COMMENTARY – When the New York Red Bulls surprised the world with their unexpected, but hard-earned Supporters’ Shield run last year, it was coach Mike Petke and Sporting Director Andy Roxburgh that were heralded as heroes for the accomplishment.

It is only right, then, that both men take the brunt of responsibility for this year’s failures.

From the start of 2014, the Red Bulls have taken calculated decisions that have come back to haunt them. Whether it is offseason acquisitions or week-to-week management, nothing has panned out quite the way they had hoped. Soaring ideas have become impractical in practice, and now, New York are stuck with a team that is a year older, a year richer and a thousand years from the hungry side that took the league by storm just a few months ago.

The term ‘sophomore slump’ is used to describe the widely recognized phenomenon that sees young players take a precipitous fall off from their rookie year achievements to their second season as pros. The same can apply to the technical staff – and certainly does with both Petke and Roxburgh.

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