By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com
FOXBORO -- @font-facefont-family: "Times New Roman";p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormalmargin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; a:link, span.MsoHyperlinkcolor: blue; text-decoration: underline; a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowedcolor: purple; text-decoration: underline; table.MsoNormalTablefont-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; div.Section1page: Section1; The New England Revolution ran into one of their oldproblems again on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
No, not hustle. And certainly not a lack of defensiveeffort. But after losing to the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0, theres not much moreto say, other than, the Revs biggest issue at the moment is scoring.
I think the biggest problem we have, is that were nave,said Revolution coach Steve Nicol after the loss. We dont make the bestdecisions at times. I think thats our biggest problem.
I dont think theres too much between the teams, to behonest. But they won. We re just a little bit away, but its no go good beinga little bit away, losing the game, if you know you need to pack up points.
The loss marked New Englands fifth of the season, and itssecond-straight loss in MLS play (third straight if you count Wednesdays U.S.Open Cup defeat).
The mere presence of David Beckham at Gillette Stadiumpacked 21,793 into the building, and he gave everyone in New England a glimpseof what he can still bring to the table.
In the 69th minute, a wide-open Beckham assisted on the onlygoal of the night, by sending a deep cross from the right wing, into MiguelLopez in the middle of the box. Lopez re-directed then re-directed the ballinto the low-left corner of the net, past a diving Matt Reis.
Its trouble, if you go out and press Beckham, and youleave gaps, then hes got the quality to pick players out, said Revolutionmidfielder Chris Tierney. So hes tough to deal with. Theres a reason thathes played at the highest level in Europe. Hes a great player, and you sawwhat happened when you give him too much space.
The Revolution put the pressure on in the second minute ofextra time, and put several quick shots on net. Zack Schilawski had the twobest chances, but his first effort was saved by Los Angeles goalkeeper DonovanRicketts, and his second attempt hit the crossbar and was cleared out by aGalaxy defender.
The effort was there. But thats not something that NewEngland has lacked this season. Instead, the finishing wasnt. And the Revscame up empty handed for the fifth time this season.
On the bright side, we created more chances against thebest squad in the league, than we have all year, said Tierney. So I guess wecan take that, but, it still hurts.
We definitely caused them some problems. But thats whatyoud expect. Were at home. And at the end of the day, weve got to get theball in the back of the net.
When it gets to that critical point, were just not gettingit done, said Nicol. Tonight, we had three great chances, and we just didntquite get it done. It kind of sums up a lot of the stuff that we do. Sometimeswe look pretty good, but we just dont get it done. And thats kind of where weare at the moment.
After the loss, Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber waswalking around with crutches, and had an extremely swollen right ankle.
Nicol said that he suffered a rolled ankle, and that it wasstill too early to tell how bad it was.
Danny Picard is on twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard.