New England Revolution Feel They Were Better Team On Wednesday

“So much good today. I know it's hard to think in that way when you lose the game 2-1, but that is a very good team. We came on the road and I thought we had the better of it, honestly."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

While some view the scoreboard as the ultimate indicator of a team’s success in the match, Caleb Porter sees the game in a much larger scope.

New England suffered a 2-1 defeat on Wednesday down in Houston. The Dynamo found the opener in the early minutes of the second half and the Revolution responded soon after with Luca Langoni drawing a penalty and Carles Gil converting from the spot.

But the first half was New England’s best performance. The Revs were creating chances and could have entered the locker room after 45 minutes had Bobby Wood and Alhassan Yusuf converted on quality goal-scoring chances. New England also might have been down a goal if it wasn’t for some great saves by Aljaz Ivacic.

While losing is never a desired outcome, it is hard to say that the Revolution played poorly. They were productive in the final third and could have walked away with three points if they were more effective with their chances.

“So much good today,” Porter said. “I know it's hard to think in that way when you lose the game 2-1, but that is a very good team. We came on the road and I thought we had the better of it, honestly. We played extremely well on both sides of the ball. We had good chances, we stifled them defensively and it was another game against a very good team where we are right there in the game. For me, where we fell short is the details, and that's the area of our team that we have to continue to work on: finishing our chances. We should have been up easily, 1-0 or 2-0, with the chances that we had and the way we played in that first half. We have to finish our chances there.”

Similarily to the head coach, midfielder Matt Polster was pleased with the performance and thought that New England was the better team.

“I think overall, when you look at our first half performance, I think we were the better team,” Polster said. “I thought we were very well organized. Our structure was very good. How we played out of the back, and how we were able to build into the front half and create chances was also very good. Start of the second half, I think we were a little naïve coming out. Houston came out a little bit quicker, pressed a little higher, and we started to play a little bit more, which benefited them a little bit. They obviously picked a pass off and they scored a really good goal. But I think we were just naïve in how we came out in the second half, which led to them scoring. I think if we play a little more direct, we soften things up a little bit, the game might look a little differently. Then we have a really good play between Carles [Gil] and Luca [Langoni] that gets us a penalty, we're back in the game. Then we give up a little bit of a soft set piece that we've worked on all week. [That] shouldn't happen.”

If there was any area of New England’s game that could have seen improvement, it could have been the defending. Ivacic was constantly under pressure and the match could have ended 4-1 if it wasn’t for the goalkeeper’s efforts.

Xavier Arreaga in particular seemed to have a poor match. His willingness to go forward seems to be more of a risk than a benefit as it leaves his fellow defenders out to dry when defending a counterattack.

But Porter was pleased with the defending on Wednesday night.

“I thought we were good in the first half,” the head coach said. “They are a very good attacking team. We knew they would have a lot of the ball. They have very skillful and creative players and they look to pin you back and combine central or throw it wide and cross. But I thought we stifled them in that first half. The game changed when we gave up the goal. It is hard to judge the defending when you now go down a goal, because obviously, we knew we need to win. We are now having to open up more and you are going to give away more chances. But I am very pleased with the defending in the first half until we gave up the goal. We just can't concede that goal at the start of the second half.”

After a quality start to the match, the Revolution looked like a completely different team after walking onto the pitch for the second half. Porter insists that he is delivering the proper messages and relaying vital information to players but this has been a constant issue this season. For whatever reason, the Revs have constantly been caught on the back foot in the early stages of the second half.

For Porter, the problem is in the details.

“Then, at the start of the second half, for me, the detail of being a little bit more pragmatic,” he said. “We, for some reason all of a sudden, started overplaying out of the back and that's not what we do. We always, in the first 10 minutes of halves, go direct and then we play. In that moment at the start the second half, playing on the road against a very good team that we knew was going to come out flying and pressing, we have to be smarter in those details of our decision making. The guys know that, so for me, that's a real learning lesson. The decision making to start the second half, we need to step up and kick, especially after we lost the ball the first time that almost led to a goal. That was not a part of the plan. Then for me, going 1-1, the detail, again, of finishing. We had a very good chance that would have made it 2-1.”

But at this point, being the better team doesn’t matter. New England needs a win on Saturday if the club wants to remain able to play postseason soccer. If the Revolution fails to do so, it will be one of the more disappointing campaigns in recent history.