New York Red Bull went back to their early-season ways on the weekend when they lost 3-1 at Chicago Fire.
Goals from Patrick Nyarko, Gonzalo Segares and Chris Rolfe did the job over the Red Bulls, who were served by Dax McCarty's goal, and as expected, head coach Hans Backe was not too happy with the defensive performance of his side.
Earlier in the 2012 campaign, the Red Bulls had leaked goals at will to their opposition but improved their defensive output, up until the US Open Cup loss to Harrisburg City Islanders (3-1) on June 6 which culminated in the defeat at Toyota Park to the Fire.
Backe's New York outfit had gone six matches unbeaten prior to the weekend and the Swede is hoping they can be back to their best in time for the trip to Vancouver Whitecaps on Thursday.
"(We) survived first half, and bounced back quite well, and scoring the tying goal, making it one-one. (But) I felt our defending game was too flat.
"We need to defend better. That has to be the starting point. We need to track different. We need to start better. We have to alter our attacking game and be braver when we crosses and it was too easy for both center backs to win those 50/50 balls. It's a lot of things that just have to be better. The passing game, too many unforced errors, the pressure. It happens sometimes in games every now and then and it's still frustrating.""The first twenty minutes were horrible, conceding an early goal," he said.
