After a preseason that included two weeks in Florida and two weeks in Arizona, plus a Media Day, where Head Coach Chris Armas and the players were able to speak to the media, the New York Red Bulls are ready to begin the 2020 season.
The preseason has been a time period to strengthen the team’s style of play, and also to define the new captain.
“We understand our all-out pressing, we’ve evolved really in a good way with our mid-block pressing. We led the league last year in balls won in the middle third and now we’ve worked even in that last phase in defensive third,” said Armas in a press conference on Thursday. “So we’ll use our ability against the ball as an advantage to get results on the road.”
Midfielder Marc Rzatkowski believes that although the team has been trying a new system since the preseason, it will all come down to the team’s mentality and willingness to get better every day.
“Yeah, we have a different system,” said Rzatkowski. “So we try to play it a little bit differently, but I believe in our players that we all have this mentality and willingness to get better every day. So like I said before, I'm very excited to see a lot of players stepping up, getting better and improving. It doesn't matter how we play, and what kind of system, what matters is the mentality and also the quality for sure.”
As the club’s first Homegrown Captain, Sean Davis, has been able to learn from past leaders. Armas believes that the team is growing, and a lot of key figures have been important contributors.
“I think it’s important to acknowledge some of the players that are not here. It’s big pieces of guys that have laid the foundation, guys like Luis and Brad, for sure. What we end up doing, though, is we learn from those players. Imagine Sean Davis steps on the field with pride. He’s honoring Sacha [Kljestan], Dax [McCarty], the past as well,” he said. “He’s learned from those guys. And I think how the club has maintained the success is that we are about winning of course, we develop players and people. And that is good leadership. When you think about Marc de Grandpre and Denis Hamlett, those guys have been instrumental in helping people around them to develop and grow. And then we are able to pass that on to players. And I think at this club, it’s so much about innovation and forward thinking, and we push it with analytics and video every day, working.”
Starting the season with a lot of away games will not be easy, but captain Davis believes that there’s a lot of leaders in the team that will help the team get positive results on the road.
“We do have a lot of games on the road, but this is MLS, it's never going to be easy,” said Davis. “There’s going to be adversity. But like I said, when you think about the leadership group within this team, that gives me comfort. There's a lot of guys that understand what it takes to win in this league. When I think about that, it gives me a lot of confidence in this group, regardless of whether we play at home or away.”
