Revs Assessing Winger Options Ahead Of Red Bulls Game

Porter: “We have a few ideas of what we’re going to do, and we’ll take a look at those things in the next several days.”

Photo Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution are assessing their options on the wing ahead of Saturday’s game against the New York Red Bulls.

Esmir Bajraktarevic played opposite Dylan Borrero in the Revs’ 2-1 win over Nashville SC. The 19-year-old was dynamic on the right and scored his first MLS goal.

But he will be unavailable this weekend because he’s taking part in the final camp for the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team before the summer games.

“It’s another game where we just can’t play the same group,” Porter said. “We’ve had to, for different reasons – suspensions, injuries, and sickness – we’ve had to at least move one or two guys in because of those reasons.

“So, it’s another game where we have to make a change, at least, and we’re very thin on the wing as well. We had been playing Noel [Buck] a little bit on the wing, so we lose both those guys. Nacho [Gil] is obviously out. Tomas [Chancalay] is out. So, we don’t have a ton of options.

“We have a few ideas of what we’re going to do, and we’ll take a look at those things in the next several days.”

The Revs added an option by recalling Jack Panayotou from Rhode Island FC. The Homegrown collected two assists in four games, all starts, before returning to Foxboro.

“That’s kind of the idea of loaning a guy out, is they go, they get some confidence,” Porter said. “In some cases, it’s kind of a new environment. [Panayotou] had been doing well.

“We need guys that can play on the wing this game. We don’t have a ton of depth right now. He has definitely played some league games on the wing and I would expect him to be available for us to play him. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, we just have to see how he looks this week, but at a minimum, he’s an option off the bench.”

Porter was happy with last Saturday’s performance against Nashville, noting, “We’re starting to execute more and more. This was definitely a game where it came together.”

For him, the Revs had positive moments offensively and defensively, which translated to the team collecting their third win of the season.

“You saw in the attack, the purpose that we played with,” Porter said “It wasn’t just always on the ground; there was some verticality to how we played – sometimes going direct, sometimes building attacks on the ground.

“Same thing on the defensive side – sometimes pressing high, sometimes holding and waiting.

“The first two goals I think are great examples of how we want to score goals. The first one was an 11-pass sequence, a positional attack where we switched play and then allowed our top players to have creativity in the final third, with a great goal from Carles [Gil].

“The second goal was a transition, which is something that we talk about. We want to be very good in those moments where we win the ball. Can we be ruthless going to goal in a short amount of time? So, that was a great goal as well.”

Porter and the Revs have put that game behind them and are fully focused on the Red Bulls coming to town.

Although he won’t have Bajraktaravic, Porter wants some lineup consistency for the upcoming game.

“We want to keep continuity as much as we can, because we’re finally getting some continuity in our understanding,” Porter said. “That’s going to breed more and more consistency in our play. So, we’ll keep continuity as much as we can, but we have a couple of ideas on what we’re going to do with Esmir being gone.”