Weekly Tactical Watch: Friends, Foes and Neighbors

The New England Revolution were supposed to be playing at home for the first time this season but have been made to wait another week as the Gillette field isn't ready yet. Luckily, the USL Championship kicks off this weekend and MLS has plenty of games in several time slots to choose from.

Here's a few options to tune into and a few tactical situations you might find worth watching.

Hartford Athletic vs Sporting Jax

Hartford opens its season on the road against an expansion team, Sporting Jax from Jacksonville, Florida. It's a warm weather start as Brendan Burke settles into his third season in charge of Hartford. Hartford began 2025 with four straight losses, including three on the road. They were held scoreless in all three of those away games.

Needless to say, Burke will be insistent they hit the ground running much sooner in 2026 and will be looking to grab three points at the earliest opportunity, tonight in Florida.

Hartford had zero shots on target in last season's first game away to Lexington. Their attacking play also struggled to break into the attacking third centrally and subsequently were unable to enter the penalty area at all from a central position. They'll be looking for more than just finding the target against Sporting, generating at least a couple of shots from central positions in or just outside the area will be critical for them.

St. Louis City vs Seattle Sounders

The Revs will head out to St. Louis in a few weeks time to face a team they didn't play in 2025. It's a less familiar opponent than the home opener against Cincinnati. St. Louis will be looking to get going with their 2026 season on Saturday night at home against the Sounders. St. Louis drew 1-1 in their home and season opener and then were brushed aside on the road by a dominate San Diego FC, fortunate to have only lost 2-0.

St. Louis enjoyed much more of the ball at home than they did on the road and if the Revs find themselves having less of the ball in two weeks time, they will need to find a weakness to exploit when they attack if they want to get their first road points of the season.

If the Revs stick with their 4-2-3-1 and St. Louis continues in their back three, they might not need to look any further than the gap behind the wingbacks and to the side of the centerbacks.

The Revs will need to get the wide mids, who we'd expect to be Griffin Yow and Luca Langoni into the space behind Wallem and Santos when they push high in attack. They both can sometimes be found in high positions early in their attacking build-up, which also creates opportunities for quick counters when pressing high.

Getting the ball into Yow and Langoni behind the wingbacks would then either pull a center mid out wide or stretch the centerbacks out and widen the gaps between them. This would create more space for Carles Gil, Dor Turgeman and perhaps an on rushing center mid from a deeper position.

Two of the league's star players have found plenty of time on the ball in these pockets so far this year, can someone from the Revs step up and do the same?

Bruce and the Boys Come East

San Jose has gotten off to strong start with two wins in two games at home, scoring five goals and conceding none. And they've done that with just about half an hour of Timo Werner on the field, though his impact was almost immediate with an assist to double their lead over Atlanta last week.

San Jose have started off well with former Revs, DeJuan Jones as captain and left back and Ian Harkes in central midfield. Jones has formed an effective partnership with Jamar Ricketts in front of him at left mid. They interchange positions, cover for one another and pop up in turns in advanced positions out wide and in the left half space.

Jones does more of the defensive work and is more efficient with his short passing, allowing Ricketts to play more risky passes in advanced positions. It's great to see Jones finding success and hopefully a long stay in San Jose after playing for three teams in the last two seasons.

Ian Harkes has been busy doing Ian Harkes things again in 2026. His efficient passing, ability to split opponents with forward passes and overall range of where he can accurately deliver passes is a big element missing from your New England Revolution's build-up play this year. He's a joy to watch on the ball. He’s far from a flashy player but he's a useful cog to have in any attacking machine.

He's playing just in front of Daniel Munie, who while not a former Rev, is also displaying an attacking element the Revs are missing. And that's a ball playing centerback capable of delivering accurate long balls into the opponent's half. This pairing is supplying a technical, efficient passing partnership on the right, while Jones and Ricketts are a pioneering duo on the left.

If you want to bask in a little bit of nostalgia, dream of what could have been and see an exciting San Jose team hit the road and try and continue their hot start, this is the game for you tonight at 7:30 against the Philadelphia Union.

We'll be back next week to prepare for the Revs home opener and where we might need to direct our keen eyes for a glimpse of the Revs so far hard to find attacking play.