The New York Red Bulls won for the first time at Gillette Stadium on Sunday as they beat the New England Revolution 2-0 in front of 23,950 fans.
This was a huge three points for New York, who arrived at Foxboro without their top four players. But they got an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Luis Robles whose 10 saves was the difference in the game.
As for New England coach Jay Heaps it is back to the drawing board. After going on a seven match unbeaten run, the Revs have now lost two in a row, and been shut out in both games.
Some thoughts on the game:
For those New England fans who are not convinced that Bobby Shuttleworth is the answer in goal. Shuttleworth took a terrible angle on a cross in the first half and gifted the Red Bulls a goal. That is probably the third goal he has conceded this season that is a goalkeeping error out of 15, which is a pretty high percentage.
Interesting that during the winning steak that New England looked strongest defensively with AJ Soares and Andrew Farrell playing at center half. Since captain Jose Goncalves has returned from injury, the Revs just have not looked the same. Dropping your captain and the MLS Defender of the Year is a very big decision, and is Heaps ready to do that?
This was the first time that I have seen rookie Patrick Mullins live and his movement was impressive. He was inexplicably taken off at half-time, which Heaps called a “tactical” decision. Not sure about that.
New England created a lot of chances against New York, 22 shots in total, but could not find a way past Robles. The weakness of the NE bench could be seen in the last 20 minutes when the only attacking options were Sene and Nuemann. It was a situation crying out for Charlie Davies and Dimitry Imbongo, but neither we named in the final 18 despite neither being on the injury report.
So New England heads into the break, a point clear in the Eastern Conference. If you had offered that to Revs fans after the Houston thumping, they would have gladly taken it .
What did you think of the Revs performance tonight?