Bruce Arena navigating uncharted waters

The New England Revolution can’t seem to buy a win at the moment and that’s something that Bruce Arena isn’t exactly used to.

New England has lost four straight MLS matches in regulation, a feat that Arena hadn’t reached until Saturday.

Counting the loss to Pumas UNAM in Concacaf Champions League, the Revs are currently on a five game losing streak.

“Well, obviously we’re not getting very good play out of a number of players,” Arena said about New England’s struggles. “I think our attack has been stifled with the loss of not having a combination of [Gustavo] Bou and [Adam] Buksa with [Carles] Gil. I think our goalkeeping can be better. And we’ve had a very difficult time in the center back position with the injuries to [Henry] Kessler and that injury to [Andrew] Farrell that changed things around as we went into the week of having the Champions League and the game in Charlotte.”

Arena also mentioned that players have been forced to step up and some have failed to rise to the occasion.

“So, we’ve had a couple of people that have been called on that haven’t able to get the get the job done in all honesty,” he said. “Today, it’s another gift. We gave away some points at the end of the game. We have to make a play at the end of the game not to give up a loose ball in front of the goal and just get off the field with a point.”

The head coach has also asked his players to reflect on the club’s recent losses. Especially considering they have allowed the winning goal in the 88th minute or later in three of their four MLS losses as pointed out by Jeff Lemieux.

“I’ve told our team a number of times to think about the Salt Lake game, the Red Bull game last week, you know, where in the closing minutes of games, we just take the point and get out of there and say listen, ‘It wasn’t our best day, but we take point.’ But we have failed to do that. So, you know, combination of things, but we certainly haven’t played well enough,” he concluded.

But New England has a chance to turn things around with a return to Gillette Stadium on Saturday. A win against Charlotte FC would get Arena’s ship back on course as he hopes to one day lead the Revolution to an MLS Cup victory.