Mike Petke is unhappy. But his finger is far from the panic button after four matches in his tenure as Real Salt Lake Head Coach.
Through two matches, RSL had scored victories over the Vancouver Whitecaps and Colorado Rapids. However, two lopsided defeats against Atlanta United and Sporting Kansas City left fans wondering how the team was progressing under its new coach. On Tuesday, Petke made it clear that things weren’t good enough against a tough Kansas City opponent and that he had emphasized that point to his team this week.
“I just want the level to be raised in a desire way this week and work ethic needs to improve. They know it,” Petke told media after training. “We’re getting there. This is a process. But we have enough good players that they are going to be challenging for positions this week.”
Petke further reiterated that he knows things won’t turnover overnight, but that the process will take time. However, his expectation, he said, is that the team keeps up things like work rate and off-ball movement while learning the nuances of his system.
His dissatisfaction comes not necessarily in the results, but in the means by which RSL reached those results – allowing early goals and fighting from behind for the majority of both defeats.
“I’m not fazed in the least bit over the last two results. At all. And that’s the truth. And I’m a competitive person. Do I want to win? Yeah,” he said. “But this is something that I’ve bought into and everybody seems to be buying into and there is going to be a ways to go before everyone is where we want to be. I want to win. I’m still angry. But if you look at the entire picture, it’s just two speed bumps.”
This week, RSL has another tough opponent in unbeaten FC Dallas. At 4-0-3, Dallas has proven tough to break down, allowing just five goals through the first seven matches. With an RSL attack that has been shutout four times already this season and a defense that has posted three clean sheets, but also allowed multiple goals in five matches, he certainly has matches to point to on either side of the equation.
The commonality in the successful matches is work rate. So that’s the simple solution for Petke.
“We have to amp it back up,” he said. “It’s what we have to do.”
Saturday’s match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. MT.
