Bruce Arena has taken command of the Revolution first team, as he oversaw his first training session in Foxborough Tuesday afternoon. But will he be in the technical area when New England takes on Los Angeles Galaxy in Carson on Sunday night (10:30 p.m.)?
That’s still up in the air.
“I don’t know yet. If I think I’m going to be a distraction to the team, I won’t do it,” Arena said after Tuesday’s training session at the Revs’ grass pitch. “I’m always coaching. Coaches always coach. In the last year and a half, I’ve been the best NBA coach, NFL coach, baseball coach, and hockey coach. I’m like you guys. You know how smart you get when you’re not actually doing it every day and you can sit in the press box or in front of a television? You become a genius. The only thing I’ve failed to do is get on social media and really be a critic, but I’ll get there one day.”
Arena took over the head coaching and sporting director titles on Tuesday, May 14, one day after the Revolution fired longtime general manager Michael Burns, and five days after the club fired Brad Friedel. He was introduced to the media on Thursday, May 16, and had noted a potential target date of this weekend as being in command of the first team in match play.
Since then, Arena has watched the club from afar as the club has drawn its last two matches, including Saturday night’s 1-1 draw with DC United at Gilette. Arena watched from the Krafts’ box, with team president Brian Bilello and investor/operator Jonathan Kraft nearby. He was shown scribbling notes as he watched the game.
“(Getting acclimated over the last week-plus) was important. I’m about one percent of the way there in this project. It’s a lot to learn, a lot of things to evaluate,” Arena said. “I’ve patiently tried to get a better feel for things here. I’m getting there, but it’s going to take some time. I’ve looked at (the team). I understand what was going on. I think a lot of credit [goes] to the coaching staff and Mike Lapper, in particular, and the players. Over the last two weeks, they’ve done a very good job.
“Things turned over real quick when the change was made, and it was important that I had an opportunity to evaluate the situation properly. I thought Mike was doing a real good job, which he has done, and that made it a lot easier for me to step in today.”
For now, Lapper is still with the club, and it appears as if he will remain as a part of Arena’s staff, which is slowly filling out. Over the weekend, it was reported that Richie Williams, who was the head coach of the USL Championship side Loudoun United FC, is expected to join Arena’s staff.
In-house writer Jeff Lemieux said Lapper was at training Tuesday, and can be seen in this video:
Behind the scenes with Bruce Arena on his first day with the #NERevs pic.twitter.com/X1BgvpoRB7
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) May 29, 2019
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