In recent years, Columbus Crew SC have proved to be a friendly foe for the New York Red Bulls.
Since 2012, the Red Bulls have collected 14 of a possible 24 points across their eight matchups with Columbus, thanks in large part to the contributions of one Thierry Henry. Now that he's retired, New York must do without the man who seemed to up his game in fixtures involving the Ohio side.
Now the marquee man up front, Bradley Wright-Phillips insists that his former strike partner’s past dominance will do little to determine the outcome of Saturday’s tilt.
“It’s going to be hard work,” Wright-Phillips said after training. “They obviously play some good football. They’re an organized team that plays attractive football. It’s going to be tough for us.
“Obviously [Thierry has] given me lessons in football, but he can’t help me now against Columbus. [Head coach Jesse Marsch has] given us a firm game plan and we’re going to try to get it done when we get down there.”
Following Henry’s departure, Marsch has preached a team-centric, high-pressing game plan that has been executed to some success just two games into the season.
Under Marsch, the focus has admittedly shifted from the exploits of one star to the accomplishments of 11 players working as unit, but the aforementioned game plan still revolves heavily around the team’s lone Designated Player.
“We want him to be available for when we put final plays together, so that he’s in front of the goal,” Marsch told MLSsoccer.com “But we want him to be more involved in the buildup. We’re trying to sophisticate his game so that the center backs are unsure of where he’s going to be at any moment. He’s already a smart player so it’s just a matter of tweaking a few things.”
Those tweaks are hardly applicable to Wright-Phillips alone. With the new philosophy starting to take hold within the RBNY camp, an air of confidence is apparent among the players and staff. While some teams tend to implement differing strategies when at home and on the road, don’t expect the Red Bulls to follow that trend.
“That’s not how we play,” Wright-Phillips added. “We’re high pressure, we try to force mistakes, and [it will be] no different on Saturday.
“We’re all young and fit enough to do the work – hungry enough. We all believe in our system and they way we’re playing. I think everywhere we go this season – unless it’s physically impossible, maybe where it’s way too hot – you won’t see too many times where we’re sitting back and bunkering in.”
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That sentiment comes from the top, as Marsch has instilled a simple belief in his players: Follow the game plan, and the results will come.
“We still want to be very aggressive on the road,” Marsch stated. “It’s something that we talked about from the beginning and something that this group felt that they didn’t always achieve in the past few years. Just like in Kansas City, we’re going to be aggressive and try to put the game on our terms.”
For two sides with very different tactical philosophies, Saturday’s matchup may well come down to who blinks first.
“They want to spread the field and we want to shrink it,” said Marsch. “We want to compress the ball and make sure that we have numbers around the ball. Then when they’re spread out and we win [the ball] we might have advantages to play forward and catch them quickly.
“We’ll see if they change what they do a little bit, or if we change what we do a little bit. We’ll find out on Saturday.”
