Brad Friedel and the New England Revolution are slumping as they visit one of the most imposing venues in MLS this weekend, and they’re also not happy with the treatment being meted out to star playmaker Carles Gil.
The Spanish Designated Player was fouled a game-high four times by the Montreal Impact in IMFC's 3-0 drubbing of the Revs on Wednesday, and Friedel thinks referees are letting opponents go too far to disrupt Gil’s influence.
“He’s a bit surprised at how he doesn’t get protected; however, when we play other teams they seem to protect all the other players on the opposition that are good with the ball,” Friedel told RevolutionSoccer.net’s Jeff Lemieux this week. “[It] is a little unnerving, but we’ll have to deal with it.”
The second-year head coach has vowed to rally his troops for Saturday’s clash with Sporting Kansas City (8:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada) – starting with more aggression and dynamism in the attack.
“We've got to get ourselves in more advanced positions,” said Friedel. “To have a home game and have zero shots on target is not very good, and again, I will take the full blame for that and I will make sure that we try to rectify that.”
Both teams are coming off humbling losses and carrying subpar form into this meeting, which could dial up the intensity.
“We expect a reaction,” said Friedel, and I'm sure they're going to expect a reaction from us.”
Friedel also hinted at the possibility of lineup changes amid a busy stretch of the schedule while promising a more committed performance from the Revs.
“We have eight games in 29 days, so we’re definitely going to see some rotation,” he said. “Whether that occurs this weekend or not is yet to be seen, but of course over the next month we’ll have to at some stage.
“We should have the players motivated not to get outworked like [Wednesday] again.”
