CARSON, California. – Nearly 20 years after Red Bull launched its global football project, “the Red Bull way” is a tactical element of the sport. It is played at the highest level, notably by RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Champions League, and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean thanks to various investments. It is defined by a big press, and many of those who have been responsible for implementing this vision have created a blend of this saying and current possession-oriented football stylistic trends.
Yet in the United States, “the Red Bull way” seems a little different these days.
The New York Red Bulls, the second club in the company’s portfolio after making the purchase in 2006, reached the MLS Cup final on Saturday against the LA Galaxy in so-called disjointed fashion. They play without the ball and absorb the other team’s pressure for much of the game, with their defense playing a prominent role in their playoff run. The Red Bulls are also limited in their shots and goals from set pieces. It’s the classic definition of lousy victory, living up to their underdog status after becoming the lowest-ranked team to reach the MLS Cup. Describing it as a departure from “the Red Bull way”, however, is another story.
“We all know the Red Bull way,” captain Emil Forsberg said Thursday, “(and) how we want to play football.”
Reinventing “the Red Bull way”
In a bid to generate publicity, and perhaps attract clicks to its website, Red Bull took advantage of the opportunity of Ralf Rangnick’s transfer to Manchester United in 2021. essentially to make public the company’s tactical manifesto.
Although Rangnick is not the founder of Red Bull’s soccer project, he is often credited with perfecting it and laying the foundational building blocks that the company’s entire club portfolio is, in theory, supposed to follow. Gegenpress was at the top of the manifesto, described as “a wave of unrelenting pressure and intensity,” but there are many ways to interpret this. Historically, it’s by keeping the ball.
Leipzig, for example, has been one of the possession leaders in the Bundesliga for several years, while the New York team has, at least historically, enjoyed possession success. From 2015 to 2018, when then-head coach Jesse Marsch led them to two Supporters’ Shield titles and delivered arguably the team’s greatest period of success, they were also l one of the leaders in possession in MLS. This season, however, new head coach Sandro Schwarz has completely abandoned that idea: they were second to last in the regular season in possession and perhaps outdid themselves by averaging just 31.3% of the ball in their four playoff games so far.
“The Red Bull way,” as the company defined it three years ago, explains this discrepancy and they refer to a quote from Ramgnick himself. “In my opinion, it is a mistake to think that you can only control the game if you have the ball. It is often the opposite. Our research has shown that the probability of scoring a goal decreases quickly the longer a team has possession of the ball.
Although the Red Bulls’ form has been all over the place this season, they appear to have perfected their off-the-ball approach. It was their special interpretation of the high demands of the press, which actually allowed the Red Bulls to break out of this “ugly” style in the eye test.
“We feel comfortable without the ball and actually, you know what? We can control without the ball,” defender John Tolkin said. “When the opposing team passes the ball in their defensive third for 10 minutes, they don’t do anything about it. If we have a good structure, we can hold the middle without the ball. It’s not a problem for us. If we can frustrate them that way, it’s no problem for us. I don’t like trying to break down a tough team, that’s what I mean by that and I hope we can do it. that to these guys and recovering loose balloons, loose balloons and get I put them on the counter and capitalize.
Only two of their six goals in the playoffs have come from open play, which Tolkin, a Red Bulls academy product, says does not deviate from the company’s message.
“Since I came to Red Bull what has been injected into me is that we love set pieces and for the last five years set pieces have been huge for us, especially in the playoffs” , he said. “I think we won three games from set pieces and that shows how important they are.”
Forsberg graduated from the possession-oriented definition of “the Red Bull way”, and moved to New York this year after eight years in Leipzig. He joined the German club in the lower leagues when Rangnick did and has spent the last few years in the ball-loving Leipzig team. The tactical transition from Germany to the United States, despite the clubs’ different approaches, was straightforward.
“I think it was easy, to be honest,” he said. “I also think with Sandro as a coach, and what he wants to do, I could feel it and I could take it with me because I’ve been working with coaches for a while, so for me, it was not a difficult transition. I know what to do and as captain you have to take more responsibility and try to transmit that also on the pitch, with the players. It was not difficult. coach, so the message we have is always good. and we always know the game plan.”
Don’t miss CBS Sports Golazo Network’s Morning Footy, now in podcast form! Our team brings you all the news, views, highlights and laughs you need to follow the Beautiful Game from every corner of the globe, Monday to Friday, all year round.
New York in the spotlight
The New York Red Bulls have arguably redefined Red Bull’s footballing aspirations from a side project to a full-fledged operation. It was the second club to enter the portfolio, a year after the company bought cash-strapped Salzburg, but as Red Bull’s global reputation began to center around Leipzig, it was difficult to know where was the New York team in the table.
Players occasionally moved within the Red Bull network, notably with US men’s national team midfielder Tyler Adams, who played in the New York academy and landed a move to Leipzig in 2019. The coaches did too, with Marsch continuing his successful stint in New York. York with an assistant role at Leipzig in 2018, then as manager at Salzburg and Leipzig. The move gave the impression that the New York team existed to serve its Leipzig-based counterpart, and the team’s middling form in recent years hasn’t helped matters. Since Marsch’s departure, New York hasn’t finished higher than sixth in the Eastern Conference or made it past the first round of the playoffs — until this year.
Although the Red Bulls entered the 2024 playoffs as the No. 7 seed and with just one win in their previous 11, their ability to make it all the way to the MLS Cup feels like validation. of the team. has have succeeded even in the midst of their struggles. Head coach Schwarz won over his players in his first year with his personal approach and clear communication, although his vision of “the Red Bull way” is not the only notable quality of the MLS Cup finalists .
Red Bull teams are almost married to their processes, not just their tactics. These are rarely star teams, in some way rooted in finding players who are diamonds in the rough, but who can fill specific tactical roles. Red Bull squads may be younger, partly due to the physical demands of a high press, but in New York’s case it’s also the result of a strong academy. The team has been happy to provide opportunities to local players, with seven members of the current squad starting their professional careers on local contracts. For them, “the Red Bull way” is also a unique product of the region from which they come.
“We all have a similar bond and it definitely balances out the team to be able to help us,” said Daniel Edelman, a New Jersey native and lifelong Red Bulls fan, “because us guys know what Jersey football from a very young age.”
“Jersey football” is its own flavor of “the Red Bull way,” Tolkin argued, and that has been crucial to the team’s success this season.
“We have that kind of grit and swag from Jersey, from New York and (standing up) in your face,” Tolkin said. “I know I don’t like it when guys are breathing down my neck the whole game and I think the longer we can do that in games and the longer we can do that in games – I think guys n I don’t like it and I’ve seen it and I’ve heard it from the players, so as long as we can continue like that, I think we’re in a good position… We’ve been playing against some very quality players all the time. throughout this season, so we respect (the Galaxy). but we also want to beat them up and I think we’re going to try to do that this weekend and that’s what we’ve done all year.”
The “Jersey soccer” version of “the Red Bull way” has now made the New York team the toast of Red Bull’s soccer organization for perhaps the first time since the beverage company’s takeover energizing almost 20 years ago. Their run at the MLS Cup for the first time since 2009 comes not only as Leipzig and Salzburg struggle for form, and as Red Bull Bragantino battles to avoid relegation to the Brazilian top flight just hours before kick-off at Dignity Health Sports Park. It also offers a chance to win something that has not only been elusive for the New York team, but also for the other Red Bull teams except Salzburg: a meaningful silver medal.
“That’s why I came,” Forsberg said. “I came here to win, nothing else. That’s the ultimate goal, to win. I came here to win. I can’t talk about what happened before but when I arrived, I had a clear objective and that was to win.”
