Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

We spoke to Jake Catanese of The Blazing Musket ahead of RSL's clash against the New England Revolution to get some insight on the team.

1) New England had a rough start to the season but seem to be turning things around. Is there optimism with where the team is headed?

I think it's cautious optimism. Caleb Porter and Curt Onalfo think a playoff push is possible but the Revs would only be likely to grab one of the play-in game spots in the East (8th or 9th seed) since they were at the bottom of the East before the Montreal game. Health played a very big part of New England's issues early in the season and for Leagues Cup with Carles Gil, Giacomo Vrioni, Dylan Borrero all missing out and Tomas Chancalay is out for the year. It's very hard to get wins in MLS when all three of your DPs are out of action at the same time but I think the Revs gave a good showing in the Leagues Cup and got a lot of young players like left back Peyton Miller, winger Esmir Bajraktarevic, and midfielder Jack Panayotou a lot of quality minutes.

If the Revs make the playoffs they'll likely be on a pretty good run of form and I don't think a lot of teams want to try and deal with Carles Gil and company come November but it's a very big uphill climb to make a serious playoff run. The long term hope is the Revs use this late season push as a springboard to get off to a hot start next season and salvage what they can from 2024 which was supposed to be a major rebound year.

2) The Revolution just dismantled Montreal 5-0. What did the Revs get right in that game and how does that success carry into this match?

Well, having Carles Gil in the starting lineup was a pretty big deal and bringing on Vrioni, Borrero, and newcomer Luca Langoni as substitutes (a DP striker and basically two U22 wingers) is really, really unfair. I did a semi-deep dive on this earlier in the week but the basics are the Revs are a devastating attacking force when they are countering or having the defense on their heels. Against Montreal they got out to an early lead by getting good, low crosses into the box that Bobby Wood pounced on and then late in the game polished off some 3v3 counter attacks against tired legs.

https://www.theblazingmusket.com/p/forcing-and-causing-issues-full-strength

What can make the Revs attack so potent is late runners into the box. It's not always Wood or Vrioni leading the line that causes problems, but Borrero or Carles Gil finding that space behind near the top of the box with uncontested shots. The third goal the Revs scored via Nick Lima is a perfect example of this: Carles Gil takes on multiple players with a dribble, hits a centering pass that Vrioni leaves off a dummy, and Lima is wide open charging in from right back for a far post finish. It's very hard to defend against because it's natural for the defense to honor where the ball is and take away the first option but if the trailing runners aren't tracked properly New England was able to find that space last week and capitalize in a major way.

3) It’s Caleb Porter’s first season in charge of the Revs. He’s a coach many RSL fans are familiar with after his long stint in Portland. What changes has he been working to implement and how is the Porter project coming along

So the early part of the season was rough. Porter had an emphasis of playing out of the back that simply wasn't productive and he was also handcuffed by injuries and fixture congestion with the Revs making the CCL (CCC?) quarterfinals before being unceremoniously routed by Club America across two legs. June was a bright spot where the Revs rattled off five wins out of six, which included four in a row and a win in Cincinnati so the potential has always been there but another wave of injuries hit right before Leagues Cup and the Revs struggled again. What I think has been a positive out of that early season play is the Revs keeping the ball on the ground in the final third. Previous DP striker Adam Buksa was a dominant aerial presence, and the Revs were still lobbing in crosses to Vrioni who doesn't have that level of target man prowess. Instead, Vrioni and Bobby Wood make a lot of really smart runs that create space for them and the guy behind them and a ground cross has helped create additional chaos at times.

What I will give Porter and Onalfo credit for is their aggressiveness bringing in new players and trades. GK Aljaz Ivacic and CB Xavier Arreaga were late primary window additions despite adding a new keeper in the offseason and yes, the trades out for Henry Kessler and DeJuan Jones especially might hurt in the short term. I think this team had a pretty strong summer window compared to most of the league and we still haven't seen newcomer CM Alhassan Yusuf make his debut yet and he's about to go off and play for Nigeria so it might be another couple of weeks before we see what his addition can do for a late season push.

4) Bobby Wood was a big signing for RSL in 2021 but never quite panned out. What has his time with NER been like?

Bobby is the consummate veteran MLS striker. I think the Revs are very happy to have him and 9 goals/5 assists in about 2000 minutes in just league play alone is a pretty good return over the last two years. He works hard, makes good decisions, always seems to be in the right spot and does a lot of little things right that don't show up in the box score and has turned that into a genuine heater the last month or so. He had two goals in Leagues Cup play followed by that brace against Montreal by honestly sheer willpower. He beat his mark to a nearpost cross for the opener and then as far as I'm concerned stole one from Owen Goal on his backside for the second. It's good to have him back after he missed some time earlier in the year with seemingly everyone else and if both he and Vrioni are able to find their stride that makes the Revs very dangerous down the stretch because they now have options off the bench that can be effective late in games. And the best way to close out games in my opinion for this team is to score more goals. Definitely a tremendous Stage 2 Re-Entry Draft acquisition by the Revs.