Real Salt Lake’s offensive struggles have been well-documented of late. With just two goals in the last five league matches and a 0-2-3 record in that span, the hiccup in RSL’s previously high-scoring attack has a simple escape route.
According to RSL General Manager Craig Waibel, it is to change nothing, but continue focusing on the defensive principles and execution that earned a clean sheet against the New England Revolution on Saturday.
“We desperately need to continue to attack the way we’ve been, but we have to remain organized like we were last game to get the shutout,” Waibel said on ESPN 700. “I just don’t believe we are going to continue to be shutout as a team consistently over the course of the rest of the season. So if we focus on not conceding goals, we are a team that can easily score one, two, three or four a game.”
That had proven to be the case for much of the first four months of the season. Through a June 22 win over the New York Red Bulls, RSL was 8-4-3 and had scored 27 goals, putting the Claret-and-Cobalt among the league’s top-scoring teams. With that came goals in bunches for the forward trio of Yura Movsisyan, Juan Manuel Martinez and Joao Plata, who have seven, six and five goals, respectively.
Since then, though, RSL has had plenty of shots, totaling 59 shots in the last four matches, but just two goals. Possession has been high, too, with RSL holding 56-percent possession in those same four matches.
That’s been part of the dichotomy for RSL.
“It’s been an interesting run. We’ve had some of our better performances on the year in this stretch of games that we haven’t been finding the result,” Waibel said. “The good news is we haven’t been losing a lot, but the bad news is we haven’t been finishing a lot.”
Real Salt Lake will host the San Jose Earthquakes Friday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT and after Friday, RSL will play three of the next four matches on the road.
To hear Waibel's full interview, click here.
