New England Revolution midfielder Matt Polster protects the again finish, assaults the entrance and manages every little thing in between.
Polster’s proficiencies in all three areas of the pitch explains why he appeared in 28 video games with 24 begins final season and was certainly one of six regulars to log over 2,000 minutes.
Polster began and performed 90 minutes within the Revolution’s dramatic 1-0 victory over Charlotte FC within the season opener on Feb. 25 at Bank of America Stadium. He will seemingly make his second begin within the residence opener towards the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night time (7:30) at Gillette Stadium.
“He stays healthy and he plays his position the way he should,” stated Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. “He is an actual vital piece to our group and the start line is how he organizes our group within the midfield.
“How he defends out of that position and how he gets the ball off his feet in the right spots. When he does that, he becomes a really important player on our team.”
Polster was listed as a fifth defender in Arena’s beginning lineup card towards Charlotte. While that was technically inaccurate, it did intensify Polster’s repute as a stout defensive midfielder. But Polster additionally notched a career-high three probabilities created within the offensive zone, a stat that emphasizes his crossover capabilities.
“I am not a defender, I play defensive midfielder but the flow within the midfield is a little different,” stated Polster. “Carles (Gil) drops deep typically and that enables one of many different midfielders to take that position up just a little bit greater.
“If we can combine in the midfield off it, it allows me to roam. But for the most part they want me in that pivot role where I am defending and making sure that I am shaping the back four.”
The Revolution have a strong nucleus on the again line defending the cage for second-year goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, who recorded his eighth profession clear sheet towards Charlotte. But the Revolution had an premature behavior final season of giving up last-minute targets that both price them the lead or misplaced the sport.
Arena addressed the problem within the low season by buying middle again Dave Romney from Nashville in a money deal in January. Romney made his Revolution debut and performed 90 minutes at Charlotte and put his stamp on an excellent collective defensive efficiency.
“When it comes to the defending side of the game it takes all 11 players,” stated Polster. “Obviously, if you find yourself defending the field in addition to we did, you depend on your middle backs, your outdoors backs and midfielders.
“But I thought from the top of the pitch on down, we did a good job of limiting how they progressed the ball and then from there, tracking their runners. So, for us, it is tracking the runners and then defending the box that I think we did pretty well.”
Arena confirmed that lacking striker Gustavo Bou, the Revs’ main scorer in 2022, joined the group on Friday however is not going to compete towards the Dynamo. Bou, who’s from Argentina, skilled delays in acquiring a inexperienced card to work within the United States.
Source: www.bostonherald.com