Next Man Up
We know Yoshi Yotún, Amro Tarek, and Mohamed El-Munir will be missing because of international duty. Captain Jonathan Spector, Stéfano Pinho, and Pierre Da Silva are out with injury and Dom Dwyer is out due to yellow card accumulation.
Who steps up? Head Coach James O'Connor has said people will get a chance to prove themselves before the end of the season but Saturday will be more about squad rotation out of necessity than just to give players looks. The main area of the lineup to watch is in the attack. With Pinho and Dwyer out, who will we see leading the attack? Be prepared to possibly see a lineup we haven't seen before.
Score, and Score Early
It's not a secret, the Lions are in a scoring drought and just like we mentioned, we're without some key players. The boys haven't scored in four straight matches heading into Saturday. Scoring and scoring early will do a world of good to build belief that walking away with points is a very real possibility against an inconsistent New England side.
Set Pieces
The margin between winning and dropping points in MLS is slim. Last week we saw Sacha Kljestan narrowly miss scoring from a free kick shot that Jesse Gonzalez parried away nicely. Later in the match, Dallas doubled their lead on a header from free kick service. If those two plays go differently, we could have walked away from Dallas with a point.
Capitalizing on attacking set pieces and staying on our marks defending set pieces will be key to taking any points on the road in New England. Last time we faced the Revs two of City's three goals came off set pieces. If we get our set pieces right in New England on Saturday, walking away with points will be infinitely easier.
