Saturday's 3-0 loss to Real Salt Lake is another opportunity to grow, according to New England Revolution head coach Marko Mitrovic.
RSL scored in the second minute when Aiden Hezarkhani jumped on a defensive mistake to grab his third goal of the year.
While the Revs did get into the opponent's box, they struggled to produce dangerous shots. The home side countered with quick transitions, with Sergi Solans scoring in the 62nd and 80th minutes.
"I think overall, we started the game as we started with losing from zero," Mitrovic said. "I felt that even though we had a majority of possession in the game, I didn’t read the stats, but we couldn’t find the right solutions to create better options to finish those attacks. I felt that we were too deep defensively and [were not] winning those first and second balls, which is in general our strength.
"Today, we kind of exposed ourselves in the big spaces, and [Real Salt Lake] have very quick players higher on the field who, once you give them space, can use it. Listen, at 1-0 and 2-0, they had a strong desire to defend the result, and we couldn’t find a way to threaten more."
Saturday's game brought several challenges, including playing at altitude.
The Revs also had to shuffle their lineup after Jack Harrison, Alhassan Yusuf, Leo Campana, Brooklyn Raines, Peyton Miller, Dor Turgeman, Ilay Feingold, Judah Siqueira, and Cristiano Oliveira were unavailable.
Ethan Kohler moved to central midfield while Josh Wynder played alongside Mamadou Fofana. Luca Langoni made his first start since May 16, and Wilson Harris earned his second MLS start, his first as a Rev.
But Mitrovic didn't make excuses during his post-game press conference.
"Every game, there is a different circumstance," Mitrovic said. "Playing with altitude or having some players not being with us, that’s not an excuse. We have certain values in the way we want to play that has to be present on the field no matter who is on the field. I don’t want to hide behind that."
There were positives to the game, as Wynder and Langoni got extended runs, Jackson Yueill had another strong performance, and 19-year-old Javaun Mussenden made his MLS debut.
While the top of the Eastern Conference is tight (Miami and New England both have 46 points), the Revs are still in line to have home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Revolution will now have an extended break before hosting the Seattle Sounders on Oct. 10.
"Every game is an opportunity to learn and grow when you win and when you lose," Mitrovic said. "It’s not just when you’re losing, it’s when we are winning. Today, we lost the game. We will sit and evaluate and see what we could’ve done better starting with us, the coaching staff, and then of course the players.
"As a team, how can we use this game as a reference to get better in the coming period? We have nothing else to do other than recover from this game, come next training session, and keep working like we are doing so far."
