New England’s Quietly Good Roster Build Is Paying Off
I’ve been wanting to do a piece about New England’s moves over the last year or so and how they’ve quietly been building something strong, but now, two games into the MLS season, as early as it is, they’ve scored four and haven’t conceded, including beating Charlotte in front of nearly 70,000 supporters. So, let’s take a look at what the Revs have been doing and how they’ve built a strong squad.
In the offseason after their Supporter’s Shield 2021 season, the Revs made a number of moves. Of course, everybody will talk about Tajon Buchanan’s departure to Belgium’s Club Brugge and Matt Turner’s to Arsenal (Turner’s deal was sealed but he wouldn’t leave until summer). They added some players, however. A few guys were very clearly Bruce’s guys, the likes of Omar Gonzalez, Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Lletget. These are moves I would… not praise. The one that I will praise and that really begins these great signings is Dylan Borrero. The 21 Colombian was bought for around $3.7M from Atletico MG on a U22 deal. He scored three times and assisted once in 602 minutes in 2022, but injuries kept him off the pitch. He was genuinely a great Tajon Buchanon replacement and the Revs went about replacing him perfectly. Replacing a young piece in a viable way that will also turn a profit is phenomenal business.
On top of that, in April, they brought in Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to replace Matt Turner and dare I say he’s been better than Turner was. Having the best goalkeeper in MLS does wonders for your team, and New England had that, sold him, bought another guy who turned out to be as good and are now likely to keep him and turn a profit on him as well (Manchester United are interested). That’s just great business from the Revs.
These were two very good moves to replace players that departed, specifically from that Shield winning side, but it makes sense to also discuss players still from that squad. Team leader in goals/assists in 2021 Gustavo Bou is still there, as is MVP Carles Gil, and the likes of Andrew Farrel, Dejuan Jones, Matt Polster, Brandon Bye and Henry Kessler, all of whom were in the top 11 in the team in minutes played in 2021. So, all in all, the Revs did a very good job of retaining their quality core pieces.
The really good stuff that I feel helps this squad a lot begins in the summer window in 2022, when they brought in center back Christian Makoun. Andrew Farrel and Henry Kessler are capable starters, and the addition of Makoun, a veteran starting center back, strengthened that group a lot and added some really good depth. The move that I will say may not have been great was the addition of DP striker Giacomo Vrioni. Vrioni was brought in as a replacement for Adam Buksa, who departed that summer, but struggled to live up to expectations. If he can play up to them, he might well be the next Buksa. They also added Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, which I feel was another really good move, but he’s already left the club.
That winter, they added even more talent. Their back line was looking good heading into the offseason, with a quality and deep center back group, two of the best fullbacks in MLS and the best goalkeeper in MLS, and their attacking line with Gil central and the likes of Bou and Borrero looked alright, but it wasn’t great and Polster was still not exactly given the pieces he needed to not be isolated. They took that midfield from a concern to a strong point quickly, with homegrown Noel Buck being a massive help alongside MLS veteran midfielder Latiff Blessing, who has won an MLS Cup and two Supporter’s Shields with LAFC. Now, a midfield of Polster deep with Blessing and Buck with Gil in front of them looks very strong. The attacking line has been largely untampered with (maybe for the better, seeing the 3-0 victory over a Houston side Cincinnati beat but largely played out of control against at home). They did make one addition to the back line, though, in Nashville SC starting regular Dave Romney at center back. He was a veteran who had started consistently for one of the best defensive sides in MLS. This was the icing on the cake for that back line in my opinion and is why teams will have a tough time scoring on New England.
These moves took a team with some solid core pieces in a few areas of the field to now a team full of reliable, proven veterans and some very exciting young talents that should carry this team far in 2023. The Rev’s formula was rather simple: reinforce areas you need support in with proven MLS players and replace departing players with similar profiles. This is exactly what they did. Need help in the middle? Latiff Blessing. Want to strengthen your center back group? Makoun and Romney. Need a young player to replace Tajon that can be sold for a profit? Borrero. With the last point, it can be tough to find young players capable of replacing successful guys of a similar profile, but with very good scouting the Revs have hit on ⅔ of these and that last one could still prove to be what New England needs. All in all, the brilliant scouting of youngsters to flip combined with the league knowledge and willingness to sign league players, much like LAFC pre 2022 or the Sounders basically forever, has resulted in a strong roster that can do some great things in 2023.