NYCFC eye first win at Bulls’ home
The Red Bulls rule the metropolitan area, and still will after the weekend, but that doesn’t mean New York City FC can’t find a way to start shifting the narrative of the Hudson River Derby.
Following the Red Bulls’ 1-0 victory against NYCFC in the U.S. Open Cup on June 14, the 90 minutes of often dull soccer served as an unappetizing starter for this Saturday’s main course, when the Red Bulls (23 points) host NYCFC at Red Bull Arena on Saturday.
“When you play these types of games, it’s important for us to put our sleeves up, to compete, to fight,” NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira said about the rivalry. “We have to match their competitiveness. We have to work harder than they will and we’ll give ourselves more of a chance of winning the game.”
Matching the Red Bulls’ hustle is one thing, but finding a way to win — or even to get a result at Red Bull Arena — is another.
Winless in four matches in New Jersey, NYCFC (27 points) should start paying attention to Bradley WrightPhillips, the Hudson River Derby’s all-time leading scorer with eight goals in six matches.
After a streaky start to the season, Wright-Phillips enters Saturday looking like his old self, having scored four times in as many games to pad his tally to eight on the season. But despite his twogoal effort in the Red Bulls’ 2-0 win at Philadelphia last week, NYCFC thinks they have a solution to contain him.
“I think we just have to stop players giving him the ball, from supplying it to him,” Vieira said. “I think we have to try to get him outside of the box. When you look at the two goals he scored against Philly, always at the right time he’s smelling the goals.”
The “smelling” for goals stems from the service of midfielder Sacha Kljestan and wingback Kemar Lawrence, who are one-two in assists for the Red Bulls this season. They tend to play balls centrally, where WrightPhillips likes to float near the 6-yard box, acting as a poacher who pounces on crosses in front of the goalmouth. Three of Wright-Phillips’ eight goals have come via crosses near or inside that area this season.
If NYCFC can keep Wright-Phillips at bay, objective one is complete, but their second task is just as difficult — finding ways to score past Luis Robles.
Robles has conceded 21 goals this season while facing 77 shots, which is sixth-most in MLS, and against NYCFC, he has allowed just five goals in all matches. While David Villa ended his three-game scoreless drought by scoring two goals against Seattle last week, the loss of midfielder Maxi Moralez will complicate the attack. When he hobbled off at the end of the first half against the Red Bulls, NYCFC’s attack stalled as it did in the next game against Seattle and those signs have Vieira thinking about showing the Red Bulls a different look.
“Offensively we may have to come with something different because in these type of games David [Villa] may need more support and we are thinking about one or two things we can change,” Vieira said.
Support could mean playing forward Sean Okoli up top to supplement Villa or pushing Villa over to the wing. Vieira could even tinker with his formation, switching from 4-3-3 formation into the 3-5-2 formation, especially since Vieira said he would like to see NYCFC do more with possession, which they rank second in MLS (56.2 percent).