As a Revs fan, we always have to poke fun at our neighbors to the south. The Red Bulls are hosting New England this Saturday in a game that can help or hurt deeply our chances towards climbing the spots out of the fringe area for playoffs. At the moment, we sit snugly in sixth place a win away from tying for 5th against the team we’re playing this weekend.
Salvaging a point in Seattle
The game in Seattle was very much a contentious battle from the 2nd minute goal to the 95th minute where Fagundez had a chance to win the game in the six-yard box and hit it directly into Stephan Frei’s chest. The final score was 3-3 which showed the majority of the problem for New England. They need to keep their defensive shape, whatever it may be. Arena fielded a new formation, using five defenders. They had three center backs and two wing backs. To make matters worse, we were without Delamea, who had been shoring up the defense during the past few games. Luckily, Mancienne, albeit a little rusty, was ready to hop into the fray. There were many miscommunications between the defenders. The killer for most of the goals was that the wing backs and center backs seemed confused on who should mark the inside and outside attackers.
Positively, we can declare Bou a goal scorer again putting to rest any idea of him hitting a drought. Gil starts off another month with a one goal, one assist game. Also, with that goal and assist, he is one goal away from being the 2nd player in the MLS this year with double-digit goals and assists. It is great to have attackers with a consistent output again. Now, the defense just needs to play along with them.
Injuries and suspension plaguing the defense
At this point, it is known that Toni Delamea will be out until the end of the month at least. The good thing about the injured list is that it is slowly getting smaller. DeJuan Jones is now training fully so it is expected to see him on the bench as a burst of speed if necessary. Mancienne is slowly acclimating to the team again, I hope to see more cohesion from the backline in another game’s time. The Revs will be missing Andrew Farrell from the line-up against the Red Bulls with a yellow card accumulation suspension. It is widely believed that we will return to a four back formation. They will have Mancienne and Anibaba as the center backs, Bye as a right back, and Castillo as the left back. All hope is that the defense is much more precise in their movements this game.
Looking to Saturday
Once again, New England is looking to take three points home from New York (New Jersey). Five hundred or more supporters are heading down to the away section in Red Bull Stadium which usually can be heard by the broadcast. The fans always make it a great game by creating a similar atmosphere as back at Gillette. Both the Midnight Riders and Rebellion have been selling tickets to the game and also, there is a season ticket holder perk of getting tickets and the bus ride down through the Revs. The Revs will most likely field a similar team as Seattle, with the addition of Jones coming back into the bench.
The Red Bulls will look to bounce back from a disheartening 4-2 loss to LAFC. They do not have any injuries of note at this time concerning this game. The usual danger lies within Daniel Royer and his ability to create chances on both sides of the ball. He has set up 4 game winning assists this year alone. Kaku, while rumored to be on his way out of the club by the end of the year, will also be a similar threat. He has four assists and three goals this year. The major goalscorer for the team, Brian White arrived last year and has now played in seventeen games this year, he has scored nine goals. He will be looking to create chances like Morris did in the Seattle game.
Get out and watch the Revs with your friends!
Hoping to see any of you out and about in one of the local bars for the game or at the game on the TV! To all the supporters (Riders, Rebels, etc.) heading down for the game, make sure to sing loud, sing proud.