Sweeney: Five takeaways from the Revs' 1-0 loss to the Union

Since there wasn’t too much positive to discuss, let’s do things differently this week and expound on some other things from tonight’s match report:

Upon review, the only Revs who tried to stop the goal were Michael Mancienne and Matt Turner: Like we wrote, Mancienne hopped toward the midway line in an effort to get Cory Burke adjudged offside, and the assistant referee rightly put his flag up. But like what happened in Foxborough on April 28, play continued. Jalil Anibaba had his hand up, but he should have continued to run forward and make some semblance of a play on Burke. And Turner, bless him, tried to slow Burke down. Just an unlucky, unlucky set of circumstances for the Revolution yet again.

No Kelyn Rowe again?: The Federal Way, Washington native, who has scored 28 goals since the Revolution drafted him, cannot seemingly sniff the pitch save in training right now. He’s been one of the only offensive options on the bench in the last few weeks, and with the exception of a 20-plus minute run-out against the Red Bulls on July 21, he has only seen a handful of minutes since; those came against the Union two weeks ago, and they were barely double-digit minutes. The fact Brad Friedel elected to go with Brian Wright and Zach Herivaux, two players who haven’t scored in league play, over Rowe Saturday night — and only using two subs for the second straight week — makes me wonder what Friedel and his staff are seeing in training that is preventing him from finding game action. He’s cracking the 18, yes… but the fact a seven-year veteran is being overlooked for two players who have barely played the equivalent of one full game (Wright at 117 minutes in eight career matches after last night; Herivaux 63 minutes in eight career matches) is just a massive head-scratcher, and makes me wonder what the end result of this situation is... and if you're thinking the way I'm thinking, then you know me too well.

The offense has got to get it together: Just think — it has been since Aug. 4 and the trip to Orlando where the Revolution have put a concerted effort into the offense and gotten out to the front foot. In the first half against the Lions, two goals in the first 20 minutes. And even before then, it was two goals in the first half against the Galaxy. New England has just come out incredibly flat and hasn’t been able to dictate the pace and the play since Seattle on July 7, the start of this run. If they have any hope of salvaging this season, they need to come out flying against the Timbers next weekend.

I’m wondering what the 600 Revs fans who trekked down to Philly are thinking as they make their way back to Foxborough in the overnight: I know that it’s a great perk of their season ticket packages, getting the quickie road day trips to various northeast locales (New York, Philly, DC). But really … what’s going through their heads as they drive through New Jersey, around New York City, through Connecticut and Rhode Island and back to Foxborough sometime early in the morning? Two road trips for the fans this year, and two losses. Makes me wonder if they'll want to go through this again next year.

Who to root for?: Like we mentioned in the Match Report, DC United is at the Red Bulls Sunday night (7 p.m., FS1) in a match which would, if DC pulls off the win, put United ahead of the Revolution on 30 points. And the Revs’ next opponent, Portland, hosts Toronto FC — also at 27 points following its 3-1 win over Montreal Saturday night — on Wednesday night. Rooting for New York is just blasphemous. We harbor no ill will toward Portland, except that whole advertising campaign with the Portland Press Herald. If DC and Toronto both win those matches, the Revs will wake up Thursday morning sitting in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, with only Chicago and Orlando cushioning the descent to the basement.