The New England Revolution must sign a quality forward

While the headline above reads like someone telling you that 2+2=4, the reality is this: the New England Revolution has failed to address its most pressing need for over a year.

Since the departure of Juan Agudelo two seasons ago, Jay Heaps has experimented with a number of players to fill the void up top, yielding little results. As of now, the only pure forward left on the roster is Charlie Davies, as Patrick Mullins, Geoffrey Castillion, Dimitry Imbongo, Jerry Bengston, Saer Sene, Andre Akpan, and Tony Taylor have been waived, traded, sent on loan, or had options declined.

This list of offloaded players screams a few things. The first, is that the Revs must start signing forwards, simply because there is only one on the active roster. The second, is that quality trumps quantity in New England, as all the players who have under-performed have been either shipped out or dropped to the bench. Now that the Revolution and its front office has a real taste of what a quality signing - Jermaine Jones - can bring to a team and to its marketing potential, what is stopping another big-time player from walking through the door?

If someone comes through the door though, what happens to Davies, who rightly won a starting role? In truth, he will most likely retain his starting spot, or serve as much-needed depth if someone better does, in fact, come along. Davies, though, has room to improve and while he chipped in handsomely at times - scoring four goals in the postseason and three in the regular season - his limited skillset often hampered the Revs attacking potential. Despite showing flashes of his old speed, his refusal to take players on in one-on-one situations led to too many predictable passes, unnecessary giveaways, and squandered chances. However, if the post-season Davies shows up next year, then the Revolution will have an answer up top. If he doesn't, or if Davies picks up an injury (as he is prone to do), then the Revs will have to find the net through someone else.

Regardless of whom the Revolution sign in the off-season, the signs are all pointing towards a big move, or at the very least, a series of smaller moves intelligently conducted to bring the team back to the final. Even if the signings don't break the bank, expect a batch of newcomers to be players of quality, rather than fodder for roster space.