On fan appreciation night, the Columbus Crew will face off against the New England Revolution under the direction of former Crew boss Caleb Porter. The last meeting saw the Crew dismantle the Revolution in Gillette Stadium by a 5-1 scoreline.

To help us get a better sense of how abysmal the Revs season has been since, Jake Catanese from our good friends at The Blazing Musket popped by to answer some of the hard hitting questions.

Massive Report: Obviously, this season hasn’t gone as planned. Just sum up the season under Caleb Porter. 

Jake Catanese: Yes, let me explain…no, there is too much, a sum up will do. This was billed as a win now team under Porter and Curt Onalfo in the wake of Bruce Arena’s sudden departure last year. New England started the season hurt and with extra CONCACAF fixtures and never recovered from a brutal start to the year. Dylan Borrero came back from injury only to see Tomas Chancalay go down immediately so the two essentially played zero minutes together all year and were supposed to be the backbone of the Revs attack with Carles Gil and Giacomo Vrioni. The Revs struggled mightily in defense early on with a build from the back, possession heavy system that doesn’t suit the Revs at all and for the most part stymied their attack both tactically and creatively for most of the year.

The high water mark occurred in June when the Revs rattled off five out of six wins, including four straight and a road win at Cincy. Before that stretch the Revs claimed just 7 points (2W, 1D) in 13 games and they since then have just 9 points (2W, 3D) in 13 games with two left to play against the Crew and Miami. There have been positive developments individually with winger Esmir Bajraktarevic and left back Peyton Miller stepping into starting roles based on injuries and trades but 2024 will largely go down as a major disappointment across the board for New England.

MR: He doesn’t seem too well-liked in the Revs community, based on press conference answers and the product on the field. Is it one of those cases where he came in at a bad time and needs a full season to show what he can do?

JC: Yes and no. There is still a lot of resentment within the fanbase and social media in particular about the circumstance of Bruce Arena’s departure and the lack of information about it in general. The Revs were in second place in the East with Arena in 2023 prior to his suspension and eventual firing and the stability that was promised under Porter and Onalfo hasn’t materialized. There wasn’t supposed to be a major influx of new players, just a few veterans like Jonathan Mensah and Nick Lima to bolster the depth of the backline. Instead weeks into the season we’re benching new keeper Henrich Ravas and trading for Xavier Arreaga and Aljaz Ivacic to bolster the ranks and selling DeJuan Jones and Henry Kessler at the trade deadline. The team never addressed losses of two youngsters up front, Jordan Adebayo-Smith and Justin Rennicks, and ended up without a striker for some early matches with Vrioni and Bobby Wood out injured, forcing Chancalay to move up from wing to striker for a spell.

Porter can’t change anything that happened last year, he can only go out and win games and being next to last in the East and trying to pivot the narrative to a multi-year rebuild halfway through isn’t going to sit well with anyone and nor should it. Yes there were injuries, but overall Porter’s tactics were bad and generally did not improve throughout the year though the Revs did have flashes at being a dominant counter-attacking team which is what they’re built to do yet their insistence at continuing the slow and predictable build up play can only be a product of coaching. The Revs were insistent after the League’s Cup that they were pushing for the playoffs which aside from a 5-0 pasting at Montreal was a fallacy as their offense for the most part has struggled to create chances like they did a few years ago with Carles, Gustavo Bou, and Adam Buksa leading the line. They could have been getting minutes to younger players and planned better rotations rather than sticking with essentially the same group that started poorly back in March. Newcomers Luca Langoni out wide and Alhassan Yusuf in midfield look the part of starting caliber players in the league but joined far too late to save the season. 2025 will have to be another fresh start for the Revs but it’s entirely possible Porter does not survive another slow start because the Revs on paper have far too much talent to be out of the playoffs.

MR: The Revs announced earlier this week they will be without Carles Gil. Given the circumstances, how big of a loss is that?

JC: At this point the Revs are only playing for pride and to defend their Shield record points total from Miami next week, which they better do or that’s going to really set off the Revs hashtag. Losing Carles for the final two games won’t help as he’s their most creative playmaker but it does give the Revs an opportunity in my opinion to start Jack Panayotou at the #10 role the next two weeks. Like Miller and Esmir (and the on loan Noel Buck w/ Southampton’s U21 side), the Revs have been able to get some serious minutes to their homegrowns this year and letting Jack P go out against the two top teams in the East with the instructions to basically just try stuff and have fun would at least soften the blow of not having Carles. Let him go rest up in Spain a few weeks early and come back for preseason at 100%.

MR: Any offseason plans for the Club or for you in general?

UConn Men’s and Women’s basketball starts on November 6th and 7th respectively, did you know that in 2004 and 2014 those programs swept the NCAA Tournament titles and Dan Hurley’s Huskies have won the last two MBB titles? Already in college basketball mode, there will be hell to pay for whoever predicted Rider MBB to finish 7th in the MAAC.

As for the Revs, there’s a major overhaul that could occur on the backline. Veteran defenders Arreaga, Dave Romney, Brandon Bye, Lima and Tim Parker are all either out of contract or on options. Jones and Kessler are already traded out so basically they have Peyton Miller at left back and that’s about it. There’s probably going to be major offers at some point for Bajraktarevic and Buck that need to be addressed as well as a potential logjam of TAM wingers when Chancalay, Langoni, and Borrero are all healthy. Whatever the Revs do in the offseason, Porter should start 2025 on the hot seat and have this group ready to go with a well constructed attacking game plan that doesn’t have them building up from the back as often.

MR: Keys to the Game/lineup/prediction

JC: With the plethora of international absences, I might be tempted to line up in a 4-4-2 here though I think against Wilfried Nancy that’s tactical suicide. Key for the Revs will be forcing the ball forward, I don’t care how bad it looks, even a not full Crew lineup will punish the Revs if they dawdle with the ball in their own half. 

Edwards Jr; Sands, Parker, Romney, Bye; Harkes, Polster; Langoni, Panayotou, Boateng; Vrioni

Revs are without Miller, Esmir, Yusuf and Arreaga due to international commitments and Carles Gil and Chancalay due to injury. Dylan Borrero could start here but his attitude and performance have been volatile of late to the point I don’t need to see him these final two games even if it might help the Revs get a result. The offseason needs to come quickly, expect a lot of youngsters off the bench in this one so they can get some time with the first two, Crew in control regardless, 3-1.