JACK & CHILL

Harrison may not start vs. Bulls

New York City FC will start to pay close attention to winger Jack Harrison’s minutes moving forward.

Head coach Patrick Vieira wouldn’t reveal whether the 20year-old would start on the bench before NYCFC (46 points) goes for the season sweep against the Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Friday, but he admitted that his heavier workload needs to be addressed.

“I think we have to take care of Jack because he’s been playing a lot of games since the beginning of the season,” Vieira said. “I’ll just have to manage his games in the next few weeks.”

Vieira’s hint at managing Harrison’s minutes isn’t surprising. While Harrison will benefit from the international break in early September, the secondyear winger’s minutes have heavily increased from last season. In 25 games this year, Harrison has started all but one while logging 2,080 minutes, 506 more than his entire rookie season last year.

“I’ve been trying to do as much injury prevention stuff as I can in the gym,” Harrison said. “I think sometimes without all that, there’s no way I could have made it this far [in the season] being completely healthy.”

Although Harrison’s eight goals are second best on the team, he hasn’t scored in his last seven games dating to June 24. That could suggest that his increased workload could be wearing heavy on him, and with nine games remaining in the regular season, Vieira would be wise to rotate other options into the starting 11, such as Khiry Shelton and Jona- than Lewis, to help control Harrison’s minutes with near-certain playoffs on the horizon.

But to start Harrison on the bench against the Red Bulls would be a bold move. With two goals and one assist in five career matches against the Red Bulls (38 points), Harrison has been one of NYCFC’s most productive players in the Hudson River Derby. But that isn’t going to sway Vieira’s decision come game time.

“The past is the past. We’re always looking ahead. I have players around who’ve been doing really well and that is a decision I will make [Friday],” Vieira said.

AP OVER WORKED: NYCFC winger Jack Harrison will have his playing time watched closely down the stretch of the season because he played 506 more minutes than a year ago.