New England needed to construct a solid foundation in order to collect a positive result in Saturday night's 0-0 draw with San Jose.
Watch:FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
With all of the fatigue and all of the absences, the Revolution required a composed defensive effort before pushing forward and perhaps snatching a victory. While the winner never arrived, the defensive effort ensured a creditable draw to halt a run of two consecutive league defeats.
“I think we just had a better all around performance tonight,” Revolution defender Kevin Alston told MLSsoccer.com at the match. “It's starting to come together a little bit. We're communicating well and we're a little bit more organized in the back.”
Alston's return restored some normalcy into the Revolution's patchwork back four. With Alston back in the fold, Seth Sinovic returned to his preferred role at left back and left Pat Phelan as the only alteration from the first-choice starting back four.
Phelan dropped into central defense with Darrius Barnes (right midfoot sprain) and Emmanuel Osei (right leg infection) unavailable and formed a cohesive partnership with Cory Gibbs. The duo limited Ryan Johnson and Chris Wondolowski for most of the night and drew plaudits from Revolution boss Steve Nicol for their work.
By establishing a cohesive defensive approach and limiting the mistakes that have led to goals in recent weeks, the Revs achieved the type of consistency they need to break their six-match winless streak (0-4-2), according to Phelan.
“Their chances came off our mental lapses,” Phelan said. “I thought their play was pretty predictable. At this point, any type of positive consistency is good for us, whether it's defensively or offensively. Obviously, a zero on the defensive end is huge.”
Nicol lauded the first clean sheet since a 2-0 victory at D.C. United on April 3, but lamented the fact that the Revolution couldn't find a way to threaten enough down the other end to turn the draw into the victory he felt his side deserved.
“First and foremost, we’ve been solid,” Nicol said. “We’re happy with a clean sheet. I think the only thing that’s letting us down is that quality in the final third.”
On the night, the quality and the quantity deserted the Revolution in the attacking third. New England generated two chances from distance – Sainey Nyassi's volley shortly before halftime and Joseph Niouky's drive off the right post after 61 minutes – and offered little else in the attack. Marko Perovic squandered several set piece opportunities with poor deliveries, while the Revs failed to break the composed Earthquakes down from the run of play.
In order to create more chances in the attack, Phelan said New England needs to trust its defense and send more bodies forward.
“We need to rely on our defenders more,” Phelan said. “They can handle the responsibility. It's like, okay, we can defend, so now let's go get a goal. We need to sense when other teams are vulnerable and really go after them. We played a little scared at times tonight. We didn't have a killer instinct. It's something to work on.”
