New England Revolution 0 - Philadelphia Union 3: 3 Thoughts

Revs got DOOP'd

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution returned to MLS play on Saturday as they faced the Philadelphia Union. A win was crucial for both teams as they have struggled so far in 2024.

The starting XI remained mostly unchanged as Aljaz Ivacic earned the start in net while Ryan Spaulding, Xavier Arreaga, Henry Kessler, and Nick Lima made up the back four. Mark-Anthony Kaye and Matt Polster served as the defensive midfielders while Carles Gil was in his usual No. 10 role.

Esmir Bajraktarevic and Dylan Borrero were on the wings with Giacomo Vrioni serving as the lone striker.

But what do you need to know about the Revolution’s performance? Here are three thoughts.

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1 - Ryan Sees Red

Spaulding had been playing some pretty good soccer but his performance against the Union was a step back.

In the 13th minute, Spaulding misplayed a pass from Bajraktarevic at the center of the field and Mikael Uhre ran on the ball with only Ivacic and the net in front of him. The outside back jockeyed with Uhre and with the Union player falling to the ground, a red card was immediately shown.

While there was plenty of grass in front of Uhre, it was a dumb mistake by Spaulding. New England was forced to play down a man for 75 minutes.

The match against the Union seemed winnable. Philly has struggled so far this season but after going a man down, winning the match would take a heroic effort.

2 - Aljaz The Amazing

Goalkeeper is a position that receives a lot of blame when a team loses but it is hard to be angry at Ivacic. He made more great saves on Saturday evening and can’t be blamed for the goal he allowed.

Beyond the saves, Ivacic looked great with the ball at his feet and is clearly the best goalkeeper on New England’s roster. The players in front of him are just letting the goalkeeper down.

The Julian Carranza goal was poor man-marking from a team that was already a man down. Philly’s No. 9 was clear on goal and headed the cross from Jack McGlynn into the net. The second and third goals were once again seemingly derived from New England being down a man as the Revs were overwhelmed in the box by Union attackers.

Outside of Ivacic, the rest of the Revolution had a poor night. If you want any sliver of hope, New England seems to have a good goalkeeper.

3 - Dave Romney

I genuinely can not understand why Dave Romney isn’t playing. With his performance in recent matches, Henry Kessler should be benched.

Kessler struggles playing on the left side as he is primarily right-footed. It wasn’t until the arrival of Arreaga and the benching of Romney that he played on the left side.

After acquiring Arreaga it makes sense that he is starting. He seems to be good with his feet and is the type of center back that Porter wants.

Kessler is a more of a mystery.

The MLSPA salary numbers were released and Kessler is making $1 million this year. Wasting that money on the bench isn’t exactly ideal.

But Romney had seemingly fallen out of favor before that. So what happened to make the 2023 Revolution Defender of the Year be reduced to a bench role?

Romney should be starting and the fact that he isn’t is an indictment on Porter’s head coaching ability. It is hard to believe that he can’t help New England’s defensive efforts.

So yet another week for Revolution fans ends in disappointment. With three out of the next four games at home, those fans will start to wonder if coming to Gillette Stadium is worth the trouble considering the level of soccer that is being played by New England.