While the New York Red Bulls added to their midfield and forward corps this week, it was a jumbled defensive line that was again the team’s undoing in a 3-2 away loss to Los Angeles Galaxy. Mexican superstar Javier Chicharito Hernandez notched a characteristically opportunistic hat trick as the two defensive formations used by Gerhard Struber both struggled to gel in the California sun.
After establishing a 4-4-2 diamond setup in late preseason and the opener against Kansas City, Struber began the match against LA with the Red Bulls in a somewhat counterintuitive 3-5-2 formation.