Gustavo Bou: “I think we’re missing that aggressiveness and calmness when it’s time to attack”

There are lots of reasons to be excited about the New England Revolution. They have a talented team and are at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. The only problem so far for New England is that they have struggled to finish their chances.

While New England was able to score two goals against the Chicago Fire, in the following games they have had much more difficulty. In the home opener, the Revs won the game thanks to an own goal and against Atlanta United one of their goals was thanks to a penalty kick. Then of course there was the debacle in Nashville.

Overall New England’s attack has been able to get opportunities to score, they just haven’t taken advantage of them. While teams have frequently been physical with the Revs, that isn’t an excuse for not scoring.

While players such as Carles Gil, Matt Turner, and Teal Bunbury have started the season off on a high note. There have definitely been some players who have struggled. One of the biggest players being Gustavo Bou.

To Bou’s credit, he has been dealing with an injury and already has a goal to his name, but he hasn’t been good enough. Like other strikers in New England, his finishing has left a lot to be desired and he just hasn’t looked like the player that Revs fans came to love when he arrived in 2019.

When asked about his performance so far this season, Bou stated that as a team, New England needs to be better creating and converting chances.

The 31-year-old said, “I think, as a forward, we haven’t created as many chances as we would like to. Not just myself personally, but the team. I think we’ve played some good games in tough settings, both as the away team and the home team. I think we’ve won some games by close margins, but I think the team’s finding itself little by little. The coaches are doing their best to put the best 11 out there every game. We all know that as forwards, wings, defenders, we need to work on creating opportunities. We’re missing that, in order to convert goals and win games. I think we’re missing that.”

Heading into Sunday, it seems as though Bou and the team are out to prove a point as well as walk away with three points.

He continued, “Hopefully in this next game we show that we’re the type of team that wants to play from the midfield on forward. The objective is always to score goals and take the time we need. If we can improve that, I think we’ll do well. When it’s time to defend, we all defend and we’re all solid. I think we’re missing that aggressiveness and calmness when it’s time to attack. I think we’ll find it little by little. I trust my teammates. They’re doing everything they can to find it. We’ve seen that in the last few games. Hopefully, in this next game on Sunday, we’ll see that calmness from the midfield on so we can all feel comfortable. We have the tools to win games and we trust one another.”

With Bou returning from an injury and having made an appearance in the mid-week match against the Philadelphia Union, it will be interesting to see how Bou will be used. Will he get the start or will Bruce Arena look to be cautious with the 31-year-old?

Heading into Sunday there is one thing for certain, New England will have to play a complete 90 minutes of soccer in order to beat Columbus. Bou and the Revs will need to convert on any chances they get.