BSJ Match #28 Breakdown & Review: Revolution 1, Toronto 1 - Bou's luck helps Revs steal point

In a game where the club was desperate to collect six points in two weeks, the New England Revolution's draw against a decimated Toronto FC club was a disappointment. The Revolution were ultimately outplayed at home and didn't have the discipline to shut down second choice guys on the opposing side. Yet, Bruce Arena's side ran away from the game with a point in hand thanks to a goalkeeping error by Quentin Westberg.

Let's look at the starting 11...

1. The first clip starts just after Brandon Bye turned the ball over on the dribble in the right corner of the attacking third. Toronto quickly got on the ball and the team swarmed to their teammate to help dig them out of the corner. The Revolution's pressure on the ball after the turnover was uninspiring, which resulted in Toronto pinging the ball around the Revolution midfield on their way to the other end of the pitch. This resulted in a clean shot on goal after DeJuan Jones was beat on the dribble.


2. The second chance started from Quentin Westberg (the TFC goalkeeper). He distributed the ball to Omar Gonzalez (right center back) who took a couple of touches, then played a simple ball over the top of the Revolution backline -- who appeared to be sleeping while Gonzalez was on the ball -- and into the stride of Alejandro Pozuelo (TFC attacking center midfielder) who got the chance to hit a shot from point-blank at Matt Turner. You'll notice Mancienne was way too high positionally when the ball was hit and Farrell couldn't defend Pozuelo appropriately because he was so busy trying to block the ball on his recovery run.


3. The third clip is of Toronto's goal. It starts after a Revolution shot on goal (Bou) was saved and the rebound found its way to the left side of the field. Once there, Toronto was on the ball and under pressure. Again, the pressure wasn't cohesive enough (a cohesive pressing effort involves the second, third, and fourth players being on the same page and ready to anticipate where to step before the ball gets there) which allowed Toronto to bounce the ball off of each other until they played through the line of New England midfielders and onto the foot of Michael Bradley. He then picked his head up and very simply switched the ball in transition, and the rest was history. The Revolution defense was still recovering from the quick transition after pressing high, and the crashing Toronto attack was too much for them to fend off.