FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Generally speaking, there are two distinct approaches a road team adopts when they march into enemy territory.

The first: open fire and push forward. Flash the firearms. Create chances and capitalize on them.

The second: frustrate and flummox. Operate in the shadows. Sit back and exploit the opposition’s mistakes.

For the second straight game, the Revolution (5-7-1, 16 points) will host a club that subscribes to the latter when the Crew (5-4-3, 18 points) come to Gillette Stadium on Saturday.

Although the Crew and the Chicago Fire, whom the Revolution beat 2-0 on Jun. 2, may not be mirror images of each other, New England head coach Jay Heaps is expecting more of what he saw from the Fire two weeks ago.

“I feel like Chicago did what Columbus is doing,” Heaps said after training on Tuesday. “(They) sit in, (they) wait for a mistake, and (they) take advantage.”

It’s an approach that’s yielded some impressive successes for a side that sits only two points above the Revolution on the conference table.

On May 19, the Crew squeezed a point from a strong San Jose side at Buck Shaw Stadium. Four days later, they stifled the Sounders’ potent attack to the tune of 2-0 at historically inhospitable CenturyLink Field.

Despite those successes, there’s the notion Columbus is a team that’s currently overperforming. That they’re punching above their weight. That they don’t have the horses to stay competitive.

One player who doesn’t buy that idea is Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph, who witnessed the Crew collect all six points from last season’s home-and-away series against New England.

“They’ve got a good team overall,” Joseph said. “They’ve got guys who come in and work hard on and off the ball.”

Some of the players who Joseph and his teammates will be monitoring are Eddie Gaven (3 goals, 1 assist), Justin Meram (3 goals) and Emilio Renteria (2 goals).

Granted, neither of the three is scaling the summit of the goalscoring charts. But Joseph doesn’t want to give them any incentives to do so during Saturday’s conference clash.

“We have to limit their chances,” Joseph said. “We want to make it hectic and chaotic (for them) at the start of the whistle. Once we do that, then we can worry about what we have to do offensively.”

Speaking of offense, Heaps knows that his team will have to stay disciplined on the ball against a squad that feasts on its opponents’ carelessness. The passing has to be crisp. The challenges have to be strong. The communication has to be clear.

“You have to make sure that you don’t give anything away,” Heaps said. “You have to make sure that your game is set up in a way where if there’s a lost ball or giveaway, there’s support and cover.”

Yet, even with an opportunistic opponent that circles its prey like vultures, Heaps isn’t about to deviate from what’s worked for the Revolution one-third of the way through the season.

“We have to focus on what we do well,” Heaps said. “And that’s taking advantage of balls forward, possession, trying to get in behind teams and put the team that’s on the road under pressure.”