Saturday’s scoreless draw between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the New England Revolution won’t stick in the memories of those who watched it, but Carl Robinson’s side will happily take their second consecutive road point of the season.
The result means Vancouver remains unbeaten to begin the 2014 Major League Soccer season, and that has to be viewed as a positive for a side that has struggled on the road since joining the league in 2011.
Still, for the second match in a row, the Whitecaps struggled to maintain any real spells of meaningful possession, and their midfield was largely anonymous. That will need to improve as the season goes along if the team is to maintain its encouraging start.
Given an away point is a good one, let’s start by looking at what went right for Vancouver.
Danish Delight
For the second consecutive week, goalkeeper David Ousted showed his quality and played an important role in securing his side a point. His biggest contribution came in the fifth minute, as he made a tremendous reaction save on Andy Dorman off a perfectly taken Chris Tierney corner kick.
Resolute at the back
Vancouver’s backline had to weather the storm a bit at times as New England was desperate to score their first goal of the season. That didn’t happen thanks in particular to Andy O’Brien, who made several important tackles and did very well to win a number of dangerous headers in the box.
The English-Irish centre back also filled the leadership void left by Jay DeMerit, who was left behind in Vancouver to rest.
Jordan Harvey was ambitious throughout on the left side, pushing up to provide options to his teammates, but much of that running was wasted given Vancouver’s troubles in midfield.
Steven Beitashour defended well on the right flank, but was not particularly involved in what little offence the Whitecaps put together.
Defensive depth
Johnny Leveron was solid in his season debut after recovering from a concussion suffered earlier this month. The Honduran will be expected to contribute more in possession and help Vancouver play it out of the back more consistently as he shakes off the rust, but any time a centre back helps keep a clean sheet it’s job well done.
Leveron’s steady performance will encourage Robinson to rest one of DeMerit or O’Brien in future matches, which should mean greater durability for the two 34-year-old defensive stalwarts.
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Here’s what didn’t go right for Vancouver.
Defensive midfield duds
As good as the backline was, however, the defensive midfield anchors—Nigel Reo-Coker and Matias Laba—had games to forget.
Both lack ambition in possession, and were guilty of conceding fouls in dangerous positions. Shielding the backline is a big part of the pair’s job, but both Reo-Coker and Laba are also expected to link defence with attack, and for the second consecutive game, that didn’t really happen.
The fact Reo-Coker hasn’t looked all that impressive in the first three matches of the season will be a worrying sign for Robinson, who may soon look to Gershon Koffie—who came on as a substitute for the Englishman in this match—as a potential replacement in the starting lineup in the coming weeks.
Hoofball habits
Robinson spoke in pre-season about ensuring his players don’t revert to a “comfort zone” of clearing the ball long, but that’s exactly what happened on Saturday against the Revolution.
With the home side keeping possession for stretches, Vancouver’s backline—perhaps the worst culprit being O’Brien—often opted to play hopeful balls long rather than play to feet.
However, the defenders aren’t the only ones worthy of blame here, as they often had no choice but to seek the long ball with no midfielders regularly getting open in the defensive third and demanding the ball.
Uninspiring wing play
Russell Teibert, back in the lineup after recovering from a hamstring injury, and Sebastian Fernandez, offered very little on the wings in an attacking sense.
Both players have the ability to play big parts, as they demonstrated on opening day where they terrorized the New York Red Bulls backline, but will need to find some of that form on the road.
While Teibert’s mediocre outing is somewhat excusable given he’s recovering from that injury, Fernandez doesn’t have quite the same crutch. The game marks the Uruguayan’s second anonymous outing since his man-of-the-match showing in the season opener.
Martin MacMahon is a Vancouver-based writer. Follow him on Twitter