Previewing Houston Dynamo vs New England Revolution with The Blazing Musket
(image via David Silverman/@DSPics)
After a loss on Matchday 1, the Houston Dynamo return to the road for their second game in 2023. Houston heads northeast to take on old rivals New England Revolution. We talked to Jake Catanese from The Blazing Musket to get some insight on the Revs.
A new season always brings some new faces. What were some of the moves that New England made this offseason to strengthen the roster?
The biggest roster additions were the trades for Latif Blessing and Dave Romney from LAFC and Nashville respectively, with Bruce Arena having already coached Romney when they were both at the LA Galaxy a good 7 or 8 years ago. Aside from that the biggest strength for the Revolution is getting their stars back healthy and integrated into the first team. After losing DP striker Adam Buksa last year along with Tajon Buchanan and Matt Turner, the Revs signed DP striker Giacomo Vrioni and U22 Initiative midfielder Dylan Borrero as major replacements. However both missed time due to injury and the Revs literally and figuratively limped to the end of the year and missed the playoffs.
A proper preseason to get everyone back on the same page will surely help, especially for Vrioni - the Revs lost so much up front with Buksa who I think was one of the best lone target strikers in the league before he was transferred. Vrioni is not the aerial beast that Buksa is, but has a solid all around skillset that should draw plenty of attention to him and open up space for others to find and work in. If the Revs are going to have a strong rebound season and be contenders in the East again, Vrioni is going to have to be a big part of that and likely will need double digit goals on his own.
New England went from a Supporters Shield to missing the playoffs last year. What caused so many problems last season and what has the team done to remedy those for this season?
The TL;DR version of the Revs in 2022 was everything that could have gone wrong kind of did. There was a rash of injuries at the beginning of the year to the defense followed by another round late that really hurt the attackers. There wasn't a lot of consistency for the Revs last year aside from the defense leaking goals. Eventually Arena scrapped the diamond midfield for a more balanced 4-2-3-1 approach that MLS should see a lot from them this year. Having Blessing, McNamara, Buck in the rotation next to Matt Polster in holding midfield to protect the backline should help, as well as having Romney compete for starting minutes with Andrew Farrell and Henry Kessler.
After just one game, there's a lot of positives from the Revs so far even though the win at Charlotte was far from perfect or dominant. But the Revs are starting to have everything come together and having Gustavo Bou reintegrate into the lineup after getting his green card among other positive lineup options should only make the Revs better over the regular season.
Djordje Petrovic has been incredible since coming to MLS last season. Just how good is this guy in goal and does he even have any weak areas that the Dynamo could take advantage of?
So if you frequent the American Soccer Analysis website regarding expected goals and other metrics, and you should they're the best, you would know that Matt Turner had two of MLS' best shot stopping seasons ever of all time and did so with just around 2,000 minutes played. Petrovic on just the raw numbers last year, had the best season ever in the same amount of minutes which is to say he was on an otherworldly form of saving things.
Petrovic is still learning his box command and distribution and got into a few troublesome spots with the latter in his early games last year, but his biggest problem is the Revs backline was just very leaky and gave up a lot of easy chances. Also, and I don't have stats to back this claim up - but I think the Revs give up a lot of dangerous set pieces via silly fouls near the box which in turn generates more chances. If Petrovic takes a significant step up in his development in all phases of his game outside of shot stopping, it's going to be nearly impossible for the Revs to keep him through the winter offseason.
17 year old Noel Buck had a really good game Saturday in the win over Charlotte. What can you tell us about him and who are some other under-the-radar type players that Dynamo fans should keep an eye on this weekend?
The raw numbers from Buck's game in Charlotte were tremendous, especially for a young player being asked to do a Scott Caldwell #6 type role next to Matt Polster. It was Buck's initial header that started the sequence that led to the Revs late winner on a recycled play/counter after a set piece. Buck is a natural left-footed player who is very versatile and could very well see significant time with the USYNT U20s next cycle.
Other youngsters that saw action against Charlotte were winger Damian Rivera who started and played an hour but didn't see a lot of the ball and was overshadowed by Gil and Borrero in the attacking midfield group which is understandable but also not the first time Rivera has struggled to make a significant impact on a game. Jack Panayotou did not travel last week but is another academy and now homegrown standout after helping the Revs to the MLS Next U19 Championship last year.
How is the health of the roster and do you expect anyone to be unavailable Saturday?
So the only major injuries are to backup keeper Jacob Jackson and midfielder Maciel who are out long term. Andrew Farrell, Tommy McNamara and Nacho Gil did not feature last week but Bruce Arena stated they should be back soon and could likely be week-to-week until they're fully fit. Gustavo Bou missed a chunk of preseason getting his green card paperwork situated but could be available off the bench as he builds his game fitness.
Predicted lineup and prediction for the match?
4-2-3-1; Petrovic; Jones, Romney, Kessler, Bye; Buck, Polster; Nacho Gil, Carles Gil, Borrero; Vrioni
If it's not broken, don't fix it. Only one change and that for me would be for the ineffective Rivera out wide and if Nacho Gil is not fit to start yet, there's a lot of options for the Revs there including moving Buck out wide and putting Latif Blessing in the middle of the field. I expect the Revs to be better with the ball at home, they were content to counter against Charlotte and were okay at times on the break, but need to do a better job at relieving pressure and letting Carles Gil pick defenses apart. A late Gustavo Bou sub could really open things up in this one, I think the Revs post a 2-0 win in a frigid New England home opener.
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We want to thank Jake for his time and wish our friends in New England the best of luck tomorrow.
