IS PORTER THE PROBLEM? DON’T LOOK NOW. NEW ENGLAND LOSES ANOTHER AS THE REVOLUTION FALL SHORT TO NYCFC.
It was a beautiful night for soccer on Saturday in New England. The sun was shining and 25k sick freaks including myself filed into Gillette Stadium with an unwavering belief that, despite the shitstorm of a season we’ve had, maybe this was the game we turned it around. With Dejuan Jones returning to the starting lineup after missing time with injury, and Tomas Chancalay back in the starting 11 after missing a game due to suspension from yellow card accumulation and finally pairing up with Dylan Borrero as a starter, fans were given some hope going into this game.
Aside from the Inter Miami / Messi game where Chancalay scored in the opening minutes of the game, it seems the Revolution come out flat footed most games. Often taking the first 10-20 minutes of the game to find their rhythm and settle in. Which is not a good strategy going against a team like NYCFC who scored in the 3rd minute of their last game against the New York Red Bulls, and two games ago scored in the 2nd minute of the match against the Philadelphia Union. NYCFC is a team in great form, coming off a long home stand where they really found there footing before coming into this game. Teams are licking their chops as they see an easy 3-point opportunity away at Gillette on their schedule.
I can’t help myself but get giddy and excited as I enter Gillette. It’s always a great atmosphere (haters gonna hate but I like the Revs right where they are in Gillette Stadium) and I love seeing the team play in person. However, once again, that excitement quickly turned to dismay as NYCFC almost took an early lead 27 seconds into the game. With early goals in their last two games, NYCFC almost made it a third in a row. And to add to the dismay, 39 seconds in Tomas Chancalay goes for a tackle on Santiago Rodriguez and comes away grabbing at his knee. He would proceed to hobble around for a few minutes before ultimately going to ground and asking for medical attention. This brought on the early substitution of Esmir for Chancalay in the 11th minute. Absolutely not the start the Revolution were hoping for. And to add one more piece, in the 13th minute Kessler takes a handball to stop an NYCFC breakaway, collecting his 5th yellow card, meaning he will be suspended next week against Nashville.
The Revolution played more direct than usual and were creating scoring opportunities. Kaye played a few big balls over the top to Vrioni who was creating chances (just not finishing). Arreaga had a good header opportunity around 24 minutes into the game. A few times he’s had offensive chances with headers. Looking to see him get his first goal as a member of the Revs soon on one of these header chances. In my notes I wrote ‘the crowd is alive, things feel different…’ after a few chances created around the 27th minute. Unfortunately , the small conglomerate of NYCFC fans on the second level were making a fair amount of noise with drums and cheering to combat the Revolution momentum.
As halftime approached, I wrote in my notes ‘it feels like we have momentum. Let’s not squander this! We need a goal before half,’ but that goal never came. Vrioni had a chance around 36 minutes which he made nothing of (then grabbing his left ankle and going to ground…). Fans around me chanted for Bobby Wood. 43:50 Nick Lima had a nice cross, but no one was there. Gil found him on the right wing after cutting inside with a beautiful pass, and Lima hit a juicy low cross along the 6 yard box. Vrioni was ahead of the play, Esmir was behind it, and no one else was crashing. Polster was at the top of the box, and Borrero chilling in the back. 6 NYCFC defenders in the vicinity with maybe 2 Revs guys slightly in attacking position. This is not good enough. In my last blog where I rigorously and scientifically analyzed the Revolution’s scoring woes, I often noticed we had 6+ players in the box in scoring position when we would cross or be moving the ball around. That isn’t the case this year. Mark Anthony Kaye commented in his postgame press conference something to the effect of, ‘get ourselves in great spots, credit to all 11 players on the field, but when the opportunities come, the decision making seems to fall apart.’ That sums the Revolution’s effort against NYCFC. 58% possession in the first half from the Revolution and only .37 expected goals.
The Revolution came out of the halftime break aggressive. Vrioni had a great header at 45:28. Despite a whole lot of legitimate and deserved criticism toward Vrioni, I will give him credit for his effort and ability to win headers. Dating back a few games to the Chicago win, Vrioni won the header around midfield that turned into the Chancalay goal. Similarly, I see him often winning headers from big balls from the goalkeeper. He wins those midfield headers and spurs offense. I will give him credit there. In my notes I wrote at 63 mins another example of Vrioni winning a header at midfield and creating a chance for Gil and Esmir to try and create some offense. The finishing is absolutely not there from Vrioni, but I will give him credit for his ability to win headers and put in effort. Could he potentially be more effective in a 2-striker formation?
Ivacic had a very solid game. I have in my notes 4 times where I noted great saves from him. 46:40, 64:10, 75:15ish, and 89:50 on that huge breakaway save. Ivacic has been a beast since arriving in New England. He has a chance to make a save on damn near any shot that isn’t a gimme from around the 6-yard box which were most of the chances against Philly last week. Ivacic is super solid whether making saves or being calm and comfortable with the ball at his feet. He was a great asset to pick up for this Revolution team.
The second half was ultimately not too eventful. The wave at the 60th minute was a high point for the Revolution faithful. A couple rounds through the stadium got the people going and by the 62nd minute The Fort was as loud as I’ve heard it all season. It truly felt like the Revolution had momentum and that good vibes were in the air. 61:20 we had a corner and on the broadcast you can get a feel for the excitement in the air. This is when soon after by the 62nd minute you hear a loud Revolution chant. If only we could capitalize on the momentum. This is when Vrioni wins that header and spurs the attack for Gil and Esmir, but Esmir squanders the chance. A great young talent who has unfortunately not looked strong as of late.
In the 77th minute Ema Boateng subs in for Dylan Borrero in the hope of bringing some fresh legs on the wing and help grab a late game winner for the Revolution. Unfortunately, what happens next is not what the Revs hoped, falling asleep for just a moment in the 81st minute, and that one moment was long enough for Keaton Parks to convert on the header with the assist from Tayvon Gray. I am admittedly a documented Nick Lima criticizer (maybe hater), but, watching that goal back on the broadcast the day after, Boateng and Arreaga are to blame in my opinion. Just an absolutely pathetic defensive effort from Boateng. Jogging across the top as NYCFC slowly switches the field across their defense. No intensity in closing out. It would be an otherwise forgetful moment had it not resulted in a goal against. NYCFC had all day to swing that cross in, and then Arreaga watched it sail over head as he marked nobody, immediately blaming Nick Lima. For all my Nick Lima criticism, I have his back on this one. He was back post covering two guys. Nick Lima was much more solid today playing at his usual Right Back than Left Back he's been caught in lately. Unfortunately, he was in the vicinity of another goal against. I hated Boateng’s effort on that play, and Arreaga could have been much better. I hate to see him immediately hands up jawing at Nick Lima as the ball goes into the net. A moment of dysfunction as we’ve been known to see from this backline that I’ve commented on in past blogs.
How much blame do we put on Caleb Porter?
A vocal portion of the fanbase want him fired. Frankly, they have good reason to. The chart above shows how historically bad this Revolution team has started the season. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the idea of firing our coach at this point in the season. Honestly… do we really think there would be some miraculous bounce back? W’s start flowing? Or would it just be continued dysfunction from last season, further loss of identity, and continued steps backwards?
As pathetic it seems, and maybe Caleb Porter has me in some sick Stockholm Syndrome state, but I’d rather keep building on these small moments of good soccer and not scrapping any semblance of progress to start from scratch again. Caleb Porter was asked postgame how he addresses the team after this loss. His response was that he would show them the good moments in film, find the pieces to be confident in and grow with. He commented how our style of play is coming together more with Jones and Borrerro combining up the wing. Carles Gil is able to be creative further up the pitch. We just need to finish. We are a team with no confidence in finishing goals. The good news is that we controlled a majority of the game and created a lot of chances, putting ourselves in good positions. When asked directly about finding a striker in the summer transfer window a few months away Porter replied, “We’re going to make some additions for sure in the summer transfer window. We’ve got a plan.” Maybe I’m a sick f**k, but I’m going to continue to trust Caleb Porter and his plan despite him providing me nothing but shit sandwiches.
NYCFC is a legit team. They are 3rd in the Eastern Conference, and 4th overall for the Supporters’ Shield. After losing their first 3 games this season NYCFC has only 2 losses in their last 12 games. They’ve now won 7 of the last 8 games bookended by their victory at home over the Revs April 13th to their victory away over the Revs May 25th. This NYCFC team has proven they are talented and competitive. All that to say, the Revolution held their own, and mostly controlled this game. And that is a huge credit to them. It absolutely sucks for who knows how many weeks now to be remarking how the result doesn’t tell the full story, but it’s true. The result here does not tell the full story! Caleb Porter remarked how it is hard to talk about positives as we continue to come out of games without results. However, it must be said the team looked good this weekend. They played well enough to get the win. I agree. They played well enough to get the win. In a matchup against a shaky Nashville team next week who just fired their coach, the Revolution need to actually get the win, and not just play well enough to talk about what improvements we made this week. Let’s figure out how to score some goals and win some games.
Since the Revolution didn’t supply any goals, I’m happy to bring you this goal from the Revolution Amputee Team who played postgame. I stuck around for a bit to watch and it was a great time. Shout out these guys.
God Bless. Go Revs.
