Four questions on the Revolution with The Blazing Musket

Catanese: So you know all that negative bad stuff Caleb Porter did while he was here? Yeah, Marko Mitrovic is basically channeling his inner Ted Lasso right now and vibes are magical. The locker room is pumped, confidence is contagious again, and most importantly the Revs are getting tremendous individual performances all over the place. Will Sands literally had Wilfried F Zaha in his back pocket last week, Luca Langoni was on an assist heater for almost a month, and New England has hired a set piece wizard and are scoring goals left and right off those as well. Eleven different Revs have found the back of the net so far which is impressive for a team 10 games into the year with 18 total league goals so far, everyone is finding ways to contribute and produce in their own way while still trying to figure out what this team is best at. The Revs recent run of form has seen them also have to make a couple of first half subs due to injury and they haven’t missed a beat thanks to being able to slide Alhassan Yusuf and Ethan Kohler back into their more natural midfield and centerback roles respectively.

The results might not be as easy to come by especially when the schedule gets a lot tougher and more road heavy after the World Cup, but the growth this team is showing currently I think is absolutely sustainable and that’s why Mitrovic is here. I think the Revs buying fully into a develop and sell club that suited them well after the 2021 Shield win is a great club ethos and bringing in a bunch of U22 Initiative players and seemingly half of Mitrovic’s U20 USYNT squad is a great way to start. The Revs have been far from dominant and I think are still trying to shed the incessant needless possession based Porterball style of play which is both frustrating and terrifying because if they do start to put it all together and not have the offense disappear for 15-30 minute stretches, New England could be that darkhorse no one wants to play in November.

Catanese: The sneaky key to the Revs success in my opinion are the fullbacks. Will Sands’ form has made him almost undroppable from the starting lineup and he’s featured at both left and right back this year with Ilay Feingold missing last week with a knock. Peyton Miller has been a weapon off the bench but late in games while playing as a true winger which was his position in the Revs academy coming up through the system. The late runs these three make help overload defenses and just create a noticeable amount of chaos as defenses simply can’t cover the overlap and Carles Gil, and Luca Langoni specifically on the right hand side. Miller has three goals so far and both Feingold and Sands have added a goal and assist each and if the Revs are going to get that level of production from this group I do expect them to keep getting results.

Catanese: As far as I know it hasn’t received any complaints. The field survived its France-Brazil international stress test (shocker the traffic did not), though there was some makeshift grounds crew work to fix a divot by the referee last week. I don’t anticipate the surface being an issue in so far as it has to be an improvement on the usual throwball turf everyone hates so much, which was a factor in the Revs being so good at home even in down years. Bad news is the likelihood the turf comes back after the World Cup is about as high as AJ Brown getting traded to New England and I equally hate both of these things.

Catanese: Revs got some good news on the injury front with centerback Brayan Ceballos and midfielder Matt Polster being cleared for action again. Ilay Feingold might still be week to week and at this point I don’t expect to see Leo Campana until after the World Cup.

4-2-3-1: Turner; Miller, Fofana, Kohler, Sands; Yusuf, Raines; Yow, Gil, Langoni; Turgeman

Same lineup as last week though the Revs have had success with Alhassan Yusuf in an advanced not quite left wing role so it’s possible if Polster is 100% he could get the nod at CDM. Same for Fiengold for Miller at the fullback spots though I suspect the Revs might want to ease everyone back into action with a midweek game against Nashville coming up. The Union have been tough to break down but I see no reason why New England can’t figure out another way to get a win, I’ll say 2-1 Revs with Gil setting up a second half winner to Turgeman.