Despite going ahead early on in the game, the Revolution spent a good portion of the first half on their heels as NYCFC dialed in. Bruce Arena was able to organize his side before the start of the second half in order to adapt to NYCFC's movement, and the Revolution were able to hold on long enough before their second goal virtually sealed the game.
Let's look at the starting 11...
Headshots from revolutionsoccer.net.
TAKEAWAYS
Note: As per usual with this opponent, I don't have access to game film so I was only able to work with clips and diagrams/images.
Positioning on the outside
Brandon Bye
DeJuan Jones
Diego Fagundez
Tajon Buchanan
Heat map from whoscored.com.
Passing map from mlssoccer.com.
NYCFC's formational shift
THREE UP
Lee Nguyen
Passing map from mlssoccer.com
Carles Gil
DeJuan Jones
Heat map from whoscored.com
Matt Polster
Matt Turner
TWO DOWN
Adam Buksa
Passing map from mlssoccer.com.
Antonio Delamea
PLAYER RATINGS
PARTING THOUGHT
Lee Nguyen
- Age - Nguyen is in his mid-30s and not getting any younger. It's important to keep a close eye on any player that age in this league.
- Game schedule - Because of the traditional schedule, the Revolution are looking at a long stretch of closely-scheduled games right in the face. To play Nguyen in all of those games for ~90 minutes in most of them likely isn't best for Nguyen's health at this stage.
- Team depth - I think there's a reason Arena went out and brought in some veterans to man the midfield at this point in the team's season. In order to manage all of their fitness, just cycle them through in the midfield so that no one is getting worn the way that some other teams are forced to.
