New York Red Bulls fell to a 0-2-2 record after their latest road loss to the surging Montreal Impact; who improved to 4-0-0 on the season. Once again the Red Bulls found themselves playing on turf, with fair share of possession and chances but they could not finish on this night. One thing to say about Montreal is that all four of their matches these seasons have been on turf.
Injuries, international duty, and coaching decisions once again forced Mike Petke to tinker with his starting lineup. Captain Thierry Henry, who rarely plays on turf, was left in NY with another convenient injury. Midfielder Tim Cahill is currently on international duty with Australia for World Cup Qualification. Those moves we knew about heading into the match but the decision that may have surprised some was Jamison Olave’s omission from the 18. I don’t think head coach Mike Petke really had to take too long to think about that one though. Olave is coming off a 2012 that saw him at his worst in the case of injuries, couple that with playing on an artificial surface and the type of defensive game NY had the previous week and the move seemed to make sense.
Petke trotted out a backline of Barklage, Holgersson, Pearce, and Kimura but unfortunately it did not work out well for Petke’s Red Bulls on the field. The defense was cut to swiss cheese by the elder Marco Di Vaio up the middle, who was flagged six times for offside. Di Vaio constantly made cutting runs, splitting the center back tandem often. On his goal in the 14th minute, he only had Brandon Barklage to off put him but Barklage failed. If Holgersson was too slow to deal with the Italian forward, Barklage had the worst positioning all night long. He would commit two fouls, only eight minutes apart, both resulting in yellow cards and his expulsion from the match.
To make matters worse, the Red Bulls failed to score in their second consecutive match. The Red Bulls maintained 58% of the possession on the way to 16 attempts on target but only saw the goal hit the back of the Montreal net in an offside play. Like the match against DC United, the Red Bulls saw many clear chances on net but just could not get something right inside the 18 to put in a goal. One bright spot was the rusty Peguy Luyindula. Luyindula had not played competitively in almost two years before stepping foot on the turf in Montreal and it did not take him long to try and threaten Troy Perkins’ goal. However the rust did show when it came to Luyindula’s finishing, as he seemed very soft in front of net. It was promising signs from the French striker, however, for when Espindola goes predictably cold throughout the season.
The Red Bulls return home to face the Philadelphia Union. NY will still be looking for a win and a goal come Saturday, March 30th. Montreal travels to face Sporting KC on an actual soccer field, with real grass and all.
(image courtesy of newyorkredbulls.com)
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