Attack Fails at Worst Time

Jerry Bengtson’s return couldn’t save the Revs offense on Sunday. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For the New England Revolution, 2012’s focus for improvement – publicly, at least – was all about one area: the attack. Halfway through the season, visible – and statistical – progress was evident.

Now, with the Revs (6-12-5, 23 points) in desperate needs of wins to keep playoff hopes alive, the attack has generated just a meager two goals in the past six matches. That goal drought has coincided with the Revs worst stretch of the season, a six game winless run (0-5-1), with the most recent match being Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the expansion Montreal Impact.

What’s perhaps most alarming is the Revs are now averaging just 1.13 goals per game, just a hundredth of a point better than the 1.12 goals per game the team averaged by the end of last season. That total has the Revs eighth out of the 10 teams in the East in goals per game. A month ago, the Revs average of 1.41 goals per game would’ve had them among the top four sides in the Conference.

“Just that final ball is lacking,” said midfielder Chris Tierney of the scoring drought after the Montreal loss. “I think we’re getting into decent spots, we have good spells of possession, but when we get into that advanced third of the field it’s just about putting the ball on the money and committing to getting runs in the box and we haven’t been doing that lately. We just have to have that full commitment to lay our bodies on the line, make those runs, and do what it takes to score goals.”

So what’s changed in a month? Why have the Revs – in their most important stretch of the season – failed to find the back of the net?

“I wish I could tell you the answer to that and if we did have the answer it wouldn’t be a problem for us,” said midfielder Clyde Simms. “We have to do better though. I think we did do a better job at creating chances tonight, which we struggled with last game or two. The difference is just putting those away.”

But, the Revs finishing this year has never really been clinical.  When the team was scoring, especially early in the year, it was often because the chances were plentiful and the Revs could afford a few wasted opportunities. Now, every missed chance seems certain to doom the Revs hopes of a win.

“It’s the finishing touch,” said midfield Ryan Guy. “I think at the beginning of the season we were coming into every game going ‘oh, we’re going to score goals, at least one’… hey, you hit rough patches, and that happens, people go through goal droughts and I think that’s unfortunately what we’re in right now.”

Unfortunately for the Revs, that drought has come at the worst possible time.  The dismal run of form has seen New England’s playoff chances drop from 38.1% a month ago to just 0.3% after Sunday’s loss, according to SportsClubStats. In other words, thanks to the past six games, despite having 11 games left, it’s already time to start looking towards next year as far as postseason hopes are concerned.

The offensive ineptitude has also amplified defensive issues. With the team not scoring, any defensive mistake seems to prove enough to send the Revs to defeat. Knowledge of the team’s attacking struggles has to weigh on the defender’s minds, even if they aren’t ready to admit it.

“It’s just the nature of being a defender that you have got to be error free in order to win games,” said center back AJ Soares. “I wouldn’t say there’s more pressure. We just have to do our jobs. We’ve got to be error free even if we score five goals.”

While that might be the attitude a defender needs to have, the fact is if a defender is playing behind an offense that is regularly capable of scoring two or three goals – let alone five – he knows one mistake won’t end the club’s hopes of winning. When the team’s struggling to just to score a solitary goal, the pressure for perfection is undoubtedly higher.

The host of defensive errors in the Revs recent struggles seems more than a coincidence and until head coach Jay Heaps finds a solution to the Revs recent offensive slump, New England can expect their problems on both sides of the ball to continue.

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