Revolution 1, Miami 4: A Tactical Look Back
Revolution 1, Miami 4: A Tactical Look Back
Let's take a look at some clips!
The New England Revolution suffered a 4-1 loss to Inter Miami CF on Saturday night. Let’s take a closer look at the game.
A Dream Start for the Revs
After scoring five goals in their first eight games, it took the Revs 37 seconds to find the back of the net against Miami.
Carles Gil intercepted a pass to Sergio Busquets and wasted no time getting forward. His fourth touch was a picturesque, lofted ball to an onrushing Tomas Chancalay.
This is the type of transition goal that the Revs will score with Chancalay as a striker. They needed more of this on a night when they had two of eight shots on target.
Team-wide Effort To Defend Messi
The Revs limited Lionel Messi early on by putting bodies around him quickly.
Look at what happened here.
And here.
There was a moment midway through the first half when Messi battled Mark-Anthony Kaye, a difficult task for anyone let alone someone who was overcoming an illness. It didn’t lead to a goal, but it did produce a dangerous chance, proving that you don’t want the Argentine to have much breathing room.
Of course, Messi is inevitable.
Messi scored an equalizer just before halftime by making a forward run. A similar play was thwarted by Nick Lima a minute earlier.
These forward runs disrupted the backline.
Messi’s second goal happened because there’s a brief second where he’s unaccounted for.
Messi ended the night with two goals and one assist (We’re not recognizing the other “assist”).
Lima the Attacker
Lima, who played left back against Miami, has had some nice attacking moments this year, including a goal assisted by DeJuan Jones in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Here you can see Lima make a nice run after deceiving his defender.
And here you can see him combine to get out of pressure. I’ll be honest, I mostly like this clip because of Ian Harkes’ turn.
Lima’s best pass of the night is seen in the second clip of the Arreaga section as he plays a through ball to Chancalay. Lima had a similar pass to Giacomo Vrioni in the Toronto FC game.
Arreaga On The Ball
The Revolution added Xavier Arreaga via a Deadline Day trade with the Seattle Sounders. The center back got his first start on Saturday, contributing 90 minutes.
The scouting report on Arreaga is that he’s comfortable playing out of the back. While he was 46/58 on accurate passes and 4/11 on accurate long balls, he did have some nice moments.
This clip shows Arreaga’s comfort on the ball.
This clip highlights Arreaga’s ability to carry the ball forward. It also features a slick pass by Lima.
In this final clip, Arreaga makes a line-splitting pass that leads to a good opportunity for the Revs.
On Tuesday, head coach Caleb Porter said, “They [Arreaga and Aljaz Ivacic] are footballers. They are talented. They are good on the ball and they are very composed. It allows us to play out of the back. It is really hard to play out of the back unless your goalkeeper is calm and your center backs are calm on the ball, and those two guys are going to help a lot in that regard.”
The Miami game gave us a glimpse at what Arreaga can do. Jake Zivin of MLS Season Pass said that Ivacic, who was slated to start last weekend before getting ill, is a goalkeeper who can play with his feet.
Carles the Creator
The Revs’ attack still relies heavily on Carles Gil.
The 2021 league MVP got his first assist of the season on Saturday, something long overdue considering he’s currently second in the league in key passes with 31.
Gil put in the type of performance you’d expect from him as he created the most chances (5) in the match.
Here you can see that he has a nice look on goal after a series of passes.
Here’s a nice slip pass to Harkes.
Here’s a cross that could’ve led to a Chancalay goal.