It’s Matt Turner. Obviously, it’s Matt Turner. I don’t mean to understate the influence of Bruce or Gustavo Bou or the magnificent Carles Gil, but there was exactly one reason why the New England Revolution halved their goals allowed despite not improving their xGA. That reason was a 25 year old goalkeeper from Park Ridge, New Jersey. A man whose goalkeeper of the year snub is only matched in scandal by basically every other goalkeeper of the year award. Yes, one of the greatest goalkeepers in American history managed a soccer club that was giving up two and a half goals a game, and somehow left not only the best goalkeeper on his team, but one of the best in the entire league on the bench. Good riddance Brad.

“I don’t want to blow a lot of hot air … but I’m pretty successful at what I do. There’s reasons for it.” - Bruce Arena

PLAYERS IN:

D - Alex Buttner (11/1/19 - free)

M - Damian Rivera (11/11/19 - Homegrown)

GK - Jeff Caldwell (11/25/19 - waivers)

M - Kelyn Rowe (12/4/19 - free agent)

D - Seth Sinovic (12/17/19 - free agent)

F - Adam Buksa (12/20/19 - transfer from Pogon Szczecin)

D - Henry Kessler (1/9/20 - SuperDraft)



PLAYERS OUT:

D - Jalil Anibaba (11/19/19 - Expansion Draft)

F - Juan Agudelo (11/21/19 - option declined)

F - Juan Fernando Caicedo (11/21/19 - option declined)

D - Edgar Castillo (11/21/19 - option declined)

D - Michael Mancienne (11/21/19 - option declined)

F - Brian Wright (11/21/19 - option declined)

GK - Cody Cropper (11/21/19 - out of contract)

M - Zachary Herivaux (11/21/19 - out of contract)

Bruce Arena hasn’t exactly done a squad overhaul. The biggest off season addition is undoubtedly DP striker, Adam Buksa. Unfortunately, advanced data on Buksa isn’t readily available, so all I can tell you is that he’s a pretty tall guy (6’3) and he scored 21 goals in 83 appearances for a few teams in the Polish Ekstraklasa. The reported $4.62 million fee may seem a little bit on the high side for someone with that kind of stat line, but he’s young, the club are high on him, and he’s done well enough in preseason.

Alexander Buttner comes in to replace Edgar Castillo, and the Dutchmen has a pretty tidy looking resume having turned out for Manchester United, Dynamo Moscow, Anderlect, and Vitesse. Will he be better than Edgar Castillo? I don’t know! It’s certainly possible! Other additions are the re-acquisition of Kelyn Rowe whose brief sojourn to Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake was utterly unremarkable, and Seth Sinovic, a good MLS veteran who should provide good depth at left back. The other intriguing signing is superdraft pick Henry Kessler. Kessler is a Generation Adidas player, who had a very successful career at the University of Virginia, anchoring a defense en route to an ACC Championship and a College Cup final appearance. While it’s unclear just how many minutes Kessler will see. He’s not far down the depth chart of a defense that’s shown itself to be, let’s say… inept, at times. So let’s not rule anything out.



On the departures side, New England bid farewell to well meaning but not terribly good defender Jalil Anibaba. Juan Agudelo also departs for warmer climes after making 142 appearances for the club, scoring 28 goals. Cody Cropper, who was never going to unseat Matt Turner again, now turns out for Houston and the aforementioned Edgar Castillo will ply his trade for Atlanta. All in all, nothing too significant.

“When you are tentative and wait for the game to come to you, sometimes it never gets there.” - Bruce Arena

So what does 2020 have in store for the New England Revolution?

Goalkeeper; Matt Turner will be the goalkeeper. Brad Knighton will back him up. If a healthy Matt Turner is relegated to the bench again, I will set fire to that stadium.

Defenders

The deal for New England’s first choice for a center back this off season, Samba Camara, was unfortunately scuttled due to visa issues. That means that starting duties will likely fall to Andrew Farrell and Antonio Delemea. These will be familiar faces to Revolution fans. Kessler, who by all accounts has had an impressive preseason, will be pushing for minutes along with a resigned at a much cap-friendlier deal, Micheal Mancienne. Buttner will take over duties at left back with Sinovic deputizing, while Brandon Bye will resume his duties as the starting right back. As we discussed above, this defensive unit wasn’t exactly stellar last season, and I’m not sure a new left back is the dosage needed to rectify that. Either Kessler impresses enough to assuage any doubts around the back line, or I would expect New England to be shopping again.