The Red Bulls hope to jump-start their lagging offense and regain their lost momentum when they host FC Dallas tomorrow (7:30 p.m., MSG). After losing 2-0 last Saturday at Chivas USA _ their first defeat since coach Hans Backe took over _ they’re expecting a more inspired performance Saturday.
“We talked about it and that’s the question: How do we respond? We didn’t look good on Saturday,” said Backe, whose team is 2-1-0 for six points and a share of the Eastern Conference lead. “We played two very good matches to start the season and then we didn’t perform in LA. We need to do better.”
After a sad 5-19-6 mark last, perhaps their hot 2-0 start and rare lofty standing in the table had gone to their heads. But keeper Bouna Coundoul’s own-goal blunder handed them a loss last Saturday, and they insist FC Dallas _ despite being last in the West at 0-0-2 with just two points _ has their complete attention.
“Everyone’s motivated. Sometimes (a loss) is good, because on the team we were up there,” rookie midfielder Tony Tchani said, holding his hand above his head. “Right now we need to go back to where we were, keep winning, use it as motivation.”
They’ll have to do two things tonight; one, defend speedy Jeff Cunningham, who spearheads Dallas’ 4-1-4-1 and has been a thorn in the Red Bulls’ collective sides. And two, they’ll have to get captain Juan Pablo Angel back to his old scoring form. Actually finding a way to hold possession will help toward both ends.
“We have talked about it, that going forward we have to do better. We have to work on it,” said Angel, who had a dozen goals last year but hasn’t tallied yet. “We haven’t spent as much time as we have on the defensive side, so you can tell there’s a big difference from when we defend and when we attack.
“There’s some new players, so obviously it takes time to learn each other. But we started to work on it this week, and started to emphasize it; and hopefully we’ll start to be more creative and more clinical in the final third.”
Despite unleashing the third-most shots in MLS, the errant Red Bulls are just 12th in shots-on-goal (nine) and 13th in goals (two), with five players actually having scored more than they have as a team. As bad as not finishing would be, they have the more unnerving problem of not even creating chances.
They have to be more patient, hold the ball and probe for ways to get it to Angel. That’ll also keep it away from Cunningham, who had a league-high 17 goals last season. The Red Bulls plan to bracket (and buffet) with centerbacks Mike Petke and Tim Ream and keep him from controlling the ball and running at them.
If they can stay compact defensively and force Dallas to either go wide or shoot from distance, they still have faith in Coundoul. Yes, he had one of the more hideous gaffes a goalkeeper could have last Saturday when he bobbled the ball into his own net; but the fact is he’s bailed them out more often than not.
The Red Bulls defense has gotten considerable praise so far this season, and it is much-improved; but that’s in comparison to last year’s embarrassing performance that lowered the bar to sad levels.
The fact is they’ve allowed an MLS-high 49 shots, eight more than the next-highest figure. And Coundoul has faced a league-high 17 shots-on-goal, saving all but one. If they can keep Cunningham from breakaways and give Coundoul a chance to do what he does best _ shot-stopping _ they like their chances.
