The New York Red Bulls were knocked out of the Major League Soccer Cup playoffs again on Sunday, losing to Toronto FC on the away-goals tiebreaker. It would be all too easy to pat them on the back for a good fight – on the field and, as it turned out, in the stadium tunnel during halftime — to say, simply, “Well, that’s just the Red Bulls again.” After all, this franchise has not won a major trophy in two decades, a history that involves more than one ownership group.

But the two-game playoff was further proof that decision makers in the multi-tiered Red Bull company – whether they reside in Fuschl am See, Austria, or Harrison, N.J. – need to back off a bit from company-mandated strategies that are not necessarily helping. One size does not fit all. Tactics that work just fine with the considerable talent at RB Leipzig in Germany and Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, are simply not succeeding in New York – certainly not in the most important matches.

The whole setup is unique, and somewhat difficult to fathom. A sports management team appointed by the Red Bull energy drink firm in Austria has determined that the company’s football (soccer) subsidiaries should import a very narrow operational model.

The paradigm makes considerable economic sense, in terms of developing an affordable roster. The clubs eschew expensive transfers and focus on developing their own young prospects. That part is fine, if you can get away with it. The New York Red Bulls, however, took a step down in the offseason when they parted with veteran workhorse and leader Dax McCarty. The next generation wasn’t quite ready.

So that didn’t really work well. And then the tactical mandates were not necessarily helpful, either. All Red Bull teams, regardless of strengths and weaknesses, are expected to press aggressively high up the field while employing a relatively sophisticated zone pattern. In theory, this press creates turnovers by opponents in dangerous parts of the field, leading to Red Bull goals.

Anybody who pulls on a Red Bull jersey knows this is the way of the Bull. Omer Damari, an Israeli striker who played for Leipzig and Salzburg before he was loaned to the New York Red Bulls, said there was no mystery or flexibility in the authorized style.

“You have to press all the time,” he said when he came briefly to New York in 2016. “With the Red Bulls, you have to know the system.”

That’s the System, with a capital S. In Germany and Austria, where Leipzig and Salzburg have earned their way high up the table, it has been working wonderfully. In New York, the same strategy under coach Jesse Marsch has been equally successful during the regular season.

Then come the playoffs, however, that distinctly American mechanism for determining the champion. Opponents are more focused and prepared in the postseason than they are during the regular season. They absorb the early, high pressure from New York and then pick their moments to counter against a frantic, thin defense.

The two-match playoff against Toronto turned out to be the perfect laboratory to test these tactics. The Red Bulls kept to the party line in the first game at home, losing 2-1, greatly damaging their chances to advance. Marsch then adjusted in the return leg at Toronto, going with four backs and a diamond pattern at midfield – finally straying from the Red Bull blueprint.

“We didn’t want it to be just a game where we possessed the ball and they sat back and countered,” Marsch said. “We did a lot of little things to combat their conservative tactics.”

The result was a 1-0 victory for New York, and very nearly a major upset in the aggregate score. Marsch may have finally learned a tough, playoff lesson: The club’s playoff record has not validated the company system. The Red Bulls were eliminated during the previous two seasons by inferior opponents, Columbus and Montreal, which employed the survive-and-counter strategy. When the high press doesn’t create turnovers, and when Bradley Wright-Phillips doesn’t finish a few precious chances, the New York Red Bulls become dead ducks.

The question now is whether Red Bull management in Europe, and Marsh in Harrison, will change tactics radically, or whether they will stick to a system that suits the technically superior players in Germany and Austria.

The high press is fun to watch, good entertainment. It has its place, and its moments. Young players are always cheaper, and full of vigor. But in the tightly choreographed MLS Cup playoffs, employing flawed athletes who may be earning only five-figure salaries, that combination has proved counter-productive.

Executives from the energy drink company need to get a little less controlling, a little less involved. Some warm milk might help.