Three Questions with The Blazing Musket

It’s game day in Kansas City as Sporting KC welcome the New England Revolution to Kansas City for the first time since 2022. With an MLS original coming to KC we got together with our friends over at The Blazing Musket to answer some questions about the match up. Here’s Jake Catanese answering for the New England side of things.

1. KC and New England haven’t played since 2023 and not in KC since 2022. Other than Carles Gil, who’s someone that KC fans should have their eye on for the game?

Let’s talk about the revamped offense group, starting up front with strikers Leo Campana and Ignatius Ganago. The former Inter Miami man was acquired via massive record GAM in the offseason and then the Revs also got creative with Ganago on a short term loan with what we think is a participation/minutes played extension for the full season. Ganago was cover for the returning Tomas Chancalay who was recovering from a season ending injury last year and fellow winger Luca Langoni was signed because of Chancalay’s injury. Add in veteran Maxi Urruti and it’s a solid attacking corps around Carles Gil.

It hasn’t been a perfect start for really anyone this year outside of Gil on the attacking front…Campana missed time early forcing Urruti into a lone striker role for a time and was largely ineffective. Langoni is now dealing with an injury and Chancalay is not back at full strength yet. I’ll talk more about the Revs formation change down below but they essentially had to start playing two strikers up top out of necessity and it’s put mostly Langoni on the bench which is a shame cause he was really a bright spot towards the end of last year’s miserable campaign.

But it’s entirely possible that Carles is back or close to his MVP form from 2021, and that alone is worth the price of admission. If the Revs can get Campana going in particular then this should be a very fun team to watch the rest of the year but there’s still a lot of questions for the Revs attack still to answer.

2. The Revolution have lost just one of their last eight league games, what’s been the key for New England to continue to rattle off results as we approach midseason?

Time for the defense to shine, the centerback duo of Mamadou Fofana and Bryan Ceballos have been two of the most underrated signings I think in the entire league this past offseason. Right from the start these two have started and they’ve been tremendous on the ball, finding line breaking through balls and doing enough in the box to deny chances. Adding Tanner Beason as the third CB to this group in the 3-5-2 and Beason’s incredible penchant for emergency defending and this unit has been rock solid. Homegrown Peyton Miller and Israel international Ilay Feingold have been the primary option at full/wing back and as those two get more experience the Revs will get more and more dangerous as so much of their strength going forward comes from their width and speed.

3. New England are tied for the least amount of goals conceded this season, but they are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Is it a focus on defense first, offense not being in form, or something else?

It’s really a combination of several things, but under Caleb Porter and his possession system, the Revs were woeful on the ball last year in their own half and the centerback duo in particular have really helped in that facet of what the Revs want to do. Now, I think the Revs are still at best a below average build from the back team and their best chances created usually come from quick counters off of turnovers and transition play. It’s a lot easier to attack when the other team is running at their own goal. That being said, the defense last year was broken on a number of levels and the three centerback/five man backline has really helped shore up those issues along with another summer signing last year in Alhassan Yusuf and renaissance man Matt Polster in the deep midfield. The Revs have been playing better the last couple of months, they’re actually creating chances in the box which was something they weren’t doing a lot of in the beginning of the year and eventually if you’re creating good chances you will finish them. I remain steadfast in the belief that Caleb Porter needs to get this team attacking via playing faster and more directly but they also need to get healthy before we have any chance of seeing what this offense can do at full strength.

New England switched to a 3-5-2 look right around when they stopped losing and it allowed the Revs to get forward without compromising their defensive shape and remaining balanced. Last year the Revs frequently got caught in possession with both fullbacks up the field and gave up a lot of counters the other way. With a third centerback the two wingbacks can still be aggressive getting forward and worry less about what happens when things go wrong. The downside is the Revs really built the roster to play out of a 4-2-3-1, which means benching at least one of your star wingers and playing someone as a second striker in next to Campana. This is where the Revs offense can break down a bit cause I think they’re often torn between being the fast, countering team they should be but now they’re in a formation that does better suit build up play. If Porter and New England can find that balance on offense, I think the defense is good enough to cause problems in the playoffs for just about anyone. But I don’t think a 1.0 goals for average is going to get them into the playoffs as impressive as the goals against number is right now.

Lineup/predictions

3-5-2: Ivacic; Beason, Ceballos, Fofana; Miller, Yusuf, Gil, Polster, Feingold; Ganago, Chancalay

Went the whole piece and haven’t mentioned Alajz Ivacic in goal who has also been very good in his second year in New England and is already at six clean sheets so far this year, also a testament to the improved Revs defense. While this is a good starting lineup, the Revs bench could be very thin especially in the attacker department. Luca Langoni is out with a quad issue and Chancalay and Urruti are both listed as questionable but did feature off the bench against San Jose last week, and Campana started vs SJ but was subbed off just thirty minutes in and is unavailable for the game. The Revs punted against Chicago in the Open Cup midweek playing zero regulars in the hope to keep everyone as rested as possible and I can’t imagine they’d disappoint us by losing to Mike Burns…

I’ll take the Revs as 1-0 winners on an impressive but weird goal…like Yusuf or Polster ripping one from the top of the box via wicked deflection sort of stuff. I think chances will be at a premium between the Revs middling offense and the SKC defensive form. But we said this about the Orlando game a few weeks ago and that finished 3-3 cause MLS is dumb…it’s the best, but it’s dumb.