The Redbulls have been an enigma this season. For one they have never looked like a smooth team outside of a few Open Cups games played by rookies and bench warmers. The Starters are absolutely clueless on the ball. No skill, no technical ability, no zeal, no will, no spine, they look terrible to be honest. Its quite baffling that Angel has managed 9 goals this season with a midfield of that quality playing behind him, thats the mark of a classy player.
The Redbulls midfield usually consist of Estonian addition Joel Lindpere, Seth Stammler, Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Dane Richards. The sad thing is that neither of these guys are very good with the ball at their feet. Sinisa Ubiparipovic is the expception proving to be a formidable passer whenever he plays a central role. Lately Hans Backe has opted to play him on the wings where he's a none factor for the most part. Joel Lindpere has been living off his first two games of the season where he scored two stunning goals to start. Outside of those instances he's looked average, he really does nothing special for the team except a few threatening runs that usually amount to nothing. Seth Stammler is the long range man, shoots from distance and scores .0002 percent of the time, he messes up on his passing and lacks the leadership needed to be an effective Deep Midfield Player . Dane Richards is the speedy 15th cousin of Usain Bolt that dribbles into the opponent, looses the ball, then jogs back as if nothing happened, yet he starts nearly every game as long as he's fit to play.
This combination in the Redbull midfield will only doom this team. They have been lucky for the most part this season and is only sitting in second place due to a weak Eastern Conference.
Can this be fixed with the players currently on roster? Maybe not but things could certainly look better, I live in the NY area and watch them whenever I get the chance to. The best the Redbull have looked this season is when the team has rookie Tony Tchani manning the middle partnered with Sinisa Ubiparipovic. He's not great but he's better than all the redbull have to offer in the the central midfield position , Joel Linpere Included. He needs a bit of experience but that can only come with time on the pitch and the confidence of his trainer. Irvin Garcia has been full of spark and looked very technical the few times i saw him come in as a sub and played in Open Cup games. Hans Backe has claimed that the rookie is too raw and is prone to mistakes. I cannot fathom a player more more raw and mistake prone than Dane Richards. I believe with the current batch of players this team is better served with a five man midfield that transforms in to a 4-2-1-3 .
To the point, what combination of players do i think would give the Redbulls the best chance of controlling possession of the ball and threatening the defense of opponents?
------------------------Juan Pablo Angel--------------------
--Joel Lindpere---------Thiery Henry---------Mac Kandji--
--------------Carl Robinson----------Tony Tchani---------
Borman-----------Ream----------Mendez---------Albright
-------------------------Condoul--------------------------
Until the Redbull acquire a good Central Midfielder that controls the tempo of the game, their best option is to stack the midfield with the most technically gifted players they have and try to stifle the opponents attack while they control possession of the ball. Hans Backe's 4-4-2 system does not work with the current batch of players.
The 4-4-2 formation is going out of style and being replaced with the 4-5-1 that transforms into a 4-3-3 . Currently the best teams in the world employ this formation, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, The Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay , Spain, on and on. In order to have an effective 4.-4-2 formation you must have a combination of central midfielders that are techically gifted enough to control the tempo of the game coupled with wingers who can make effective runs spreading out the game while whipping in good crosses. Seth Stammler, Joel Linpere, Sanisa , and Richards are not these players. The comibnation of Stammler and Lindpere are not Technically gifted enough to control ball possession, Dane Richard is not intelligent enough to make the correct runs but why run when you are getting no service down the flanks ? Sanisa is usless as a wide player , he cannot cross and he has no speed so that makes no sense.
Redbull fans should be real and stop thinking that they have a really good team, they are benefiting from a poor eastern conference plain and simple . The Crew is the only team in this conference consistent enough to challenge for the title. If the Redbulls plan on making a 2008 style run they will need to get this down . They are half way through the season and still do not have a consistent starting eleven.
