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The New England Revolution fell to NYCFC on Saturday night as they were unable to get anything going on the most frustrating pitch in all of MLS.
It was a disappointing night for the Revolution as their back line had one of their worst performances in a long time. There was nothing that Matt Turner could do to save them this time.
But out of all of the players on the back line, Christian Mafla had the most pleasing performance on the night. He played 75 minutes and had 52 touches while completing 83 percent of his passes.
What stood out most was Mafla’s speed. He showed that he has quite the set of wheels when he is actually healthy.
Bruce Arena was asked about Mafla’s performance after the loss and the Head Coach didn’t have a lot to say.
“[Christian Mafla] was okay,” he said. “It was an okay performance. He obviously needs to play more and get fitter.”
After all the injuries that Mafla had to deal with, it has been great for Revolution fans to see him enjoying his soccer. Andrew Farrell also talked about Mafla’s performance on Saturday night.
“Yeah, I think [Christian Mafla] did well,” the center back said. “I think [New York City FC] has great attacking players. It’s so hard to deal with this attack, it moves really well, they just move all over the place. So, you’re playing against they’re number nine and their number 10, but then sometimes the winger comes inside, and the number ten goes out wide. It’s a lot of movement and a lot of communication, so I think he did a good job. I think one of the things that we can do better, all the whole backline, we got to communicate. We also got to pull the two defensive midfielders in front of us and try to hold on a little bit and be a little more compact. I think he has done well getting accustomed to the league. It’s hard. A lot of people don’t realize that, how hard it is from different leagues, to come into the MLS and I think he’s done a good job.”
With Brandon Bye recovering from an unknown injury, it will be interesting to see what the back line looks when everyone is healthy. There is no doubt that Mafla’s performance as of late should earn him a bit more playing time.