Following his side's first training session since Saturday's 3-0 loss at Columbus, New England Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst admitted that he and his teammates had simply not performed at a time when they needed to.
The Revolution went into Saturday's game looking to complete a home-and-home sweep of the Crew, having won 1-0 at Gillette Stadium six days previously. However, missed chances and a poor defensive display combined to see the Revs tumble to their second-largest defeat of the season. Parkhurst knows that from the moment Jason Garey fired the Crew into a third-minute lead, the entire performance was simply unacceptable.
"We knew it was a big game and that we need all the points we can get coming down the stretch so it was a major disappointment," Parkhurst said. "To give one up that early gave them a lot of momentum. If we had done it then they probably would have put their heads down and we could have taken that game instead."
While the usually potent Revolution attack has struggled to fire consistently this year, the side's back line has largely maintained its form. Five of New England's seven wins have come by a single goal, which made the concession of three to the league's lowest-scoring side on Saturday all the more concerning.
Perhaps the biggest worry for the Revolution will be the way the goals went in. A feature of each one -- scored by Garey, Eddie Gaven and Ezra Hendrickson -- was the way that a Columbus player was first to react to a loose ball while Revolution players stood static.
"We spoke about it at halftime that they were getting to pretty much every loose ball first and winning every challenge," said Parkhurst. "Every loose ball was finding them instead of us and that's mainly because they were out-hustling us and out-working us. There was no excuse for it."
Looking on the bright side, Revolution boss Steve Nicol believes that the mistakes made are possible to eradicate from his side's game and that there were positives to take out of what appears to have been a humiliating defeat.
"We said after the game that we lost and nobody has cut us up. Teams are not slicing us open. We are getting done one-on-one and things like that," Nicol said. "While that is happening we can get better. Some of the things we are doing are good but the two main things we have fallen off on are those crucial errors at the back and not taking our chances."
The absence of the suspended Shalrie Joseph on Saturday was glaringly obvious, as Nicol was forced to pair the inexperienced Jeff Larentowicz in central midfield with Joe Franchino, who is usually a left-sided player. The pair struggled to maintain possession and was unable to help stem the tide of Crew counterattacks.
However, while Parkhurst acknowledges the importance of Joseph to the side, he refuses to put the reasons for the loss on players that were not on the field.
"Shalrie holds our team together. Everyone knows he is the glue and dominates the midfield, but even without him we should have done better," he said. "Collectively, it was just a disaster. On Saturday, things just didn't go our way and when that happens, you need to out-work the other team and we didn't do that."
Last season, Parkhurst blazed a trail through the league on his way to collecting the Rookie of the Year award. The Wake Forest product quickly gained a reputation as being a fine reader of the game who took up good positions as a spare man in defense to help snuff out opposing attacks. This year, the Rhode Islander has noticed a change in the way teams are playing against him.
"I think a lot more teams are playing three players up top. I don't mind covering a guy one-on-one but that doesn't allow me to give cover to anyone else," he said. "When teams play two forwards up top I can pick up a midfielder running through or help out Jay (Heaps) and James (Riley). When there are three up there I can't do that. That has been a bigger challenge this year."
Despite the problems Parkhurst and his fellow defender Riley have faced in their sophomore years, Nicol believes their form continues to be at a high level.
"I think Parkhurst, in the last two or three months, has been excellent. If you asked me to pick defenders from any of the teams I would certainly have him. We just have slipped up and I don't think it is through them being second-year pros," Nicol said.
With the exception of 2005, which saw the Revolution lead the Eastern Conference standings throughout the season, New England has been known in recent years as a side that peaks towards the end of the regular season and enters the MLS Cup Playoffs on a high. Parkhurst knows that in the postseason, every side starts afresh, but he also realizes that the Revs' form needs to pick up sooner rather than later to ensure there are the playoffs to look forward to.
"We don't want to go into the playoffs just making it because other teams keep losing and we keep losing and we sty in third because nobody can get points," Parkhurst said. "We want to go in with a good run under our belts and confident. If we make the playoffs, anything can happen. We definitely want to go in there on a high, that's for sure."
Andrew Hush is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
