RBNY Still Lacking Sharpness at Montreal

The start of the 2016 season for the defending Supporters Shield winners is not off to a good start. The Red Bulls opened their season at home against Toronto FC and lost it late, but making a trip to Que`bec province to face the Montreal Impact you would have thought they were going to quickly get points of any kind at the Olympic Stadium.

But sadly it all went crashing down for them again and this time the goals started to go past Robles inside the first fifth-teen minutes of the second half as Dominic Oduro converted the opening goal of the match. Gideon Baah who has looked sensational in his first game and a half, gave up a poor turnover that allowed the Impact to counter.

Ignacio Piatti deflects the ball off his head and finds Johan Venegas who attacks the net with help and quickly crosses to Oduro who slots it home past Luis Robles for the one goal lead. Piatti who was red hot to open the season in Vancouver with two goals and an assist is off and running as he quickly got a ball and started the attack.

When he got inside the Red Bulls area he went short side to the left of Robles and nails the ball inside the near post to make it two nothing Montreal inside the 71st minute. In two game Ignacio Piatti has scored three times and assisted twice and looks like he is making up for the absence of Didier Drogba who is currently on loan with the Sacramento Republic of the USL as he is training with the club to stay sharp.

Anthony Jackson-Hamel would convert in second half stoppage time to finish of the Red Bulls as the Impact wins the match by a final of three goals to nil and another clean sheet goes against the Red Bulls as they quickly fall to 0-2, but once again there is an issue of sharpness lacking with the club as the boys are not finish off their chances or not taking their shots well.

Bradley Wright-Phillips finally got some chances on frame or just barely missing slotting in balls inside the posts as he came up empty once again this late afternoon at the Big O. Especially when he got a glorious chance inside the Impact area before Piatti made it 2-0. A quick pass from Felipe that finds BWP inside the area and a hard hit nails Evan Bush right off his face that prevented an equalizer then quickly became 2-0.

But overall this was another performance from Marsch's side that was uneven and that lack of sharpness to start this new season is starting to look a bit nervy for the boys. "We haven't been sharp and at the same time we haven't created enough either. We've had possession in the other teams half and it hasn't come to fruition." said Marsch, "The longer you go in games and your not converting your chances, the more pressure will go to your back and that's what happened. We weren't good enough or sharp enough on the day and that's what happens when you get losses."

Ronald Zubar was suspended for this match by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for his yellow card challenge in the home opener to Toronto FC's Daniel Lovitz with a late tackle in the 47th minute, so Repentigny, Que`bec native Karl Ouimette played in Zubar's place and had a decent game, but now the club heads back home to Red Bull Arena and tries to work out the kinks before the international break comes.