Caleb Porter Takes Responsibility After Fourth Straight League Loss

Porter: “First of all, I take responsibility, I'm the head coach and it's my job to pick the players, prepare the players, and win games. That hasn't happened. So, the buck starts and stops with me."

Photo Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

Head coach Caleb Porter is taking responsibility for how the New England Revolution have performed in the league.

While the Revs are 3-0-1 in the Concacaf Champions Cup, they have four straight league losses. It’s their second-worst start to a season—their worst was in 2001 when they went 0-6.

“First of all, I take responsibility, I'm the head coach and it's my job to pick the players, prepare the players, and win games,” Porter said at the start of his press conference. “That hasn't happened. So, the buck starts and stops with me. Needs to be better.”

The Revs’ most recent outing was a home loss to FC Cincinnati on Sunday. After a scoreless 45 minutes, Cincinnati had several dangerous opportunities, driven largely by substitute Lucho Acosta.

In the 46th minute, Acosta marched forward before assisting Luca Orellano, who also came on at halftime. The goal was ultimately called back due to an offside player.

Acosta got his assist in the 52nd minute when his corner was nodded toward the net by Yuya Kubo. The Argentine midfielder got a goal of his own in the 54th minute when his free kick went under the wall and into Henrich Ravas’ net.

Porter noted that his team “played very well” in the first half, but needed “to find the goal” because they “got in great spots.”

Things changed after the break.

“I don't know what happened to start the second half,” Porter said. “For me, that's the big question I have, and that's the question I asked them. How do we, in a home game where we're playing well, do we start the second half that poor? And what changed?

“For me, it's the mentality, it needs to be stronger. And in front of our supporters, we [concede] two goals, and now we're in a hole. And then all of a sudden, the mentality changes. So, for me, that tells me everything I need to know. We have to work on the mentality of this group, because we lost the game because we started the second half poor.”

The Revs got on the scoreboard in the 62nd minute when Giacomo Vrioni picked off a back pass before collecting his first league goal of 2024. This came three days after he scored against Alajuelense in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

The Revs couldn’t find another tally and the game ended 2-1. This was their second home loss of the season.

Despite the difficult start to league play, Porter still believes in his vision.

“It's my responsibility to get the team there, but there's no question I know how to get there,” Porter said. “A lot of it is figuring out who can consistently perform and have the mentality that we need game in and game out.“

The Revolution’s next game is on Saturday, Mar. 23 when they welcome the Chicago Fire. They will have six days to prepare, which is their longest span without a match since the start of the season.

Porter knows that things have to improve, which could mean making additions.

“We're 0-4, so we clearly need to get better,” Porter said. “It's that simple. I'm going to keep making these guys better. It'll help having training. But clearly, we need to improve. Some of that is getting in the film room, some of that is training, some of that is having some hard conversations, some of that is things I can do better, always. But some of it is seeing how we can bolster the roster, no doubt.”