MONTREAL—There is no homefield advantage at Stade Saputo right now, and that has the Montreal Impact both frustrated and confused.
The Impact suffered a 3-1 home loss to the New England Revolution on Saturday, a result that dropped the team's record in Montreal to 6-4-5. They are winless in their last four at home, conceding 11 goals to teams lower in the standings.
Stade Saputo is far from a fortress right now.
"Can we play all of our home games away?" said forward Didier Drogba, tongue-in-cheek. "That, or we can try to change it and push more, be more concentrated and focused."
After spending three days working on defending in the 18-yard box, the Impact discouragingly conceded in fewer than 30 seconds. The Impact had specifically been working on defending outside crosses to counter Kei Kamara's notorious headers, but on the first cross of the game, the ball ended up on Kamara's head – and then in the back of the net.
"They scored on the exact same play we worked on on Thursday," said head coach Mauro Biello. "At the end of the day if it's a height situation you can bump him. If it's timing, anticipate quicker."
At the end of the day, the Impact let valuable points slip through their fingers to a team that is hot on their heels in the Eastern Conference's playoff race. Montreal are still in a playoff spot right now, but might not be able afford another loss like Saturday's if they want to stay alive.
Unfortunately for the Impact, part of the problem is their mentality. Biello described the team's mindset after the game as "fragile", and his players agreed.
"To give you a psychoanalysts answer, it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy at the moment," said goalkeeper Evan Bush. "We have had bad things happen in the last two months at home and we have that mentality that when the ball gets into dangerous areas it'll happen again."
