New England’s veteran acquisitions are still taking some time to adjust
When the New England Revolution acquired Sebastian Lletget, Jozy Altidore, and Omar Gonzalez, fans were excited for these players to help New England succeed in 2022.
Unfortunately, that largely hasn’t been the case. Omar Gonzalez has struggled mightily and Jozy Altidore is still trying to reach full match fitness and is reportedly getting in arguments with coaches.
Here’s a summary of what @MicheleG3 reported: Altidore was upset that he wasn’t going into the game so he stopped warming up, took off his boots, & sat on the bench. There was an exchange with an asst coach, who Altidore told to F off. (1/2) #NERevs
— Seth (@SethMan31) July 10, 2022
But one player has found relative success in New England, Sebastian Lletget. The veteran midfielder has five assists so far this season and has helpers in two straight games. Lletget also has two goals to his name in 2022.
Still, that doesn’t mean Lletget hasn’t had complications. He told the media he was dealing with a hamstring strain a few weeks ago. Lletget also talked about how he has adjusted to New England’s style of play.
“It was very interesting and challenging in the beginning, because it’s been a long time since, other than [United States] National Team and club level, bouncing back and forth between that, but I still had consistently played with players that I played with before,” Lletget said. “To come into a new team, I think people really don’t realize how tough that is. There’s always a transitional period and you have to just let it happen organically and you can’t really fight it. But even saying that, I think every game it just keeps getting better. I think all of us have just been understanding each other more. People are understanding how I do things or how I want to do things. I want to play to other people’s strengths as well. That stuff comes with time. I think it’s showing. I think we’re definitely clicking a bit more now.”
Altidore also touched upon the struggles of adjusting to a new team back in June.
“I think there’s still a lot of work to do on my end,” he said. “I just have to get used to the team. It’s a just totally different system. Its more free roaming in the attack, so I just have to keep working hard and try to get in a way where I can compliment everybody. I think I’m still behind in that regard, just understanding. Coming from Toronto [FC] we had a structure. It was just a bit more well-oiled machine, so I just have to find a way to make things work here. It’s a different style. It’s more of a random style, a more run-and-gun style. So, it’s just going to take time for me to get comfortable and adjust my game to the game of the team.”
Lletget will be looking to extend his assist streak to three games when New England faces off against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.