FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The formula for a potent New England attacking performance isn't particularly complicated.
Obtain the ball and keep possession of it. Spray the ball into the wide areas whenever possible. Supply dangerous service into the penalty area. Convert the resulting chances into goals.
In the second half of Saturday night's 4-1 demolition of Toronto FC, New England Revs coach Steve Nicol watched as his side worked through the formula to perfection as Zack Schilawski's second-half hat trick sparked the Revs to their second consecutive victory.
“I think getting the ball wide was always going to be huge for us,” Nicol said after joining Seattle coach Sigi Schmid and U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley as the only coaches to win 100 MLS games. “The very first attack of the whole game, we got it wide and caused them trouble. Unfortunately in the first half, we just lacked that quality in their half of the field in order to get the breakthrough.”
The combination of improved quality and revised direction changed the calculus in the second half. Nicol urged his players to work the ball down the right side to expose debutant TFC left back Raivis Hscanovics in the second half. Hscanovics picked up a yellow card early in the first half as he tried to cope with Sainey Nyassi's speed and the Latvian fullback struggled when challenged with pacy runs down the right flank.
“It was part of our plan,” Nyassi said. “Stevie told us after the first half that he had a yellow card and that he was scared. He told us to get the ball wide. Any time I got the ball, I went at him. It paid off.”
Two of the Revolution's goals stemmed from tidy work down the right side of the park. Nyassi played a one-two with Kheli Dube down the right side to get in behind Hscanovics and play in a cross for Schilawski's first MLS goal two minutes after halftime, while Dube collected a Shalrie Joseph throughball and curled in a carbon copy cross for Schilawski to complete his hat trick in the 58th minute.
Stringing together those simple and effective combinations comes from working together on the practice field and figuring how to construct effective attacking movements, Dube said.
“It's stuff we work on in training,” Dube said as he reflected on the second goal. “Stevie says that he wants us to play one-touch football, and with Sainey's speed, if he gives you the ball, you know where to put it. He's that quick. It was just another play like we did at training.”
No amount of training-ground work can replicate the influence of having Shalrie Joseph in the center of the park to orchestrate the proceedings. Joseph missed the first two matches with a right hip flexor strain and battled a rib injury suffered on Thursday, but emerged through the mire of the TFC midfield in the second half to dictate the flow of the game.
When Joseph dominates the match in midfield, he stretches out the field by bringing the wide players into the game with diagonal passes and forcing compact sides like TFC to compensate by allowing more time and space in the center of the park.
“It helps having Shalrie back,” Schilawski said. “He's a big part of our team going both ways. I thought tonight, as far as keeping possession and connecting passes in the attacking half, it's the best we've done so far. Looking forward, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next game.”
Combine the improved possession and wide play with a dose of alertness in the attacking third -- Schilawski stripped TFC defender Nick Garcia for the second goal, while Nyassi intercepted a poor Nane Joseph back pass for the fourth goal -- and the Revolution can pose problems for MLS defenses.
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
Obtain the ball and keep possession of it. Spray the ball into the wide areas whenever possible. Supply dangerous service into the penalty area. Convert the resulting chances into goals.
In the second half of Saturday night's 4-1 demolition of Toronto FC, New England Revs coach Steve Nicol watched as his side worked through the formula to perfection as Zack Schilawski's second-half hat trick sparked the Revs to their second consecutive victory.
[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/Gretchen ErtlZack Schilawski is the first first rookie in the MLS to score a hat trick since Pat Noonan did it for the Revs in 2003.
AP Photo/Gretchen ErtlZack Schilawski is the first first rookie in the MLS to score a hat trick since Pat Noonan did it for the Revs in 2003.“I think getting the ball wide was always going to be huge for us,” Nicol said after joining Seattle coach Sigi Schmid and U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley as the only coaches to win 100 MLS games. “The very first attack of the whole game, we got it wide and caused them trouble. Unfortunately in the first half, we just lacked that quality in their half of the field in order to get the breakthrough.”
The combination of improved quality and revised direction changed the calculus in the second half. Nicol urged his players to work the ball down the right side to expose debutant TFC left back Raivis Hscanovics in the second half. Hscanovics picked up a yellow card early in the first half as he tried to cope with Sainey Nyassi's speed and the Latvian fullback struggled when challenged with pacy runs down the right flank.
“It was part of our plan,” Nyassi said. “Stevie told us after the first half that he had a yellow card and that he was scared. He told us to get the ball wide. Any time I got the ball, I went at him. It paid off.”
Two of the Revolution's goals stemmed from tidy work down the right side of the park. Nyassi played a one-two with Kheli Dube down the right side to get in behind Hscanovics and play in a cross for Schilawski's first MLS goal two minutes after halftime, while Dube collected a Shalrie Joseph throughball and curled in a carbon copy cross for Schilawski to complete his hat trick in the 58th minute.
Stringing together those simple and effective combinations comes from working together on the practice field and figuring how to construct effective attacking movements, Dube said.
“It's stuff we work on in training,” Dube said as he reflected on the second goal. “Stevie says that he wants us to play one-touch football, and with Sainey's speed, if he gives you the ball, you know where to put it. He's that quick. It was just another play like we did at training.”
No amount of training-ground work can replicate the influence of having Shalrie Joseph in the center of the park to orchestrate the proceedings. Joseph missed the first two matches with a right hip flexor strain and battled a rib injury suffered on Thursday, but emerged through the mire of the TFC midfield in the second half to dictate the flow of the game.
When Joseph dominates the match in midfield, he stretches out the field by bringing the wide players into the game with diagonal passes and forcing compact sides like TFC to compensate by allowing more time and space in the center of the park.
“It helps having Shalrie back,” Schilawski said. “He's a big part of our team going both ways. I thought tonight, as far as keeping possession and connecting passes in the attacking half, it's the best we've done so far. Looking forward, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next game.”
Combine the improved possession and wide play with a dose of alertness in the attacking third -- Schilawski stripped TFC defender Nick Garcia for the second goal, while Nyassi intercepted a poor Nane Joseph back pass for the fourth goal -- and the Revolution can pose problems for MLS defenses.
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
Checkout the Revolution’s blog for important TV information for Saturday’s game. Due to a conflict with the Celtics broadcast on Comcast SportsNet, the Revolution game will be shown on alternate channels.
Click HERE for more information on where the game will be shown in your area.
Click HERE for more information on where the game will be shown in your area.
Preview: Revs looking for more offense vs. Toronto FC
April, 9, 2010
4/09/10
2:25
PM ET
By Kyle McCarthy, special to ESPNBoston.com
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- A different challenge awaits New England in its home opener against Toronto FC tomorrow night at Gillette Stadium.
In their first two matches on the road, the Revolution could afford to focus on keeping things tight at the back and stifling the opposition's attacking forays. The tactics yielded three points over the first two games as New England conceded just once -- an Edson Buddle header six minutes into the season-opening 1-0 defeat at Los Angeles -- and snatched a last minute win with Kenny Mansally's late double at D.C. United last Saturday.
Setting out to maintain that defensive shape has proven effective on the road, but Revolution coach Steve Nicol said his side can't afford to defend as deeply as it has over the past two weeks if it wants to press the initiative and obtain victory against TFC.
“The fact we're at home, we should be further up the field,” Nicol said. “We're not going to go stupid or willy-nilly and running forward and leaving holes, but we want to try to get ourselves forward a bit faster and a bit quicker and squeeze higher up the field. That's kind of it. We're not going to go stupid just because we're at home and have people running all over the shop.”
Striking the balance between maintaining the 174-minute shutout streak established over the first two matches and moving forward consistently may result from better work in possession. New England's staunch defensive efforts have masked a tendency to lose the ball cheaply in midfield, resulting in an inability to push out from the back and mount persistent attacking threats. While the Revolution back four has coped well with the additional pressure heaped on by the lack of possession, it isn't a formula that will work long term, according to Nicol.
“There's no question that we haven't kept the ball well in the two games that we've played,” Nicol said, “But what we have done is to be in good positions to defend when we've lost it. That's something we want to build on -- we want to be better with the ball. We will attack more and be further up the field.”
Fortunately for Nicol as he goes in search of his 100th MLS victory in charge of the Revolution, he can recall influential fulcrum Shalrie Joseph to central midfield to bolster his side's tidiness in possession. Joseph missed the first two games of the season with a right hip flexor strain, but returned to full training this week. After assessing Joseph's fitness throughout the week, Nicol declared he was ready to face the Reds in the home opener after today's training session.
Nicol could also call upon Marko Perovic to make his Revolution debut off the bench after the Serbian midfielder joined his teammates today for the first time since signing a contract with the club. Perovic spent most of Thursday traveling from Zurich to Boston and noted after practice that he was working his way through the lingering impact of the lengthy journey and the time change. His arrival in the match may depend on how the game unfolds during the second half and whether the Revolution needs his ingenuity to vanquish a Toronto FC side mired in the uncertainty of wholesale roster changes and the sudden retirement of captain Jim Brennan earlier this week.
No matter how TFC decides to approach the game or attempts to fix its leaky rearguard, New England will hope to produce more in the attacking third and set out its stall further up the field. With Joseph back in the fold and Perovic looming as another possible contributor, Revolution midfielder Chris Tierney said he thinks he and his teammates will find a way to mesh the defensive strength of the past two weeks with additional potency going forward.
“We're at home, so we'll look to get after it and get forward,” Tierney said. “Getting a couple of guys back, you should see us with more offensive output than we've had up to this point in the season.”
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
In their first two matches on the road, the Revolution could afford to focus on keeping things tight at the back and stifling the opposition's attacking forays. The tactics yielded three points over the first two games as New England conceded just once -- an Edson Buddle header six minutes into the season-opening 1-0 defeat at Los Angeles -- and snatched a last minute win with Kenny Mansally's late double at D.C. United last Saturday.
Setting out to maintain that defensive shape has proven effective on the road, but Revolution coach Steve Nicol said his side can't afford to defend as deeply as it has over the past two weeks if it wants to press the initiative and obtain victory against TFC.
[+] Enlarge
Fred Kfoury/Icon SMIShalrie Joseph missed the Revolution's first two games.
Fred Kfoury/Icon SMIShalrie Joseph missed the Revolution's first two games.Striking the balance between maintaining the 174-minute shutout streak established over the first two matches and moving forward consistently may result from better work in possession. New England's staunch defensive efforts have masked a tendency to lose the ball cheaply in midfield, resulting in an inability to push out from the back and mount persistent attacking threats. While the Revolution back four has coped well with the additional pressure heaped on by the lack of possession, it isn't a formula that will work long term, according to Nicol.
“There's no question that we haven't kept the ball well in the two games that we've played,” Nicol said, “But what we have done is to be in good positions to defend when we've lost it. That's something we want to build on -- we want to be better with the ball. We will attack more and be further up the field.”
Fortunately for Nicol as he goes in search of his 100th MLS victory in charge of the Revolution, he can recall influential fulcrum Shalrie Joseph to central midfield to bolster his side's tidiness in possession. Joseph missed the first two games of the season with a right hip flexor strain, but returned to full training this week. After assessing Joseph's fitness throughout the week, Nicol declared he was ready to face the Reds in the home opener after today's training session.
Nicol could also call upon Marko Perovic to make his Revolution debut off the bench after the Serbian midfielder joined his teammates today for the first time since signing a contract with the club. Perovic spent most of Thursday traveling from Zurich to Boston and noted after practice that he was working his way through the lingering impact of the lengthy journey and the time change. His arrival in the match may depend on how the game unfolds during the second half and whether the Revolution needs his ingenuity to vanquish a Toronto FC side mired in the uncertainty of wholesale roster changes and the sudden retirement of captain Jim Brennan earlier this week.
No matter how TFC decides to approach the game or attempts to fix its leaky rearguard, New England will hope to produce more in the attacking third and set out its stall further up the field. With Joseph back in the fold and Perovic looming as another possible contributor, Revolution midfielder Chris Tierney said he thinks he and his teammates will find a way to mesh the defensive strength of the past two weeks with additional potency going forward.
“We're at home, so we'll look to get after it and get forward,” Tierney said. “Getting a couple of guys back, you should see us with more offensive output than we've had up to this point in the season.”
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
After two weeks of the MLS season, ESPN Soccer writer Jeff Carlisle offers up his rankings and comments for each team. The Revolution jumped five spots from No. 12 to No. 7 following their 2-0 victory over D.C. United. Carlisle writes:
Click HERE to read all of Carlisle’s MLS Rankings.
With substitute Kenny Mansally scoring two well-taken goals against D.C. United, Steve Nicol's genius tag is still intact.
Click HERE to read all of Carlisle’s MLS Rankings.
Editor’s note: This preview piece was written by Kyle McCarthy prior to the Revolution’s 2-0 victory over D.C. United this past weekend. In it, he writes that due to injuries and departures, the Revolution will need their young players to develop quickly.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When Khano Smith returned to the New England Revolution this winter after spending just more than a year away from the club, he looked around for familiar faces. Only a select few remained.
Most of the mainstays Smith played alongside during his previous four-year stint with the Revolution (2005-08) have either found a place on the club's injury list or moved on to different challenges.
While the Revolution always have coped with offseason defections as part and parcel of trying to build and maintain a squad under the MLS salary budget structure, this offseason decimated their core as Jay Heaps (retired), Jeff Larentowicz (traded to Colorado) and Steve Ralston (signed with second-division AC St. Louis) all departed. Add in the long-term injuries to Matt Reis (left shoulder and knee surgeries) and Taylor Twellman (head and neck symptoms), and the once-robust old guard currently stands at Shalrie Joseph and Smith.
As a result of the inevitable squad evolution, this Revolution group takes on an inexperienced bent that the accomplished sides of Smith's first tenure -- three MLS Cup appearances in those four seasons -- never did. Even though a bunch of fresh faces are now charged with the future of the team, Smith pointed to a consistent figure, Revolution coach Steve Nicol, as the key to maintaining the club's success.
Click HERE for the complete preview
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When Khano Smith returned to the New England Revolution this winter after spending just more than a year away from the club, he looked around for familiar faces. Only a select few remained.
Most of the mainstays Smith played alongside during his previous four-year stint with the Revolution (2005-08) have either found a place on the club's injury list or moved on to different challenges.
While the Revolution always have coped with offseason defections as part and parcel of trying to build and maintain a squad under the MLS salary budget structure, this offseason decimated their core as Jay Heaps (retired), Jeff Larentowicz (traded to Colorado) and Steve Ralston (signed with second-division AC St. Louis) all departed. Add in the long-term injuries to Matt Reis (left shoulder and knee surgeries) and Taylor Twellman (head and neck symptoms), and the once-robust old guard currently stands at Shalrie Joseph and Smith.
As a result of the inevitable squad evolution, this Revolution group takes on an inexperienced bent that the accomplished sides of Smith's first tenure -- three MLS Cup appearances in those four seasons -- never did. Even though a bunch of fresh faces are now charged with the future of the team, Smith pointed to a consistent figure, Revolution coach Steve Nicol, as the key to maintaining the club's success.
Click HERE for the complete preview
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New England Revolution
The New England Revolution are one of the 10 original MLS teams that began play in 1996. In their history, the Revolution have reached the MLS Cup finals four times (2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007) but have yet to win. For more information on the Revs, check out their official website or follow them on Twitter here.