Teal Bunbury will start his fifth season with the New England Revolution on Saturday when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Union (photo credit: Charlotte Thomas)
Philadelphia Union versus the New England Revolution (Talen Energy Stadium-7PM EST MLS Live)
Saturday’s opener against the Philadelphia Union won’t just be the start of a new season for the New England Revolution; it’ll be the beginning of a new era.
Tasked with turning around a team that missed the postseason the last two seasons, first-year head coach Brad Friedel would seem to have an enormous task in front of him. But the former U.S. International appears confident in the squad he’s assembled ahead of First Kick.
“I like the group that I inherited in the first place, which I’ve said many times, and I like the pieces that we’ve added so far – each and every one of them,” Friedel told the media earlier this week. Obviously, they will contribute in different ways. All the players that were on the squad before that are returning have been great and the application has been outstanding, so we’re happy.”
Of course, many head coaches are happy this time of the year. Every club is in equal footing in the days leading up to their respective opening matches. Optimism will never be in greater supply than it is once the calendar is flipped to March.
But perhaps Friedel has genuine reason to paint a rosy picture. During the preseason, he instituted a scheme that emphasized the high press, which could yield dividends Saturday against a Union side that’ll sport a revamped defense.
“The press works and it actually works perfectly to what I just said – once we do gain the ball, we have that energy to go forward,” Revolution forward Juan Agudelo told the media earlier this week. “The press works, because it feels like we’re having something come out of the press offensively.”
However, the trick to succeeding with using a high press is to do with discipline. During the squad’s preseason ventures, the defense was caught off guard too frequently. Thus, the squad must be choosy when it decides to press the Union.
“We [will]get a little bit sharper in some things,” Agudelo said. “But with the amount of energy that we have once we have the ball, with our fitness levels so high, we’re able to do a lot more things getting in behind defenses, still having that extra boost to translate into offense.”
Another storyline going into the match is the Revolution’s well-documents road woes of 2017, a season in which they won only once in 17 tries. Consider that New England went 12-2-3 at home and, well, you’d get the sense that the Revolution suffered a serious identity crisis during last year’s campaign.
Like many new coaches, Friedel is working to reshape the culture at Gillette Stadium. One point of emphasis that should ring true to many in the dressing room: don’t change what’s working at home when you’re on the road.
“There’s a lot of clubs that I’ve played at, you for some reason couldn’t win at certain stadiums and you can’t really make heads or tails of why,” Friedel said. “We’re going to try to go into Philadelphia with a winning mentality that we’ve tried to promote during preseason. We’re not going to change the way we’re playing just because we’re going on the road.”
Philadelphia Union
