{"id":32309,"date":"2015-03-06T12:07:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T17:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32309"},"modified":"2015-03-06T12:13:12","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T17:13:12","slug":"the-hunted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32309","title":{"rendered":"The Hunted"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The hunter has become the hunted. And the Revolution, who within the span of two short seasons have gone from the depths of the table to title contenders, know full well what that entails.<\/p>\n

After tearing through the competition last autumn, and pushing the eventual champions to the brink, Revolution midfielder Teal Bunbury knows that each opponent will carry extra motivation going up against his club this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there\u2019s a target on our back,\u201d Bunbury said. \u201cWe know teams are going to come into Gillette Stadium and try to beat us, so it\u2019s about maintaining that level of play that we had last year, and being able to push ourselves and take our game to the next level and always keep that ultimate goal in mind, which is to win championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

And perhaps no squad in Revolution history has a better chance to claim that elusive championship than the one before us.<\/p>\n

The strong core of players that coach Jay Heaps hoped to mold since he took the reins four winters ago has made the Revolution, at the very least, favorites to win the conference table. With Bunbury, Jermaine Jones, Lee Nguyen and a rejuvenated Diego Fagundez all returning, it\u2019s easy to see why opponents will have to bring their A-game when they face the Revolution.<\/p>\n

Oh, and they also brought back Juan Agudelo, the talented striker whose superb hold-up play and instincts allowed Fagundez and Rowe to enjoy career years in 2013. And with Charlie Davies, last year\u2019s postseason hero, also available to Heaps, 2015 could see the Revolution unveil its most potent attack to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another dimension,\u201d Heaps said in reference to Agudelo\u2019s skill set. “I think Juan has shown that he fits really well with how we want to play. We feel he can also give another layer to our attack, we can push him in different ways where we can bring Charlie into different areas and start Charlie and put Juan somewhere else. So we\u2019re excited about the different layers of our attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Revolution supporters: the old saying about the rich getting richer finally applies to your club. <\/p>\n

While the current squad certainly appears stronger than the one that came within inches of lifting the MLS Cup trophy last December, there\u2019s still plenty to tackle if they\u2019re going to meet the expectations set before them.<\/p>\n

As good as the offense looks on paper, one area of concern is the back four. After A.J. Soares left during the offseason, Heaps plugged in right back Andrew Farrell to take over the spot next to Jose Goncalves. So far, the reviews have been mixed.<\/p>\n

But Heaps doesn\u2019t just want to see improvement in the rear. Knowing how crucial a sound defense is to securing a championship (see last year\u2019s Galaxy), the fourth-year coach needs everyone \u2013 from top to bottom \u2013 to make things difficult for the opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an area where we want to be better,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just going to be in the back four or the goalkeeper, it\u2019s going to be team defense. Once we solidify which guys are going to be the main guys, and how we handle that, it\u2019s the entire team that\u2019s going to determine that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the most part, it appears that the primary components have already been identified. But questions remain at right back and in the center of the midfield. <\/p>\n

Jeremy Hall battled Kevin Alston for Farrell\u2019s former spot during the preseason, and it appears that a winner hasn\u2019t yet been chosen. Centrally, Rowe and Fagundez both looked sharp in Desert Diamond Cup action, but their minutes may have to be juggled once Jones and Nguyen return from injuries.<\/p>\n

On the whole, though, there\u2019s no reason to think the Revolution can\u2019t secure a championship this season. And Bunbury is well aware that the standard for success has never been higher in New England. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there are going to be higher expectations,\u201d Bunbury said. \u201cBut I feel like we\u2019re all professionals, and there\u2019s always going to be high expectations no matter what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After coming inches away from a title, the Revs know they’ve got a target on their backs this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32311,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[891,49,888,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Revs-01.png?fit=600%2C415&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32309"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32315,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32309\/revisions\/32315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}