On Sunday the Revs were missing a key component of their midfield as Brooklyn Raines served a suspension for yellow card accumulation.

Raines has partnered well this season with Alhassan Yusuf carrying out an array of midfield duties together seamlessly. Only Seth Moulton could lay a claim to holding the center down better than these two in Massachusetts so far in 2026.

Behind them, Mamadou Fofana and Ethan Kohler have formed a similarly integrated partnership at the centerback positions. Both pairings have done well in all phases of play by carrying out nothing more complicated than an understanding of 'you go, I'll stay'. This has come from a recognition of each other's strengths and weaknesses and has enabled them to provide a reliable platform for the front four attacking players and cover for the Revs' limited outside back pairing.

They haven't been flawless but they are a big reason why the Revs have only conceded 26 goals in 21 games, only Chicago and Nashville can claim better defensive records in the Eastern Conference.

Yusuf had a marvelous attacking performance last Wednesday against DC United, his hat trick came off the back of his ability to recognize and attack open spaces in the opponent's penalty area. And he was able to commit to those attacking runs because of the defensive solidarity from the three players behind him in the other three central positions.

His secondary attacking runs once the opponent's back line has been pulled deeper is something that opponent's will need to deal with going forward. That central attention to track his runs potentially opens up space for Carles Gil to operate around the top of 18, where he is uniquely suited to strike from.

A typical attacking situation created when Harrison is on the ball, Miller has held his width, Turgeman has been compelled to run and Yusuf makes the secondary run behind him. All the while Gil lurks where he can create for himself.

Defensively, Yusuf is the more likely between himself and Raines to press higher or wider from their nominal central starting positions. If he pushes up, Raines covers behind, if he goes into the half space or wide area, Raines slides over to cover in the next space. It sounds exceedingly simple but we saw plenty of instances in recent years where it just wasn't happening.

There are some adjustments that may be needed as the Revs have been hit on two strikes from distance in the second half of season where more pressure on the ball was needed. Brayan Vera for Montreal and Niklas Dorsch for Toronto both had the time and space needed to hit their outstanding strikes. The Revs don't want to be on the end of too many more goal of the week candidates from those ranges.

Image courtesy of FotMob
Put all the tariffs on Canada you want, strikes like this from north of the border still need to prevented. Image courtesy of FotMob

Another smaller issue has cropped up on a few occasions lately in front of Raines and Yusuf that needs more attention. The Revs defend in a 4-4-2 mid block, wherein Gil joins Dor Turgeman to form the front defensive line. These two are responsible for blocking passes into the midfield and applying at least nominal pressure to the centerback on the ball. Gil is particularly consistent at reading these situations and making sure he's screening effectively. Turgeman, at times, loses track of the situation behind him and the gap to Gil, leading to a pass that splits both.

There had been several occasions where this happened before Sunday's game against NYCFC, most notably against Houston, where the player receiving the ball immediately had time and space and a 3v2 in central midfield to exploit with a forward pass. It didn't hurt them against Houston, they did enter the attacking third with passes into the half space on multiple occasions but nothing came of it.

That changed on Sunday.

This small defensive breakdown created the sequence of play that led to the corner from which NYCFC scored from. Plenty to be said about the defending of that corner! But as Pep Guardiola said, if you're not good at defending corners, then don't give them up.

Turgeman and Gil are about to get split with the next pass from Keaton Parks to Andres Perea. Neither Gil or Turgeman is pressing Parks (on the ball) or shadow covering Perea well enough (moving right to left behind Gil), they get split and NYCFC quickly exploits the resulting 3v2. This leads to saved a shot and the resulting corner.

There are multiple possible solutions to this occurrence. When the Revs are higher up the field, typically, Yusuf or Raines will mark a deep lying midfielder. They could employ this in a mid block as well but it does potentially open up space centrally and stretch Yusuf and Raines further apart than might be sensible closer to goal.

They could also opt to revert to a 4-2-3-1 and have Gil mark a deep lying player and leave Turgeman to split the centerback pairing when he presses. Another less orthodox solution could be to have Peyton Miller and Jack Harrison move into their respective half spaces along with Gil to form a tight line of three behind Turgeman and squeeze the space. That potentially creates an increased probability of 2v1 situations down the sides against the outside backs, which might not be something worth exploring.

This is the most inherently vulnerable situation that can be exploited when defending in a 4-4-2. The rise of the 4-3-3 can largely be attributed to creating a 3v2 in midfield against the 4-4-2.

But teams will see this as an opportunity to challenge the stout defending of Raines and Yusuf going forward. This weekend the Revs face the Columbus Crew, who are having a throwback to the 2021 and 2022 seasons wherein they struggled throughout and missed the playoffs.

Who was at the helm for them back then? Oh.

Anyway, as much as they're struggling, they do deploy a skilled central midfielder, Andre Gomes, capable of making things difficult for the Revs on the ball in these spaces.

The Revs have seemingly skated by with depleted center back depth in the gap of time between Brayan Ceballos' departure and Tylon Smith's arrival this week. They pulled it off and the moving of Kohler into the starting lineup has been totally justified. He pairs with Fofana exceptionally well. Kohler is the more adept ball player of the two and Fofana does just enough with his occasional rumbles forward on the dribble and willingness to pump the ball long to draw at least some attention away from Kohler in the Revs build-up.

Defensively, Kohler likes to intervene in pressing situations just after the ball is lost, that's gegenpressing to all the hipsters out there, while Fofana covers behind him. Closer to goal, we see the same patterns play out as well, Kohler does well to block shots and stop entry into the penalty area and Fofana has surely earned first pick of the shutout donuts putting his body in front of a many threatening attempts on goal and passes into the six yard box.

The Revs are one of five teams with only one penalty kick awarded against them this season, only two teams concede fewer fouls per game than they do and they rank 5th in yellow cards given and have not had a player sent off this season. They are a much more effective defensive unit than in recent years and are doing it not just better but cleaner and smarter as well.

Again, all is not complete in central midfield or perfect from a defensive standpoint but with Kohler, Fofana and Raines' defensive work in the spaces that matter most being as effective as it is, coupled with Yusuf's all around box to box play, the Revs have it all largely figured out in the middle.