by DAVE MARTINEZ

Most teams, players and coaches will publicly deny reading or paying attention to the media and its evolving narrative.

Not the New York Red Bulls.

Perhaps it was unavoidable. After all, the Red Bulls season has been defined by its preseason chaos, which included the exit of legendary stars Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, and the unceremonious firing of Mike Petke as team coach, and their regular season success. How do you manage to dodge all of that?

“There has been a lot of talk about the chip on the shoulder and all that stuff. I think this has been a unique story, this team and the way things have gone the last few months have been a unique story in this league,” head coach Jesse Marsch acknowledged.

Now, with a Supporters’ Shield in hand signifying their place as the top team in Major League Soccer, New York still hasn’t forgotten how quickly they were written off by both fans and media.

In fact, it continues to motivate them ahead of the postseason.

“The more times I see Mike Petke’s name in the press, the more I see Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, keep writing it guys, because our team still has a chip on their shoulders,” Marsch said, addressing the media in his postseason conference call.

The open declaration was surprising from the usually demure and media cautious Marsch. However, it was also an obvious statement to anyone who has been paying attention. Many of the Red Bulls players have stated similar things in the past, making Marsch’s words more of a verbalization of the New York locker room rather than a challenge to the media’s narrative.

“The chip on the shoulder — it has been more dictated by the players,” he explained, downplaying the coaching staff’s role in the team’s motivation. “We built that into our identity, this is for sure, but I think the players, everything from how the fans treated the offseason to the articles written about our team, they weren’t happy about it. They didn’t like it and I am sure they had doubts too.”

While Marsch didn’t initiate the “us vs. them” mentality within the Red Bull locker room, he certainly harnessed that feeling, creating an inferiority complex that has been the driving force behind New York’s success all season long.

And that mentality will live on this postseason.

“There was a lot early on of building confidence, on how we do things, how we train, how we talk. There was a shift in terms of what the environment was like every day,” Marsch explained. “But in all ways, once they realized this was moving in the right direction, [the players] felt they had something to prove.

“The more people used certain players and coaches and names as taking points, the more it motivated them.”