FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - This wasn't how the homestand was supposed to progress for the New England Revolution. After playing six of its first eight games away from Gillette Stadium and picking up 17 points during that span, New England has garnered two points from its last three matches at Gillette Stadium.
In the process, the Revs have allowed seven goals and dropped two points to strugglers Real Salt Lake and Columbus and all three to Kansas City.
"It's very disappointing," defender Jay Heaps said. "It's a hard stretch for us. We've done some things well, but we haven't yet played a complete game."
Against Kansas City, the Revolution fell prey to a hat trick from Eddie Johnson and struggled to keep their shape.
"It's one of those games," Revolution head coach Nicol said of the Kansas City result. "We were all over the place. It happens."
The two recent home draws differed from the Kansas City loss, according to Nicol.
"[Against Real Salt Lake], we couldn't put the ball in the back of the net," Nicol said. "[Against Columbus], we've been naïve defensively."
Heaps said that the team is struggling to make the necessary plays on the defensive end in order to turn a good performance into three points.
"It's been tough," Heaps said. "We've been punished for every mistake. Defensively, we lose the ball and we haven't made a play to stop them from scoring."
Without making the necessary interventions at the back, the Revolution defense is leaking goals that it usually avoids.
"There are goals that shouldn't be happening," Heaps said. "It's mentally draining afterwards. If someone makes a mistake, we're not making the play to help them out."
Nicol believes part of the problem is the team's mentality in the late stages of matches. Against Columbus, New England built a 3-1 first half lead before conceding just prior to halftime and five minutes before the final whistle.
"We lost a goal five minutes before time when we were pushing for another," Nicol said. "This group of players wants to go forward and enjoy the game. Sometimes, we need to be more sensible and more mature."
It was the second time in three weeks the Revs had coughed up a two-goal cushion.
"That's tragic," Heaps said of his team's inability to close out the two games.
Promisingly for New England, the team has not played particularly poorly in any of the past three contests, according to Heaps.
"It's a tough pill to swallow," Heaps said. "We played well."
If the team wants to rectify matters and restore its fearsome home record, the back line will have to return to form.
"We're giving up three and four goals at home," Heaps said. "That's just unacceptable. We're giving teams an inch, but they are taking a yard."
Although Nicol admits he's not pleased with the momentary downturn in results, he believes that the difficult stretch is merely a hiccup in the club's quest to claim an MLS Cup title.
"We're not overjoyed, but if we had won [against Columbus], we'd be top of the table," Nicol said. "We're a point ahead of where we were last year."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
