Is All Hope Lost For The Revs?

You don't need your finger on the pulse of Major League Soccer to know that the 2024 season for the New England Revolution has left much to be desired. A quick glance at the standings and you'll find the Revs not only at the bottom of the Eastern Conference but also clutching the Wooden Spoon at the bottom of the Supports' Shield race. Is all hope lost for the Revolution? Or maybe... just maybe... did we see the tiniest shimmers and glimmers of a team finding its identity and creating dreams of playoff aspirations in us most optimistic of fans.

After a win against the Chicago Fire on Matchday 12, the Revolution have a record of 2 Wins, 7 Losses, and 1 Tie, with a goal differential of -11. With only 7 goals on the season as a team, there as an extreme lack of threat or dangerous creations by the Revs in the attacking third. Carles Gil is touching every blade of grass trying to bail out the team as we try to learn Caleb Porter's possession heavy, play out the back style. This means he isn't up front setting up his teammates and creating opportunities. This combined with the blackhole that is Vrioni at the number 9 spot. It's no surprise we have the least amount of goals in the league this season.

Do we have our excuses? Hell yeah. We have to cope somehow. We lost our Coach (Arenas), our Goalie (Petrovic), our Striker (Bou). We've had injuries (Borrero and Bye long term, Jones and Mensah recently, among others). We're adapting to a new coach in Caleb Porter, and a whole new play philosophy. We have been slow to adapt, and don't have the strongest pieces for what we are trying to do. Despite all this, was today's game a step in the right direction? And have recent signings shown greater hope for a philosophy and coach that fans have been questioning all season?

Let's talk about Saturday night's game, New England Revolution versus Chicago Fire. What happened, and what can we take away from this game moving forward?

Not the strongest opponent, but the Fire are a team that kept us to a 1-1 draw at home not too long ago. Neither side looked too threatening early on this game. A few dangerous shots from the Fire, but nothing on target. Nick Lima was sending some good balls in toward the head of Chancalay in the first half, but to no avail. Kessler picked up a soft, early Yellow Card. How this may affect his ability to be aggressive was a concern, but he brushed off those concerns with a skillful slide tackle in the box soon after. The new pick up in net, Aljaz Ivacic, looked very calm and capable. Comfortable with the ball at his feet and a strong shot stopper. Xavier Arreaga at Center Back also brings an air of confidence to a back line that has looked unsure playing out the back (a recent signing from the Seattle Sounders).

It doesn't bode well for the Revolution when Carles Gil is coming all the way back to where our holding midfielders are playing because players like Kaye can't get the ball going up field. This also results in moments where Gil gives the ball away in our own third, getting sloppy when over-extending himself. Gil touched almost every blade of grass on the field in this match. We need him making offense happen, but that's difficult when he feels like he needs to be everywhere, as shown by the heat map below.

In the first 30 minutes of the match Chancalay and Esmir Bajraktarevic created opportunities playing dangerous balls into Vrioni. No results to speak of though, and Vrioni did not look inspiring. He had one or two moments of danger that he quickly squandered, and overall I feel he detracts from our attack.One time around 39 minutes in, Vrioni showed to the ball and kept the defender on his back, held the ball strong while players moved up field, and helped jumpstart an attack with strength and patience. Why he doesn't do this more often, I'm not sure. He seems to jog between the opposing Center Backs and rarely create danger. Credit where credit is due though, he did win the header that quickly resulted in the Chancalay banger of a goal. Caleb Porter gave him credit in the post game press-conference, and spoke positively of the Revolution striker. Sounds like we will continue to see more Vrioni. Hopefully he can find his form and find some goals.

Speaking of Chancalay and his banger of a goal. That was a banger of a goal. Great to see Tomas Chancalay getting on the board early against Miami and following it up with a second goal in as many matches this week against the Fire. If the Revolution are going to turn this season around, Chancalay will need to be a big piece of that puzzle. He had a very sloppy play toward the end of the match that could have put the nail in the coffin. Butchering a pass with the outside of his foot over to Gil that could have put the game away, two on one against the keeper. I was disappointed with that sloppy play. However, soon after I saw Gil and Chancalay and the whole team all smiles and happy after the win. So, if it doesn't bother them, it doesn't bother me. Let's keep the good vibes rolling into next week against the NY RedBulls who just got smacked by Messi, Suarez, and Inter Miami.

Ivacic had a massive save around the 72nd minute and a few others to finish out this win. He came into this game with something to prove, and I think he set a strong standard for himself in New England here today. As mentioned, Arreaga has also been a great recent pickup. I like his distribution from the back, as well as aggression on headers in the opposing team’s box. It's too bad that a guy like Dave Romney who played every minute of last year is now a 90th minute sub in a game like this and even has transfer rumors circulating his name. I'm not sure what is going on there. But I can't hate on the Arreaga addition so far. I've been very critical of Nick Lima this season, but he had a very solid game. Productive with his crosses and had a very clutch slide tackle to take an opportunity away from 20 year old Brian Gutiérrez late in the match, one of the dangerous scorers for the Fire. I wish everyone played with Ryan Spaulding's tenacity. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it's the hair. But he goes hard and I appreciate it.

Hey. 3 points on the road. A win is a win. It was not the most beautiful game. But I'm not going to complain with progress. Happy to get a W on the road. Happy Chancalay got a banger of a goal. Happy our goalie situation is looking up. Our Center Back situation looking up. Young guys like Esmir looking strong, Buck getting some minutes, and Borrero getting back in the mix. A lot of positive stuff to work from here. We came out strong in the second half, aggressive, with some obvious adjustments. Caleb Porter credited the team in his post game press conference, mentioning they came out with the mindset to finish this game early in the second half, and not let it slip away. We played more of the game in the Fire's half of the field. Got Gil activated in the attacking third. That is what brought us opportunities and eventually a goal. Let's keep moving in that direction. Porter is slowly adding some pieces that fit his philosophy, and maybe things are starting to turn brighter here in New England. If we can keep improving, get players healthy, make some roster changes come summer (and we just added a strong new Head of Player Recruitment to help with that)... this season is far from over.

I see a lot of red downward facing arrows next to the teams above us… Let's win while the others lose. Simple formula to climb the table. Go Revs.

Some quick thoughts from around the league…

• Miami is insane. Messi and Suarez are unfair. They're having so much fun dominating. It's fun to watch. They concede first… then just blow teams out of the water. They know the goals will come. Who can stop these guys?

• Watching NYFC games is so gross. These baseball stadium soccer fields suck. That's all.

• Chicho Arrango is inevitable. Sitting at 9 goals, behind Messi and Suarez who have 10, he is having a dominant season with RSL with eyes on the Golden Boot.

• San Jose with a surprising W against LAFC. Showing that the progress they have shown the last few weeks is real.

• Surridge surging in Nashville with the hat trick.

• Colorado looking strong despite Mihailovic out.

• Bernadeschi showing his form and being rewarded for his efforts with 2 goals for Toronto after not scoring since August 2023.

Thanks for reading. Until next week. God bless. Go Revs.