Red Bull New York Should Look to Improve Defense This Window
One of the clearest areas for this Red Bull New York squad to improve in the upcoming window is the defensive line.
There was a mass exodus of defenders in the offseason, like Noah Elie, Sean Nealis, and Kyle Duncan.
With the World Cup coming up, there are a lot of potential prospects that the team should be looking at.
This in no way is meant to diminish the deadline deal the team made to sign Julián Bazán and limit his potential, but there needs to be more added to the backline of MLS’s worst defense. Coming to the World Cup break, the team has given up 31 goals. This number is unsustainable if the team wants to make the postseason again.
The Joyeux Bungi loan deal with RB Leipzig was a bust. This loan deal started in the worst possible way due to visa issues, and he wasn’t even on the bench for the Inter Miami game. He finally played against D.C. He was mediocre at best, and he played only 45 minutes. The last time Bungi was seen with the first team was against FC Cincinnati, where he cost the team the game by committing a penalty that was the deathblow.
While having potential, Mathew Dos Santos has proven he is still raw. After the New England game at home, he has been roughly averaging a 6.37 out of a possible ten in the Sofa Score player rankings. Most of the games, he has been around 5.9-6.4, with two games above 7. That may read as a word salad, but in essence, these are mediocre numbers that explain why most of the goals have been coming from that side of the field since Dylan Nealis moved to his natural position as a center back.
The only bright signings last offseason have been Justin Che as a center back and Jakheele Marshall-Rutty as a left back.
While Tim Parker, Dylan Nealis, and Robert Voloder provide depth and veteran presence in how the MLS operates, Che has been a plug-and-play center back, Marshall-Rutty has been a reliable left back, and the games they missed have shown the quality of both.
Che is the traditional center back who can diagnose plays, time runs, and stop shots. Marshal-Rutty, though hot-headed at times, can catch up to most runs that strikers make.
This is not to say that there are no other holes in the team, of which there are.
Midfield and goalkeeper are other major holes, as there is a lot of discord between Emil Forsberg and Adri Mehmeti, who do not mesh well, and the Ethan Horvath experiment has not been the best due to his rust. Mehmeti, even though he is seventeen, is polished and plays the same as Forsberg.
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