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| Just get in the way of it often enough. |
It’s no secret that the New England Revolution dropped the Supporters’ Shield in 2022 (yeah, yeah, it's early; just roll with it). They’ve been a combination of inconsistent and fragile since First Kick, with only three wins in eleven games this season and none coming on the road. As such, FC Cincinnati isn’t facing 2021 New England tomorrow afternoon.
Because I’m between concepts on this site, I didn’t sit down to watch the Revs’ draw at Atlanta last weekend and yet another goddamn national broadcast blackout means I can't do a make-up [Ed. - Honestly, ESPN+ has a knack for blacking out games involving Cincy’s next opponents.] That said, I don’t think the book on New England has changed much since their record-setting 2021 season: they score goals with confidence and hand them out with the opposite. To finish the thought on the Revs defense, the narrative goes something like this: they give up a lot of chances and rely on Matt Turner to stop them. (And he does.)
FC Cincinnati should get chances, basically, and they look like a good bet to finish them off. They’ve got an elite chance-creator/finder in Luciano Acosta dishing key passes (if with surprisingly few primary assists; just three), plus a confident striker in Brandon Vazquez. Related, I just bumbled into something fun: Cincy is downright communitarian when it comes to assists - eight players have supplied one, three players two, then there’s Acosta’s three - and that’s a good thing; it’s harder to shut off the supply when it comes from all over.
To flip the point of view, the Revs have scored two goals in their last six games and have only been kept off the board once all season. They haven’t exactly played the cream of the league lately, thought they did get a pair of goals past a better-than-average Columbus Crew SC defense, and on the road, So, odds are they’ll score a goal or two against Cincy. That’s despite a late improvement from them - though, again, mind the opposition, e.g., Chicago, Minnesota and Toronto X 2) - but, taking in what we have so far, all signs point to keeping up with the Revs' offense as Cincinnati's prime directive for Saturday.
After that, only one wild-hair comes to mind: the suspension of New England’s Matt Polster. I’m not savvy enough to know how Bruce Arena fills that hole (and what happened to Wilfrid Kaptoum or even Lucas Maciel?), but he’ll come up with something, no doubt. I peeked at The Mothership’s Player Availability Report, which is unreliable to the points of asking why they bother to maintain it (wait…), and didn’t see anything eye-popping there, but, on Cincy’s side, I (partially) remember a stray tweet that they have some players within reach of mended (plus something about Brenner and a naughty list), but it looks like Pat Noonan should have options, whether for tactical switches, or just fresh legs.
All in all, the stars align about as well as they could for Cincinnati in this game. The Revs should give their defense its biggest test since LAFC or Montreal - and color me interested on that - while also giving Cincy’s offense room to play. The past few games haven’t given a good reason to dick around with Cincy’s line-up, but more of the same sounds good enough for the here and now.
Going into an FC Cincinnati game expecting to have fun and maybe even see a win. Brave new world, people.
Because I’m between concepts on this site, I didn’t sit down to watch the Revs’ draw at Atlanta last weekend and yet another goddamn national broadcast blackout means I can't do a make-up [Ed. - Honestly, ESPN+ has a knack for blacking out games involving Cincy’s next opponents.] That said, I don’t think the book on New England has changed much since their record-setting 2021 season: they score goals with confidence and hand them out with the opposite. To finish the thought on the Revs defense, the narrative goes something like this: they give up a lot of chances and rely on Matt Turner to stop them. (And he does.)
FC Cincinnati should get chances, basically, and they look like a good bet to finish them off. They’ve got an elite chance-creator/finder in Luciano Acosta dishing key passes (if with surprisingly few primary assists; just three), plus a confident striker in Brandon Vazquez. Related, I just bumbled into something fun: Cincy is downright communitarian when it comes to assists - eight players have supplied one, three players two, then there’s Acosta’s three - and that’s a good thing; it’s harder to shut off the supply when it comes from all over.
To flip the point of view, the Revs have scored two goals in their last six games and have only been kept off the board once all season. They haven’t exactly played the cream of the league lately, thought they did get a pair of goals past a better-than-average Columbus Crew SC defense, and on the road, So, odds are they’ll score a goal or two against Cincy. That’s despite a late improvement from them - though, again, mind the opposition, e.g., Chicago, Minnesota and Toronto X 2) - but, taking in what we have so far, all signs point to keeping up with the Revs' offense as Cincinnati's prime directive for Saturday.
After that, only one wild-hair comes to mind: the suspension of New England’s Matt Polster. I’m not savvy enough to know how Bruce Arena fills that hole (and what happened to Wilfrid Kaptoum or even Lucas Maciel?), but he’ll come up with something, no doubt. I peeked at The Mothership’s Player Availability Report, which is unreliable to the points of asking why they bother to maintain it (wait…), and didn’t see anything eye-popping there, but, on Cincy’s side, I (partially) remember a stray tweet that they have some players within reach of mended (plus something about Brenner and a naughty list), but it looks like Pat Noonan should have options, whether for tactical switches, or just fresh legs.
All in all, the stars align about as well as they could for Cincinnati in this game. The Revs should give their defense its biggest test since LAFC or Montreal - and color me interested on that - while also giving Cincy’s offense room to play. The past few games haven’t given a good reason to dick around with Cincy’s line-up, but more of the same sounds good enough for the here and now.
Going into an FC Cincinnati game expecting to have fun and maybe even see a win. Brave new world, people.
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