This is one in a series of team previews preparing fans for the 2023 MLS season. Check out the full list; teams will be revealed in predicted order of finish from Feb. 10-24.
What New England Revolution did last year
After setting the MLS points record in 2021, the Revs seemed to position themselves to survive a deep CCL run. They added depth pieces like Jozy Altidore in an effort to seemingly make sure they could turn all of their attention to CCL without sacrificing their MLS season. Then Matt Turner got frostbite, hurt his foot even more after that, and the Revs blew a three-goal lead to Pumas for an early CCL exit and confirmation that they set an MLS points record and all they got was this stupid Shield. It was less than ideal.
From there, they began to navigate an entire offseason of turnover midseason. Turner left, top-tier striker Adam Buksa left and the Revs began bringing in new pieces over the summer. It nearly worked too. Djordje Petrovic might even better than Turner (seriously), Dylan Borrero looked like a perfect Tajon Buchanan replacement and DP striker Giacomo Vrioni … well, there are still some folks wondering when the Revs are really going to replace Buksa.
All told, despite Petrovic and Carles Gil’s best efforts, the Revs missed out on the playoffs in a year that can only be described as a painful follow-up to one of the league’s best-ever performances.
Key additions
Midfielder Latif Blessing (trade from LAFC), defender Dave Romney (trade from Nashville), forward Bobby Wood (selected from Re-Entry Draft)
Key departures
Midfielder Emmanuel Boateng (option declined), defender A.J. DeLaGarza (out of contract, retired), forward Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (option declined)
Making the case for New England Revolution
Any team with Djordje Petrovic in goal has a case. He would have won goalkeeper of the year over Andre Blake last year if he’d arrived at the beginning of the season. His numbers were among the best we’ve ever seen in MLS. No, I don’t know how the Revs keep doing this.
Elsewhere, there are a few more questions. The Revs still have to figure out how to fit DP forward Gustavo Bou, U22 winger Dylan Borrero, MVP-caliber No. 10 Carles Gil and DP forward Giacomo Vrioni onto the field in a way that makes sense. It seems like Bou might be the odd man out there, which, yeah, that’s just bad roster construction. The good news is that Gil is Gil and Borrero is one of the most exciting young players we’ve seen in MLS since the advent of the U22 rule. If he can stay healthy, they’ll have plenty of dynamism in attack. We’ll see if that’s enough to make up for Vrioni’s flaws and the fact they’re probably going to start Carles Gil’s brother on the right wing.
The rest of the group looks good though. They made a really smart move picking up unhappy and underutilized midfielder Latif Blessing from LAFC, then somehow convinced Nashville to give them center back Dave Romney. The back line may be solidified after a terrible 2022 and the best version of Blessing could fix a lot of critical issues. If they can work out the kinks in attack, this could easily be a playoff team.
Players to watch
I’m extremely curious about Blessing. He had an outstanding 2019 with LAFC but fell off relatively hard after that for various reasons. If he can steady a Revs midfield that’s generally been their Achilles heel during Bruce Arena’s tenure, then New England could be good. If he’s not up to the task, this year’s Revs might just be some version of the same frustrating team we saw last year.
A nerdy tidbit
Per American Soccer Analysis, no starting keeper in MLS has ever had better shot-stopping numbers than what Petrovic had in 2022. Versus the expected goals he faced, Petrovic averaged half a goal better per game. That’s absurd.
Basically, if a team put up 1.5 xG against the Revs each game, Petrovic only allowed 1 goal per game. That means that across 21 starts, Petrovic spared the Revs defense from 11 additional goals. If he’d started all 34 games, the Revs would have allowed 17 fewer goals. That’s great news for Petrovic and not-so-great news for the New England defense that still allowed 50 goals anyway.
A fun tidbit
Bruce Arena began his career as an assistant lacrosse coach at Cornell.
Projected finish
11th in the East
The Revs are tricky. It feels like the back line should be way better. It feels like Blessing could be a perfect fit. It feels like they should be able to sort out what’s going on in attack enough for Gil to make any other issues moot. But it also feels like there’s a lot of variance here. If none of those feelings come good, the Revs will be in trouble again. Anywhere from a playoff spot to somewhere worse than 11th feels possible.