Moving on from a blowout only comes after dissecting what you did wrong.
And if you lose by four goals on a Wednesday and don’t play again until the following Saturday? That’s a week and a half before you can prove you’ve learned from your mistakes.
“The team that was on the field against New York, that RSL team, that’s not acceptable, and everyone here understands that,” said Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad. “We’re all talking about our quickness of play and how that opens up and changes the game in terms of how other teams press and how other teams respect us.
Real Salt Lake had held two separate film sessions on its 4-0 loss at NYCFC last week, its second four-goal loss of the season. But on Tuesday, RSL was on to the next game, which is on Saturday at home against Colorado.
“We’re just not [playing] as a team right now,” RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said. “So nobody’s having partnerships, and that’s what we’re trying to tackle. We all need to get better as a team.”
COLORADO AT RSL<br>When • Saturday, 7 p.m.<br>TV • KMYU
NYCFC was creative in finding ways to score, hitting RSL with a different type of build up to each of its goals — a cross from the flank, a penalty kick, a through ball down the middle and a series of short connecting passes.
“If you block one way, they’re going to find a different way to attack,” Glad said. “But you’ve got to be able to see all the different ways they’re attacking and see if something else isn’t working they’re obviously going to try and switch it, so then you have to adapt to that. It’s a constant flowing thing.”
To make their game plan work, RSL had to put away its chances, which it failed to do on Wednesday. It had four shots on goal against NYC FC, including an early chance from Luis Silva saved by NYC FC goalie Sean Johnson and a header by Corey Baird in the 48th minute that would have cut the deficit to 2-1.
Converting chances has been a struggle all year for the team. RSL has six goals in six matches so far this season on 64 shots, 24 of which have been on goal.
“We’ve just got to support each other more in the attack,” Silva said. “That’s a thing we talked about with the front guys already.”