Red Bull Shoot Themselves in The Foot Against Montreal; Drop A Terrible Result At Home, Losing 2-1

All you can say after that match against Montreal was just “LOL”. Red Bull lose for the second time at home in absolute terrible fashion, 2-1 to the top from French Canada.

New York just can’t seem to get the monkey off their back when playing at RBA through three games as they are now 0-2-1 to start 2022. On the road it has been a different story for the team in red, starting the season an incredible 3-0 on their travels. So, what gives?

https://twitter.com/corkinho/status/1512952866021031944?s=20&t=cCQJhEy0MZ_2_wQev1T84g

Check this thread out talking about Red Bulls lack of creativity in the final third at RBA

It has been quite evident that in their first three games at RBA, Red Bull struggles to create danger in the final third, which is odd because in the first three games away from home they have created plenty and finished those said chances.

But back to the Montreal game, the funny thing is, they DOMINATED this game for 70’, having a 1-0 lead but they just could not find that insurance goal and it ultimately cost them. Here’s how they lined up with Luquinhas getting his first start for New York.

Red Bull started the game the way they wanted, pressing the backline & Sebastian Breza, leading to turnovers in very dangerous spots for Red Bull to exploit. And they would open the scoring in the 14’ off some beautiful play started from Aaron Long.

After Long fed a through ball to Dru Yearwood, the midfielder would play a one-two with Luquinhas who dropped into the middle. Yearwood then flicked the ball back to the Brazilian who then tapped the ball into the path of Omir Fernandez.

Fernandez took two touches and shot one towards goal and fortunately enough for the Bronx native it was HEAVILY deflected past the Montreal keeper as New York took the lead 1-0.

The biggest chance that Red Bull would have to double their lead was in the 26’ off a broken play set up by the dribbling and cross of Fernandez on the RW.

Fernandez showed off his excellent 1v1 dribbling ability as he sent his defender to the ground and on his ensuing cross, Breza parried the ball into the middle of the box where Long was standing and had an open chance.

The bad thing for Red Bull was that Kai Kamara, yes the striker, was standing on the line and blocking the shot. But it then fell to Sean Nealis who was standing at the penalty spot and also got a shot off. This time Breza got enough of a right glove on it for Kamara to clear the ball from danger for good. It was a WILD sequence.

After that, the next big chances fell to Montreal and Carlos Coronel was put to the test, which he would pass. In the 33’, Djordje Mihailovic was played through getting a shot off past Nealis on the right side of the box going far post and Coronel just got a hand on it to force it onto the post and out of play.

Just a minute later, Kamal Miller settled a cross down to Alistar Johnson, who then gave it right back to Miller who tried to curl one in past Coronel with his left foot, but the Brazilian keeper was up to the task as Red Bull was the ones escaping danger.

Red Bull had one more quality chance at a goal and that came off Patryk Klimala running at Montreal’s backline and laying it off to Luquinhas who barely missed from finessing one in on his right foot at the far post.

Montreal would then make Red Bull pay in the 71’ for not getting a second goal. On a FK from midfield, Johnson would pick up a secondary ball on the right sideline and cross one into the box to find Rudy Camacho WIDE OPEN, as he simply headed the ball past Coronel for the equalizer. Where have we seen that before?

Then Montreal would stun Red Bull in the 82’ after Camacho just cleared the ball upfield, both Coronel and Tom Edwards were going for the ball.

At the last-minute Edwards peeled off as it seemed to confuse Coronel who attempted to touch the ball down with his body and it fell into the path of Romell Quioto who just had to sprint into the box and simply pass the ball into the open net to take a gut-punching 2-1 lead.

And that is how the game would end as Montreal would shock Red Bull against the run of play in the end.

Omir Fernandez said as much during his post-game press conference with the media. Fernandez said that they started the game perfectly, going 100% with their “high intensity”, but in the second half their energy as a collective dropped off and they “gave them the game” and the three points.

Manager Gerhard Struber got straight to the point on why Red Bull lost this game. The Austrian said that the boys, “lacked intensity and were not sharp enough to punish Montreal” in the attacking third. He also went on to say that the players “cannot give 80-90% effort” and expect to win games. And he is right.

At the end of the day, Red Bull lacks creativity in the final third for whatever reason and ends up relying on Patryk Klimala to beat two or three defenders just to get a possible shot on target. A lot of times this season, the most dangerous Red Bull has been this season is when Klimala has found himself as the "playmaker", finding the final ball to one of his teammates before they score the goal.

That needs to change if Red Bull wants to be challenging the top of the Eastern Conference all the way through October. Though even with the loss to Montreal, New York still sits in 4th place with 10 points, even with Atlanta after six match days.

Next up on the Red Bulls calendar is FC Dallas who is a much different team this season and has been very entertaining to watch with the likes of Jesus Ferreira and Alan Velasco leading the line for the Texas club. This game is set up for goal, but will Red Bull be able to take a lead and find that insurance goal to secure a win at RBA? Only time will tell!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfJdXYjwM1o

Match Stats

Final Score: NY 1, MTL 2

Possession: NY 50%, MTL 50%

Shots (On Goal): NY 15 (5), MTL 10 (4)

Fouls: NY 13, MTL 11

Corners: NY 5, MTL 3

Saves: NY 2, MTL 3

Next Game: April 16th, vs FC Dallas, 7:00 PM EST