Dax McCarty did, upon his return to Red Bull Arena, what former Red Bulls always do when they return to New Jersey: He got his name in the boxscore. In Dax's case it was via a return to his attacking midfield roots with some elusive dribbling and then a lovely little lay-off to Nemanja Nikolic for the assist:
That's pretty, and obviously that's important – any time you get the primary helper, you've done something right.
While that's an example of what McCarty can do, it's not an example of what he does. He didn't become a Best XI player in New York, a two-time Supporters' Shield winner and captain and fan favorite, and a borderline USMNT player because of his creativity around the box. What got him all of the above was his ability to dominate games in midfield on and off the ball, to connect the back to the front and to make all of his attackers better.
McCarty is annually one of the highest usage-rate players in MLS. Everything for New York, since 2011, flowed through him, and that's the case now that he's moved to the Midway.
Except his old teammates just did not allow that to happen on Saturday in a 2-1 RBNY victory:
That's McCarty's Opta chalkboard from New York's win. Green arrows are completed passes, red incomplete, and blue is the assist. He got on the ball a bunch – he always does – but you can see he was ineffective at driving the game forward and connecting passes into the more dangerous parts of the pitch.
So while he pretty clearly had an effect on the game, the New York midfield did not let him control the matchup. That's why their home unbeaten streak has now hit 19, and why the Fire remain a work in progress.
