Caleb Porter Discusses Revolution's Formation Change

“We’ve been playing well, we’ve been in every game, but I’m always trying to think about ways to make it even better."

Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution

The New England Revolution used a different tactical setup on Saturday, operating in a 3-4-1-2 against Atlanta United.

Head coach Caleb Porter was happy with what he saw as his team collected a 1-0 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a place they’ve only won at once before.

Under Porter, the Revs have generally used a 4-2-3-1. This week, he suggested the team go with something different.

“I felt like there were a couple of wrinkles that we can do that would push us over the top,” Porter said. “We’ve been playing well, we’ve been in every game, but I’m always trying to think about ways to make it even better.

“On Wednesday, we kind of rolled out this new shape. We had to sell the players on it, obviously, because we had been playing well. But my pitch to them was this was our opportunity to go from good to great, to create a little more, hopefully, at times be a little better defensively in the box especially. In the end, it worked out really well today.”

Brayan Ceballos, Mamadou Fofana, and Tanner Beason served as centerbacks, allowing Peyton Miller and Ilay Feingold to get into the attack.

Alhassan Yusuf and Matt Polster protected the backline with Carles Gil in front of them. Maxi Urruti and Ignatius Ganago were the strikers.

Porter believes the team looked good in the new formation despite only using it for a short time.

“The players looked comfortable,” Porter said. “When you look at every player from Ilay to Peyton and what they bring to the table, I think the minor adjustment with the shape helped them.

“The three center backs as well, Mamadou and Brayan looked a bit more comfortable for me. Tanner did a great job. Carles, I thought, found a lot more dangerous positions. He had a huge influence on the match. I think it helps in that 3-4-1-2, if you want to call it that, where he can float underneath the two strikers.”

The Revs recorded their most shots on target, second-most expected goals from the run of play, and third-most shots.

Atlanta had chances, as two apparent goals were called back because they were ruled offside. The home team also hit the woodwork twice.

Revs goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic made five saves in a game where he faced an xGOT of 1.48.

“For me, I know it’s 1-0, but we created a lot of chances,” Porter said. “They had a few chances as well, but I’m really pleased with the balance. I’m really happy with the defending. The bottom line is we got a clean sheet. It was a team effort.”

Of course, the game-winning goal came when Gil scored a penalty he drew. The Designated Player has three goals this year, all from set pieces.

Gil also created four chances.

“Captain leads us through his own abilities,” Polster said. “He’s somebody that you can rely on to put in great performances, somebody that gets us out of pressure and leads by example.”

Polster noted that the Revs “were really good in the first 45 minutes.” He added, “We have to be a little bit better in that. We can’t be flat-footed because obviously they nearly popped us for one.”

Like Porter, Polster believes the Revs’ second win of the season was due to a team-wide effort.

“It’s very important as a group that it’s not just on one or two guys,” Polster said. “It’s a team leading each other and that’s what we did today. I thought we were really good and I think everybody was engaged and that was the biggest difference from maybe the start of the season. I think maybe we weren’t as engaged [as we are] now, everybody is on the same page and pushing for wins.”

As for the formation, Porter said he’ll consider using it again.

“I try to win games,” Porter said. “That’s why I do everything. I try to think about the opponent, I try to think about my team, I try to think about the personnel that I have.

“This is something that I’ve had in my mind for several weeks. I felt like it was what was going to push us over the top. It doesn’t mean we won’t play a 4-2-3-1, which becomes a 3-4-3 in the build and a 4-4-2 defensively. It doesn’t mean we won’t do that sometimes as well, because we’ve been good at that formation.

“But we just felt like this was something that was going to push us over the top. We felt like it was going to give us actually more attack, and I felt it did. We got more chances today. We should’ve scored more than one goal.”