Five Takeaways from the Red Bulls' comeback victory in Houston.
The New York Red Bulls ended their season-opening road trip with a comeback win against the Houston Dynamo. John Tolkin debuted, Lewis Morgan scored a GOTW candidate, and Noah Eile looks elite.
The New York Red Bulls have a new viking quarterback. And no, it’s not Trevor Lawrence.
Through the first two matches of the 2024 Major League Soccer season, Noah Eile sits only behind Miles Robinson as the highest pass success rate for any player that has logged 180 minutes and 100 completed passes.
At first glance that statistic might appear to be expected given that Eile is a center back and Red Bull cycled the ball through Eile and his RCB partner Sean Nealis at various points throughout the match. But when you look at some of the passes Eile was being asked to attempt against a fairly compact Houston Dynamo, things become more clear.
And what’s possibly most exciting about Eile is that his line-breaking passing ability is just one of his many promising qualities. Eile can break lines with his legs just as well as his passes, which he demonstrated against the Dynamo on Saturday night. Eile effectively used Tolkin as a pressure release valve, checking the run and then passing the ball off if space wasn’t available to run.
He is also incredibly lengthy at 6 foot 5 and which not only makes him an aerial threat both offensively and defensively, but it also contributes to his noticeable composure at only 21 years old. It’s clear that this team really trusts Eile to be a catalyst for the attack, and his confidence in response to that trust is growing evidently in a big way.
And with Andres Reyes now seemingly CB3 in the Red Bull pecking order, Davi Alexandre will be able to learn from three top-tier MLS center backs as he continues to develop. While I’m sad we never fully developed guys like Tommy Redding, the pipeline and the future for the Red Bulls’s defensive core is looking promising for a long time to come.
John Tolkin returns. But our fullbacks still seem fully depleted.
John Tolkin made his season debut on Saturday night, and unfortunately it looked like it for much of the match. My match notes for Tolkin included poor set piece service early on, struggling with aerial duels, and not providing much width in the attack. My concern here is less-so with Tolkin – it’s early in the season and he’s already proven his quality in this league. It is more-so with the depth we have at either full-back position.
When Tolkin missed last week’s match against Nashville with a groin injury, Kyle Duncan was forced to take his place. Unfortunately, Kyle Dyncan doesn’t have a left foot and Toklin’s attacking presence down that channel was sorely missed. And outside of Duncan, Omar Valencia and Curtis Ofori are the only other options at that position, both of whom simply haven’t been tested at this level.
Right back is a slightly rosier picture. Kyle Duncan is a proven player at that position, although I think it’s fair for Red Bulls fans to want more from him (or someone else). Dylan Nealis has been very strong in that role this season, showing improvement from some of his performances last season. But behind Nealis and a stretched Duncan is Juan Mina, who hasn’t featured for the first team.
I am thrilled that other issues were addressed this offseason (center back depth, creative attacking pieces), so I’m fine pushing the fullback problem to the next transfer window. But it has felt like there were some interesting intra-league options that the club missed out on this winter.
Our coach brought on a third center back with ten minutes left. And I wasn’t worried.
Andres Reyes came on the 82nd minute to replace Elias Manoel and see out the Red Bulls’ 2-1 lead in Houston on Saturday night. He sat next to Sean Nealis as the RCB in a back three, sporting a 5-4-1 or 5-2-2-1 formation for the last 10+ minutes of the match. And he looked fantastic.
This is partially because I think he’s learned how to simplify his game a lot from last season and make more no-sense clearances instead of jeopardizing the ball. But this is also because he didn’t have much to do. Forsberg, Edelman, Amaya, and Morgan ran for the entire match, making it tough for Houston to challenge the Red Bulls’ back line even in the dying embers of the match. And Harper’s substitution for Dante Vanzeri only strengthened the high-intensity press.
Either way, being able to park the bus effectively is something this team hasn't been able to do for a long time. It’s still early, but the tactical flexibility and defensive soundness of this Red Bulls team feels strong enough for silverware this season.
Lewis Morgan scores. But we must be patient.
Lewis Morgan was at the center of conversation after the 2-1 win against the Houston Dynamo. First, because Morgan was the catalyst behind two turnovers which led to two goals, in typical Red Bull fashion. And second, because he scored a banger from outside of the 18-yard box in typical Lewis Morgan fashion.
Why I say we must be patient is because Morgan himself has conceded that he’s not 100% fit just yet. In the post-game presser, Morgan shared “I’m definitely not 100% back to myself. I know that. I’ve been out for so long, I’ve missed so much football, that I anticipated that it was going to take me…five, six games before I really feel like myself again. But I feel like I’m getting there…tonight was a big milestone to put the first goal behind me...”
The Red Bulls’ striker core may be closer than we think. But I still want a new signing.
Dante Vanzeir and Elias Manoel connected for the first goal of the match against the Houston Dynamo, finishing off a play that also included Lewis Morgan, Frankie Amaya, and Emil Forsberg. And that is the exact sentence I want to be writing after every match this season! All of our primary attacking contributors played a role in the goal, and I felt it was especially important for Vanzier, who has been quiet before the assist, to gain confidence early in the season. But it was Elias Manoel who really impressed me.
Whereas in the Wild Card match against Charlotte FC last season, Manoel played on the left and completed his hat-trick heroics, against Houston he excelled as a second striker. We saw glimpses of this against Nashville, when Emil almost assisted an on-rushing Manoel on our first goal of the season. But against Houston, we saw Manoel drop deep and let Morgan push ahead as a second forward, playing with space and ultimately being in the right place to score a goal.
With that being said, there have still been a worrying amount of chances missed in and around the six-yard box. While some of this can be chalked up to early-season rust, there is still undoubtedly quality missing at the number nine position for this club. I’d like to see that last international roster spot be used on a promising attacking player. We need to secure goals for this season to be the success that we know it can be.