Breaking down the Revolution’s 2-0 loss to Columbus

Diego Fagundez and the Revolution lost to Columbus 2-0. Photo/Kari Heistad

The New England Revolution’s winless streak hit five games on Saturday night as they lost, 2-0, against the Columbus Crew at MAPFRE Stadium.

Columbus scored once in each half—with goals from Ola Kamara and Federico Higuain, respectively—to put away the struggling Revs, who actually out-shot the hosts 17-12 and controlled large swaths of the game.

Though the Revolution were competitive and did have the chances to earn a positive road result, they were ultimately picked apart on defensive lapses and for their often-passive movement in transitions.

1. The Revolution did not deal well with Columbus closing down – Anyone who has watched the Revolution play in the Jay Heaps coaching era knows they like to play fast and on the counter-attack. Though the Revs looked slower than usual tonight, they were also heavily victimized by Columbus’ tight marking on all areas of the pitch. The Crew’s play forced New England into either coughing up possession or halting a counter-attack dead on its track.
2. Finishing needed to be better – The Revolution out-shot Columbus 17-12, though the hosts had the 6-5 edge in shots on target. With the game still 1-0, the Revolution hit the crossbar and forced Zack Steffen into making some tough saves, though their shooting accuracy wore down as the game progressed. Even after the second goal, the Revolution had time to rally and comeback, but they weren’t clinical. To some degree, the Revolution can blame their loss on bad luck in the final third given that they hit the woodwork and forced Steffen to make a handful of reaction stops. But even so, a team with so many attacking pieces has to make its own luck.
3. The dropped points are adding up – About a month ago, in my post-game takeaways piece, I noted that dropping points wasn’t the biggest deal since, at the time, there was still more than 80 percent of the schedule left to play. There is now just over 70 percent of the season left to play – nearly one third is done – and the “it’s early” excuse is no longer acceptable. The Revolution are winless in five due almost completely to themselves. The last five games have featured blown leads, poor performances at home, and huge mental lapses. Saturday’s game at Columbus was a six-pointer. A win, despite New England’s recent poor form, would have put them back on track and inside playoff contention. All of a sudden, the Revs ground to make up.

Additional thoughts:

• You’d think Je-Vaughn Watson would be playing slightly more conservative after dooming the Revs a month ago in Chicago by getting red carded. Apparently, though, he didn’t get the memo. Watson closelined/grabbed Niko Hansen by the face and dragged him down. Watson got away with a caution from referee Mark Geiger but make no mistake: he was lucky. There’s a good chance the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspends Watson after review.
• By the way, Columbus’ Jonathan Mensah deserved a red, too. He made two reckless fouls in a row – the first of which was on Scott Caldwell and probably could have been an automatic ejection – but got away with it and played the whole game.
• Femi Hollinger-Janzen looked promising off the bench. He probably deserves more time in his substitute appearances, as was the case last year. And yes, his nickname is Femi.
• Similarly, the Revolution do need to address the lack of depth on their team. They went and acquired three defenders in the off-season and two forwards, and look like they’re going to sign Gershon Koffie on loan, but they’ll still have six open roster spots.
• Kelyn Rowe at left back? Still? The Revolution lose something by taking him out of the attack and making him play an unnatural position. Put him at LB in emergency…maybe even for a game…but consistently? Go sign a left back.