New England Revolution
The Revolution's four-game winning streak led to a one-sided 5-1 Losing to reigning MLS Cup winners Columbus Crew on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
However, after a great begin to the sport and an early goal through a lovely lob from Emmanuel Boateng, New England was unable to contain Columbus's high-caliber attack and conceded several goals through counterattacks and self-inflicted errors.
The final result reflected Columbus's complete dominance, and the Revolution may have much to learn from rewatching the tape.
Here are some insights:
The pressing worked well at first and led to the opening goal.
New England needed to face the defending league champions without Carles Gil and Dylan Borrero (each were out earlier within the week as a consequence of injuries) and swapped the same old 4-2-3-1 for a 4-3-3.
Under such circumstances, it was clear that it will be a troublesome fight against Columbus, but the primary 20 minutes went surprisingly well for the house team.
The Revolution's defensive pressing worked well, forcing the visitors to lose the ball several times in the primary half. One example of this was Boateng's opening goal, which resulted from a series of opportunistic passes that Columbus – after winning the ball back – couldn’t defend:
New England was in a position to apply pressure several times within the early stages of the sport, but Columbus' clever midfield eventually got things under control.
Once the revolution took the lead, it faltered and paid the worth.
After working feverishly to achieve an unlikely lead over Columbus, the Revolution lost the initiative. And not surprisingly, the talented opposition took full advantage.
As New England midfielder Matt Polster noted after the sport, the issue was simply that the players had taken their foot off the gas.
“I think we started really well. The game plan went according to our plans. We positioned ourselves correctly, won the ball high and pressed really well, which put them under a lot of pressure. We scored a nice goal, but from then on we stopped doing exactly what we had been doing before,” explained Polster.
When asked whether it was a strategic decision to drop deeper after taking the lead and stop pressing, Polster said it was simply as a consequence of the weakness of the players on the sphere, who didn’t persist with the sport plan.
“We did really well. We did what we were supposed to do and then no, we shouldn't have let up and given up possession and space on the field,” Polster said. “We should have continued to pressure them – which worked – and we didn't do that.”
Despite the end result, Polster believes New England showed the flexibility to upset even a top opponent, if just for a small portion of the sport.
“We showed for 20 minutes that we can make even the best teams look mediocre sometimes, but in the end they were the better team over 90 minutes,” he concluded. “They were simply better than us, but I think those mistakes were because we didn't carry on like we did in the first 20 minutes.”
Giacomo Vrioni fell back to his form from the beginning of the season and missed several probabilities.
After scoring two crucial goals to assist New England to a giant away win against FC Cincinnati per week ago, center Giacomo Vrioni transformed himself back into the unsuccessful striker he had been for a lot of the 2024 season on Saturday.
Vrioni had several good scoring opportunities but didn’t put the ball in the web.
The comparison to his counterpart in Columbus, Cucho Hernández, only underscores that Vrioni still has an extended option to go to change into a consistent force for New England.
Hernandez not only scored the Crew's first goal, but additionally provided two assists (including the third goal on a devastating counterattack) and led the sport with 75 touches. His ability to seek out the play and play a central role (even from an occasional more wide position) showed a level that Vrioni has not displayed.
And while Hernandez ended up being probably the most involved player in the sport, Vrioni only had 17 touches and 6 successful passes. That wouldn't necessarily be an issue, but he also shot six times and didn’t rating.
Especially if Gil and Borrero are out for an extended period, Vrioni (because the only healthy Designated Player) may have to perform higher than he did in Saturday's defeat.
image credit : www.boston.com