So much of coaching is psychological. Some locker rooms thrive under a disciplinarian while others require a laid back approach to reach their potential. New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell’s comments about how new head coach Bruce Arena’s approach differs from the recently-departed Brad Friedel suggests which kind of leadership the Revs prefer.
Friedel made players arrive at the stadium four hours before games, eat as a team, and follow a dress code. Arena? He just wants everything you’ve got when you’re between the white lines.
The former LA Galaxy and USMNT head man has also made changes to his club’s approach on the pitch. Whereas Friedel began with an aggressive pressing system and slowly took his foot off the gas until nobody seemed entirely sure what to do, Arena has focused on protecting his center backs and slowly built more nuance into his club’s work with the ball.
As much as New England has spent in defense — Michael Mancienne should probably be picking up a lot of checks at team dinners — they remain woefully short on consistency. Andrew Farrell remains an enigma of talent and cartoonish oopsies while Jalil Anibaba is a good scramble defender but less good at the rest of defending. Arena has begun sitting Luis Caicedo in front of his center backs at all times to challenge the first forward ball in transition from opponents. Caicedo can cover a huge amount of ground and he closes down with Monteiro-esque speed. Against Los Angeles, this provided the Revs with time to retreat after losing the ball.
Additionally, New England’s fullbacks have been far more cautious about getting forward, and far more aware of the movements of the rest of the back line. Overloading the wings is still a useful tactic in transition given Carles Gil’s ability to spread play around, but Brandon Bye and DeJuan Jones are now waiting until they can become involved in a play to bomb ahead.
Gil’s passing and movement allow the Revs to remain dangerous in transition even though they commit fewer bodies forward than under Friedel. By finding their creative hub quickly after winning the ball and sending Teal Bunbury on immediate runs behind the defense, New England creates space and running lanes for an attacking group with a diverse set of talents. Bunbury remains a strong direct runner and willing defender. On the wings, Diego Fagundez likes to isolate and Cristian Penilla is all about attacking space behind the back line on the run. This means Gil can assess the situation and pick out the best matchups on the fly — and he’s good enough to do it.
To defeat New England, the Union need to exploit a key weakness of the Revs’ new system. In transitions, Caicedo may be left isolated, and whenever this happens, sending runners into the center can lead to big chances against a retreating defense.
For example, if the Union find a first pass after a turnover, Caicedo will close down the ball receiver while the defense decides whether it can remain high or must drop. Once Caicedo decides to step forward, space opens in the center because Gil and Agudelo don’t always work back defensively. Hitting runners in that space will give Philadelphia the entire center of the field to attack at speed, and then it’s just a matter of picking out the right ball into the box.
This leads to questions about how to set up against New England. Beating Caicedo on the dribbles waterfalls into a lot of positive situations, so pitting Jamiro Monteiro — excellent at turning with the ball — against Caicedo will be a huge win for Philly. Marco Fabian certainly has the ability to turn Caicedo as well, but this season the Mexican playmaker has been less than 100% and struggled to beat his man 1v1. If he hits his stride, Fabian provides another elite isolation player in midfield that can create transitions to pin New England back.
Don’t miss any of the action when the Union travel to New England on Wednesday, May 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET on PHL17.
