The New England Revolution are surviving quite well without Jack Harrison and Alhassan Yusuf. Furthermore, even the loss of Mamadou Fofana to injury hasn't slowed the Revs down of late.
The Revs have won three in a row, but all by a single goal. A combination of an attack that at times lacks fluidity and chance creation and a growing level of contentment with sitting back when ahead has made for three tight games in a row. All wins, yes, but only two goals from open play in their last two games.
It's not known yet if Yusuf and Harrison will come back into the team in full force for the playoffs. If they don't, the Revs' attacking play will need to get the most out of the attacking players they have available. Arguably, they're not doing that in the current moment. In particular, Luca Langoni and Daniel Gazdag have struggled to make an impact, as has Ilay Feingold since his return at right back.
Carles Gil stepped up again on Saturday night for a hockey assist and winning the penalty he converted late on. Peyton Miller has been excellent but wasn't at his best when dropped back to left back in the absence of Will Sands in Philly.
Can Gil and Peyton drag the Revs attack through the first round of the playoffs? Probably. It wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to carry the team much further, as talented as they are.
What then can the Revs do to unlock more attacking opportunities?
Last time out against Philly, the Revs mostly held Feingold back as a nominal third center back, instead of letting him overlap Langoni and get wide of the penalty area in attack. Langoni himself wound up in the right half space fairly often, instead of stretching the back line by staying high and wide, looking to run in behind.
Feingold seemed to be held deeper to provide defensive cover to enable Miller to push higher from left back. Miller struggled when in deeper positions helping the Revs build out. Which is no surprise; he's more accustomed, and able, to being the target of the build-up breaking a high press, not breaking the press itself.
Lastly, Gazdag has shown flashes of what he can do near the opponent's goal but hasn't had much joy of late starting from wide positions. The setup is perfectly logical, but it's also possibly limiting these four players' attacking influence.
There is a video that I've watched more times than I can remember that I was reminded of while thinking about all this. It's Johan Cruyff on a Dutch soccer show of some sort talking about the diamond, specifically his diamond and why you put certain players in certain places and let them do their thing. The video might not fit this situation but you should watch it nonetheless. I have spent many hours pondering the lessons to be learned from this video over the years as a coach.
Anyway, back to the Revs.
When we think of Langoni many of us envision him running in behind from a wide position and carrying the ball at the opponent's back line. So why not simply ask him to position himself as often as possible to try and create those moments. He can make some things happen in the half space but his game is running at defenders in open space.
We haven't seen much of that lately. Has Langoni lost it so quickly after looking like he had it in the first half of the season?
Feingold was a legit threat with his crossing wide of the penalty area earlier this season. He's been fine sitting back as defensive cover, but he could provide some of the dearly missed crossing threat from Harrison on the right side. He can't cross like Harrison, but he can find a target and pop off an occasional shot on target of his own as well.
If Miller is needed at left back, he needs to be able to get forward as early and as often as possible. Instead of sacrificing Feingold for the defensive cover of a back three, why not hold a center mid in between the center back pairing instead? Cutting Miller and Feingold lose out wide would open up space for Gil and Gazdag to search for space in the half spaces and centrally behind Turgeman.
If Matt Polster is going to continue playing or if Brooklyn Raines comes back in, either of one of them can drop in between the center back pairing and form a diamond with the other center mid, likely Jackson Yueill. Yueill himself would then form the base of another diamond with Gil and Gazdag with Dor Turgeman as the tip. Two diamonds through the center, defensive cover of a back three and Langoni, Miller and Feingold causing havoc on the flanks.
If Sands is back in soon and Miller returns to a wide attacking position, Sands can be held back as the nominal third center back. Miller and Langoni would attack from high and wide starting positions, Feingold would still be free to overlap, and Yueill would take Gazdag's place in the left half space.
The Revs may need to explore something similar to a few of the options above based on who's available come playoff time. Sometimes trying to plan everything out and cover for what's not available can override simply looking at who you do have and where they need to be to be at their best.
The Revs are in the best end-of-season situation they've been in since 2021, which says a lot about this remarkable turnaround. It's scarcely believable at this point to be talking about tweaking positions and roles for a playoff run wherein the Revs will be a top-four Eastern Conference team.
