Author Archives: Mathew Bluestein

Why Revs vs. Columbus Is a Crucial Game to Win

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The Revolution have started off 2018 with a 3-1-2 record. Only one of those wins were on the road. But as all Revs fans will remind you, New England had one road win in all of 2017. However, fans shouldn’t celebrate now, because we know it’s always possible to go into another slump. While Saturday will mark road game number three for the Revs, nothing would solidify this team’s turnaround and competitiveness with another win. Brad Freidel talked about how winning road games was a crucial point of any team’s success. Now it’s time for him to prove his team can do just that.

The Revs road record over the last two years is 4-24-28, including a win and a loss in 2018. For most teams, they will get four wins a year on the road, but not the Revs. A win will prove this team truly has what it takes to win on the road, and solidify that they didn’t just get lucky against Houston. This team needs to stay disciplined to earn a victory. Even this early; this is a six point game. A Revs win could potentially put them in second place, depending on how Atlanta does. A loss could see the Revs fall down to as low as sixth place in the east. It’s never too early to talk about standings in MLS.

A Brief History Lesson

Revs vs Crew during 2014 MLS Playoffs

Dating back to 2014, New England has a 5-6-1 record against Columbus. Their last road win came back in the 2014 playoffs, when the Revs beat them 4-2. The Revs made their last two road matchups interesting when they brought former Crew forward Kei Kamara back to his home. Unfortunately they were unable to get a result. If you want to find the last time the Revs beat the Crew on the road in a regular season matchup, you have to rewind all the way back to October 27th, 2013, when the Revs closed out the regular season with a 1-0 victory. So how will Freidel get it done?

How Will the Revs Do It?

The Crew got off to one of the best starts of any MLS team in 2018, starting off 3-0-1 including a defeat against reigning MLS Cup Champions Toronto FC. Now the Crew has since simmered down, losing their last three games against Vancouver, Chicago, and DC. While the game against Vancouver was a home game, the Revs will look to capitalize on a vulnerable Crew team. On the other hand, Crew will not want to lose their fourth game in a row. Especially not in front of their home fans. Look for Columbus to come shooting out of the cannon early trying to get on the board fast.

It’s important that the Revs stand their ground and continue their high press, which worked extremely well against Houston. After Head Coach Brad Freidel used the same lineup three weeks in a row producing two shutouts, it didn’t go his way in the third game with a 1-0 loss at home to FC Dallas. One can only expect that after three weeks, we will see a different starting XI come Saturday. Potential changes could come from Antonio Delamea, who hasn’t seen the field since week one, or possibly Juan Agudelo or Krisztián Németh returning as well. One thing Brad Freidel stressed at the beginning of the year is that players would have to fight for spots at training. So whoever get’s the start will be carefully selected one can assume.

Revs Captain Still up for Debate

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Revs fans have been in a fierce debate since the start of the offseason about what the biggest weakness of this team is. After some good signings and cuts, it’s still hard to answer that question. But there isn’t really any solid answer between players and the coaching staff.

The problem with the Revs is that every starter is a good player and can play well. But in all positions they can do a LOT better. The problem is they have to get rid of a player to get an upgrade, and that’s something the front office doesn’t want to do. This is a good Revs team, but when people say they want better players, some will tell you to get rid of Rowe. That’s not a person fans want to see go and people will jump in and defend Rowe. If people aren’t willing to give up players, this team will never improve the way they want them to.

Like I said, this is a good team. But when you compare them to other teams, they have half their skill set. Many of the starters on the Revs would not be starters on teams like Toronto or Atlanta. Every player is decent, but we can do so much better. One thing that has worked extremely well for some teams is taking advantage of youth players, something the Revs haven’t done lately. Another hot debate is who the captain of this team is. Last year, for the majority of the season it was Lee Nguyen. Toward the end of the season, they gave the armband to other players, including Dielna, Toni Delamea, Cropper, Scott Caldwell, Kouassi, and Tierney. The consensus this year is that there were four top candidates for the captaincy.

Chris Tierney

Photo by Keith Nordstrom

Obviously, Nguyen kissed his chances goodbye with his actions. In my personal opinion, Tierney should be captain no matter what, on and off the field. The counterargument to that is that Tierney most likely won’t be getting minutes this season, and it isn’t the best idea to make your captain someone who isn’t on the pitch often. Ignoring that though, Tierney is the unanimous decision. He is entering his 11th season with the team, with his tenure going through three head coaches now (four if you count Sohen). He posses all the attributes of a leader and professional player.

Antonio Delamea

Photo by David Silverman

Then comes Toni. The guy who won fans’ hearts with his commitment, honesty, leadership, and mentality. The guy was a clear presence on the field, and really seemed to have a command of the backline. The one counter argument I have with Toni being captain is the fact that he can’t speak fluent English yet. I think he might have trouble fluently communicating with the others on the pitch, and a captain needs to be able to do that. Toni also hasn’t made an appearance on the field since his red card against Philadelphia. Jalil Anibaba stepped in and up until this point, Brad Freidel seems to think he’s earned the spot.

Kelyn Rowe

Source | David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Next, there is Kelyn. Honestly, there isn’t much you can say about Kelyn in terms of being captain. He’s been on the team for a long time, does great work with the community, hospitals in particular, is a great guy in general, and has National team experience. Other than that there isn’t much there. Some will say that the tenure is the biggest reason and that giving the armband to a guy who has played half a season or one season isn’t a smart decision. Whatever the final decision is, will certainly have a big impact going forward for the success of this team and its chemistry.

Claude Dielna Named Captain

However, Friedel made the decision to make Dielna the captain. Now Dielna still hasn’t completed a full season, but has won some fans over with his commitment to this team. This includes constant Instagram posts of him in Revs gear training in the offseason, his training workload, and work process. Dielna didn’t start off his season too well, getting a red card in the season opener, but was right back into the lineup after his suspension. With defense still a huge problem, many argue Dielna still has not proved himself to be a quality player on this team. The year is still young, and there are a lot of things this team still needs to address. The Revs lost their seventh consecutive game against FC Dallas on Saturday, but will look to continue their vague road success when they take on Columbus Crew SC next week.

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Getting Caught up with the Revs

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It’s Time to Bring the Revolution to New England’s Attention

The New England Revolution are off to a great start in their 2018 season. Last year the Revs were a heavily criticized team, from the front office to the players, and mostly to the coach. Jay Heaps had been in charge for six years. But after two years in a row of the Revs not making the playoffs, the team decided to part ways. Revs fans were dying to know who the next coach would be, and got their answer in early November, when the team announced the hiring of Brad Freidel.

At the beginning stages, Revs fans were unimpressed that the club hired another coach with no MLS coaching experience. Throughout the offseason and preseason, however, people slowly started changing their attitude. For starters, Freidel used his links through Tottenham, the club he played most of his professional career at, to hire fitness coach Anton McElhone. A big problem for the Revs last year was injuries. They lost Kelyn Rowe, Juan Agudelo, Chris Tierney, Daigo Kobayashi, Krisztián Németh, and Xavier Kouassi for an extended period of time. Brad Freidel insured fans that he would be given the resources to succeed by Robert Kraft. He proved it by signing Gabriel Somi, Wilfried Zahibo, Luis Caicedo, Jalil Anibaba, and the man quickly becoming a new fan favorite, Cristian Penilla.

USA TODAY Sports

Revs off to a Steady Start Under Freidel

So far, we are six weeks into the Brad Freidel era, and the Revs have an impressive 3-1-1 record. This includes their first road win on American soil in over two years after beating Houston. Two major things Freidel stressed the team needed to do better on was defending. The Revs allowed more goals than any other team last year. Freidel also is emphasizing winning games on the road, as the Revs only won one road game last year. The one road game they did manage to win was the last game of the season against Montreal. Both teams were out of the playoffs contention at that point.

Freidel came into this club and almost instantly made a difference. Players say he works them harder than they’ve ever worked before. They also say he has added a real sense of professionalism into the team. After a shaky start defensively, the Revs are starting to get into a groove, having not allowed a goal the last two games. A big talking point is the way Freidel uses his guys in game. The last two games the Revs have left over $2,000,000 in salaries on the bench. That is a lot of money for MLS. Freidel has given this team a lot a depth, something the Revs have really lacked the last few seasons.

The Lee Nguyen Standoff

While on the topic of salaries, it’s important to note Lee Nguyen requested a trade because he didn’t think the $500,000 salary he was earning was enough for him. After the club refused to trade him, he didn’t show up for preseason training, eventually showing up three weeks late.

Because of this, he hasn’t played a single minute or even been included on the bench yet. While coach Freidel has said it is because of better options skill-wise, it’s tough to believe him. Lee has scored 11 goals and recorded 15 assists. For him to drop to the level of one of the best, to not good enough to make the bench is a very controversial statement. Lee has fans split with what the Revs should do with him. Some want him gone, traded, and some want him to play. If you ask Revs fans, three out of four times you’ll get a different answer regarding his fate.

Despite Lee arguably being the team’s best player last year not playing, the Revs have been doing just fine without him. A lot of players have really stepped up this year. Diego Fagundez has stepped in taking over the number 10 position, replacing Lee. Penilla so far doesn’t seem to be able to be stopped. He’s fast, dynamic, and great a scoring and assisting.

Matt Turner Takes Over

The most shocking part of the Revs season came when Matt Turner was announced to be the Opening Day starting goalie, after being the team’s third string goalie for the last two years. Turner started off with a 2-0 defeat against the Philadelphia Union, but has since stood on his head. He made Revs fans fall in love after saving a penalty kick, preserving the Revs 1-0 lead against the Colorado Rapids. Turner has gotten two consecutive shutouts going into Saturday’s game against FC Dallas, a team the Revs lost their last six games against. Hopefully, the Revs will be able to re-write history as they play at Gillette Stadium, a place they have turned into a fortress as of late. They finished last year with a team record-setting 12 wins at home as they went 12-2-3.