Matt Kremkau - Empire of Soccer

by RUSS McKENZIE

While the dominant performance against NYCFC on Saturday may be historic, it would be easy for the Red Bulls to have a let down coming into this weekend’s rematch against Toronto FC.

To avoid that mindset creeping in, coach Jesse Marsch, his troops are keeping things in perspective.

“Moving forward, we’re going to try to use this for momentum, but stay very grounded. We don’t want to have any slip ups. (The win was) only three points as much as it may feel like more, it’s important that we keep our foot on the gas and keep pushing every day,” Marsch said after training on Monday.

Lloyd Sam, who has seen the ups and downs the Red Bulls have had under two different regimes, agreed with his current coach.

“We just look at our record and see we’re still not where we want to be. We’ve got seven losses. That’s how we won’t get overconfident. We haven’t done well enough at times this season. We’re on a nicer run, and we’re making up for earlier in the season, but we’re not exactly where we want to be yet.”

The Red Bulls faced Toronto in the home opener and lost 2-0. Toronto FC chose to sit back and strike the Red Bulls on the counter. That match featured dominant play, but New York’s finishing just wasn’t there. It seems to be a theme this season – opponents have found that bunkering and countering is New York’s kryptonite. It’s something that the Red Bulls believe can be met by execution of their game plan from start to finish.

“We like playing teams that want to play. Some teams decide to play direct, some teams try and switch the ball. There are a lot of theories on how to play against us. I feel that if we execute and are on our game, then there’s no specific tactic that we haven’t already included into what we do. The it’s just a matter of can we make enough plays on the day to come away with a win,” Marsch said.

In addition to executing a game plan, Marsch has always kept a focus on improving the Red Bulls play, even in victory. After Saturday’s dominant performance, he approached preparation for Toronto in the same way. “Every game we try and identify things that went well and things that we can improve on. (Saturday’s) game was no different,” Marsch said

“The things that was good was that we had a game plan in place, guys executed and stuck to it, and we reaped the rewards,” Marsch continued. “It’s just some little things (to improve on) so we’re on the same page moving forward.”