After defeating Nashville SC 2-0, the New York Red Bulls picked up their fourth straight home win. The attacking partnership of Patryk Klimala and Fábio got its first MLS start, while Tom Edwards got the start in the midfield.
“Yeah, I think this is a good one with Tom Edwards, he can handle more positions,” said Head Coach Gerhard Struber after the win. “This is for the whole team very, very good to see that. He was very important in our situation on the ball, he is very calm on the ball. He has a very good feel for finding spaces, and he's very clean on the ball. I think this was a very good performance from him, and yeah, he showed me he's also ready in the six. He's also ready in the center back position and his main position, he's normally a fullback, yeah.”
Klimala noted after the game how comfortable he felt playing alongside Fábio.
“Yes, we train a lot of things like in the pressing, when we defend, when we are attacking,” said Klimala. “I feel comfortable with Fábio. It’s okay for me because I can play with anybody, but it worked today with Fábio, and he scored the goal. I gave him the assist, and I’m happy we won the game.”
Now the team has several days to prepare its visit to New England, a place where Struber feels the Red Bulls competed in the first 30 minutes of their first battle. The goal is to turn those 30 minutes into a full match and capture this season’s first three away points.
“Yeah, I think for every striker, it's important in the end to score goals,” Struber said about Fábio’s first MLS goal. “I can see today that Patryk and Fábio, they have a good connection together. They make many, many good movements. They are -- I think it's very difficult to manage the game from Nashville. Very interesting, Patryk with his outstanding movements and with his pace, it's not easy to handle. And yeah, Fábio it was very good for him to score and this gives him a lot of confidence for the next big games. For the whole team, I think it was a good feeling that our strikers did a very good job in the end. Also they help us with the right goals at the right time.”
