MLS New England Revolution

Revolution and Nashville SC Play to Scoreless Draw

Published on October 3, 2020 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution (5-3-7, 22 pts.) played to a scoreless draw against Nashville SC at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night. Goalkeeper Matt Turner and the Revolution's back line submitted a second consecutive clean sheet, and their third in the team's last four matches. Turner set a new single-season career high with his sixth shutout, which is tied for second most among MLS goalkeepers this season.

Midfielder Diego Fagundez reached a major club milestone when he entered tonight's match as a substitute in the 82nd minute, moving past Matt Reis into sole possession of second-most appearances in club history. The 25-year-old Fagundez has now recorded 255 games played, and is seven games shy of eclipsing Shalrie Joseph for New England's all-time service record.

Forward Tajon Buchanan paced the Revolution with seven shots, three shots on target, and five fouls won - all single-game career highs for the second-year attacker. Buchanan, who logged his fourth consecutive start tonight, and his career-best fifth of the season, is one of seven Revs players to appear in every league game this year.

New England returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 7, when the club hosts Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET, and will air on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and in Portuguese on WBIX 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution 0, Nashville SC 0

October 3, 2020 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Revolution play to a 0-0 draw against Nashville SC

The Revolution (5-3-7, 22 pts.) played to a scoreless draw in their first-ever meeting with Nashville SC on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

New England kept a second consecutive clean sheet, and the third in the team's last four games. It marks the club's sixth clean sheet this season.

Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena's all-time record shifts to 215-127-104, and 13-6-15 with New England.

Fagundez Passes Matt Reis for Second-Most Appearances in Club History

Midfielder Diego Fagundez made his 255th career appearance for the Revolution, moving past Matt Reis for second on the club's all-time list. He now trails Shalrie Joseph's club record of 261 games played by only six appearances.

Fagundez checked into the match in the 82nd minute, replacing Brandon Bye, and completed six of his seven passes while adding two possessions gained.

Turner Sets a New Career High in Shutouts

Goalkeeper Matt Turner recorded his sixth clean sheet of the season, setting a new career high and surpassing his previous mark of five set in each of the past two seasons.

His six shutouts are tied for second in MLS this season with Sean Johnson and Andre Blake and just one behind league-leader Eloy Room.

Buchanan Starts for a Fourth Straight Match

Forward Tajon Buchanan led the way offensively on the night, recording seven shots including three on target, both personal bests for the second-year winger.

Buchanan, who started for the fourth straight match, also set a career high with his fifth start of the season.

On the night, Buchanan won 12 of his 16 duels and completed 31 of his 40 passes.

Revolution Make One Changes to Starting Lineup

The Revolution made a single change to the Starting XI from the previous match on Sept. 27 at D.C. United, as Tommy McNamara replaced an injured Matt Polster in midfield against Nashville SC.

McNamara returned to the Starting XI for the first time since Sept. 19. In seven appearances (five starts) since joining the Revolution on Aug. 17, the midfielder has recorded a pair of assists.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Dave Gantar

Assistant Referee: Kathryn Nesbitt (AR1), Kyle Atkins (AR2)

Fourth Official: Thomas Snyder

Video Assistant Referee: Drew Fischer

Weather: 55 degrees and cloudy

Attendance: N/A

Scoring Summary:

None

Misconduct Summary:

NSH - Jalil Anibaba (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 80'

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones, Henry Kessler, Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye (Diego Fagundez 82'); Tommy McNamara, Scott Caldwell; Lee Nguyen (Adam Buksa 63'), Tajon Buchanan, Teal Bunbury (Cristian Penilla 63'); Gustavo Bou

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Michael Mancienne, Antonio Delamea, Seth Sinovic, Kelyn Rowe

Nashville SC: Joe Willis; Daniel Lovitz, Dave Romney, Walker Zimmerman; Dax McCarty, Hany Mukhtar (Jalil Anibaba 76'), Alistair Johnson, Derrick Jones (Alan Winn 85'), Matt LaGrassa, Brian Anunga; Randall Leal (Alex Muyl 89')

Substitutes Not Used: Elliott Panicco, Brayan Beckeles, Taylor Washington, Miguel Nazarit, Eric Miller, Jack Maher

New England Revolution Team Statistics Nashville SC

17 (5) Shots (on Target) 3 (1)

1 Saves 5

12 Corner Kicks 3

0 Offsides 1

10 Fouls 9

611 (86%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 322 (71%)

65.9% Possession 34.1%

POSTGAME QUOTES

New England Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena

On his thoughts on the draw:

Arena: "I think it's a common denominator how teams play us in Gillette. They drop off. They play in a low block and they make it difficult. And technically, we were not good enough tonight. Having said that, in the second half, there was some opportunities to get a goal and win the game and we failed to do that."

On if the lack of scoring tonight is worrisome:

Arena: "No. Every game is different. Tonight has nothing to do with the next game, but certainly, we weren't good in the attacking third of the field."

On Tajon Buchanan winning five fouls tonight:

Arena: "He's been aggressive going to goal. He's trying to create chances. He had one or two good opportunities tonight. He's playing well. It's really encouraging to see him develop."

On the defensive style of play by opposing teams when they come to play at Gillette and if it's frustrating to deal with:

Arena: "We understand what we're going to face, and of course it's frustrating not getting a goal. These kind of games like tonight, you need to try to get an early goal. An early goal makes that game look different. And the first half certainly wasn't good enough in that regard. We had some chances in the second half and failed to execute."

On how the rest of the match played out and the team's performance:

Arena: "We were okay. I mean, our passing can be better. We played well out of the back. We got into the attacking third of the field. We weren't clean enough. We couldn't beat enough players in one-v-one situations when we had a look at the goal. We weren't clean. So, there are parts of the game that are okay. And other parts that certainly need to get better."

On the Revolution squad being a man short on the bench tonight:

Arena: "We dressed every player that was physically able to play tonight."

On Diego Fagundez reaching second on the team's all time appearance list and the advantages of having a guy like that in the locker room:

Arena: "Our players that have had years of experience with the club, have been fantastic. Diego [Fagundez], Andrew Farrell, Teal Bunbury, Brad Knighton, and I'm sure I'm missing one or two others. Scott Caldwell. They take a lot of pride in being part of the Revolution and they're a great influence every day in the locker room, on the field, and it's a real positive. And Diego's certainly been part of that."

Revolution Forward Tajon Buchanan

On the frustration of being shutout at home:

Buchanan: "It was very frustrating. I got into great spots today and the ball just seemed to not want to go in the back of the net. We have to keep working and keep moving forward. Our next game is against Toronto on Wednesday and that's all we need to focus on now."

On being satisfied with how the team played on Saturday:

Buchanan: "Yeah. I think we could have moved the ball a little quicker, especially in the first half. But we had our chances and it wasn't one of our better performances but we're still on top of the game and on the front foot. The ball just didn't want to go in the back of the net tonight. I would say I'm happy with the performance but at the end of the day we didn't get the three points, so not too happy."

On consistently suffering a team-high in fouls:

Buchanan: "It's part of my game style. I like to go at guys one-on-one and be a threat all the time running in behind. I'm just trying to help my team by getting into great positions and if that's winning a free kick for us then I'm just going to keep doing it and keep running at whoever is defending me."

On having Diego Fagundez to lean on:

Buchanan: "It's huge, along with all the older guys on the team who have been huge role models for me and I just look up to those guys every day. Watching them play in this league for awhile is helping me grow as a player and I'll just keep learning from them and take it day-by-day."

On the mood in the locker room:

Buchanan: "Definitely guys are upset. I'm upset because we definitely should have got three points today, we were definitely the much better team and we just fell short today. So a lot of guys are going to be upset, including myself."

On opponents defending differently at Gillette Stadium:

Buchanan: "It's always tough going against teams you know are going to sit back and defend in a block. But we have the players to pass the ball, to break lines and stuff like that, so we have excellent players on this team. At the end of the day, we did have our chances, I had my chances, and the ball didn't go in the back of the net so we've got to improve on that. And for myself I should be putting those [chances] away also."

On if it's frustrating to be fouled often:

Buchanan: "Yeah, it takes a toll on your body. But at the end of the day, guys getting yellows and stuff is just going to make it easier to keep going at them because if they keep fouling me they could be sent off and it could help us to get goals."

On switching sides with Teal Bunbury:

Buchanan: "It's just something during the game, just having a feel for the different players and I was having a little freedom on the right at the beginning and then I moved to the left and I was having more freedom so staying on the left helped us and it was something we decided to do during the game."

Revolution Goalkeeper Matt Turner

On frustration with the team's lack of goal scoring:

Turner: "I think it's a full team effort every time we step on the field, so it's not like two parties, one getting really upset at the other. We're disappointed as a team. We all want to do our part and get three points, and tonight was definitely three points to be had and we feel like we dropped two points. And, by the way, we should have four shutouts in four games."

On staying locked in when the team is dominating possession:

Turner: "I'm not really used to that. There's not really been too many games in my career where it's been that type of scenario. Tonight, my biggest focus - I kind of knew coming into the game that it was going to be like that. Nashville is a pretty hard team to break down, and we felt like they were going to come in and sit back, which they did. Just communicating, talking to [Andrew] Farrell and [Henry] Kessler constantly, that helped me keep myself engaged. To be honest, I was really disappointed after the Montreal game, a game where we were dominating. That [late goal by Montreal] fell on me, on my shoulders. I should've brought Brandon [Bye] in, I should've seen the danger before it happened, so it's something I really wanted to challenge myself with tonight to make sure everything was in order, all of our ducks were in a row for 90 minutes. It felt good, just disappointed we didn't win."

On comparisons to USMNT & Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen:

Turner: "Listen, people are going to talk. It's nice to be in that conversation. The reality is I know I still have a ton to prove in this league, I still have bigger aspirations, and I've never even played a game for the [U.S. Men's] National Team yet. Those are things that are in my list of goals and that are on my radar, but people can talk. Like I said, it's nice to be in the conversation, but I know I still have a lot of work to do."

On Nashville SC parking the bus:

Turner: "I think over the years there's definitely been teams from the west coast that are coming in on a mid-week game, they come in and they sit back and they just try to counter and take those moments. I think over the last couple of years we've really struggled when teams come in and do that. I think in 2018, Seattle at home, we tied 0-0. And I'm sure there were some last year and this year where we really, really struggled to the put the ball in the back of the net, particularly at home. I wouldn't call it a sign of respect. I think teams are going to do what they want to do to get a result out of a game and just climb the table any way they can. I think Nashville has done a great job as an expansion side. You usually see these expansion teams conceding a ton of goals and kind of going crazy, but they made sure that they took care of things defensively and they got a lot of veteran guys. They came in here, they had a plan - you saw it in the first half - they were taking their time, and they got a result. They got their job done. We didn't."

On a possible move to Europe:

Turner: "Listen, if a team from Europe wanted to come in and bid for me, I'm under contract here in New England. I'm sure there would be a conversation, but for now we have a lot of games, we have a really busy stretch. My focus is here in New England. I want to achieve things for this fan base, for this club that took a chance on me, a kid that didn't really have a big playing background. I'm really grateful, I'm really focused, and if something happens, it happens. If something doesn't happen, I'm super happy here. Like I said, I'm really focused in trying to make the fans proud."

On Tajon Buchanan's development:

Turner: "I think you guys have seen it. Tajon [Buchanan] is a good player. We knew that last year. He had a good college career, he was Generation adidas, and he came in and he's had flashes in training over the last couple of years. It's nice for him to get a consistent run of games and you can see his confidence building. For him, now it's time to start producing and I'm sure he'll tell you that as well. He's a kid that holds himself to a high standard and he's got a great, great work ethic. It's fun to have him on the field, it's fun to see him doing well, but at the end of the day we didn't score any goals, so I'll call him out and hopefully we can keep working harder in training and get better and we can see him put the ball in the back of the net."

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