Keys to the game: Red Bulls in control

The Red Bulls 4-0 victory at Toyota Park on Wednesday night was a masterclass performance.

The Fire failed to ever threaten Luis Robles in goal, while Matt Lampson struggled to make more than a couple saves on the other side of the field.

Here’s a look on how the Red Bulls were able to get such a convincing result on the road against a highly rated Chicago Fire team.

Formations:

The Fire set up in the usual 4-2-3-1, with Dax playing next to Juninho and Djordje Mihailovic on a rotating basis.

Meanwhile, the New York Red Bulls lined up in a style that was made famous by Johan Cruyff, a 3-5-1-1. The numbering of the formation isn’t necessarily the most important part of it, but the diamond in the midfield. Felipe played the base of the diamond, flanked by Sean Davis and Daniel Royer. Sacha Kljestan played on top of the diamond, drifting throughout the midfield.

The four man midfield outnumbered the Fire in any situation, and the Fire could not figure out how to mark efficiently. Usually the Fire allowed Felipe to be the free player, and he nearly broke them down early on with the space given. In the end it was Damien Perrinelle who stepped up next to Felipe to make the killer pass.

Bradley Wright-Phillips took advantage of a jumble of players in front of the box and snuck off the back shoulder of Johan Kappelhof getting way to much space in the box.

Later on, the Red Bulls didn’t even try to attack, especially after a 2-0 lead on the road. The remaining goals didn’t come down to the formation as much as lazy play at the back and the Fire committing too many men forward.

Defensively, the Red Bulls didn’t commit forward unnecessarily, and sat back with a line of five protected by a line of four. The Fire struggled to find a creative way to break down the defense other than send long ball over the top or loft crosses from deep areas.

First and Last 15:

The game ended up coming down to a 30 minute period, the first and the last fifteen minutes.

The Red Bulls came out strong right off the bat, taking advantage of mismatches, and finding space to push the attack early. The Fire just didn’t start properly and in the end the first 15 caused them to chase the game. The last 15 was a matter of Velko Paunovic taking off a center back and central midfielder for a winger and center forward. Just seconds later Royer scored an open goal.

The Fire spent 8 years chasing this home game, only to throw it away in a matter of 12 minutes. The end of the game didn’t truly influence anything, but was icing on an expertly crafted Red Bull cake.

Can someone support Dax?

It seemed the only players who showed up were those with Red Bull blood. The whole Red Bull team executed the tactical plan to a tee, with Sacha Kljestan the focal point of each attack. The playmaker, who had seemed lost this year without Dax McCarty, completed 75 passes with almost 90 touches on the ball. Only Dax stepped up for the Fire, however. He matched Kljestan’s 75 passes but had over 90 touches, the most in the game.

Dax registered the second most tackles in the game, winning the ball back three times, and won the second most fouls, with two. He tied with the second most shots in the game, and created the third most chances for his team.

While some players like Luis Solignac created more chances, and Matt Polster took more shots, neither really played to Dax’s level, who was all over the pitch. To be fair to both Solignac and Polster, they were the next two best players for the Fire, created most of the teams chances on the right side.

It just seemed like Dax needed some support in the midfield. He often was forced to make a killer pass, as his support either failed him or pushed too far upfield. With a player like Kljestan last year, Dax could run the midfield like he did tonight, but also not have the weight of both marshaling the midfield and completing the final pass.

Hopefully for Chicago, Djordje Mihailovic can grow into a Kljestan-esque role as a playmaker and supplement Dax. It’s only a matter if Dax continues to play at this level and Mihailovic continues to grow into a star.