Revolution Defense Reflects on Challenge of Defending Former EPL Star Wilfried Zaha

"And this is the reason that I came here, to play against those players"

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution were unable to secure three points as they faced one of the hottest clubs in Major League Soccer but for the large part did a quality job limiting Wilfried Zaha.

The former Crystal Palace forward has seven goals and nine assists this season for Charlotte after a rough start for the club and the player. He didn’t add to his resume against New England even though he played a part in the opening goal for Charlotte.

Zaha lost 11 ground duels and for the majority of the match was up against Ilay Feingold. The right back noted that getting to go up a player like Zaha was the reason that he came to MLS.

“I felt very good against a really good player,” Feingold told The Blazing Musket after the match. I think I won most of the matchups against him. This is the reason that I came here, to play against those players in the MLS.”

While New England was only able to tally one goal, it was largely the more active team in the final third. The Revs won the xG battle according to MLS’ stats as well as FotMob (3.3-2.1 and 1.74-1.60, respectively). Additionally, New England had 19 shots to Charlotte’s nine and had six shots on target to the away side’s four.

Goalkeeper Matt Turner thought that the Revs succeeded in its defensive tactical plan but took too long to get into the match.

“It was amazing. Our tactical game plan was spot on, as it has been for most of the games since I've been here, and guys made plays. I think, if I could be critical of ourselves, we were a little slow at times building out from the back,” he said. “I think in the second half, we were a lot more direct, and that caused [Charlotte FC] so many problems. Some of our players up top winning first and second duels and getting in behind them caused them a lot of problems. In the first half, it just took us a little bit of time to sort of get going. And if I had the cure for that, I think I'd be a billionaire. So, I think it just took us a little time to get going. We were a bit on the back foot, and the goal that they scored sort of woke us up a little bit. And for the rest of the game, it felt like only we were the ones that were going to score.”

Jackson Yueill also thought that New England’s tactical plan did well against Charlotte.

“I think it was a good performance,” he told The Blazing Musket. “We were looking for the goal, and I think we had a lot of good chances. I think we played a very smart game. We had a good tactical plan. I think we executed it really well. I think on the offensive side, we were just a little unlucky. I think defensively we shut down their strong players and really limited them.”

The Charlotte match was Yueill’s first start since June 25. The midfielder has been reduced to a bench role with Matt Polster and Alhassan Yusuf being Caleb Porter’s preferred midfield pairing.

The midfielder looked solid in his return to the starting XI. Yueill completed 43 of his 50 pass attempts while recording 65 touches and winning seven of eight ground duels.

Additionally, Yueill helped out in defense, recording three interceptions and eight defensive contributions.

“I think everyone wants to contribute as much as they can,” the midfielder said when asked about his lack of minutes. “You want to play all the games and help the team as much as you can but this is a team sport, and everyone has to be bought in from top to bottom. So it's all about support, and, like I said before, competition. You need to have that and to push each other higher, because that's how you get the best out of everyone. Of course, I want to help the team more and do my part, but that's up to the coach.”