Know Thy Enemy: Revolution at Nashville's Comeback Tour
Know Thy Enemy: Revolution at Nashville's Comeback Tour
Nashville might be under new management but Walker Zimmerman and Hany Mukhtar are still playing the hits.
It makes complete sense that Nashville SC struggled in the first months of the season without their talisman centerback Walker Zimmerman.
With just one win in their first nine games and Nashville floundering below the playoff line, they parted ways with longtime head coach Gary Smith earlier this month. While the turnaround for Nashville began with two wins in their final three games with Smith, in the three games under interim coach Rumba Munthali the Coyotes have gotten five points including a midweek 2-0 win at Cincinnati.
The most important factor of Nashville's surge is the return of Zimmerman, who returned as a substitute in an April 27th 1-1 draw against San Jose and started and scored in 68 minutes during a 4-1 win over Montreal. It makes sense that a defense first team would look better with its best defender though as will be explained down below, that’s not what led to Smith’s departure.
There was a similar hope that the New England Revolution would be in a similar position - after entering 2024 with a new head coach and two starting players out injured — it would be like making two impact signings getting Dylan Borrero and Brandon Bye back at some point in the first half of the season. Obviously that hasn’t worked out but there are deeper issues with New England than just injuries.
I imagine it’s rather difficult for a defense-first team to flip a switch and just decide to be more attacking for a spell. I think the default setting would be to revert to a slightly different defense, maybe slower tempo or different pressing concept, but still defense first and that may have done Coach Smith in. Nashville has always been what they are and for the most part it’s worked, but when it goes bad it looks really bad because the offense isn’t designed to carry the team no matter how good Hany is.
New England under Caleb Porter has installed a possession-based system, one that is very good at playing out of the back and very bad and getting the ball forward. Both Nashville and the Revs have struggled to get their DP strikers in Sam Sturridge and Giacomo Vrioni involved and on the score sheet as often as they like; though Sturridge is right on the mark with 5 goals on about 5 xG in 900+ minutes. While not a goal every other game, it’s significantly better than what Vrioni and the Revs offense have been doing this year.
A long time feature of that Nashville defense was Dave Romney, who I certainly hope is going to start with Henry Kessler suspended due to yellow card accumulation. Maybe his presence can do similar wonders like Zimmerman did for his team. Nashville I think has a good chance to break through the mediocrity of the midtable East standings, but catching a team like Columbus in 5th currently would be a tremendous turnaround.
Nashville should be what they always are - a stout defensive team that’s a royal pain to go up against in the playoffs. New England is so far away from anything playoff-related right now they would need to win their next three games just to get to an even 1.00 PPG; which would only put them above Chicago in the East.
As always, we are joined by the legend himself, Ben Wright, of Broadway Sports Media, Backheeled, and MLS dot com fame. I haven’t checked his power rankings but I assume the Revs are somewhere between a Dan Hurley/Geno Auriemma coached UConn co-ed basketball alum TST 7v7 side and my beloved Silkmen of Macclesfield FC who lost the Northern Premier League playoff final.
Be sure to check out any and all of Ben’s coverage of the league where ever he may be writing.
TBM: Okay, it's been a roller coaster few weeks for Nashville - Gary Smith is out and you just rolled Cincy on the road 2-0 midweek under Rumba Munthali. What was the biggest factor in Smith's exit this year and what has Munthali been able to correct in his first few games in charge?
BW: The factors in Smith's exit go back to last season, even before their Leagues Cup run. Nashville were awful in MLS for about a month before Leagues Cup, and the run to the final distracted from a lot of their issues. After the tournament they never recovered and Smith won just six of his last 29 games in charge. I think the club was growing frustrated with a more reactionary and back-foot approach, and think that being more proactive can keep this roster in contention for the playoffs, even MLS Cup. I have questions about if this team is really built well enough to be a cup contender, but they were certainly underperforming and things didn't look like they would get better anytime soon.
Munthali hasn't changed a ton, but he has been less reactionary in his three games in charge. He's pressing more, keeping lines higher, and hasn't retreated into a defensive shell as the game goes on. Things are still pretty up in the air, but I think there has been legitimate, albeit marginal, improvement.
TBM: Nashville currently sits in the play-in game as far as the East standings, what are realistic expectations for this team as far as the playoffs now?
BW: I mean, anytime you have Hany Mukhtar and Walker Zimmerman on a team, you should be a playoff team. Zimmerman is still one of the elite center backs in the league, and there was a notable difference without him. Nashville were one of the worst defensive teams in the games he missed with knee surgery, and immediately improved to the join-best when he came back into the lineup. Couple that with what should be a really strong frontline of Jacob Shaffelburg, Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Tyler Boyd, and I think playoffs are very realistic. Top 4 is a long shot at this point, but I think Nashville should be in contention for the 5-7 range.
TBM: We've seen Hany Mukhtar be a creator this year, does NSH need him to be the goalscoring juggernaut again to be a major contender this year?
BW: Having Mukhtar be a goalscoring juggernaut certainly would help, and he hasn't been at the same level as he was from 2021 through the first half of 2023. Sam Surridge was brought in to alleviate some of the goal scoring burden from Mukhtar, but the two of them haven't really hit top gear at the same time, and Nashville haven't really utilized Surridge as effectively as they should have. He and Mukhtar too often sit in each others space and haven't really figured out the best way to combine. Nashville need at least one of them to be a 15-goal scorer to really be a contender, but with the money they're paying them and the value they hold in the squad, there's really no excuse for both of them not to be scoring in the double digits.
Lineup/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.
Randall Leal and Lukas MacNaughton are both out with longer-term injuries, but otherwise they're pretty healthy.
Lineup (4-3-3): Willis; Lovitz, Maher, Zimmerman, Moore; Yearwood, Godoy, Mukhtar; Shaffelburg, Surridge, Boyd
Prediction: 3-0 Nashville win