Caleb Porter Encouraged By Revs' Performace Against Toronto
Porter: "If we keep playing like we did today, we're going to get results.”
New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter thought his team had a positive performance despite losing 1-0 to Toronto FC on Saturday night.
According to FotMob, the Revolution led TFC in most statistical categories, including possession (61% to 39%), shots (17 to 15), expected goals in open play (.93 to .53), expected goals on set pieces (.65 to .19), big chances (2 to 1), and accurate passes (83% to 77%).
Yet Toronto scored the night’s only goal in the 66th minute when Prince Owusu’s acrobatic strike found the back of the net.
The home side did have an opportunity to double their lead when the referee pointed to the spot in the 73rd minute, but Henrich Ravas denied Federico Bernardeschi.
“I don't like the result today, but I can live with the performance today,” Porter said. “I thought it was one of our best performances of the year. We were the better team today. I think the stats will show that as well.
“We had clear chances to score. Most of their shots were from distance that were easily handled by [Henrich] Ravas. I’m disappointed on the goal. Obviously, we’ve got to clear the ball and we have to finish, but we looked like a team that was back to playing like we want to play, and I thought we performed very well.”
The Revs did have looks on goal during the game.
In the first half, Carles Gil had a corner kick that Henry Kessler headed into the path of Nacho Gil. The ensuing shot was blocked.
Giacomo Vrioni had a breakaway in the second half when Esmir Bajraktarevic found him in transition but Sean Johnson pushed away the shot.
“Our mentality was good,” Porter said. “Our intensity was good. I thought we executed extremely well on both sides of the ball. Like I said, we created clear chances, we had a couple breakaways. Giacomo, obviously, in those moments, can we finish? Nacho had a great chance three or four yards out. [Mark-Anthony Kaye] had a great chance. We had others that were blocked, but we played extremely well and we created chances and did what we wanted to do today. “
The Revolution are 1-6-1 to start the regular season, putting them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The club collected their first point on Mar. 23 when they tied the Chicago Fire 1-1 at home. This was followed by a 1-0 home win over Charlotte FC.
The Revs then went on the road, losing 2-0 to New York City FC in a game where the Pigeons had the statistical advantage.
Porter didn’t like what he saw against NYCFC, but he’s much more encouraged by this weekend’s performance against TFC.
“Again, I don't like the result, but I can live with the performance, and this is something we can build on,” Porter said. “I feel for the guys. I wanted them to get a result after playing so hard and so well, that you just want them to get a result, to be rewarded for the performance, but we can't hang our heads.
“We’ve got to keep going. After the last game, New York [City FC], for me, playing that way, we weren't going to get results. If we keep playing like we did today, we're going to get results.”
PUH-LEASE.
Yeah, this past game made me angry we didn’t leave with a point because it really felt we played well enough to at least get a draw. This aggravation feels better than the aggravation of watching us just play badly a whole game, like in NYC last weekend. I think if we play like we did last night for the rest of the year we would probably end up fighting for a low playoff spot.
Even if we don’t get to a playoff spot, it does feel like there’s nowhere to go but up from here.