It looked for all the world as though New England was on their way to a first road win of 2019 last weekend at Kansas City. Down a man but up 4-2, all they had to do was hold on.

Well...

The Revs ended up losing Jalil Anibaba to a second yellow card (Brandon Bye had already been dismissed) and giving up two goals, including one on a corner kick to Krisztian Nemeth to tie the match late.

That means Brad Friedel will need to rejigger his back four when he comes to Philadelphia this weekend. And honestly, it may end up being a blessing in disguise. The Revolution have given up seven goals in their last two matches after shutting out New York Red Bulls. Newly acquired Edgar Castillo has been solid but unspectacular at left back -- which is as advertised -- and Michael Mancienne has continued his quest to prove himself one of the more confounding signings in recent memory.

In attack, New England is quite different than last season. Whereas they previously pressed relentlessly and broke forward at pace, now there is a concerted effort to find Designated Player Carles Gil. The Spanish attacker brings a level of creativity that only Diego Fagundez can match, and his presence frees the somehow-still-only-24 (what!?) Fagundez to float around and hide from the prying eyes of defenders.

Up front, Juan Fernando Caicedo has arrived to take the scoring load off of Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury. He started three of five matches in April and got off shots in four of them, but only in the KC match did he finally put any of those efforts on frame. Lo and behold both went in, so Caicedo is now off the mark and could become more dangerous if Agudelo can continue to play the role of ball advancer.

The Revs come to town on May 4 on a mission to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement.