FOXBOROUGH — Revolution manager Brad Friedel said midfielder Kelyn Rowe “will get quite a few minutes from here until the end of the season as long as he keeps working hard,” after answering about his substitution patterns Tuesday morning.
Revs fans have had difficulty reconciling the fact that Rowe, a seven-year veteran and 28-goal scorer for New England, has been seemingly overlooked during the past six weeks, with limited run-outs since his last start, a 90-minute job at Minnesota United on July 18. He would play 20 minutes off the bench against New York Red Bulls three days later, would not make the squad against Orlando City, and would have the final 10 minutes against Philadelphia at home two weeks ago.
And with former striker Krsiztian Nemeth exported to Kansas City following the OCSC debacle, it was universally believed by Revs Colony that Rowe, the third overall selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, would get more opportunities to see the field moving forward. Of Rowe’s 18 appearances this season, nine have come in a reserve role.
That belief has not been realized, and the masses have now seen a second fan favorite slip down the depth chart in favor of players who do not have the same amount of experience: In the past two matches, Rowe has made the matchday squad, but hasn’t seen action, as Friedel has used only two of his three subs in both. In Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Philadelphia, forward Brian Wright and midfielder Zach Herivaux, two players who have combined for 180 minutes of Major League Soccer play in their five combined seasons — a total of two full matches — and have not scored, were inserted into the latter stages of the game with The Boys In Blue down a goal.
Fans have remained steadfast in their belief that in that instance, Rowe’s experience would have helped put the team in a position for a leveler, which would have given New England a critical point toward a push for the playoffs: with Wright and Herivaux in, the team had difficulty maintaining possession, and had difficulty getting an attack started in the waning minutes.
On Saturday, Rowe was listed as a substitute and was unquestionably the most experienced offensive option of the six outfield subs. Also on the bench for offensive options Saturday: Femi Hollinger-Janzen (32 matches played in two seasons, two goals; has only appeared in the US Open Cup in 2018), and rookie Isaac Angking (second time listed on the bench, no on-field appearances).
Against DC United last weekend, Rowe, Wright (eight matches, 117 minutes played), and Herivaux (eight matches, 63 minutes) were the offensive options, with Wright replacing Brandon Bye in the final 10 minutes.
The other sub used that night in the Navy Yards? Defensive midfielder Wilfried Zahibo for Juan Agudelo to start the second half.
Before training on Tuesday morning, Friedel re-iterated his philosophy of not looking at prior performances when deciding who goes into a match.
“We look at what players do in front of us,” Friedel said outside of the Revolution locker room. “We’re a staff and a team which is in its infancy, which I’ve said many, many times, and we’re building something — yes, for now, but also for the future. Kelyn has been a player that has trained very hard every single day, and his work rate is unquestionable.
“We are trying to build things with a different mentality and a different philosophy here, and we’re going to have some bumps in the road along the way. Sometimes players are going to get playing time, and sometimes they’re not.
“As far as substitution patterns, that just dictates how the game goes. I think in the Philly game, we had spoken many times about what we want or what we could change, and after they scored the goal, it was us getting all the opportunities. So when you’re the team getting the opportunities to score and you start to see things settling down, there’s not a lot of need to make a change.”
Friedel noted that in New England’s home match against Philadelphia two weeks ago, he had considered inserting Scott Caldwell into the match. Instead….
“We put in Kelyn Rowe because we felt we needed a goal,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much to that. The philosophy is the philosophy: if you work hard and you train well, you get an opportunity to play, but we have a lot of players who work hard and train hard and play well.
“It’s difficult to get playing time here, but I’m sure Kelyn will get quite a few minutes from here until the end of the season as long as he keeps working hard.”
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