New England Revolution Sporting Director Curt Onalfo Discusses Home Struggles in Post-Porter Press Conference

"We need to win our home games. It's pretty simple."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

In the wake of Caleb Porter’s firing, one thing has become clear: winning home games costs Caleb Porter his job and being successful at home will be crucial for the next New England Revolution head coach.

Porter was 8-7-17 at home throughout his tenure in New England. Sporting director Curt Onalfo highlighted these struggles when speaking to media on Tuesday.

“We need to win our home games, it’s pretty simple,” Onalfo said. “If you look at our record, our away record was solid. If we had a better home record, we wouldn’t be having this press conference. It’s a results-oriented business and we have to find a way to win games at home. Our fans deserve it, the organization deserves it. That’s a major focus for us, we have to have good home form. If you have good home form, you can now become a winning team and now you can start talking about things that are beyond just being a winning team. Talk is cheap. I’m not sitting here talking about winning championships, we need to win games at home. Once we start doing that, and we can continue with the road form, all of a sudden we start talking about, ‘Okay, how do we make the next step to be able to win a championship?’ Our home form has not been good over the last two years, and this year especially."

When asked by The Blazing Musket about what characteristics Onalfo is looking for in the next head coach, Onalfo once again highlighted the importance of winning at home.

“He needs to know how to win at home,” the sporting director replied.

Beyond being able to secure three points at Gillette Stadium, Onalfo also wants to see the Revs play the game on the front foot. He mentioned that he wants the Revs to play a riskier style of play that features more attacking.

“The way to make change is just to take more risks and to be more aggressive,” Onalfo said. “Because, if you think about it, three more wins, three ties, that could be three plays. It could be two saves, one save, it could be a couple of chances that you make. All of a sudden, we’re not in this situation. So, the margins are thin.

“I think when we play at home, we have to go for it more,” he later clarified. “We have to play in the other team’s end more, and we have to put teams under pressure. It’s that type of stuff when I talk about risks.”