A year on from finishing comfortably in the playoff places in fourth, this season has been a disappointment for the New York Red Bulls. After only being able to win one game in three months, Gerhard Struber, the former EFL Championship manager, was relieved of his duties in early May, with Troy Lesesne chosen to take the helm as the interim coach. However, so far, the change in manager has yet to yield any notable gain in results, with the side only managing to win four out of their last eight games.
At the forefront of the side’s slip down the table from last year is the team’s general inability to find the back of the net, with the side only managing to score 11 goals in goals in 16 games, the lowest amount in the division.
This scout report will provide a tactical analysis of the tactics of the MLS side in possession and explain why the side’s troubles in front of the goal have continued under Lesesne.
Key aspects in attack
Progression chance creation and support
In order to fully explain the problems that the Red Bulls have faced this season, it is important to briefly mention some important concepts in the possession phase of football. Ultimately, there is no correct way to play football, with every manager having their own principles and stylistic preferences. However, within this, there has to be consideration of whether or not these principles are effective.
From a possession perspective, a general question that needs to be considered is whether or not a team can progress the ball consistently and create certain chances consistently. In order to do so, teams look to destabilise an opposition defence by looking to create and exploit new or already existing weaknesses. To do this, players need to be in close proximity to one another in order to support each other, not just from the perspective of having multiple passing options, but being able to support each other’s actions. Whether this is by means of multiple passing options in different spaces in positional play sides, or playing long balls and counter-pressing to win the second ball. The support provided by teammates can further allow opportunities to destabilise the opposition through means such as off-the-ball movement, numerical superiorities, qualitative superiorities as well as positional superiorities. These are not all of the aspects of possession but those that are relevant in this analysis.
New York Red Bull’s structure in possession
Under Lesesne, New York has alternated between using a back three or a back two when building up in the middle third of the pitch. What has remained consistent is the loading of the centre, with the side playing a double pivot with the two wingers inverting into central areas and the attacking midfielder advancing slightly, playing almost as a second striker. Examples of their structure in a back three as well as a back two can be seen in the images below.
Within this structure, NYRB look to play the ball to the wide areas and create chances from these positions. This occurs as a result of the overloading of players in the central areas, which causes the opposition to become more compact centrally in order to prevent passes to these players.
