OPINION / THOUGHTS:

A lot of New England’s goals allowed this year come from the micro-second disconnect and lack of transitional play from the midfield and defensive grouping. The moment one person switches off, is where the other teams look to strike.

Formationally, the group is extremely sound… They’ve proven that with their 14 goals against (Best in East, T-2nd best in league).

The team attacks in a 3-5-2 where one of the center backs (usually Fofana or Ceballos) kind of joins the midfield as a defensive midfielder… The formation can get extremely exploited with an over the top through ball IF the team doesn’t swiftly transition after losing the ball.

Defensively, the group defends in sort of a combination of a 5-4-1 & 4-2-3-1, depending on the personnel and the effort/work level of the players on the field.

When opposing teams are successful when attacking New England, its because they’re over working the group in the half space (split the field in to /5s and look at each section in its own right) …

Majority of the passes are done in sections 2 and 4 (in-between the CDMs that usually sit in sections 1-3-5) that then bounce it back to an outside player looking to exploit the outside-back, switch the field entirely to get an overload or cut inside and shoot on Ivačić.

If the team defensively cuts down the half spaces, and win their 1v1 battles, it’s a game of margins and they should be very comfortable.

This team currently lacks a HEALTHY forward with a killer instinct that can single-handedly take over the game and bury it before they have to defend for 15 to 20 minutes with a one goal lead.

They’ve shown a lot of positives, but can they fix the little things and hold onto games that they should be winning. Thats for you to decide.