Legendary MLS manager Bruce Arena found his way to the New England Revolution last year. After a revitalizing start to the Revs, it seemed that Arena was poised to bring the same success that he’d brought to LA Galaxy to the Revs. However, after a string of poor performances, people started to doubt his tactics at the Revs.
With a summer to work with New England, it will be interesting to see his philosophy at work.
In this tactical analysis, we provide you with a head coach analysis at Bruce Arena at the New England Revolution. We conduct an analysis to see Arena’s tactics in attack, defence, and weaknesses in defence to see where Arena will look to strengthen.
Arena’s attacking tactics focus on building through the sides
Arena’s main philosophy in New England’s attacks is to use the sides of the pitch to stretch the defence and to then use a dishevelled to their advantage. There are many ways Arena’s tactics enable his team to stretch and several ways of taking advantage of the defence.
One of the first ways is through their use of the 4-4-2. With two traditional wide-men in the formation, Arena places them near the touchline. This instantly has the effect of drawing out the full-backs to the side which is the first step that New England take to widening the defence.
The wide midfielder here drags out the full-back from his positioning in the defensive line. This creates space in his position which can now be exploited by the central midfielder shown in blue. With a run across, New England are now behind the defence and ready to attack the goal.
This explains why the Revs attack on the right-hand side 39% of the time and on the left-hand side 34% of the time an overwhelming indication of Arena’s goal to play on through the sides.
