So, the transfer window came and went. RBNY's sum of proceedings: they lost their best central midfielder and replaced him with an older, non-domestic central midfielder. Hooray! (Oh, they also got rid of a terrible transfer window signing from a year ago. Great!)

Meanwhile, there is a glaring hole at striker. Oh, sure, Metro is scoring goals (it's not last year), but time and again its supposed strikers miss chances that cost the team points. We've been saying this ad nauseam; this team has one glaring hole. And that hole wasn't filled.

The biggest problem is not the hole not being filled, but Red Bull's lack of ambition to fill that hole. It has been clear from day one that they were not looking for a veteran striker. They've been scouring for a young forward they could potentially groom. So when the dust settled on someone from Polish second division, who ended up passing on MLS, we ended up with... nothing. Not that we necessarily want a project from the Polish second division. Debate with yourself is that is better than nothing.

But that's what we have, nothing. But it's the lack of trying that hurts. Red Bull, by all accounts, is at least the second richest owner in MLS. New York (fine, also New Jersey) is the biggest marked in MLS, which should appeal to foreign players. And yet, when you see the likes of Cincinnati and Salt Lake splash millions to improve their teams, even attempting eight figure deals, where does that leave RBNY?

Here is what will happen (prove us wrong, Red Bull): We will slog into the playoffs with a few more ties on the way. We will lose in the first round, probably on penalties. Rinse, repeat.

Let's end with this quote from Jochen Schneider: "And then when it comes to playoffs, it's about momentum. It's about luck." It's unfortunate that this has been proven wrong, for some teams consistently rise in the playoffs. Those teams make their own luck. Those teams have ambition.