Red Bulls turning page under new head coach Troy Lesesne

HANOVER, N.J. — There seemed to be a new lease on life for the Red Bulls these days under new head coach Troy Lesesne.

Less than two weeks after the MLS club parted ways with former head coach Gerhard Struber, the Red Bulls have started to turn a corner after the disappointing start to the year. New York defeated DC United in a U.S. Open Cup match and came away with a massive three points in the standings in a 1-0 win over rival NYCFC over the weekend.

“Yeah, we had some rough moments this season, some learning moments that we really had to come together,” Red Bulls’ captain Sean Nealis said after practice on Tuesday. “And I think this last week, we really showed a lot of grit, showed a lot of courage with coming together. We had two big wins in the Open Cup of then against NYCFC. And I think the guys have responded really well. They’ve just come in each day and gone to work and they’ve prepared with more diligence and they’ve gone harder in each practice.

“And I think it’s just a testament to the guys and the coaching staff here. They’re just doing a great job getting us prepared game in and game out.”

Lesesne has had to hit the ground running since he was named head coach for the remainder of the 2023 MLS campaign on May 8. The Red Bulls had the Open Cup match, New York Derby and now they’ll play three games over the next seven days.

The Red Bulls face Toronto on Wednesday, host Montreal on Saturday and then face Cincinnati in another Open Cup match on Tuesday. While it may sound like a bit of a whirlwind, Lesesne said that the high volume of games has made it easier to make some of the changes he wanted to.

“As crazy as it has been, I think it allows us to take the time to focus on smaller areas and we know we’re going to have smaller gains in these areas,” Lesesne explained. “But it brings the next match into focus very quickly as well for us to be able to go and compete and that’s in competing together as a group and how we want to have the right connection with one another has been the main focus. The tactical stuff, again, in smaller doses is probably a better thing than then having a week to prepare and then you get a crazy coach with a lot of ideas trying to implement too much probably.”

While Lesesne did point specifically to what those changes were that he was implementing, he did reiterate that they have been put in place little by little over the team’s last two games. The win on Saturday helped pull the Red Bulls out of the Eastern Conference basement, but with just two wins this season New York still has a long climb ahead.

However, it seems that Lesesne’s messaging has been bought into by the players. Keeper Carlos Coronel told amNewYork that Lesesne had been working with the players to create a better environment and part of that was building up the confidence of the team.

Coronel said that Struber had helped the team during his time at the helm, but as the losses piled up the feeling around the team became heavier and heavier.

“So in this way Troy (found a way) to take the pressure out of the players in that moment. Then the players are enjoying more and have more confidence, and this effect the work inside of the field. That’s the change in the environment,” Coronel said through a translator.