After his New England Revolution side had fought back from a halftime deficit to take a point against D.C. United, Steve Nicol admitted that he had had a lot of work to do in the Revs locker room at the break.
"Halftime was the longest I have spoken for a long time," said Nicol, whose pep talk had the desired effect 11 minutes into the second period when Clint Dempsey's goal cancelled out Josh Gros' 25th-minute opener for D.C. "In every department you want to look at, they were better than us in the first half, so I had a lot to cover. We were second; there were a lot of things we had to do better."
For the third time in three games this season, New England fell behind to their East Coast neighbors and were fortunate to only be one goal adrift after 45 minutes. Respectively, Joe Franchino and Michael Parkhurst cleared efforts from Ben Olsen and Gros off the line as D.C. attacked in waves. It was a problem that Andy Dorman admitted was tough to deal with.
"In the first half we were all over the place. They send a lot of runners and it is tough to keep a steady formation when they are sending so many players," Dorman said. "(At halftime) Stevie told us what we needed to do tactically. The main thing was to win the first and second balls."
Nicol spoke of imploring his team to 'rattle some cages' at the break and New England responded well to those demands. Dempsey's fifth goal of the season was reward for an improved display that, Nicol said, was due to his side being more proactive in their approach to every aspect of the game.
"We spent the first half reacting to things, as opposed to making things happen. I think we were just slow in the head, to be honest," Nicol said. "At this level, it's too late to react; you have to be reading what is going on. We got the response we were looking for and started the second half OK. I thought we got better as the game went on, to the point where we were looking the more likely to win the game."
Dempsey struck with a close-range volley following D.C.'s failure to clear an Andy Dorman freekick. Significantly, along with Taylor Twellman, the other Revolution players involved in the move were Franchino and Jay Heaps, emphasizing a more sustained approach to the Revs' attacks, which pinned back the previously comfortable D.C. defense throughout the second half.
"In the second half, we just wanted to get an equalizer and keep pushing forward, getting numbers in the box," said Shalrie Joseph. "The quality definitely went up. We started to move the ball and get Clint and Taylor more involved and (Ralston) and Joey. The more we get those guys involved; we know we will create chances."
With Pat Noonan out injured Wednesday, Dempsey lined up as an out-and-out striker alongside Twellman and took a little time to get into the game on a consistent basis. However, when the USA international was given space, he was a threat to United.
"In the second half we did a better job of stretching them, which created more space and opened up more gaps," said Dempsey. "That created more chances for me. In the first half I was just a second too late to get on those crosses. I was either barely getting a flick on it or it was just ahead of me. So, I'm adjusting, and if you want to play at the highest level, you have to play at different positions. I'm trying to work on every aspect of my game."
Dempsey's goal was his first since July 4 and he admitted that it was a good feeling to see the net bulge, a moment he promptly celebrated by leaping into the Revolution's fans section behind the net.
"Taylor did a good job of putting it across," he said. "I just wanted to make sure I put it on target and I was lucky enough to do that. It was good to get the monkey off my back; it's been a few games since my last goal."
The Revolution now have a week to prepare for their next game, which sees them face off against the Red Bulls in New York. Though there were mixed feelings about losing out on two points tonight, Nicol admitted that he was pleased to come away with something from the game, especially after the slow start his side made to the game.
"Obviously we would have like to have won the game," said Nicol. "If we are greedy, we wanted to win the game but, as I said, after the first half, no complaints."
Andrew Hush is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
