New England Soccer Today

In-Form Davies Reinvigorates Revs Attack

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Five games, five wins, twelve goals. Those are the stats this season when striker Charlie Davies Starts for the New England Revolution. The former U.S. National Team goal scorer began this season on the bench for the Revolution, but forced his way into the starting line-up and immediately helped turn a Revolution offense that went scoreless in its first three games to open the season into an attack that now leads the Eastern Conference with twelve goals.

“I remember a couple games back [Davies] was a little bit down where he don’t start and I told him ‘keep going, you played a good season for the team last season and you’re really important for the team and you’ll get your chance, you will score and you will come back,’” said Revolution midfielder Jermaine Jones after New England’s 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night. “That’s what he did and it’s amazing.”

When the Revolution brought back Juan Agudelo in the offseason, it looked like Davies’ days as the Revolution starting striker may be over. Instead, after three scoreless games, Davies was back in the starting line-up and eventually Agudelo’s spot in the line-up ended up being on the wings.

The impact of Davies’ return to the line-up is easy to see in the results. New England is 0-2-2 with zero goals scored when Davies hasn’t been a part of the starting eleven this season, compared to the perfect 5-0-0 record with twelve goals scored with him.

“Not only does [Davies] have the ability to stretch the game and create some space for players underneath and also our wings, but also he’s an emotional leader in there,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “I think he doesn’t get enough credit for how he keeps the group together and how he handles the game and how we go about the game.”

While the important roles Davies plays may sometimes go unnoticed, the three goals he’s scored in the past three games certainly haven’t. Davies leads the Revolution in goal scoring and his three goals this season are only two behind the league leaders.

“It’s always great when you’re in form as a striker,” said Davies. “You just keep continuing to build on each performance and that confidence starts flowing and you start feeling like the ball just finds you at times. I still don’t feel I’m playing anywhere near at my best which is a great thing.”

Over the past couple games, Davies has been flanked by Agudelo and Teal Bunbury up top and the combination has worked wonders. New England beat Real Salt Lake 4-0 last week, before defeating New York 2-1 this game. Davies scored in both.

“Even if he’s not scoring, he’s still playing unbelievable,” said Bunbury. “He’s holding the ball up. It’s tough when you’re the center forward when you play with three up top. The work he does sometimes might not get as much credit if he’s not scoring, but he’s been scoring and he’s been holding the ball up well, he’s been making unbelievable runs, he’s putting pressure on the defense and that’s what helps alleviate the pressure on us when we need that.”

For his part, Davies is enjoying the lone striker role. In addition to Agudelo and Bunbury, the likes of midfielders Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen, Jermaine Jones, Scott Caldwell and Andy Dorman, and fullbacks Chris Tierney and London Woodberry have all been providing service to Davies. On Saturday, Woodberry set up Davies with a cross for his ninth minute headed goal.

“It’s great to be a lone striker on this team,” said Davies. “You’re getting great service and we have great players. I think it’s been talked about a lot how deep we are as a team and how talented we are. They make my job easy. They give me a lot of opportunities and tonight I feel like I didn’t make the most of all the opportunities I had, but I think the most difficult part for a striker is getting in those positions and getting those chances and I’m getting them. The last part is just putting it all together and finishing and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Davies will get likely get the opportunity to continue to lead the Revolution attack on Friday, May 8, when the Revolution travel to face expansion-side Orlando City SC for the first time.

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