New England at Philadelphia, Gameweek 14: Wait, I thought 2022 was last year

Erm, excuse me, what in the actual fuck??? I thought we were good this year!? OK so I think the Revs still are but this has NOT been a fun stretch of games lately. Knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup and licking the wounds from an unnecessary loss to Miami, a trip to Subaru Park to face the Union was JUST what we needed. Only, everything was going fine—until it wasn’t. A 3-0 loss and several injuries later, this was about as shitty a trip to Philadelphia as imaginable.

Clearly the score stings. A 3-0 loss is never fun to be on the wrong end of. But, the real story here is Carles Gil’s injury, and whether or not Matt Polster likewise picked up a sideline-worthy injury. When Gil pulled up lame in the first half, I just dropped my head on the couch and muttered “fuck.” The three most creative players for the Revs are now on the bench, and with our lack of depth, it looks like we’ve gotta trust the 18-year-olds to find the creative spark necessary to turn things around. Lineup going to be something like Buck-Blessing sitting at the base, Panayotou ahead of them, and then Ema/Bobby/Esmir up top. Justin Rennicks also going to have to feature a lot here. I really hope Gil’s injury isn’t serious.

• What area are you addressing first in the summer window: fullback or winger? Because neither position is filling me with much confidence at the moment. Look, I love me some Noel Buck. I’m tipping him to reach a top 6 PL side before things are all said and done here. But he’s not a right winger. Never going to be. Surely, surely, at some point Justin Rennicks has to get the start out right, or Bruce has to look at Esmir and go “kid, you can ball, but PLAY THE FUCKING PASS” because Noel is much more suited to the midfield.
• Why mention fullback? Because I love our two starters and think they’re great, but Brandon Bye needs a bye week to get his head on straight. Last night, I found him way more frustrating than pleasing. Bye gave away the ball in a terrible position in the first half that nearly bit the Revs in the ass, and he sent a cross while not defended out of bounds across the other side of the field. That isn’t to say it was all bad, and considering the Union’s decision to go 3 ATB allowed Bye to play as a right winger at times (seriously, go watch the second half and look at some points, he’s just posted up in the attacking third for long stretches as if that’s his position). It’s also not fair to hammer a defender for bad shooting form, but he got teed up in the second half, had no one one him, and leaned back when gifted a dangerous pass in a great position. Ugh. Also is DeJuan our most creative player now? Did I mention I’m a big DeJuan fan? No? OK.
• Latif Blessing is slowly morphing into Latif Cross-your-fingers. That early yellow yesterday did not start us off on a good foot, and he sometimes does questionable stuff on the field. Bruce is going to stick with him and he should, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his downturn in form has coincided with our wider downturn. With the injuries piling up, pressure falls to players like Blessing to keep things moving forward
• Praying for Gil’s health, but also for Polster’s. Matt came back on last night but looked to be bothered by something. I’d prefer it if he could not miss time. He put in a bone-crunching tackle in the first half that I made note of, thought it was going to set the tone for the rest of the night—and it did, ’till everything started going to shit.
• We’re not worthy of Djordje sometimes. That save on Carranza in the first half was outstanding, and give him credit for getting a hand on Gazdag’s first goal. Djordje helps plaster over some serious defensive misgivings sometimes, and last night was no exception.
• Glad to see the 2022 Andrew Farrell made his reappearance last night. And by glad I mean furious. He was the flashpoint on Philly’s first two goals. First, there was his decision not to be a shithouser when the ball went out of play and the Union clearly had the numerical advantage—KICK THAT BALL INTO THE STANDS. Then, there wasn’t a lot of contact on Uhre by Farrell in the penalty, but there was enough that the ref was forced into making a decision. Why did Farrell decide he needed to do that? Seemed like that ball had as much a chance of going out of play as anything. Just some real boneheaded plays by Andrew last night. Henry Kessler can come back at any point now.
• Ema Boateng’s work on this play deserved a goal at the end of it. No. 27 for the Union crashing in on Bobby is the only thing that kept this from being 1-0 Revs. And how much different the game would have been at that point.

The good news is that the game is over, and the Revs are back at Gillette for their next game on May 27. Another plus is that Chicago is coming to town and their form has been very meh lately, although a 3-3 game with Atlanta last night was certainly a firecracker game. Hopefully the friendly confines of the Razor can help turn things around for the team.

Extra Kicks

• MLS 360 has to make money somehow, I get it. But can they not do it by having a lengthy commercial break during halftime of the early window games? I hate that I flip to 360 hoping to catch a few highlights while the Revs drink water, and instead I get ads—and a lot of them. I’m still a fan of this TV deal and I’ll scream it from the rooftops we, as MLS fans, are spoiled to have an “all games, no blackout” option for watching. But there are kinks to work out.
• FC Cincinnati now fully clear on top of the Eastern Conference. Probably a good thing, though: the Supporters’ Shield is a curse. Stay far away from it, Revs.
• Orlando beat Miami 3-1. I know I can’t expect rational takes on the internet, but the amount of people I saw that tired to retcon the Miami loss as something we should have expected still blows my mind. That was a game we should have gotten points from.
• Nashville edged Charlotte, which means Revs actually fall to third in the conference. Atlanta is two points behind us (24 to 22), with the Union on 21 points. A trip to the land of Peaches is in two weeks—how important that game is going to be.