Pragmatic. He had big ideas when he started out with RBNY in 2013: a fast and furious 4-3-3 that wasn't all that different in principle from the way the team plays now. But after one game (a 3-3 tie in Portland), he scrapped it in favor of a 4-4-2 that was perhaps a better fit for the aging talents he had on his roster. I occasionally wonder whether that was the first effort to get RBNY to play RalfBall, and whether the decision to abruptly abandon the plan wasn't cleared with Papa Red Bull first. Petke could hardly be fired for winning RBNY's first trophy at the end of 2013, but he was gone as soon as he didn't win another one - and his replacement, Jesse Marsch, is such a firm believer in RalfBall it looks increasingly like he might be edging toward a job in Salzburg.
Mike Petke, the pragmatist: Three Questions with Once a Metro
