No one at Inter Miami CF is more familiar with the New York Red Bulls than goalkeeper Luis Robles. Before captaining the MLS expansion side, he wore the armband for the Red Bulls and was the ironman starter for eight years.
The veteran has intimate knowledge of what makes the Red Bulls tick, which is what made his new club’s 4-1 defeat to his former club even tougher to swallow.
“We didn’t start the game right. We didn’t respect our opponent,” Robles said in a video conference call after the match. “And any time you come onto the field thinking that it’s going to be a kickaround and that you can go through the motions and you’re such a good team that you can just play teams off the park, I think it’s the wrong mentality to have.”
A Red Bulls team that had been reeling and struggling to create scoring chances put a season-high four goals past their former ‘keeper in Inter Miami’s most lopsided defeat and first home loss of their inaugural season.
Watch: Luis Robles on Miami's defeat
“I think it was our worst game. They were better than us,” said Miami head coach Diego Alonso. “We committed errors that helped make our opponents stronger and we weren’t capable of understanding the game we needed to play.”
“We passed it poorly when we did what we weren’t supposed to do,” Alonso continued, explaining why they suffered under RBNY’s pressure. “When we did what we were supposed to do, it was easy for us to break their pressure. We didn’t do that consistently and when we didn’t do it, we suffered. We were committing errors because we weren’t doing what we needed to do.”
Robles said his team were too reactionary when it came to the Red Bulls' press. Alonso added that when Miami played quick passes against the press, it opened up spaces to attack, which is how he explained Juan Agudelo scored the equalizer.
Alonso said he wouldn’t comment on Robles’ statement or be critical of his team’s effort.
“As far as Luis Robles [and his statement], I prefer to not opine on statements from players," he said. "I think each person sees it their own way. I can’t criticize the players when it comes to attitude. No. The play on the field, yes – I didn’t like what I saw when it came to the play
"I liked the team only a little bit. We only did a few things well. But when it comes to the attitude, I can’t criticize them given they made best efforts to prepare. They put in a great effort and for moments we have to stay connected and committed in order to be able to grow as a team. But when it comes to attitude, I have nothing to reproach them about. We need to get better with our play on the field, with the security and confidence that I have in them, that we’re capable of being better than we were today because we’ve shown it in the majority of games we’ve played.”
