Caleb Porter Feels Aligned With the New England Revolution
Porter: “It was clear that there was alignment in terms of visions and values.”
The Caleb Porter Era is here.
On Thursday, Porter was introduced to the media as the ninth official head coach of the New England Revolution.
Porter was linked to other jobs around Major League Soccer, but was ultimately drawn to the Revolution because he felt an “immediate connection with the people in the club.”
“It was clear that there was alignment in terms of visions and values,” Porter said. “Also it was clear and evident that this is a club with a very strong foundation to build on from the standpoint of the people, the staff, the infrastructure, and the roster.”
Porter, who said he “picks jobs carefully,” noted that he’s learned alignment is important. He believes he has that in New England as he “immediately felt connected” to Revs Sporting Director Curt Onalfo.
“In our initial conversations, we saw the game in a similar way,” Poster said. “That makes it easy – the way we see the game, the way we see players, the areas that we know we need to address.
“I really liked that Curt had been a coach. He had been a coach. He's been in this chair. He knows what it feels like when you win, when you lose, the pressure, all of it. He understands the dynamics of being a coach. That's hugely important, and I love that.”
Onalfo echoed Porter’s sentiments, stating, “You could just tell right from the beginning, that we were aligned.”
“We wanted a strong leader,” Onalfo said. “We wanted a proven winner, and we wanted somebody that wanted to coach our players, and it just came out so evidently in the interview process.
“From the first time we had a conversation where most of those conversations would have lasted just an hour, we spoke for two hours and it just flew by.”
The Revolution will begin training sessions during the week of Jan. 15 before heading to IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL on Jan. 21.
The club will have just over a month to prepare for their opening round Concacaf Champions Cup game against Atlético Independiente on Feb. 21. Porter will use this time to determine his best XI and tactics.
The 48-year-old coach, who won MLS Cups with the Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew, already has ideas regarding how he wants to play.
“I prefer to decide the game,” Porter said. “Football's a cruel sport, so I believe in reducing the element of luck by playing in a proactive way, by deciding the game with the ball, and deciding the game without the ball by playing in an aggressive way.”
Of course, every game and opponent is difficult. As such, Porter understands that he will need to be adaptable to find success.
“We'll decide the game with the ball, and we'll create a lot of chances and score goals,” Poster said. “We'll play aggressively defensively as well, but I think you'll see that we'll adapt to win. That's the key. We’ll adapt to win, and we will respect the opponent, so it won't be predictable.”
Since being announced as head coach on Dec. 19, Porter has been working hard alongside his new coworkers to prepare for the upcoming season. The hope is that these efforts ultimately translate into the Revolution winning their first-ever MLS Cup.
“Since we hired Caleb, the work that we put in – we'll be announcing next week the staff that we put in place – it’s outstanding,” Onalfo said. “We already have a great working relationship, and I love the way his teams play. It's very similar to what we've implemented in our youth development system. So really, it's the perfect fit. I'm really excited to help Caleb be successful at the first team level, because that's my job, to help Caleb.”
So much more specificity and detail in his quotes than what Bruce offered. Not yet clear how correlated his words and behaviors will be... Nevertheless its is far more interesting to read what Caleb has to say.