I’d love to use my lede to make some witty remark about VAR and how bad MLS officiating has been to us this year and how we were robbed of a point last night against the energy drinks and that Bruce looks like he might up and have a stroke one day trying to comprehend decisions on the touchline, but there’s a much more simple explanation for last night: The New England Revolution were well and truly shit.
And honestly, I was shocked at how bad it was. In my foolish confidence going in, I tweeted that I was happy Esmir was getting the start, and that all 3 points were on the table even though Ben Sweat was starting. How wrong I was. After the action-packed second half it was easy to forget that the first 45 minutes were played (or were there other reasons, like us sucking? Hm.) but they were, and the Revs were handed a golden opportunity to make a mark on the game. Esmir had other ideas. It sucks for him, because I think Bajraktarevic can easily make that shot and has for Revs II. Last night he got a chance to do it for the big-time, and instead went sky-high. From there, the rest of his night just continued going downhill, and it continues a worrying downward trend for the trio of kids that had such a great moment back in March.
Then there was Sweat. Put on a skewer and cooked during parts of the first half, Sweat (6 foot, 2 inches) followed it up in the second by being beaten to a header by Frankie Amaya, all 5 foot, 4 inches of him. I’ll let you do the math on the height difference. Just an overall gross performance by a guy that should offer way more. The give and take of a Bruce guy, I guess. And to make it even worse, Ryan Spaulding couldn’t even get a full night off.
But neither of those issues are the ones I’m worried about this morning. What bothered me about last night is that once again, Bruce had no plan. With Carles Gil out, it’s clear this team struggles for creativity. But is it that bad like the first half? We were devoid of a plan, had two midfielders that were running in circles and had no way to grab hold of the game, and Bobby was so alone I wanted to go hold his hand and let him know we hadn’t abandoned him. Bruce’s response?
“We don’t have the same quality when Carles isn’t on the field.”
YEAH, NO SHIT. So why not coach the team to do something else? I don’t think it should have been rocket science to see we needed a third person in the middle of the pitch to try and grab control, that maybe that 3-5-2 would have given NYRB more pause, that for all of Vrioni’s faults, he at least runs past defenders and can take a good first touch. But that’s an actual follow-up to Bruce and not a rant by some no-name blog. I write this for my own therapeutic benefit, and hope the paid(ish) media members will do this job for me.
So yeah, last night left a bitter taste in my mouth, worse than the Miami road game (which we also got screwed by VAR in, coincidence?). Yes, you are going to be worse off without your best player, but that’s no excuse to be devoid of all creativity. And it’s also no reason to give up so many chances. Better teams are going to annihilate us if we play like that again.
All of that, FWIW, doesn’t even include the real travesty of last night: the disallowed goal. I’m not an official so it’s hard for me to point at Rule 11 and say “yes, here’s exactly why it is/isn’t a goal,” but what I dislike about how the call got overturned, is that it wasn’t a clean shot through traffic. TT tweeted it best (and saved me some typing):
That’s what was confusing for me. It seemed like the deflection is what got the NYRB goalie going the wrong way, and not Vrioni’s movement. Although this is where you have to acknowledge that yes, Vrioni was in an offside position, and he does come back across the six and the face of goal. Gutted for Andrew Farrell on this one. His joy and excitement after the ball went in was great to see and the man’s earned his status here. I can still see the MLS Cup final where he comes on at 75ish minutes to help shore up the defense with our 2-1 lead over Real Salt Lake (please don’t hold me to this).
A few bullet points since I am keeping notes during games:
- The collective first touch of this team is abysmal. Outside of Carles and Gustavo, is there a player in the starting XI you’d fully trust to take control of a pass? Ema’s mistouch on that breakaway was a great example, although in his defense, Boateng’s best position is probably closer to the defensive end of the field than the attacking one. Still should have smashed it first time.
- Latif’s foul was a red. It could have been a yellow. If someone did that to Latif and only got a yellow, we’d be screaming that it was an automatic red. Can’t leave your foot up like that, and he hit him in the dick. Blessing’s needed a break for a while now—a nice suspension could help reset him. The egregious card of the game was Bobby’s yellow five minutes in. Ref was ready and willing to show cards last night.
- Djordje made a bad mistake passing to Matt Polster before NYRB’s second goal, and Polster made an equally bad decision to do…whatever it was he did with the ball. Djordje still had to make five saves, including a couple that were eye-catching in the moment.
- Brandon Bye went and got his goal. It’s always great seeing defenders attack the ball on corners, and he got himself right on the end of Bou’s great ball in. Good for Brandon.
Sometimes the best way to get over a loss is to get right back to it. Thankfully the Revs (10-4-7, 37 points) get that opportunity on Wednesday when Atlanta United comes to Gillette. It’s a big game for a lot of reasons, so thank goodness Carles is back in. Hopefully we get Noel Buck back, too. We didn’t lose ground in the Eastern Conference thanks to Nashville also losing and Cincy drawing (although credit them coming back down from 2-0). St. Louis did hop above Nashville and us, though, in the Supporters’ Shield race.
By the Numbers
- 7 goals from set pieces this year now. Should be 8.
- 350 appearances for Andrew Farrell. Should have had a goal to celebrate the moment.
- 3 times we’ve been denied goals by VAR reversal this season.
- 4 subs at one time last night. That’s not really a number but it’s still novel to see that many changes at once.
Links
Extra Kicks
I played Escape from Tarkov yesterday for the first time in a while. Don’t miss it. This has nothing to do with the New England Revolution sorry for keeping you here longer :).
A Whately Devil 