New England Revolution Need to "Play Collectively"

“I think we need to play collectively; we need to play with intelligence, and we need to play with effort."

The New England Revolution have had a lot go against them in recent months and if they want to make an MLS Cup run they will need to work as a team.

At times the Revolution have looked lifeless. Players have been seen arguing on the field with one another and the club has struggled to maintain leads or even achieve one.

Defending has been a major concern for New England. The Revs are leaking goals and thus dropping points.

Veteran Ema Boateng believes that better defending is a top priority for New England heading into the playoffs.

“The biggest thing is to defend better as a group,” the winger said. “We've given up some goals where teams have exploited us behind or maybe you can look at the times that we give up goals just at the end of halves or late in games. So, that's the biggest thing we want to correct right now is to try to be strong as a team when we're defending. And I think offensively, we can create chances. So, just defend first, be compact as a group, and then attack when we get the opportunity.

The Revolution will be put to the test as the Philadelphia Union come to town. Daniel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre, and Julian Carranza are potent attacking threats that can score goals in bunches against opponents.

On top of a collective defending effort, veteran Tommy McNamara believes that New England needs to show more effort on the pitch.

“I think we need to play collectively; we need to play with intelligence, and we need to play with effort,” the midfielder said. “I think just having the competitiveness and the willingness to do everything possible to win games, that will serve us well into this weekend and into the playoffs if we can get that back into our group.”

This isn’t the first time that a lack of effort has been pointed out. After the last two matches, interim head coach Clint Peay has discussed the squad’s effort.

“We still have some guys who are still trying to get match minutes, [Henry] Kessler, [Gustavo] Bou, and we’re still trying to figure out which guys are going to show up and commit to playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played for 90-plus minutes,” Peay proclaimed.

If that isn’t an indictment on some players I don’t know what is.

If New England continues to play with a lack of cohesion and conviction, their playoff push will be more like a will be more like a pitstop with the Revs heading home in the blink of an eye.