With the preseason now officially concluded following Saturday’s 2-1 win over KR Reykjavik, we will soon turn our attention to the start of the regular season. But before we do that, we need to go over the last week-plus of what happened in Florida.
Some may want to avert their eyes. Some may want to reach for the headache tonic of their choice. For the most part, this is grim reading. There are only a few positives, though, headed into the season, which we will touch base on.
Why does it always have to be at the back post?
The Revs found themselves beaten at the back post a couple of times in recent days; switching the point of attack saw Matt Turner flail at a cross in Saturday for Reykjavik’s equalizer, and seconds before, a pass toward that back post was just offline, and that should have been a certain equalizer.
And there was plenty in the next entry that Brad Friedel has to address that has the supporters flummoxed.
Simply put, New England needs to tighten up on back post runners. I can see many a team taking advantage of that (still), especially if they have some speed up top and on the wing.
As for some of the things I liked Saturday: Wilfried Zahibo played very well in the defensive midfield for his 70 minutes, as well as whenever Carles Gil was on the ball; Teal Bunbury was more on the wing, so I’m wondering how that plays out; Zach Herivaux was tough on the ball during his 20 minutes, and I have to tip the cap to the team for not buckling after the leveler, and good heads-up play by Luis Caicedo to tap in DeJuan Jones’ cross for the eventual late winner.
Wednesday’s 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Orlando City SC should have never happened.
Without a stream to watch from pretty much the first match of preseason — and we’ll get to that in a second — it’s pretty hard to get the gist of the run of play and some of the nuances of the game. But when you see a 6-2 scoreline not go in your favor, one can easily see the trouble spots.
And sure, the Revolution had their chances against the Lions; we’ve said it many times, the Revs will create scoring opportunities, and we know they need to be better in attack to score goals. Through some of the highlight packages, though — mainly produced from OCSC — we get a glimpse of the problem areas, and they are in the back. Brandon Bye found himself beat. An own goal from Bye. The defensive unit from the defensive midfield on back getting caught flat-footed. Bye late in a slide for the fifth goal. Two penalties. Four of the Lions’ goals came in the first 11 minutes after the halftime interval.
Run it back on all six from last night to get you ready for March 2nd. ? #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/3fi8yFljtA
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 21, 2019
giles phillips*
— Michael Alssid (@Malssid2) February 14, 2019