With World Cup group play going on (I’m currently watching it on my phone), the Red Bulls have earned a week vacation before they return to face Toronto FC at home on June 27th. Going into the US Open Cup matchup with the NASL New York Cosmos, the Red Bulls had played 14 matches in 13 weeks. That’s a major pace, and the points collected have the Red Bulls sneaking into the playoffs on a play in match.

So, maybe Mike Petke and his troops should be given a freebie for the embarrassment that was displayed at the hands of the Cosmos. It was the first time the two clubs had played each other, and the media had built this match to be the first ever New York Derby. Going into the match, Petke had played down the match-up, almost undermining the historical nature of the event. Petke also seemed to see this match as an inconvenience, insinuating irritation that the match was scheduled during a time that was supposed to be a break.

Here’s the thing. These men are professional athletes, talented and mostly well paid to ply their trade of choice in front of their fans and for the pride of their club. Sure the Red Bulls were shorthanded and have played a lot of matches, but the lineup that Petke put out on the field was mostly veterans. The midfield and forwards were comprised entirely of regular starters, and the only real change from the previous week’s match against the New England Revolution was that Kosuke Kimura was removed from the lineup in favor of Amaroise Oyongo.

It was apparent from the opening moments of the match that Cosmos manager, and former Red Bulls player, Gio Savarese had sensed weakness, and he had his players exploit it. It seemed that the entire offense from the first whistle ran through the side manned by Oyongo and veteran mid fielder Jonny Steele. It didn’t take long for Cosmos forward Mads Stokkelien to cash in on that chink in the Red Bulls’ armor. It took only eight short minutes.

The Cosmos outshot the Red Bulls 21-3. That’s not a typo.

Petke was appropriately flippant after the match, greeting the scrum with a smile. He claimed that he wasn’t able to get his team up for the match. He said that the Cosmos viewed this as their World Cup, and his guys didn’t see it that way. On the other side, Savarese stated a simple response – His guys show up and give 100% no matter what the match is.

The final score showed exactly that, with the Cosmos winning 3-0 in a match that the Red Bulls never really threatened. Petke’s reaction, coupled with the lack of heart on the field, should make Red Bulls fans question not the heart of the troops, but that of their general.

Cosmos Exposed Red Bulls Midfield

There are a variety of things that one could point to explain the problems that the Red Bulls are having. But, there are none more glaring than the broken midfield that Petke has hobbled together to attempt to compensate for the lack of depth they have in their roster and creativity that most of the current players suffer from. As it turns out, not only are the Cosmos onto this glaring problem, but, much more dangerously, so have the rest of the MLS teams.

Take the loss to the Portland Timbers. A look at the heat maps shows the way it went. On defense, the midfield and fullbacks, specifically Jack Jewsbury, Raushan McKenzie, and Darlington Nagbe overloaded the usually cool and calm Lloyd Sam, leaving Jorge Villafana and Steve Zakuni to drive the attack against Steele and Convey. All Max Urruti needed was to be in the right place at the right time. Which he was. Twice. Red Bulls’ loss of possession in the midfield is show in the figure below.

Want to know how lucky the Red Bulls were to escape the New England match with a victory, let alone a clean sheet? The Revolution dominated the Red Bulls for most of the match, the difference simply being that keeper Luis Robles literally saved anything that came at him. The ball barely got to either midfield winger. Instead, New England exploited the Red Bulls inability to keep possession of the ball. Ibrahim Sekagaya, playing in a CDM position, was tackled for a loss of possession 11 times. Armando coughed it up 10 times. In the midfield, Alexander lost the ball 11 times, Convey lost it 10 times Steele and Sam lost it 9 times, as shown in the figure below. The tale of lost possession continues on. By the way, this was in a win.

Just to put an exclamation point on this, let’s also take a look at a couple of matches where the Red Bulls had their full roster.

First, let’s take a look at a loss, specifically the loss to the Chicago Fire. Defensively, the Fire deployed Greg Cochrane, and Patrick Ianni against the Alexander/Miller side. Eric Alexander lost the ball 10 times, and Roy Miller lost the ball 20 times. On the other side, Sam lost the ball 12 times, and Kosuke Kimura lost possession 10 times.

Now, let’s look at a win. For the FC Dallas match the Red Bulls played in terrible heat, against 10 men early. The pressure wasn’t as heavy, and the turn overs were unsurprisingly low. The heat maps tell the tale again. When Roy Miller was pressured, he lost the ball 17 times.

Now, you can look at this, dear reader and ask “What does this all mean?”

From the midfield on back, the Red Bulls have a lack of proficiency in tackling the ball, with keeping meaningful possession, losing battle after battle. Not all of those lost battles result in goals, but they result in momentum shifts that the Red Bulls can’t afford to lose.

Why is this going on, do you ask? The blame can be split between Gerard Houlier, the defacto handler of the Red Bulls’ checkbook, Andy Roxburgh, the one who spends the money, and Michael Petke for constantly waiting too long to adjust his tactics in game, either through well placed substitutions or simply by redeploying the troops he has.

Now, Houlier has been haunting different World Cup training sessions and matches, specifically that of Portugal and, most recently, the Cote d’Ivoire v Colombia match. Rumors are swirling again, and RBNY look to make a splash when the transfer window opens again. Houlier’s presence at the Portugal training session led some to surmise about the availability of slick winger Silvestre Varela. Of course, Cote d’Ivoire has Didier Drogba, who won’t solve the Red Bulls midfield issues, but it certainly would add to the offense. Then there are new reports of Shaun Wirght-Phillips joining his brother Bradley on the Red Bulls roster.

Of the two midfielders mentioned, Varela may be a better option for the long term, but with Thierry Henry being close to retirement, one must assume that the Harrison Front Office is “win now” mode, and less concerned with winning over the long term.

So, back to Uniondale. On a night that began with such hope and history, it seemed terribly inappropriate for Petke to seemingly drop trousers and defecate all over the historical importance of the game. You have to wonder about the leadership ability of a manager that can’t motivate his troops to see the importance of every match, no matter how awful the field is, or what league the opponent plays in. Instead of a hard fought win, the 500 Red Bulls supporters that made the trip were left with a bad taste in their mouth on a night that should have left all of us feeling exhilarated. Incidentally, all this poor form will be forgotten. All Petke needs to do is drive his club to another explosive second half.

Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – LastWordBigMick and MLSDispatch. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.

For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.

Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football.

Main Photo via USA Today Sports