The New England Revolution lost 3-0 to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday evening. It was the club’s second straight loss and fourth at home in 2024.
A 14th-minute red card issued to Ryan Spaulding made life extremely difficult for New England. The team eventually folded losing 3-0. It was their fifth match in league play where they allowed three goals or more (seventh in all matches).
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The Revolution currently have a goal-differential of -13 (worst in MLS) and have allowed 25 goals so far in MLS play (fifth worst in MLS). While losing 3-0 when down a man for 75 minutes isn’t completely shocking, it also isn’t like this is the first match where New England has leaked goals.
Xavier Arreaga was brought in via a trade with the Seattle Sounders to fix the issues in New England’s back line. The former Sounder was a quality defender out west and also strong with the ball at his feet.
But since coming to the Revs, Arreaga has started in four matches, and in that period of matches, New England has allowed 11 goals. In that same period of time, Henry Kessler has slotted next to Arreaga. The right-footed center back has shown some flashes of confidence, Kessler has also had some poor showings.
And while all this is going on, 2023 Revolution Defender of the Year Dave Romney has been on the bench. His last start came against NYCFC on April 13th and he has since played one minute.
Prior to Romney’s benching, he allowed 13 goals; albeit in six MLS starts. In 2023 he played in 42 matches and was a key part of New England’s back line. Since the start of 2024 and the hiring of Porter, Romney’s role on the Revs is essentially non-existent.
During the beginning of the season when Romney was starting, Henrich Ravas was still the starter as the Revolution ran out their preseason acquisition. The 26-year-old struggled, so much so that New England signed Aljaz Ivacic. Ivacic has been declared the starter (rightfully so with an impressive start to his Revolution career despite the number of goals he has allowed) and Ravas is now the Revs’ backup goalkeeper.
So, The Blazing Musket asked Porter after the loss about what Romney would have to do in order to return to the starting XI. Take a listen.
