Revs come home to make their point
Zero in for opener at Gillette
Forget about the comforts of home. Those soothing routines are all well and good for the Revolution after a peculiar opening month to the season, but this group requires the cadence and the energy generated in familiar surroundings more than anything else ahead of today’s date with Minnesota United.
This return to Foxboro for the home opener (2 p.m., CSN) arrives at the perfect time for the only MLS team to enter the weekend without a point.
Narrow defeats to Colorado and FC Dallas — two exacting road trips strung together after a cold snap postponed the expected visit from Orlando City two weekends ago — highlighted the improvements made to the overall shape, illustrated the potential pitfalls of untimely lapses and reinforced the need for success against the expansion side.
“For the most part, we’ve done well and limited the other teams’ chances,” Revolution midfielder Scott Caldwell said. “They haven’t had a ton on goal. That’s a good sign. The more we can do that in the long run, the better off we’ll be.”
After the encouraging first start from central midfielder Xavier Kouassi in Frisco and the structural underpinnings forged in those away performances, the onus now falls on the Revs to foster the fluidity and incisiveness missing so far.
The inability to produce a goal from the run of play leaves ample room for improvement, but Revolution coach Jay Heaps also underscored the need to balance the desire to thrive in the final third with the fundamental responsibilities of maintaining that shape. Heaps said he reinforced the importance of good starting positions, energetic combination play and persistent off the ball movement this week in a bid to spark more menace in the final third.
Despite the enticement of playing an absenceriddled team with evident defensive frailties (13 goals conceded in three matches) and the prospect of facing former goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth for the first time, the Revs plan to focus more on discovering their own rhythm and sorting out their own concerns to ensure their home campaign starts in the proper fashion.
“We definitely have to look at what they’ve produced and done in the short span of time that they’ve been in the league, but we also have to focus a lot on ourselves so that we can bring the best possible game that we can bring,” Caldwell said. “We strongly feel that if we do that and play to the best of our abilities, we’ll get the result.”