RAGING BULLS
The Red Bulls have proven they have the regular-season thing down. Now they clearly have got to work on those postseasons.
Despite following up a 2015 Supporters’ Shield with last year’s first-place finish in the Eastern Conference, the Red Bulls flamed out in both playoffs. And after a tumultuous winter that saw them switch formations, trade away captain Dax McCarty and part ways with sporting director Ali Curtis, will instability cost them an MLS Cup?
“We realize [that perception] is something that’s out there,’’ said Denis Hamlet, promoted from assistant coach to sporting director, going from Jesse Marsch’s subordinate to his boss. “We’re trying to get the right balance. … It’s important in our league to feel that we’re doing something special, and I think we’ve created something special the last few years.
“This is a huge challenge. I look forward to taking this team to new heights.”
But the Red Bulls start on a low, coming off Thursday’s elimination loss at Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. Now they’ll fly across the continent on short rest to open the league season Sunday in Atlanta (7:30 p.m., FS1) — a season that has seen them installed as favorites by Bovada to hoist MLS Cup. No pressure at all. “We’ve got to get over the disappointment of how the game went, and I think we’ve got to have a chip on our shoulder for coming up short,’’ said Marsch, who would seem to have more power than before but also more on his shoulders — shoulders he only could shrug when pressed on their playoff failures.
“I don’t know. It’s frustrating,” he said. “We’ve looked at that carefully, thought about how to be better in these moments. We’ve tried to prepare our team to be up for the challenge in the biggest games. It’s been a perplexing problem we’ve had as a club. But it won’t deter is. We’ll keep finding ways to get better, get stronger.”
The Red Bulls are switching from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-2-2-2. It will shunt league assist leader Sacha Kljestan (20 assists) out wide, and give Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright- Phillips (24 goals) a partner off his shoulder. But that partner, Gonzalo Veron, lasted just eight minutes Thursday before getting hurt.
Dealing McCarty opened up a spot for young Sean Davis, got his $500,000 off the books and brought back $400,000 in general allocation money spread over two years. It remains to be seen how that is used, but there are reports the Red Bulls are interested in bringing in striker Fredrik Gulbrandsen from sister club Red Bull Salzburg.