Revolution not yet fireproof
The Revolution started the season with some impressive results, but they have delivered poor performances against the Chicago Fire. The Revolution's 3-0 loss to the Fire Saturday night was only a slight statistical improvement on their four-goal loss to the Fire in the second game of the season.
Against everyone but Chicago, the Revolution (3-3-1, 10 points) have a 3-1-1 record and an 8-3 goal differential. The Fire, though, appear to have solved the Revolution after having been eliminated in the playoffs by New England in three successive seasons.
But in many ways the Revolution have been biding their time while awaiting the return from injury of Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman. Ralston returned as a second-half substitute against the Fire, his first appearance since opening night. Twellman (knee surgery) will return when the Revolution visit Chivas USA Sunday.
Revolution forwards Adam Cristman and Kenny Mansally have produced one goal each and they have failed to develop an effective chemistry, but they also seldom have received productive service from the midfield or wings. Ralston, who will return to the midfield playmaking role, is expected to add an attacking threat - he scored the Revolution's first goal of the season, finishing a combination that started with right wing Sainey Nyassi and went through Mansally. And Twellman, whose 107 goals in all competitions more than double the total any other current player has scored for New England, is being counted on to provide a finishing touch.
The Revolution seldom have been routed in recent seasons. The earlier loss to the Fire was their worst defeat since a 4-0 defeat at FC Dallas in the seventh game of the 2006 season that kicked off a seven-game (0-2-5) winless streak. The Revolution did not win again until defeating FC Dallas (1-0) in a rematch more than five weeks later, going on to the MLS Cup final.
But, this season, the Revolution might not be able to afford a similar slump.
Though New England is tied for third place in the overall MLS standings, the Eastern Conference could become a seven-team race for a possible five playoff spots.
"We've been inconsistent all year," Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis said. "We need to get together and strive to get better each game instead of going backwards, then going forward. We need to see what we didn't do well [against Chicago] and remedy that."
The Revolution pressured the Fire and seemed capable of taking control in the first half. But Chicago was content to counterattack, and did so competently and with composure, thanks to Cuauhtemoc Blanco. It moved the ball through the midfield, spreading out New England's defense, then found Chris Rolfe (29th minute) and John Thorrington (50th) to finish. Stephen King (76th) added a goal off a rebound.
"They had numbers behind the ball," Ralston said. "And we lacked that final pass. We needed to get the ball wide more and open them up, stretch them out. And, after they scored, that put us behind the 8-ball.
"The first game, you can throw that out because we played [83 minutes] a man down. But this was a pretty typical Revolution-Fire game. They executed their game plan and there weren't a whole lot of chances for either team."
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com. 