New England Revolution vs CF Montreal: 3 Thoughts

CF Montreal made an impact on New England's playoff hopes

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution returned to MLS play on Wednesday as they faced off against CF Montreal at Gillette Stadium and was only able to secure a single point.

Nick Lima, Dave Romney, Xavier Arreaga, and Peyton Miller were the back line in front of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic. Mark-Anthony Kaye and Matt Polster served as defensive midfielders.

Captain Carles Gil was back in his familiar No. 10 role while Luca Langoni and Esmir Bajraktarevic played on the wings. Bobby Wood was the lone striker up top.

But what do you need to know about Saturday’s match? Here are three thoughts.

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1 - The Wood Man

After struggling to convert in the first 20 minutes of the match, Bobby Wood found the opener New England. The goal was Wood’s third of the season.

The veteran had struggle to get on the field as he is dealing with what Caleb Porter described as chronic knee issues but ever since he has been able to play, the striker has made an impact.

While the striker position would be better with reinforcements, Wood has proven to be a strong second option. At his age, he shouldn’t be a club’s top striker but Wood is showing that he still has some gas left in the tank.

But the fact that Wood is one of New England’s top goalscorers highlights the limited scoring options on its roster. If a club is going to compete for an MLS Cup, it needs to have more scoring threats.

2 - Capped & Confident

After making his debut for Bosnia & Herzegovina on the international stage, Bajraktarevic seemed to be full of confidence. The tekkers were on display and the winger was able to notch his third goal of the MLS season.

The goal was a great one as Bajraktarevic curled it past Jonathan Sirois and he added a dance celebration with Peyton Miller as the cherry on top.

Beyond the goal, Bajraktarevic was strong on the ball and did a good job of maintaining possession. He was a constant attacking threat on the wing and was one of the bright spots for the Revs.

Contrasting his performance to Dylan Borrero last match, it will be hard to keep Bajraktarevic out of the starting XI. The fact that Borrero didn’t even feature off the bench could indicate that he is in Porter’s doghouse.

3 - Free Kick Failure

Montreal drew a goal closer in the second half with a beautiful free kick off the foot of Tom Pearce but New England’s goalkeeper could have done better on the play.

With the free kick being from quite some distance, it is a shot that Ivacic could have saved if he was positioned better. The fact that the goal cost them points made the lapse even worse.

Ivacic wasn’t tested as much as he usually is, a credit to New England’s press and domination of the match. The goalkeeper was called upon later in the second half as Samuel Piette sent a curling shot on goal but Ivacic was able to make the save.

Unfortunately, Montreal found another goal with another curling shot beating Ivacic. If you want to blame him for not getting onto the shot, that’s fair but the free kick goal was more a goalkeeping error than the second goal. Kaye gave George Campbell way too much space and Romney could have pressed Nathan Saliba more but in all reality it was just an impressive goal.

Now New England has now gone winless in three matches where points were desperately needed. The Revs head on the road to play Charlotte on Saturday in what can only be described as a much-win match.