{"id":4726,"date":"2011-05-13T16:05:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T20:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2011-05-13T16:05:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T20:05:58","slug":"finding-the-back-of-the-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4726","title":{"rendered":"Finding the back of the net"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – One-hundred and eighty-seven minutes without a goal. For the New England Revolution, it\u2019s becoming an all too familiar story this season. The Revs (2-3-4, 10 points) enter Saturday\u2019s showdown with the Vancouver Whitecaps (1-4-5, 8 points) on the back of being shutout in two consecutive matches and four of their last five MLS games.<\/p>\n

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The pressure is again on Feilhaber to lead the Revs attack on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Blame it on injuries, bad luck, or\u00a0a lack of chemistry. Whatever the excuse may be, it’s clear that\u00a0the Revs simply are struggling to find the back of the net over the past month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t create enough with the bit of ball we had in their final third,\u201d said Revs head coach Steve Nicol after their scoreless draw with the Colorado Rapids last Saturday. \u201cThat\u2019s disappointing. We have to do better. We\u2019re not going to win games unless we do better with the ball in the final third.\u201d<\/p>\n

While that mantra could apply to just about any of the Revs recent matches, the team has yet to find a way to fix it. U.S. International midfielder Benny Feilhaber was brought in to add creativity to the Revs attack and paid immediate dividends in aiding the Revs to a 3-2 victory over a defensively inept Sporting Kansas City side on April 23rd<\/sup>, but the Revs have yet to put their name on the scoreboard since.<\/p>\n

Nicol thinks bringing new blood into the squad may be the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to sign someone who\u2019s creative in the next transfer window,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019re trying to do, and we\u2019re looking at now. But we need to do it and be more creative. \u201c<\/p>\n

But that won\u2019t be any help to the Revs on Saturday or the immediate future. For now, the current Revs need to step up and once again they will have to do it without reigning team MVP Marko Perovic, who opened the scoring against Kansas City, but has been out with a left knee sprain since.<\/p>\n

That means the onus will once again fall on Feilhaber and captain Shalrie Joseph to lead the Revs attack as wingers Zak Boggs, Sainey Nyassi, Kenny Mansally have all proven to be far\u00a0too inconsistent in Perovic\u2019s absence to be counted on to provide good service to Danish striker Rajko Lekic the box. Fortunately for New England, Vancouver has struggled defensively and like Kansas City, could be provide the opportunity to spark the Revs offense to life.<\/p>\n

And Perovic won\u2019t be the only key player\u00a0out due to injuryon Saturday.\u00a0 After starting his first league match last weekend,\u00a0Ousmane Dabo\u00a0will be joined on the sidelines by fellow countryman Didier Domi, who will miss his second straight match with a left quadriceps strain.<\/p>\n

Chris Tierney slotted in seamlessly for Domi in Saturday\u2019s 0-0 draw against defending MLS Cup Champions, the Colorado Rapids and will be expected to do the same again on Saturday. Pat Phelan, who is back off the injury report, could fill in for Dabo.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whom plays Saturday the Revs will be hoping to test Vancouver \u2018keeper Jay Nolly, who ranks among the league\u2019s worst having saved just 63% of the shots he\u2019s faced, early and often.<\/p>\n

The squad should certainly see Saturday\u2019s matchup as winnable and one in which the offense could find more time and space, but the team needs more than just three points. A victory will mean little if, like three weeks ago against Kansas City, it is just a blip on the radar instead of the start of some offensive consistency. The Revs need not only need to find their offense this weekend, but also make a statement that it\u2019s back for good.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s match kicks off at 7:30p.m. at Gillette Stadium and can be seen live on Comcast Sports Net New England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revs hope to end their goal drought against Vancouver on Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/feilhaberfeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4726"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4737,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726\/revisions\/4737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}