The New England Revolution begin a three game stretch at home in MLS play over the next three weekends. It's a crucial period for the Revs to grab a bunch of points, move up the table, and keep the good vibes at home that kicked off with their six-goal stunner against Cincinnati a few weeks back.
Outside of that six-goal home performance, the Revs have scored two goals in their three other games. We've seen what's possible when the Revs attack, and we've seen week-to-week progress in the team's overall play. While some players were away during the two-week break with their national teams, most will be expecting to see further steps forward taken on Saturday, especially since it's Montreal that will be rolling into Foxboro next.
In the last three years, the Revs have won three times, tied once, and lost twice to Montreal. While the Revs have been outside the playoffs since 2023, Montreal has missed the playoffs twice in three years, including last year.
This year, they've lost four out of five on a marathon road trip they will be happy to see the back of. It's a team you'd expect to beat at home.
So far this season, the Revs haven't found much ability to create centrally in the attacking third or to move their build-up play from their half into the opponent's via the central area. It's a critical space on the field to operate in and exploit spaces when they appear. All successful attacks must inevitably make their way into the central area of the field because of the location of the goal.
The Revs have at times done well to arrive centrally at the last moment on the end of the final pass that leads to a shot. But they could augment that with centrally created attacks.
Going back to the last game, against St. Louis, we can see a Revs central presence was lacking in all of the later stages of an attack, entering the final third, playing in the final third, and entering the penalty area. Part of that has to do with the inherent purpose of defensive play itself: keep your opponent away from your goal.
But are the Revs getting enough players into the central areas or are they not probing with passes in there often enough?
Images thanks to MLS Analytics on BlueSky
It could be both, if passes aren't being played centrally, central players like Carles Gil will move into other areas of the field to get on the ball. When this happens, because the passes didn't come, now they can't be made because no is there!
Gil spends a lot of his time these days in the right half-space and wide area. This enables him to get on the ball, but does it also not make him less threatening operating further from goal? And does it disconnect him too much with players operating on the left side of the field? Gil is a player you want centrally because of his ability to make things happen that few others in this league can.
Rinus Michels, the coach of Ajax and the Brilliant Orange Dutch national teams in the 60s and 70s, remarked similarly about telling his wingers to put crosses in front of goal, whether runners were there or not. Point being, if the crosses come in, he can confront the forwards for not being there to get onto them. If Gil were to operate higher and more centrally, Marko Mitrovic would be able to tell the back line and defensive mids to play into him.
But he has to be there more consistently.
Further back, the Revs' choice to play with a double pivot, coupled with Gil's drifting out of the center has limited opportunities to advance the ball centrally. There's been virtually no playing off of Dor Turgeman at center forward either. The Revs' attack has been devoid of some simple, tried and true central attacking patterns like an up-back-through.
A common up-back-through involves an initial ball up to the center forward who lays it off to a center mid who then plays a runner in behind. It's been around forever because it works. Turgeman has the profile of a hold-up striker who could control and layoff to Gil, who we know can deliver through balls few players can even see are possible, let alone execute.
The double pivot brings two players in center midfield positions more or less in line with one another. They can pass to one another but more typically through side-to-side passes. It can greatly limit opportunities to advance the ball centrally. It's something Johan Cruyff remarked about and tried to avoid whenever possible. He felt the double pivot may be necessary defensively but was too limiting in terms of options to play forward.
