1. The Revolution's midfield was supposed to be its strength, but it was its weakness.
Coming into the season, many analysts and fans cited the team's midfield as one cause for optimism. The combination of the veteran stalwart Shalrie Joseph, the clever Benny Feilhaber, the steady Clyde Simms, and the youthful newcomer Kelyn Rowe was supposed to compensate for whatever was lacking elsewhere on the field.
If this core four will be the team's bright spot, then last night's performance casts a dark cloud over the start of the season.
Obviously, it was Joseph's careless square pass in the 15th minute that led to San Jose's goal. However, the miscues among the midfielders persisted throughout the game. Including Clyde Simms's respectable 84% pass completion rate, the New England Revolution's midfielders combined to complete only 65% (97 of 149) of their passes, including a paltry 54% (43 of 79) of their passes in the offensive half of the field. San Jose's midfielders, on the other hand, completed 70% of their passes--despite attempting more than twice as many passes as the Revs' midfielders--including 63% of their passes in the offensive half of the field.
To put the Revolution midfielders' poor performance in even greater context, consider the performance of the Real Salt Lake midfield against a tougher L.A. Galaxy team: Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, et. al. completed 86% of their 205 passes, including 86% of their 98 passes in the offensive half of the field.
2. The Revolution's attack was predictably toothless.
If the Revolution midfielders have a legitimate reason for their ineffective play, then it rests with the pathetic play of the two starting forwards. Target man Blake Brettschneider and second forward Fernando Cardenas were non-factors throughout the game. With the exception a handful of times, Brettscheider was either unable to track down a pass or unable to maintain possession if he did happen to get a body part on a pass. And though Cardenas was energetic throughout the game, he usually appeared clueless (he was offsides more than once) or inconsequential.
Granted, the Revs are lacking quality at forward due to injury (Saer Senne) and no-shows (Jose "Pepe" Moreno), so we are hopefully not destined to suffer the Brettschneider & Cardenas Show every week.
3. The backs were pretty solid.
Granted, pass completion rates among defenders are a little inflated due to the number completed while a player is under relatively little pressure. Nonetheless, the defenders had a better pass completion rate than the Earthquakes' defenders (71% vs. 66%), while attempting more passes (205 vs. 189).
A.J. Soares and John Lozano were the most careless with the ball, but Soares was playing a new position on short notice, and Lozano improved after being horrible over the first 25 minutes. Stephen McCarthy was one of the Revs' three best players, and Kevin Alston's offensive contribution was better than I had initially realized. Tyler Polak's confidence on the ball is encouraging.
Most important, the backs didn't surrender a shot on goal, with the exception of the 15th minute goal that was sparked by midfield incompetence. There were times, especially early on, when the backs opted to play the riskier long ball instead of the high-percentage short pass. But they played positively enough to at least provide some optimism for next week's game against Sporting Kansas City.
- John C.L. Morgan
Coming into the season, many analysts and fans cited the team's midfield as one cause for optimism. The combination of the veteran stalwart Shalrie Joseph, the clever Benny Feilhaber, the steady Clyde Simms, and the youthful newcomer Kelyn Rowe was supposed to compensate for whatever was lacking elsewhere on the field.
If this core four will be the team's bright spot, then last night's performance casts a dark cloud over the start of the season.
Obviously, it was Joseph's careless square pass in the 15th minute that led to San Jose's goal. However, the miscues among the midfielders persisted throughout the game. Including Clyde Simms's respectable 84% pass completion rate, the New England Revolution's midfielders combined to complete only 65% (97 of 149) of their passes, including a paltry 54% (43 of 79) of their passes in the offensive half of the field. San Jose's midfielders, on the other hand, completed 70% of their passes--despite attempting more than twice as many passes as the Revs' midfielders--including 63% of their passes in the offensive half of the field.
To put the Revolution midfielders' poor performance in even greater context, consider the performance of the Real Salt Lake midfield against a tougher L.A. Galaxy team: Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, et. al. completed 86% of their 205 passes, including 86% of their 98 passes in the offensive half of the field.
2. The Revolution's attack was predictably toothless.
If the Revolution midfielders have a legitimate reason for their ineffective play, then it rests with the pathetic play of the two starting forwards. Target man Blake Brettschneider and second forward Fernando Cardenas were non-factors throughout the game. With the exception a handful of times, Brettscheider was either unable to track down a pass or unable to maintain possession if he did happen to get a body part on a pass. And though Cardenas was energetic throughout the game, he usually appeared clueless (he was offsides more than once) or inconsequential.
Granted, the Revs are lacking quality at forward due to injury (Saer Senne) and no-shows (Jose "Pepe" Moreno), so we are hopefully not destined to suffer the Brettschneider & Cardenas Show every week.
3. The backs were pretty solid.
Granted, pass completion rates among defenders are a little inflated due to the number completed while a player is under relatively little pressure. Nonetheless, the defenders had a better pass completion rate than the Earthquakes' defenders (71% vs. 66%), while attempting more passes (205 vs. 189).
A.J. Soares and John Lozano were the most careless with the ball, but Soares was playing a new position on short notice, and Lozano improved after being horrible over the first 25 minutes. Stephen McCarthy was one of the Revs' three best players, and Kevin Alston's offensive contribution was better than I had initially realized. Tyler Polak's confidence on the ball is encouraging.
Most important, the backs didn't surrender a shot on goal, with the exception of the 15th minute goal that was sparked by midfield incompetence. There were times, especially early on, when the backs opted to play the riskier long ball instead of the high-percentage short pass. But they played positively enough to at least provide some optimism for next week's game against Sporting Kansas City.
- John C.L. Morgan
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