Mike Petke has had enough.
The Real Salt Lake head coach watched his team put the finishing touches on one of the worst two-game stretches in club history on Saturday night, following up their 5-1 loss at Houston on Wednesday night with a 6-2 defeat at FC Dallas.
The losses dropped RSL to 10th in the West and put them last in the league with a 0.88 points per game average. They’ve now shipped 35 goals in just 16 games, worst in the league.
Petke, who took over from Jeff Cassar earlier this season, slammed his team after Saturday’s loss, telling RSL’s postgame show that he “can’t protect people anymore.”
“I’m appalled at certain things,” he told KMYU’s Brian Dunseth and David James. “We talked about this after the Houston game, where I was a little bit gentler, but I’m just appalled by certain things that we talk about as clear as day and you go out there and not one of them is put into play. So that tells me one of two things, either they’re not listening or they’re not good enough.”
The RSL players will now have a few days off ahead of their next game, a June 14 US Open Cup contest at Sacramento Republic FC. RSL will return to MLS play on June 17 against Minnesota.
Safe to assume their return to training won’t be very pleasant.
“[I’ve] never been through something like this,” Petke said. “It’s blowing my mind. Perhaps this is the right time for a break, but when we get back it’s going to be fun to watch them fighting like dogs to see them try to get on the field.”
