Lekic seemed to get frustrated from a lack of service late in the game in Houston. The forward did seem to show a lot of effort in passing and holding the ball throughout the game though. The newly signed offensive target men showed that he could also setup offensive chances as he created the only ones that occurred .
“Every team wants all their players available. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that,“ said New England coach Steve Nicol about some members of the normal starting 11 not being able to play.
Lekic will be a key factor in the coming weeks as New England starts to get it’s full lineup back from suspension and injuries. Expect the Danish international to get some goals for New England.
The defense of New England had a strong showing in cutting down opportunities for Houston. The central defender pairing of AJ Soares and Franco Coria worked very well with each other .
However, the lack of offensive production in the midfield was once again a problem for New England. The Revolution cannot always count on their strong defense holding out for points on the road. It seemed as if New England was doing just that during the second half as the Houston Dynamo were dominate defensively.
Houston took advantage of the 4-3-3 formation of New England as it seemed to find space all over the field. Early in the first half the Dynamo would often play balls over the back four defenders of New England. This was because there was no real strong presence in the outside midfielder position for New England. Houston midfielders Brad Davis and Danny Cruz made life hard for New England all game.
New England was unlucky to give up a goal late in the second half. Houston defender Hunter Freeman looked to have handled the ball in the box late upon review of his goal on replay. This is another bit of unluckiness against the Revolution which has stemmed from officiating this season.
The possible handball on the Freeman goal does not negate the fact that New England did not deserve to get any points with their performance. The lack of offensive production will continue to hurt New England as the season goes on. Steve Nicol will need to use the return of Shalrie Joesph as an offensive minded midfielder to complement the addition of Rajko Lekic.
“In the first half we tried to generate some stuff at the other end; in the second half we couldn’t get anything going. I thought we defended really well. The real problem we had was set pieces. We challenged really well.” said Nicol when asked about his teams performance.
New England returns home next Saturday to face off against fellow eastern conference foe Sporting Kansas City at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Lekic Debut For New England Marred By Lack Of Delivery