by RUSS McKENZIE

As the Red Bulls begin preseason training far from the slowly melting snow of the New York Metropolitan area, Jesse Marsch hopes to begin where the Red Bulls left off in 2015.

“We know it’s not going to be really sharp from the start but we’ve got to get the speed ramped up again and now picking up where we left of in terms of making progress towards being a good team.”

The immediate task for Marsch in his second preseason as New York’s head coach is to integrate the young acquisitions into the lineup to see what they can do. “Some of the young guys we throw into the deep end and now they have to adjust. They have to understand that the speed at which things happen and the level of play is different than what they’re used to.

“The only way to get them up to speed is to put them in over their heads.”

According to Marsch, these training sessions are a combination of tactical and video work in order to get the new team members up to speed. These sessions also serve as a review for the players who are a year in to Marsch’s high pressure game plan. Midfielder Sacha Kljestan spoke about this after training on Tuesday.

“Us older guys have been around for a year, we know how our training habits have to be,” he explained. “It’s about catching these other guys up and help to push this thing further.”

Assistant coach Chris Armas talked about the biggest challenge these young players face in their jump to MLS. “There are levels to it. The demands are higher. Running faster, thinking faster and then playing against better players. It’s always like that as a soccer player. The next level is always (more demanding), and most of it is less time and space on the ball (vs) the quality with which you can (make plays).”

In 2015, Kljestan was a key veteran component in helping young players like Sean Davis push themselves to the highest level of play possible. In 2016, it seems that responsibility continues.

“(The younger players) have to catch on quick. It’s a lot of work, but we’re guys that they can ask questions of and give advice on and off the field. We want to see them succeed, especially the Academy guys coming up. We have a lot of faith in them.

“We have a lot of games coming up this season,” Kljestan continued, “They’re probably going to play some big minutes for the team, so the sooner we can get them up to speed it will be good.”