game for Mexico and then treats his next Red Bulls game like a high school jv scrimmage. To me, yesterdays game just prolonged Marquez's streak of mediocrity. He certainly wasn't much of a playmaker. I don't know if he doesn't like to warm up before games, but maybe he should try it sometime because some of his passes made him look like he had just woken up and stepped on the field. Also he just seemed too panicky on the ball, making too many snap decisions that led to give aways. All in all what I can say good about Marquez is still limited, perhaps he helped by just being a good presence on the field, but for a designated player, he should be doing much better.
Good games from Kenny and especially Henry. You can't complain when you get a double (should've been a hatrick for Henry) from both of your starting strikers.
But what was the key to this crucial and convincing 4-1 win? The Bulls' speed of play on the break. Maybe this was partially due to spotty defense by Colorado, but the Red Bulls were able to find the gaps in Colorado and find them fast.
Key players this game: Henry - two goals and an assisst speak for themself, Conde - finally organized the defense, Meara - deserved a shutout, he's not looking much like a rookie.

Ryan Meara making a strong save against Real Salt Lake. The rookie looked like the most experienced player in defense for the Red Bulls in their 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake

You Can't Accept an 0-2 Start

Right now it seems that the Red Bulls are in excuse mode: Marquez is out, Conde is out, Real Salt Lake are "the best team in the league". I don't buy it.

Start up top: Henry alone up top with McCarty behind him was an intriguing decision from Hans Backe for a fan like myself. In my opinion McCarty has played better than Marquez on almost every occasion for New York. But really the defensive midfield position is where McCarty shines the brightest, he couldn't seem to keep pace with the attacks and was bullied off the ball by Real too frequently.

The next problem up top was midfielders failure to recognize Henry's runs quick enough to get the ball past the Real defense. Putting Cooper in the second half was the right decision by Hans Backe but unfortunately the chemistry between Cooper, Henry, and the midfield was not as good as it was against Dallas in the second half.

Next is the midfield. Again, I think McCarty does better when he's not so far forward. The wingers did alright against Real but too often were found almost running into Solli or Miller trying to get forward. Also the midfield in general needs to be much much quicker on the ball. On each Red Bulls attack the midfielders were holding the ball up way too much, allowing Real to fully recover back to defense (also something the Red Bulls did poorly).

Then there's the defense. Most of Real's chances and their second goal in my opinion could be traced back to one man, Markus Holgersson (I hate you Bolton Wanderers). No one got me more angry and frustrated during this match than Holgersson. It's hard to see why at first but looking into Real's chances more deeply one can recognize Holgersson's mistakes. Way too often, Holgersson got sucked in to the Real player with the ball leaving another Real attacker wide open near the goal. This didn't just happen once but on almost every one of Real's attacks. If the Red Bulls defense is going to improve, Holgersson needs to improve, and by that I mean change almost his entire style of play. He must stay with who he is marking and not get sucked in, two rudimentary aspects of being a central defender. Also, seriously Roy Miller? Against Pumas in the pre-season I actually thought he was the best player for the Red Bulls in that game. But now his silly back passes and give-aways have made him a bigger threat to his own team than the opposition.

And finally, one more observation, corner kick efficiency: 8 corner kicks and not single one was even touched by a Red Bulls player. I don't know what they're doing with the whole crowding the goalie strategy but it's not working.