Dave Romney Has Sights Set On 2025

Romney: “It will be nice to have a little break, but I'm already, with how the season ended, I'm so excited to start a new season and kind of forget about this season."

Photo Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

Dave Romney is looking ahead after a difficult 2024 season.

The New England Revolution finished nine points below the playoff line with a record of 9-21-4. While the offseason has just begun, Romney already has his sights on 2025.

“It will be nice to have a little break, but I'm already, with how the season ended, I'm so excited to start a new season and kind of forget about this season,” Romney said last Wednesday.

The veteran defender said his option was picked up, adding, “It triggered in the middle of the year.”

Romney made 27 regular-season appearances (24 starts) in 2024. At the end of the year, he was named the Revolution’s Defender of the Year, a distinction awarded by the media.

But Romney knows there’s work to be done as the Revs conceded the second most goals in the league.

“We conceded 74 goals, which is not good enough,” Romney said. “For me, that's extremely embarrassing, and that's something I'll carry with me the whole offseason and that I'll be working towards next year to get that number as low as possible.

“No matter how many goals we score as attackers, because you can't be a successful team if you're letting in 74 goals across 34 games. So next year, I'll be trying to be more outspoken, be a better leader, and just try to take more control of the defense and do everything we can to be more cohesive, to get more shutouts as well, and then keep those leads when we're in the lead.”

Romney commented that the Revs rotated the backline a lot this season, which made it difficult to find a rhythm.

The Revolution used 23 different backline pairings, including 17 combinations that weren’t replicated during the regular season.

The most common backline featured Aljaz Ivacic, DeJuan Jones, Xavier Arreaga, Romney, and Nick Lima. They went 4-1-0 and conceded nine goals, five of which came against the Columbus Crew.

“From a defensive aspect, I think the amount of times we had to rotate backlines, center backs, outside backs throughout the year, was one of the most I've ever had,” Romney said. “It's definitely tough and then you have guys playing new positions, sometimes. I think if we have guys who are bought in, working hard, communicating, watching film together, all that stuff, I think you will see a lot better product next year.”

Romney himself wasn’t always a starter. After starting every game in 2023, he fell out of favor when Arreaga was added in April. He ultimately found his way back to the first XI.

Romney compared the situation to the beginning of his career when he was a Homegrown player with the Galaxy.

“[The Galaxy] would bring in some expensive signing from Europe or South America, and by the end of the year, I would be starting over them,” Romney said. “Then you'd have a new coach come in, they would bring in some guy and he was expensive, and then by the end of the year, I would be starting over them.

“I think it's taken me a while sometimes to win over coaches, but I think through consistent play, being a good teammate, always working hard, that has usually helped, I would say.”

Romney said the team needs to be more consistent heading into 2025, noting they “had the stretches of games or 75 minutes of it, we were playing really, really well.” Failing to score and/or conceding a goal would derail the performance.

Preseason could prove instrumental as the team enters year two under head coach Caleb Porter.

“I think there's going to be a lot of turnover in the roster, I would imagine, and just kind of having to get as much continuity as possible in the preseason next year is going to be very, very important,” Romney said. “It's always important when you have a lot of new guys. I think we'll be in Florida for most of it, so a lot of team building in Florida.”