FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Most of the comments from New England Revolution players and coaches following Saturday night’s slump-busting 1-0 win over New York City FC followed a similar theme.
“It wasn’t the prettiest at times.” “Style points don’t matter.” “It was a grind for 90 minutes.”
It’s true that the Revs cared little how they went about securing three points this past weekend, and the performance was, at times, reliant upon resolute defending and a willingness to fight.
But the game’s only goal was cut from a different cloth. It was a breathtaking, 15-pass sequence which started with center back London Woodberry and weaved through eight of the Revolution’s 10 field players before Lee Nguyen provided the finishing touch with a low shot inside Josh Saunders’ left-hand post.
There was a clever back-heel from Daigo Kobayashi to wrong-foot the NYCFC midfield, a thread-the-needle through ball from Diego Fagundez to spring Nguyen, and a classy strike from the resurgent midfielder to give the Revolution the only breakthrough they’d need.
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“We were going side to side,” said Fagundez. “I was just trying to get the ball as much as possible. I remember Jeremy (Hall) passing me the ball, and I did a one-two with Daigo and saw Lee at the back post, so I just gave him the ball and he did the rest.”
Most striking about the sequence was New England’s fluidity. Kobayashi and Fagundez actually combined on the left side of the field early in the move, before linking up again seven passes later down the right and middle. Nguyen, a central midfielder, received the final passing streaking down the left.
It’s that freedom of movement which makes the Revolution’s cadre of attackers so difficult to defend and which creates the space necessary for New England’s creative players to do their best work.
“You can see it between the midfielders and defenders,” Fagundez said. “They’re getting the ball to us and we just have such good talent in the middle and up top that we can make plays happen.
“Between the midfielders and forwards I think we could all switch around and not play just one position. I think that’s what makes us deadly.”
The next step, though, is developing a consistency with that fluidity. Jay Heaps feels the Revs have gotten away from that strength in recent weeks, leading to the now defunct five-game losing streak in which they scored just four goals.
And while that flexibility in movement was there in flashes against NYCFC, Heaps still believes there’s another level to be reached heading into the final 12 games of the regular season.
“I would like more of those things,” Heaps said. “As the (NYCFC) game went on we looked a little bit more like ourselves with how we can break on teams; how we can be in good position to defend and still attack.
“I think [Saturday], for us, was getting back to what we’re really good at and what we’re built to do. But at the same time, I don’t think we did it enough. I think that if we were really on all cylinders we would have had a much more fluid night.”
