Jermaine Jones signed with the MLS and was allocated to the New England Revolution over the Chicago Fire in a random draw. And despite the controversial way of assigning Jones to a specific team, many will ponder his actual impact in MLS, and where he fits with the Revolution specifically.
Obviously, as would be the case with other MLS squads with few big-name DPs, Jones will be the best player on the Revs, no doubt. Jerry Bengtson, the Revolution’s lone Designated Player, was loaned out to Argentine side Belgrano at the end of July. He wasn’t able to address one of New England’s positional needs: a dynamic forward.
Regardless of what happened to Bengston, the Revolution’s central midfield has become a main point of emphasis because their depth at the forward spot can allow Heaps to rotate more freely. Charlie Davies has been grace with decent form, and Patrick Mullins had a notable spell earlier in the year.
In the center midfield, Scott Caldwell and Andy Dorman exist as the two major guys, but Caldwell, while a solid player, doesn’t bring the sort of attacking prowess and consistency that is necessary to boost the Revolution to the top of the Eastern Conference table.
Dorman was put on the disabled list with a sprained MCL in early August, and even though he’s fairly steady in the central midfield, that spark and creative ability to place the offense into scoring positions doesn’t really come to fruition.
The Revolution have playmakers on the team. Lee Nguyen shows his skills time and time again. When Diego Fagundez is playing well, his timely passing can provide the Revs with notable scoring chances. Also, Kelyn Rowe can function in a similar way.
But as MLS Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle explains, a “field general” is precisely what the Revolution lack majorly. And with Jones capacity to play through well-aimed long balls, control the pace of play and sweep past players near the middle of the pitch, he fills a gap for Jay Heaps’ squad.
Jones could possibly have enough of an influence to have the Revs make the playoffs by a decent margin.