After seeing their thin bench exposed last year, the Red Bulls openly talked about building up some much-needed depth in the offseason. That depth will get put to the test tomorrow in Columbus, with the news that midfielder Teemu Tainio and defender Wilman Conde won’t face the Crew (3 p.m., MSG).
Already bereft of strikers Luke Rodgers and Juan Agudelo, now Tainio will miss over a month with what the team termed a sprained knee, and Conde will sit out the Columbus game with a strained groin.
“Teemu has a ligament. Unfortunately I would guess 4-to-6 weeks. (Conde), it’s a bit strange with his groin. His ankle is ok, but he can’t really hit the ball. Normally, he should be in for next weekend,’’ said coach Hans Backe, admitting their depth – in this case Dax McCarty and Stephen Keel – will be under the spotlight.
“I think we will be quite tested. The thing with Teemu is he’s very unlucky because balance is very important in soccer in the middle of the park. If you have two strong centerbacks, two strong central midfielders and two good strikers, you can play young players outside and it will work.
“But if you lose the balance in the middle of the park, you are quite vulnerable then. And Teemu is a key player for us. You could see the second half against Montreal; he came on and he just changed the game with his attitude. But unfortunately picking up a lot of injuries.’’
Tainio had replaced an injured and ineffective Rafa Marquez at halftime last Saturday, the latter suffering from a groin injury of his own. The score was tied 2-2 at that point, but Tainio’s play in central midfield helped the Red Bulls score three second-half goals in what became a 5-2 laugher.
But no one is laughing now, as their depth will be put to the test.
Conde hasn’t practiced since straining his groin in the final moments of Saturday’s win, with McCarty set to start alongside Marquez tomorrow. Keel will replace Conde in the lineup, and while he is a physical defender who’ll win his share of aerial battles, he won’t be the distributor that Conde is.
“I hope we can sort it out,’’ Backe said. “We did a little bit in training today to build a different way.’’
The Red Bulls mustered just one goal in their first two games, with Keel at centerback. Once Conde entered the lineup and helped them build their attack from the back four, the poured in a club-record nine goals in two games. But while Thierry Henry acknowledged how important Conde is, the Red Bull captain said they can’t use his absence as an alibi for defeat.
“Oh yeah, most definitely (he’s important). He pauses when he has the ball, picks his head up, can hit the ball on a diagonal, behind the defense. He’s good at defending; that’s very important, too,’’ Henry said. “But if he doesn’t make it, that’s why you have a team. That’s why you have guys on the side that are ready to step up. That’s the job of a team.
“It doesn’t matter who plays, you’ve got to pick up points. Some other teams do it; we’re going to find a way to do it. We just lost Teemu yesterday; that’s not the best thing you want to have happen. We might not have Wilman, but that’s the way it is. We can be here talking about how we might be missing this or that but when you’re out there, its 11 vs. 11, you shouldn’t be looking for any excuses.’’
For his part, Keel said Backe has shown nothing but confidence in him. Now that the offense has gotten on track, they need to solidify a defense that has allowed seven goals in four games, without a single shutout.
“For me it’s just about staying on an even course, what I’ve been doing, nice steady, organized, helping the guys in front of me and doing my job helping the guy next to me,’’ said Keel.
“Building off the two wins, solid in the back but we can be even more solid. We haven’t had a clean sheet; I think that’s going to be vital. Four games now and we haven’t had a clean sheet; we have to keep it cleaner back there. That starts with us in the back four and Ryan (Meara, keeper), all the way up to the forwards. That’s vital.’’
Victor Palsson now becomes the top central midfield option off the bench, with Mehdi Ballouchy pushing struggling Joel Lindpere for his starting job on the left.
“I will decide tomorrow,” Backe said. “Mehdi has done well. We know that Joel and Dane (Richards) haven’t been really themselves. They’ve done, work ethic (has been) good; but we need to see more of an end product in the attacking game. A player has to live with pressure; I don’t think you can win without pressure. Let’s see how they react.”