Revolution "Making Steps" Under New Coach Caleb Porter

Porter: “Every game I think you see more and more of what I want it to look like."

Head coach Caleb Porter took some positives from the New England Revolution’s 3-1 loss to Orlando City.

Saturday’s game featured a hot start for the Revs as Matt Polster scored in the first minute by getting on the end of Tomas Chancalay’s service. This was the club’s first preseason goal and it came in their third friendly.

“We worked on that all week and yeah, I thought that goal was excellent, and we should have had a couple more,” Porter said. “So again, it's about making steps, I've said that, and I really thought especially in that first half collectively, we looked really good, and it was good to get a goal and obviously, I thought we went toe-to-toe with a very good team on the road.”

Polster said that the coaching staff “emphasized a quick, fast start.” He believes that the Revs were aggressive in the first five minutes before allowing Orlando back into the game. The Lions found an equalizer in the 11th minute.

“After the first five minutes, we slowed down a bit and we took on a lot of pressure from them,” Polster said. “We kind of slid for about 10 minutes, but then toward the end of the half I thought we were really good for the last 20-25 minutes.”

The Revs started the game with the following personnel: Henrich Ravas, DeJuan Jones, Dave Romney, Andrew Farrell, Nick Lima, Noel Buck, Matt Polster, Tomas Chancalay, Carles Gil, Esmir Bajraktarevic, and Giacomo Vrioni. Bobby Wood entered for Vrioni in the 36th minute.

Porter opted to make a line change at halftime, going with the following players: Ravas, Peyton Miller, Tiago Suarez, Jonathan Mensah, Ryan Spaulding, Tommy McNamara, Ian Harkes, Ema Boateng, Jack Panayotou, Nacho Gil, and Wood.

Earl Edwards Jr. replaced Ravas in the 60th minute and Josh Bolma came on for Miller in the 73rd.

Porter explained, “Because in three days we're playing two games and everybody's getting 90 [minutes], we felt with the four days off, it was better just to give 22 guys 45 minutes, so we kind of approached it like two games where we played one group the first half and obviously, another group in the second half.”

Orlando got second-half goals from Facundo Torres (50th minute) and Wilder Cartagena (62nd minute) to bring the game to its final 3-1 scoreline.

“We played obviously, a very good team in Orlando, they played their top group the whole game,” Porter said. “And you know, I think that caught up with us a little bit the second half because their level was a little higher than ours in the second half.

“Where I thought first half, the goal that was scored was outstanding. I told the guys, I thought from there we got a little reactive and let them kind of impose their will on us which led to the tying goal, but then from there in the last 20 minutes, I thought we controlled the game and really played the way I want this team to play. And that group in the first half I thought did really well against a very good team.”

Porter said that the second half was about “getting guys, some of the young guys, a run.” He noted that there were some positive individual performances, specifically naming 16-year-old Peyton Miller, who was forced to depart early due to an injury.

Porter, who is in his first season in charge of the Revs, continues to make his imprint on the team. He believes that there’s been progress throughout preseason.

“Every game I think you see more and more of what I want it to look like, but it will be a transition, the way that we play tactically and with the ball especially controlling games, is different,” Porter said.

“It's different than what they've done, so they really want to do it and they're bought into doing it, and I thought you saw that in the first half. First half, that last 20 minutes, I thought we imposed our will on the game, and that's what we want to do. And the only disappointment is that we didn't get another 45 minutes because I really thought if we got another 45 minutes for that group. We would have come away with another goal.”

The Revs have two more preseason games on the docket, as they play the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, Feb. 14 and FC Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 15.

After that, the Revolution head to Panama to face CA Independiente on Feb. 21 then Washington, D.C. to play D.C. United on Feb. 24.

“I've said it, it won't be easy, but we're looking for results,” Porter said when asked about the final two preseason games. “We're playing Cincinnati again and we're playing Philly, the team that knocked the Revolution out of the playoffs last year.

“We scheduled hard teams for a reason. We don't want to play USL teams. We could have played Revs II. We wanted to play playoff teams, scheduled all playoff teams, and that means we're going to be ready for the season.

“So, we're going to get a 90 with one group, primarily probably the group that played first half will get a 90 against Philly in the new kits. We’ll wear the new kits, playing Philly, and I think you’re going to see a very good performance. We’re going to try to approach it a week out from Panama like a game and a 90-minute game.”