New England Soccer Today

Heaps Sees Need for Changes

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – If you’ve seen Jay Heaps’ post-game press conferences over the years, you’ve likely heard him say that the team must “stick to the process” – especially when his squad is in the midst of a rough patch. But that doesn’t mean the coaching staff is set in its ways from game 1 to game 34.

Prior to Wednesday’s training, Heaps clarified what the process is, and how it doesn’t preclude him and the rest of the coaching staff from making necessary adjustments as the season progresses.

“You have to change things,” Heaps said. “When I say ‘stick to the process,’ I don’t mean we stick to the same thing over and over. We change training habits, we change things we’re doing in training – when I say ‘process,’ that’s the preparation for the opposing team, and that’s never going to change with how we go about preparing ourselves for the opponent.”

Changes for the Revolution have certainly been a hot topic among supporters on social media as the club finds itself stuck in another summertime swoon, the third in the last four years. The locals have gone winless in 10 of their last 11, the latest a 3-0 loss at Dallas, a performance that didn’t sit particularly well with Heaps.

“We have to reset a couple of things that we’re doing because, when you look collectively at the losses – which I did over the last couple of days – they’re all different forms of losing, with Dallas being the worst of it because we lost another component,” Heaps said. “In those other games, there were positives. There were moments where the game could’ve easily been points for our team. (But in) Dallas, there weren’t many moments in that game. I think that was the most disheartening one, and one that we need to correct – and correct quickly.”

Heaps also mentioned the fact that the schedule congestion delayed his usual midseason breakdown, a time in which he typically looks back at the first half of the season in order to make corrections and refinements for the final 17 games. However, Heaps did not go into detail about whether those changes will extend to the pitch starting with Saturday’s game against the Red Bulls.

“There’s a long look in the mirror at this point,” Heaps said. “We’re doing that now, so there’s going to be some adjustments. We never really got a full week of training underneath our belt at our own place (over the last few weeks), so this is really good for us to get a couple of days, to reset, and recalculate. For me, the final push for the season is on, and is happening right now.”

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