Heaps knows Revs need to adjust

Revs coach Jay Heaps know he needs to make some adjustments to help snap the team out of its struggles.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Typically, the midway point of the season is when Revolution coach Jay Heaps and his staff take stock of what's working, and what needs improvement. But this year, the first-half examination had to wait.

With his primary focus on the task at hand during a trying, three-week stretch of midweek matches and road clashes, it wasn't until earlier this week that Heaps finally got the chance to sit down, fire up the film archives, and begin plotting the course for the second half of the season. And not a moment too soon either.

As the Revolution attempt to dig their way out a poor patch of form that has seen them go winless in 10 of their past 11 league matches, Heaps knows there's no time to waste -- especially after last weekend's 3-0 defeat to FC Dallas, which the Revolution coach deemed "the worst of it."

"There's a long look in the mirror at this point," Heaps said. "We have to reset a couple of things that we're doing because when you look collectively at the losses, they're all different forms of losing. In Dallas, there weren't many [positive] moments in that game, and I think that was the most disheartening one, and one that we need to correct, and correct quickly."

The focus on making corrections probably will start with team defense, an area where the Revolution have struggled to find consistency all season. Through its first 20 games, the club has conceded 29 goals, the second-highest number behind the 32 goals allowed by Philadelphia.

One player who understands the importance of improving the team's collective defending is center back Andrew Farrell, who has seen too many early leads go to waste during the club's current slump.

"We can't give up that many goals if we want to get where we want to be at the end of the year," Farrell said. "So first and foremost, we have to step up and clean up our defense because the goals will come and the results will come. But we just have to defend a little better."

But keeping the ball out of their own net is not the only area in which the Revolution will need to be better during the second half of the season. Despite collecting 25 goals -- second best in the Eastern Conference -- the offense has looked unsure of itself as of late.

That uncertainty was especially evident during the team's 3-0 loss in Dallas, a game in which the Revolution rarely threatened despite falling into an early deficit. Even so, Farrell says he believes the recent struggles aren't because of a shortage of attacking swagger.

"I just think that when a couple things don't go our way, it all just piles up, and we don't get the results we want," Farrell said. "When things start going well again, I think a lot things will start [falling into place], and the confidence that may be lacking for some people will come up."

It has been fairly easy to diagnose the problems the Revolution have encountered this year, especially over the course of their past 11 games. And after examining how the first 20 games unfolded, Heaps has already started to tweak things behind the scenes.

Heaps said that training habits have been tweaked, as well as some of the day-to-day tasks that take place behind the scenes. Given the club's recent struggles, it wouldn't be outside the realm to believe those changes could extend themselves onto the pitch starting with Saturday's conference clash with the New York Red Bulls.

"There's going to be some adjustments," Heaps said. "This is really good for us to get a couple of days, to reset and recalculate, and for me, now the final push for the season is on, and is happening right now."