Five questions surrounding the Revs as the 2019 preseason opens

Monday is the day that soccer fans in New England have waited for since about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28 — the start of preseason for the Revolution. Early Monday, the Revs will roll into Gillette Stadium and begin preparations to make the long 34-plus match journey toward a possible berth in the postseason.

In other words, 2018 is done and dusted, officially. It’s time to move on — but you know we just can’t help ourselves.

With no media availability until Tuesday, this will have to tide you over until then. Let’s throw a few questions out there to get your minds fixated on soccer, shall we?

After picking up Tajon Buchanan in SuperDraft and with all the attacking talent now signed, how does Brad Friedel deploy the strike corps moving forward?

We said it Friday, and we’ll say it now: Competition in training will decide which players, regardless of salary, length of service, or age, gets spots in the matchday squad. Please beat yourselves over the head until this sinks in. This philosophy has been in place for a year, and Friedel hasn’t wavered from this. I don’t expect him to waver in 2019. This is how the Revs will be moving forward, and the old ways of doing things are dead. It would be wise for you to subscribe to the new ones.

To refresh: In 2018, the new gaffer moved Teal Bunbury into the No. 9 role following the preseason, with Juan Agudelo nursing injuries; Agudelo either started out on the wing or came in as a second-half substitute. Bunbury went on to score a career-high 11 goals — but only one of those came in the second half of the season. In fact, the offensive output for the attacking-minded players in the second half was rather paltry for a time.

Friedel went out last month and brought in Colombian striker Juan Fernando Caicedo, an athletic right-footer with a nose for goal, on loan; they also picked up Buchanan in SuperDraft, and signed Homegrown midfielder Justin Rennicks on Friday afternoon. Rennicks can play as a second striker. We expect Friedel to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation, which throws the left and right backs up into the attack. That means one striker, though. But he has been known to go with a 4-3-3 at times, which gives that second striker the ability to slide behind and poach opportunities.

Who gets the starting nod up top? We presume that it will be Caicedo: he is Friedel’s signing, after all. We also presume that Bunbury, should Caicedo tire or not get the job done, is the first option off the bench to spell him up top. But again, Caicedo has to earn his spot in training -- and so does Bunbury. Seriously, so many options.

Presuming Diego Fagundez is back at the No. 10 role, who will be his understudy?

There were a few instances in 2018 where DF14 wasn’t up to snuff; for instance, the Portland game on Sept. 1, he only played the first 45 minutes before he was subbed out and Agudelo took his spot from the bench, but Kelyn Rowe moved into the No. 10 role.

Rowe’s gone now, traded before Christmas to Colorado and then to Sporting Kansas City. That means that the role of understudy is pretty much up for grabs, as far as I see things. I presume that Homegrown midfielder Isaac Angking, soon to be 19 years old, moves into that position. Angking showed on Sept. 5 in the Bronx that he has the ability to direct traffic on the defensive side of the ball with a high soccer IQ. Time will tell, but that’s just how we see it.

But what if the Revs go out and sign another attacking midfielder and further increase the competition for places? New England has been linked in recent weeks with Carles Gil, Paul-Jose M’Poku, and — for the second time in a year — Bojan Krkic. If they grab any one of those players — especially Gil, a natural attacking midfielder — it wouldn’t surprise me if Gil became the No. 10 and Fagundez became the understudy.

Who gets the starting nod guarding the goal?

A really, really good question.

Matt Turner surprised everyone with how he captured the starting goalkeeper job out of preseason last year; Friedel mentioned several times of how every time he saw one of the goalkeepers making a diving save out the corner of his eye, and every time it was Turner.

But Turner tapered off last summer, especially after some poor decision-making against Orlando City on Aug. 4.

Brad Knighton, now in his 14th pro season, took over and impressed down the stretch, until Turner surprisingly returned in the season finale. Knighton did a good job, despite the twin four-goal let-ups against Toronto and Real Salt Lake. But as I reported then, those were more defensive breakdowns than Knighton's inability to stop those goals.

But how about Cody Cropper? The once-darling guardian of the net in 2017 — he hasn’t played a minute since, whether in league play or in the US Open Cup — has been third string, and he has been the subject of rumor in the last few months, with LAFC looking for help. Again, the philosophy is in play, and maybe, just maybe, Cropper rises above the creme de la creme of New England goalkeepers.

So that leads us into the next five weeks, with everyone wondering who emerges from the Spain and Florida trips taking the No. 1 role.

How badly should the Revs focus on defense this year?

My Lord, how much time do you have?

The Revolution have spent way too much money in recent years on the back line, and unfortunately, many of the options that the front office have brought in have not panned out. Seriously — three consecutive seasons without November soccer.

New England declined options on Nicolas Samayoa — who wasn’t going to figure into the plans anyway — and Claude Dielna, and even went ahead and turned Dielna into $100,000 of General Allocation Money last Wednesday. As we speak, the Revs have seven players in the back: Andrew Farrell (right back), Michael Mancienne (right center back), Antonio Delamea (left center back), newcomer Edgar Castillo (left back), along with Jalil Anibaba, Brandon Bye… and yeah, Gabriel Somi is still here.

I said it in my New Year’s predictions: I doubt Somi plays a minute, unless he has undergone a transformation in the offseason and somehow beats out a former US/Mexican international for playing time. I suspect he will be, like Dielna, shuffled away somehow; I doubt he has any value for an MLS club.

And other than Castillo, the back line remains exactly the same as it did in 2018, where New England gave up 55 goals in the league. Seven matches seeing opponents score three or more goals. We can make that eight when we include the US Open Cup loss to Louisville City.

In short, the Revs need help in the back, need it soon, and need to shut down opposing offenses — in other words, be less shambolic.

How does the Eastern Conference shake out come the end of the season?

It’s obviously way too early to think about that, but we can tell you that some teams in the East have strengthened themselves, and some have not. Montreal added Maxi Urrutti from FC Dallas (and got him for a song), and newboys FC Cincinnati splashed the Garberbucks around and built a formidable back line. We suspect Toronto will be back to its old self, 2018 an aberration (depending on how the Reds do in Champions League, that is).

We feel that even without David Villa, NYCFC will be about the same; same with Orlando City, Philadelphia, and DC United. And under-new-management Columbus has added former Revs forward Patrick Mullins since we last saw the Crew.

And let's remember: there are now seven spots up for grabs in the playoff chase.

In other words, bring on the regular season. It’ll be here before we know it.