The New England Revolution travel to Harrison, New Jersey on Saturday to visit the New York Red Bulls. Both teams most recently lost to DC United. While the Revs lost 2-1 two weeks ago, New York was dismantled in the rain just a few days ago, 4-1. While the Revs used a bye week to heal, strengthen, and revisit game scenarios and team defense, New York has seen their entire first choice set of defenders injured. New York has notable offense and the contrast between their scoring proficiency and leaky defense may be best highlighted statistically. The Red Bulls are at the top of the table in the goals scored category with 17. They are near the bottom, just behind Montreal who have let in 15, with 14 goals against. Some are predicting a shootout Saturday. This suggests that more than the fans in New England believe our team can and will score, but may also discount the Revs ability to defend.
On The Rebel Alliance Podcast this week we spoke with Total-MLS.com New York writer, Michael Drickel. He had plenty to say about Rafa Marquez, the Red Bull defensive woes, as well as a few line up choices and Hans Backe’s coaching. Listen to hear the details, but I’ll summarize Mike’s outlook for this game as dire for New York. That is encouraging for Revs fans.
Coach Heaps has to make some choices about who will start as some talented players return. Shalrie Joseph may or may not have made a difference in the outcome of that game against DC, though, it is hard to dispute that he would have likely contributed to New England’s possession passing and defensive pressure. Shalrie will return to the starting line up. Benny Feilhaber played the last thirty minutes against DC competitively and tried to spark a comeback. Benny is likely to start against NYRB. Kelyn Rowe and Ryan Guy are the two players who would sit as Shalrie and Benny return. I liked the one question that Matty Jollie brought up in his Couch Captain article this week: how will Shalrie and Benny play together? I prefer to see Shalrie play in the center of our line up. His two-way game is essential in forcing turnovers and capitalizing on them. More significant against this depleted NYRB team this week will be the combination play of our forwards. Saer Sene and Jose Moreno, with support from our midfield of Shalrie, Benny, Lee Nguyen, and Clyde Simms, should threaten the Red Bull’s rookie keeper Ryan Meara. The challenge this week for the Revs is to contain New York’s offense.
With pundits and #SoccerTalkers predicting a shoot-out on Saturday afternoon, New England has been preparing to stop New York. While the season is still young, both Henry and his strike partner Cooper are near the top of the scoring charts. Though he hasn’t made too many highlights so far this year, Dane Richards is not a player that the Revs can ignore, either. The speed of Richards and the passing ability that Henry, Cooper, and Ballouchy will bring to the field means that the New England defense will have to be sharp and in position all game long. One question for the Revs line up will be whether or not Stephen McCarthy continues to start at center back or if John Lozano replaces him. I won’t be surprised to see both players earn minutes throughout a long week that has the Revs play three games in eight days. Chris Tierney may not push as far forward on the left side so that he can track Dane Richards. Ballouchy and Henry may pin Kevin Alston back, too. If either of our two outside backs stray out of position those will be the moments when New York will look to threaten Matt Reis. Even if our defense plays more conservatively this week, the Revs line up will be talented enough to generate plenty of shooting.
New York is off balance right now. While their offense is one of the strongest in the league, the drop-off in performance further back in their line up is glaring. The projected starting defense for NYRB can barely call on more than 10 games collective MLS experience. In Midfield NYRB’s Dax McCarty, a hard working defender and able distributor, is a match up that the Revs’ Shalrie and Clyde Simms should handle. Everyone expects us to be able to push the ball into scoring position against this Red Bull team. Everyone also expects to see Henry work some magic – and, really, that is why he was brought to this team. There is a chance that Henry’s magic could make a difference in the outcome, though, this looks like a great opportunity for the Revs to beat a rival and fellow Eastern conference team. As I predicted on the podcast, I would like to see the Revs score early in each half and play most of the game in the Red Bull half of the field – I think we might see that.
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
