The New England Revolution were away this weekend in Portland, Oregon, and played the Portland Timbers. They lost to Portland 2-0. Both goals came late in the match after 2 defensive miscues. After having a nice run of games unbeaten, the Revs now having a winless streak. In fact, their last win came against the Red Bulls of New York, May 2nd. Since their last win, the Revs have played 6 games, lost 2, and tied 4!
Some fans are worried about a mid summer slump that seems to hit this team every year. 6 games unbeaten could be considered a slump. Their 5 games previous before their weekend match against the Timbers, another concern pop up. All 5 games New England scored first, and failed to hang on to the lead. A Jay Heaps managed team prides itself in defense, but every game it seems like, they get punished after another defensive error. Playing Jermaine Jones at central defense hasn’t help out. He has been guilty of a few of them (Kansas City). But it is not all his fault. He is not a defender, he is a central midfielder. Some people might think that transition shouldn’t be that difficult. But seeing the games for both New England and the national team, we now see that Jermaine should only really play defense as an emergency fill in, and not something for the future.
Health has become an issue for New England. Jose Goncalves, starting central defender, missed time with a muscular injury to his leg. He has been back for a few weeks, but how much is it still lingering? How is playing on the turf at Foxboro hurting? Also, we can expect to see Jermaine Jones out of the lineup for sometime now, after hurting his left groin against LA 2 weeks ago. His timetable is still unclear. Not having Darrius Barnes isn’t helping either. Although he is not a starter, you still need a good back up for your central defenders. He also showed the ability to play left/right backs on defense from last year. A player like Darrius gives any team good depth on defense, some thing New England had and had pride in earlier this season. If you haven’t been able to follow, he had surgery on his left torn patellar tendon at the end of April. He is out for 6 months.
Earlier last month, New England brought in for a trial former Birmingham City defender Will Packwood. Will, from Concord originally, plays central defense, was released by Birmingham after 4 years of trying to break into the starting 11 and loans elsewhere for playing time. But after some time, it was announced New England wont be signing Will. Now that Jermaine Jones may be out for some time, and the team struggles on defense continuing, wonder if the Revs front office is having 2nd thoughts on signing him?
They will have the chance to break their winless streak this Saturday, against the Chicago Fire. The fire are tied for 2nd worst in the league. Their game will be this Saturday June 13, 7:30pm start.