It’s no secret that tensions have been running high in New York. With fresh news on the progress of the culmination of Yankees backed club New York City FC, the Red Bulls front office is wondering whether the Austrian guardian angels that resurrected the club multiple times can pull off the miracle one last time. Most recently, the Mike Petke revolution has finally ended the trophy drought, and the organization has stopped the player turnover that plagued the club for so many years. Red bulls have been hoping that the Brooklynite’s tough personality mixed with the teams success and names will be the deciding factor in converting new soccer fans into diehard Red Bulls fans.
The problem? It isn’t working. After a shaky season that truly brought out the passion from the players, staff, and the front office, The Red Bulls are struggling to make an impression that returning champions should make. A crushing defeat and two uninspiring ties have been creating friction in the club. And on the other side of the Hudson, supervillain Jason Kreis is already preparing his diabolical plan to paint the city blue, and our heroes are nowhere to be found.
The truth is, this season may be make or break for the Red Bulls. New York FC has so far been able to match up blow for blow against everything RBNY has been able to throw at them. Red Bulls young talented coach has been matched up against an equally talented trophy winner, two superstar DPs have been matched with Manchester City’s promise of their young stars crossing the pond, and as much as Red Bulls can appeal to the New York crowd NYCFC can do one better. The only thing RBNY can do is prove to the metropolis that they are the team to support, and that’s by winning trophies.
There are two types of [successful] teams in MLS: ones with superstar DPs and ones with solid teams. For New York, it’s the former. The problem is that when the team becomes dependent on those big names, the rest of the players fail to fall in line. With a so far nonexistent Tim Cahill, Petke is left to wonder if he should have brought in an energetic youngster to support Dax Mccarty. In the defense, a partially incomplete backline makes fans worry that Richard Eckersley may never fit into New York’s system. So far, everything that went off perfectly last season is falling apart for RBNY, and except for about 30 minutes of the Chicago game, there’s no indication that the team will make a major rebound.
That’s of course ignoring the Petke effect. As inexperienced as he is, Petke has been outstanding in controlling players, giving managers all around the world something to look at. Each loss has players held accountable, and big egos are cured with an all-expense paid vacation to the bench. The technique has shown, even the worst of New York’s players are giving 110% each game, a refreshing change from that of the previous manager.
The truth is that this New York team won’t pull itself together, and unless Red Bull wants to give up all of its territory to the newcomers, they’ll have to throw all their hope on Mike Petke. The squad is strong, and with MLS veterans like Convey they should be tearing the league apart there’s no denying that if this season is a failure, the team and the fans will have missed the finishing blow and entered a war of attrition. What happens is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain, this team needs to make a huge splash in the league this season and there’s no man who can do it except for Petke.
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Main Photo Credit: Jim O’Connor-USA TODAY Sports
