HANOVER, N.J. – The absence of Thierry Henry from the New York Red Bulls this season has been well documented.
While the unbeaten Red Bulls haven’t yet missed the longtime star too much on the field, the void created by his offseason retirement – coupled with Tim Cahill’s move to China – has left many within the RBNY locker room in a somewhat unfamiliar position.
Without a true star or face of the franchise on the roster, first-year head coach Jesse Marsch has elected to build a “leadership council.” Consisting of new captain Dax McCarty, goalkeeperLuis Robles, midfielder Lloyd Sam and several other veterans, the council spreads leadership responsibilities around the locker room instead of placing the entire onus on one or two players.
“Other guys have always had big personalities, but obviously when you have Thierry in the team, there’s always a bigger personality no matter what,” McCarty said. “He’s always going to overshadow anything that other guys say, and that’s fine. That’s how it should have been.
“But now that he’s gone and some other players are gone, it’s more of a case of this is a team of seven, eight, nine, 10 really experienced, veteran guys. All of us see ourselves on the same level in terms of our leadership and our abilities and our roles. It was obvious that when Thierry was here, he was the main man. His decisions and his word went a long way. Now with him gone, guys can step up, and what they say goes a little bit further now.”
The changes within the locker room have already become apparent both on and off the field. Players who were perhaps content to fade into the background in years past are now taking it upon themselves to lead in their own way, fostering a more professional environment within the team.
“It’s built accountability,” Robles told MLSsoccer.com. “Guys have to make sure that guys are doing what’s supposed to be done, whether it’s on the field, off the field, in the locker room, in the community, whatever we’re called upon to do. We have a responsibility, and we’re the guys that have to make sure that not only that that gets relayed, but accounted for.”
With a new mentality engrained in the camp, players are beginning to buy in to a club no longer dependent upon one or two key figures. Thanks in large part to the introduction of the council, the communication between players and coaching staff has vastly improved this year.
“[Marsch] wants to get the players a lot more involved in everything that happens,” said Sam. “So if there are things that don’t agree with the players, he wants the leadership council to come to him [with suggestions]. It’s not just the management deciding everything; he’s got the players involved.”
Each player now has a more defined voice in the side, as players young and old are encouraged to speak their mind. While a chain of command admittedly still exists, there are more opportunities for newcomers to have their voices heard.
“There’s a hierarchy in every locker room,” McCarty said. “The guys that have been in the league longest, the guys that have played professionally longest, the guys that have been on the team longest; they’re always going to have more of a say in the media, in the training sessions, in the games, in the way things are going with the team.
“With that being said, I love that our young guys aren’t afraid to talk and give us their opinions and speak their mind. This is an environment where every player’s opinion is valued and every player’s opinion matters. You’re never going to win a championship with five or six guys.”
As the season continues, each player’s role within the locker room may increase or decrease to varying extents. There will be days when being a vocal leader may fall to a fresh face, or when a normally quiet veteran will take a younger player aside in a coachable moment.
Regardless, the leadership that now falls on a group rather than an individual has put positive pressure on New York’s experienced players to prepare their team week in and week out, giving them more of a feeling of ownership than they may have had in the past.
“The one thing that’s really good about this collaborative effort is that it allows people to feel ownership,” Robles said. “Ownership in what they’re doing, in what the team is trying to achieve. Jesse’s coined the term ‘all in,’ and of course it’s not anything new, but it allows us to start to carve out our identity. Are we going to be all in as individuals to this collective effort? Our responsibility as this council is to continue to parlay that responsibility, continue to get guys to buy in each and every day.”
New Rapids midfielder Marcelo Sarvas unfazed by Colorado's slow start: "The results will come"
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – At first glance, it doesn’t look like much has changed for the Colorado Rapids in 2015.
After a miserable second half of 2014, the results look like more of the same for the club this year with the team drawing their first three games before losing last weekend to extend their winless streak to an MLS record-tying 18 games.
But with 11 new players acquired in the offseason, a whole lot is yet to be determined for the Rapids this season.
Out of all of Colorado’s new players, midfielder Marcelo Sarvas may be making the most drastic transition. After winning a pair of MLS Cup championships with the LA Galaxy over the past three seasons, Sarvas was brought in this winter to bring veteran leadership to a roster that had an average age of 23 in 2014.
In addition to being at a vastly different club, Sarvas has also undertaken a new attacking midfield role with the Rapids and has even donned the armband during the absence of injured captain Drew Moor.
“It’s hard because I’m not used to being that close to the goal,” Sarvas said of his positional transition. “If I was a natural forward, maybe things would be different. But whatever position I’m playing, I’m trying to do my best.”
Despite not being in his natural position, the Brazilian has been serviceable in his new attacking role, nearly breaking through for a goal off of a header in the second half of Colorado’s recent 2-0 loss to New England as well as generating three of the Rapids’ six shots in a 0-0 draw at the Houston Dynamo on March 28.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the way head coach Pablo Mastroeni has been utilizing the veteran midfielder, who has also played an important role in initiating the Rapids' defensive pressure.
“There’s a defensive aspect for everyone. His ability to start the defensive posture of the group has been good,” Mastroeni said. “I think he’s a player that’s tuned in and wants to get after the ball in higher positions in the field. For us, it’s really important to start to pressure a bit higher, and he’s got a good read on how to do that. I think what’s created a lot of our good opportunities; pressuring guys and being able to break out of those positions.”
So while the Rapids remain without a win or a goal in four games to start off 2015, it hasn’t caused a panic in the 33-year-old Sarvas, who helped LA bounce back from a seven-game winless streak to win MLS Cup in 2012.
“My spirits are good,” Sarvas said. “It’s hard for people to judge just by game days. If people followed every day how we are working, they’d see us at our best. Of course, with soccer it’s all about results, goals and getting three points. But if we keep working like we have, the results will come.”
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