MLS: A tale of two New York’s, trouble at Red Bulls and NYCFC

Edited by Alex Smith

New York Red Bulls and New York City FC are in a bit of trouble.

The MLS regular season is coming to a close and, in the Eastern Conference, it seems like the playoff race will come down to the final matchday. Apart from the New England Revolution, no club has shown any sort of consistency throughout the season, even Nashville SC, who currently sit in second place, have gone through their rough spots. But the inconsistency is no more apparent than in New York, where the two teams representing the city remain level on points.

The support at the New York Derby was absolutely incredible. 🙌

We love each and every single one of you. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Y5fJWrcy1f

— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) October 18, 2021

Recently they’ve been polar opposites, and the latest Hudson River derby really highlighted the weird seasons both have been having.

Sunday’s 1-0 Red Bulls victory was not a fun match to watch. Venezuelan international Cristian Casseres Jr. scored the lone goal, and that was in the 3rd minute, after which both teams struggled to create chances, let alone play with any sort of fluidity.

In the later stages of the game, the crossbar saved the Red Bulls three points, but their pressing prevented NYCFC’s plethora of attacking options from getting into the game. It was a perfect display of both clubs’ form in the last six weeks. 

City of New York

NYCFC were having a good season up until September. They had only lost one of their last ten fixtures, including a 2-0 win against the runaway Supporters Shield leaders, the New England Revolution. Then the goals dried up. In their next nine games, they have only won once, and that was against MLS’ weakest side, FC Cincinnati. 

A few things have gone wrong this season for the Manchester City affiliate. Injuries have played a big role in their inability to score, it all started before the season had even began, when star striker Héber tore his ACL, since then they’ve mainly used Taty Castellanos as the number 9. Whilst he’s a good player, who’s scored 13 goals so far this season, he’s not a natural up top, and is more effective and less wasteful on the wing.

To add insult to injury, Anton Tinnerholm, one of the league’s best defenders, recently came down with a similar knee-related issue. Add an aging Maxi Moralez into that and it's already looking bleak for NYCFC, who are now 419 minutes without scoring a goal. They’ve spent big sums of money since their inception eight years ago, but that’s just not cutting it for them this season. That’s not the club’s biggest storyline this year though, it’s where they’ve been playing their home games. Only six of their 14 home matches have been played in their own stadium.

This has been a hot topic since they joined the league in 2015. NYCFC share their ground, Yankee Stadium, with a baseball team, in fact one of the most popular baseball teams in the world, so are always an afterthought when it comes to scheduling. And it’s not the first time this has happened too, we’ve seen before how stadium instability has affected teams, and it never does them any favours.

Whilst there are inherent problems with Yankee Stadium when it is used as a football ground, it does give them a distinct advantage over visiting teams. The smaller than normal pitch and the unusual playing surface, which is essentially a baseball infield, give the home team a clear advantage - NYCFC have taken 13 out of a possible 18 points in the Bronx this season. But this hasn’t been where they’ve played most of their games, instead that honour goes to the home of their arch rivals, the New York Red Bulls.

46. Gotta go get it back 🥊

⚪️ 1-0 🗽 | #ATLvNYC pic.twitter.com/znggLhJ0d5

— New York City FC (@NYCFC) October 21, 2021

Red Bull is not that Red

And it’s had a profound effect on them. They have only won four of those matches at the Red Bull Arena, and none since mid-August, demoralising the fanbase and disrupting the season. It’s yet another example of how the City Football Group has struggled to make their biggest market a real success. What was beginning to look like a successful season, has turned into an embarrassing failure.

On the other side of the Hudson River the story has been nearly the exact opposite. It is Gerhard Struber’s first full season in charge of the Red Bull affiliate, and there was little expectation that he would get the three-time Supporters’ Shield winners back to their best immediately. With a weak squad, and only one designated player to begin the season, the Red Bulls got off to a shaky start - they struggled to score goals, let alone find their best eleven. When all-star defender Aaron Long went down with a season-ending injury in May, things looked bad.

The Red Bulls were throwing away points for fun. They looked wasteful offensively, and new signings Fabio and Patryk Klimala were struggling to find their feet. When they did score, they were never able to hold onto their lead. To cap it off, injury problems across the pitch often lead them to pair a wingback with a centre back in central defence. Their usual home fortress was not what it used to be.

After a demoralizing defeat in Columbus, the Red Bulls seemed able to steady the ship, welcoming in a run of good form with a 4-0 demolition against MLS newbies Inter Miami. Finally, with a mostly clean bill of health, they were gradually adapting to Struber’s new tactics, and slowly returning to their best. Whilst still lacking on the goal front, they make the game ugly and hard to play, and are now seven matches unbeaten, including two wins against the falling NYCFC.

Both teams have just five matches left to play this season, and will be keeping an eye on the playoffs. With identical records (11 wins, 11 loses and seven draws), and only one point behind FC Montreal, who currently occupy the last playoff spot, they both have a realistic chance to qualify.

With both teams still riding the MLS rollercoaster, anything could happen.

Photo via New York Red Bulls official Spanish Twitter account.