FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
That was the New England Revolution’s general approach to the offseason between the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. Piloted by a young core, New England was coming off an Eastern Conference Championship and already had most of the pieces in place to make another push for MLS Cup.
Bringing back 16 of the 18 players who dressed in the 2014 title game and adding a dynamic attacking weapon in Juan Agudelo left the Revs feeling strong about their chances in 2015.
“I think you generally find teams that get to an MLS Cup, there aren’t a whole lot of changes because you’ve done something right to get there,” said General Manager Michael Burns. “We knew at the conclusion of the 2014 season going into 2015, we wanted to make a few changes.”
Cue the re-acquisition of Agudelo, who averaged one goal every two games with the Revs in 2013, and the addition of some backline reinforcements in London Woodberry and Jeremy Hall.
“But other than that, we didn’t make a lot of changes, and primarily because we liked our team.”
The 2015 squad, however, never quite rekindled the magic that the 2014 team discovered down the stretch. New England struggled with consistency, mixing lengthy unbeaten runs (5-0-4 from March to May; 7-0-1 from July to September) with extended losing streaks (0-5-0 from June to July).
“We were arguably the streakiest team in the league,” said Burns. “It kind of caught up with us in the end.”
A poor stretch late in the season (0-3-1) dropped the Revs from top spot in the Eastern Conference all the way down to fifth, and ultimately led to a playoff exit in the Knockout Round at the hands of D.C. United.
Just as New England’s technical staff knew that they didn’t want to change much after a successful 2014 campaign, they’re now looking to make some key additions after a disappointing finish to 2015.
“I do think that we will undergo more changes from 2015 to 2016 than we did from 2014 to 2015,” Burns said. “I think that’s normal, I think that’s natural and I think that’s needed.
“That’s not to say that we’re going to make wholesale changes because we like the group that we have, but we need to make some changes to the roster.”
The Revs will return at least 18 players from the 2015 roster – integral pieces of the club’s spine like Bobby Shuttleworth, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Scott Caldwell, Lee Nguyen, Charlie Davies and the aforementioned Agudelo – while they continue to negotiate with others who’ve had their 2016 options declined or are currently out of contract; most notably, Jermaine Jones.
But the Revs have also identified areas in which they need to strengthen ahead of the new season. Burns didn’t reveal specifics on the positions New England are targeting, but he did note that technical staff has already embarked upon one scouting trip, with more to come before the New Year arrives.
“You’re always looking to strengthen the team,” Burns said. “When you underachieve a little bit and you don’t get as far as you want to go, you’ve got to reexamine everything. We’ll make some changes and look to improve the team for next year.”
During the most recent transfer window this past summer Burns indicated that the Revs were targeting depth along the backline and at the forward position. It stands to reason that those remain areas of interest, along with perhaps central midfield with both Jones and Andy Dorman out of contract.
While it remains to be seen exactly where on the field the Revs will be making additions this winter, there’s no question that the club is very much on the hunt for reinforcements.
