Pressing The Priority Under Caleb Porter

“Yeah, you can’t really play the way we want to play unless you’re fit."

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

With Caleb Porter patrolling the touchline, the New England Revolution better be ready to work.

From the moment he was introduced as head coach, Porter discussed how he wants his team to press opponents on the ball and look to force them into mistakes. If he wants to do that, players will need to be extremely fit.

“Yeah, you can’t really play the way we want to play unless you’re fit. So, I thought today for about 40 minutes, we were at a very high level playing in an aggressive and dominant way, both sides of the ball,” Porter stated after an intrasquad scrimmage. “We had way more control in this match. We had a much better high press, aggressive press, and we created more chances, you know, so that was all very pleasing. But then we fizzled at about 40 minutes, you know, so then it didn’t look like us. So, can we continue to push with the fitness kind of that aggressive approach where we’re pushing games, where we’re carrying games. You know, not just a passenger in the game. We don’t want to be a passenger in any game where the opponent is dictating us. We want to dictate and boss the opponent, ideally, and to do that, you have to be fit. So, I think we’re still working on that a little bit, but I would say we’re ahead of most groups at this stage, and that will come.”

Center back Henry Kessler also emphasized the importance of being fit in Porter’s pressing system.

“Yeah, he wants us to press,” Kessler said. “We want to apply a lot of pressure to the opposition – re-press, counter-press, whatever you want to call it. There’s going to be a lot of pressing. Then offensively, that’s when we’ll really get our break. So, it’s important to be fit. We’ll keep building, but it’s really important for this group.”

Along with fitness, overall player health will be important. In this system, squad rotation will be important between league play, Leagues Cup, CCC, and the U.S. Open Cup. If the Revolution have as many injuries as they did last season, it will be quite difficult to implement his desired style of play.

But if New England can develop a press that rivals the likes of the New York Red Bulls, the Revolution could put a vice grip on their opponents which would hopefully lead to positive performances.