New York Red Bulls: Back in business with excellent May

After a slow start, the New York Red Bulls have taken nine out of their last 12 points in MLS play. Suddenly, Chris Armas’ side looks like they might be back in business.

The New York Red Bulls have taken nine points from a possible 12 in the month of May. Has the team turned a corner?

One of the more interesting aspects from the last four games is that Chris Armas’ team had to win each in different ways. Close games, comebacks, and a whirlwind of starting off strong, fading and then finishing strong.

We’ll go in chronological order. Red Bull Arena went from raucous to silent in a matter of 45 minutes after Zlatan Ibrahimović and the Los Angeles Galaxy turned the Red Bulls’ 1-0 lead (the Red Bulls thought they had the lead, but a Daniel Royer goal was overturned after being ruled offside) into a 2-1 scoreline in favor of the visitors. Heading into the break, it looked like the Red Bulls disappointing season was about to continue.

It took a second-half comeback, with two goals scored in a mere seven minutes, to rescue the Red Bulls and give them the 3-2 come-from-behind victory. Both of those goals were scored via the formula which has been the Red Bulls most effective strategy from open play: short passes on the ground to free up wingers and low driven balls across the face of goal. Both Marc Rzatkowsi and Derrick Etienne’s goal were both scored off a driven ball coming in from the right flank.

The two-game winning streak (the Red Bulls beat Cincinnati in the game prior to the tilt against the Galaxy) didn’t quite go to script, with the Red Bulls losing a 1-0 lead in the second half to the visiting Montreal Impact. The beneficial side of playing three games in a week, though, is that a frustrating loss doesn’t have to sit in the minds of the players for too long.

The trip to Frisco was again a whirlwind of emotions for RBNY after Cristian Casseres fired home a low strike, that came off a low driven ball from the wing by Andreas Ivan. The Red Bulls squandered the lead but then showed terrific grit to score twice and steal three points away from Red Bull Arena.

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This brings us to the third win of May so far, a 1-0 victory over Atlanta United in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals. Playing most of the game with 10 men after Tim Parker saw red, RBNY used the direct route when a long, lofted cross from Daniel Royer found the head of recently signed Tom Barlow to give them the lead. They never let it go.

By no means have the Red Bulls been unstoppable during this improvement of form. However, when things did go wrong, the team showed a bit of steel and rescued a victory in three out of the four games in May. With six games to play in May in total, all coming after the early-season struggles, the 2019 season could very easily have gotten out of hand. It does not take much for a season to spiral out of control, and after picking up only four points from four games in April, the Red Bulls were on the precipice.

For what it’s worth, the club jumped up five spots in this week’s MLS Power Rankings, with a chance for more growth after Wednesday’s game against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Win at home and they would move into fourth place in the East. Suddenly, the New York Red Bulls are back in business