Catanese: Revolution Default Setting Should be Aggressor

Like the USMNT switching defensively against Panama in Copa America, Caleb Porter should be defaulting to his team's strengths, not their weaknesses.

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

A few weeks ago prior to the Atlanta game, I talked about the Revs needing to push minutes towards younger players amidst a injury plagued season.

To some extent, New England has done that, with Peyton Miller arguably the man of the match against Dallas in his first MLS start over the weekend. Jack Panayotou has made three starts in July, Malcolm Fry and Marcos Dias have made their first team debuts, and Caleb Porter has generally done about as well as he can with a short roster.

Last weekend was not one of those times. I know the Revs getting blown out by Columbus and a woeful Philly side aren’t ideal but at some point, the other team’s DP and TAM-level talent on the field getting the better of the Revs’ makeshift and depleted lineups is going to happen.

The Revs struggling to score goals, or struggling even in possession, with essentially a front attacking midfield of three teenagers in Esmir, Jack P, and Noel Buck is an acceptable learning curve that can help the Revs next year or with future transfer sales.

The New England back line leaking like a sieve is another matter. Xavier Arreaga losing his mark multiple times against Columbus and the shambolic set piece issues against Philly should never be acceptable for a veteran unit. This team made significant strides in June with their overall play and some of it came undone the past few weeks that can’t all be blamed on injuries or needed rotation.

I think one of the easiest ways to keep the Revs on track is for Caleb Porter to keep this team on the front foot whenever possible. The closing stages of the Dallas game were a failure of game management and tactics, similar to Gregg Berhalter’s second half against Panama. Porter went to extra defenders for the final minutes and invited Dallas into his own half and got burned.

Yes, Kessler gave away a cheap penalty but he was also trying to catch up to two unmarked Dallas players on the back post so there was clearly a significant breakdown of responsibilities all around. And coming off a midweek game, why is Porter waiting until past the 80th minute to make defensive subs? Where is Jack P at the hour mark or Ryan Spaulding to push Peyton Miller further up the field?

Gregg Berhalter in my opinion got sacked because he was not aggressive or progressive enough with the USMNT. Porter is dangerously close to falling into that same trap. The Revs getting blown out occasionally with a short roster and youth is what it is. Porter putting New England into a position to fail will never be acceptable.

Some of the changes Porter is making are due to the current circumstance of injuries, I get it. I don’t mind the Andrew Farrell holding midfielder experiment late in games, I’m glad Tommy Mac is back but I’d like to think we still have better options for winger/wide midfield to start, and Bobby Wood going the distance was great to see. But lineup necessities aside the Revs can never afford to take their foot off the gas.

Bobby Wood Shows Promise Against FC Dallas

Many of us complained the Revs weren’t aggressive enough in the early months of the season and too focused on build-up play over-complicating a heavily rotating lineup. New England were dreadful in that stretch with extra games, but put together a nice run by playing quicker, more direct, and getting Vrioni a lot more involved. Any time the team goes away from that strategy, it is clearly detrimental to the best of this groups abilities and should be avoided at all costs.

I would rather drop points getting countered while chasing the game-clinching goal with teenagers than sitting back with nine veterans behind the ball trying to figure out their spacing in an unfamiliar formation. Whether or not we should expect Mensah and Farrell and the veterans to close out the game is irrelevant, they probably can and should most of the time with a first-choice attack.

I would want the Revs to push for extra goal with Carles, Chanca, Vrioni and Borrero… so why are we not trusting the kids to do the same thing? Are we not training the youngsters and backups to play in the same system as the DP’s? If it’s not clear to Porter this is a front-foot team than he shouldn’t be the head coach and he shouldn’t make this mistake again.

The Revs probably should’ve had a second goal against Dallas before Porter switched to that defensive setup. While adding extra defenders seems logical, Porter should’ve been far more aggressive with his bench prior to the 80th minute to secure the game, rather than inviting Dallas and the kitchen sink into their third for the final minutes.

The injuries and fixture congestion have hampered what was supposed to be a comeback year for the Revs. Whether or not the roster needs a complete rebuild is for the offseason, but with the Revs in last place in the East again there need to be some very clear objectives for the rest of the year. I’ve already talked about getting the youth extensive playing time, but I think it’s time to add a second objective to that list.

Front foot. Aggression. Attacking. All the time. Do not end the year as the worst offense in MLS.

That’s should be the mantra of this team regardless of how many times it bites us in the you know what defensively. There’s no style points losing by one or losing by four at this point but this team averaging just one goal a game simply has to improve. We’ll add someone with rear end puncture wounds to the injury list every week if we have too. But if we’re going to lose and be bad, let’s do it in a way that actually might help the team going forward and not sitting back waiting for what appears to be the inevitable end of the season.

Or what we all knew was the seemingly inevitable Dallas equalizer in the most 2024 Revs fashion way imaginable and somehow it still exceeded our expectations.