Pre/In/Post: Rapids @ Revs, Match 8

Discussion in 'New England Revolution' started by patfan1, Apr 29, 2012.

  1. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Everybody forget to come back to BS once it started up again?
     
  2. RevsLiverpool

    RevsLiverpool Member+

    Nov 12, 2005
    Boston
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well I tried to reply and apparently repped you. Knowing is half the battle I guess. I agree with that prediction -the revs will be down to the wire with the Philly's DCs and Montreals of the eastern conference. A timely goal and maybe we'll make it.

    In terms of the game last night I liked what I saw from Cardenas. I was pretty skeptical of him as a sub but as a starter he made stuff happen and really kept their defense back pedaling. More of this please. As for Runstrom, he does nothing for me. Maybe I don't know what I'm looking for but I haven't seen it yet. Good goal by Sene but he still gets pushed off the ball far, far too easily for a big guy. Paltry crowd, was surprised there were even 6k there - looked to me more like a couple thousand tops.

    As someone said, 3 points is 3 points.

    PS.There's a poop icon!?! My prediction: the new big soccer is gonna be so much fun, especially on the revs board this year! ;)
     
  3. Autogolazo

    Autogolazo BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 19, 2000
    Bombay Beach, CA
    Who'd have thought that we didn't clean house enough? Shalrie and Tierney are sub-standard for the league, and Reis is in the bottom half of keepers now. Alston is just...meh. While many of our newcomers/second-year players are doing well.

    The need to keep any players with more than a year of tenure to form a core going forward was imaginary. The core starts now.
     
  4. Jon Martin

    Jon Martin Member+

    Apr 25, 2000
    SE Mass
    That was an interesting game. I think the impression that most struck me was the evolution toward one touch passing and quick movement. People who are unhappy should remind themselves of last year, when the teams only two functions were to hoof the ball upfield and to whip in a cross. Revs remind me of Wigan in the first half of the year when the ball movement was often pretty, but they couldn't score, and lost a lot of games.

    Hopefully, the message is getting through that we can't win unless we play uptempo and press, which Cardenas excels at. He hasn't gotten a lot of love , but his chip goal was sublime. BTW, Feldman said that the hug he got on the sideline after the goal was from Rowe, but I read that Rowe wasn't in the 18 - What's the answer?

    Another player getting little support is McCarthy, but I thought in general he played well. He was out of position a couple times, but was very active, and looks to contribute Crouch-style on set pieces (e.g. assisted on Sene's goal.)
     
  5. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought it was his fellow country man, Lozano?
     
  6. Crooked

    Crooked Member+

    May 1, 2005
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Yeah, it was definitely Lozano. I thought that Feldman may have said "Lo," as if it were a nickname for Lozano.
     
  7. Abebe

    Abebe Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What worked:

    Shalrie - when he played Libero, or defender, in front of the back 4. I am okay with him there. It also worked whennhengave Benny the ball from our defensive 1/2 and did not try to hold onto it.

    Our dynamism: I am pretty sure this is just luck, but four of our players, Saer, Lee, Clyde, Benny simply will not stay still, but instead are always moving around intuitively showing for the ball and figuring things out. Clyde is the ultimate BASF man making both O and D better, always there to make an outlet. this dynamism must be allowed to continued to grow; it makes them and the team very hard to play against and will only get better as the confidence and sense of each other grows. I think this is pretty rare in soccer as many pro's want to stay in their position or get the perfect ball through three defenders. On top of this, our defending wing backs like to go forward as well giving us a lot of good movement. This is the reason whynInam enjoying the team this year. It also makes it crystal clear what Shalrie must do and that is stay top of the box or behind these players as the play develops with passes from behind and to give us a rock solid spine on turnovers. Cardenas solid as well and great understanding in same vein.

    What did not work.

    Shalrie - whenever Shalrie tried to streak forward to make a play. Simply bad on so many levels. Disrupts our players (everybody else can do it better), and he leaves us exposed jogging back to defense, or jogging around midfield. Ironically, he is a Steve Nicol now and should be an immobile rock in D, and he is one of the best in the league in that role.

    Rundstrom? - I don't know what is going on there.

    Flip side of above. I know the connections will start to happen even more, as long as Shalrie does not get in the way. Really hope Shalrie stays in D role, and the connections start to develop.


    Overall, really enthused by the intelligence in the soccer the Revs play, and even though I suspect the playoffs are not reality, looking forward to some really interesting performances, assuming the get this Shalrie thing under control.
     
    BrianLBI repped this.
  8. Abebe

    Abebe Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Reiss is a top goalie for me with an awesome mental game. Zenga II. Saves our back line time and again and saves Shalrie's bad decisions to go forward.
     
  9. CottageRev

    CottageRev Member+

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Agreed for the most part but I don't think Reis is done just yet. His distribution out of the back this year has improved (he's not punting it aimlessly anymore) and he's still good for the athletic and occasionally spectacular save. Honestly the only two "bad" goals he's given up are last night's (where he *might* have interfered with the marking by coming out too far) and the Henry goal.

    The problem with Shalrie is by bidding against ourselves with his DP contract, we won't be able to move him because everyone sees what he is (only slightly better than Julian De Guzman and Branko Boskovic in "DP value") so we have to make him work somehow. I think he still has some value - but it's probably now as a sub (will never happen) or 100% defensive role.
     
  10. windylove

    windylove Member

    Mar 23, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    It's not a good game for the revs, but I am happy with 3 pts. Anyway we can tell that every one seemed to under lot of pressure during the game because they know that they just can't afford another loss especially @ home. That's why they didn't play well. Actually I like the way they played against RedBull last Saturday. We have created more chances than this game and we played @ more possession than RB, but we just didn't ....BTW, I am worry about our LB and RB for the coming game against RSL. Alston is in question, Tierney is not good on 1 vs 1 and Barnes is kind of slow. I hope Guy is ready to replace Alston.
     
  11. Minutemanii

    Minutemanii Member+

    Dec 29, 2005
    Abington MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I guess you tuned in after Thierry Henry got hurt.
     
  12. alter

    alter Member

    Mar 19, 2012
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I disagree with you here. If you're going to encourage Alston and Tierney to go forward, as they seem to want to, then Shalrie isn't the guy to position above the back line - he simply doesn't have the speed required for that role. Also, if that's where you're putting Shalrie, then where does Simms fit into your line up?

    Shalrie either replaces McCarthy on the back line or he finds himself a nice spot on the bench.
     
  13. Abebe

    Abebe Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, I saw the conflict or redundancy between Simms and Shalrie, but as the game wore on, Simms is so mobile, he simply ventured forward more helping out the midfielders with a quick outlet, and he would get back as well when needed. I am very critical of Shalrie, but it worked in fron of the back four, because even if he is slow, his positional and ball sense still make him very effective and he shuts down the middle. I want Shalrie on the field either in front of the back 4 or bench McCarthy who is a risk back there even though he makes nice midfielder type plays. I know it makes us look über defensive to have 2 DMs on paper and 4 in the back, but the mobility of our wing backs and and Simms mean we actually play many formations.

    I think if we are tied or a goal up, we stick with this. If we are a goal down or need more offense, less D, we bench McCarthy, bring Shalrie to CB, and bring on another O player.

    Shalrie must stay back; no ifs and buts. Maybe come up on corner kicks (Simms will cover).
     
  14. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    MLS Standings

    This win vaults the Revs from 9th to 4th in the East.

    Of course, 5 of the 6 teams below us still have games in hand.

    We'd be tied with Chivas for 8th if we were in the West.
     
  15. CottageRev

    CottageRev Member+

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    I think it's interesting that all 3 of our wins so far have been against Western Conference teams. Also, unless you count the 70 minutes vs. the non-Henry Red Bulls, we haven't played the dreck of the East yet (Montreal, Toronto, Columbus, Houston, Philly, Chicago), so there's still room for optimism and time to accurately gauge the Revs' true quality. The whole season is going to depend on how many points we can pick up against those six teams.
     
  16. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Unless you're counting us part of the "dreck" ... I'm not sure what you're saying here? Philly has a good amount of talent on that team, you have to wonder if Nowak has just lost them. Chicago is just 1 point behind us, with 2 games in hand. Houston is the same ... and they haven't even played a home game yet.
     
  17. eric_appleby

    eric_appleby Member+

    Jun 11, 1999
    Down East
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I really liked Cardenas on the right wing. Very dangerous when he cuts in with the ball on his left foot, a la his goal.

    Any word on Moreno? Him clutching his knee didn't look good.
     
  18. LongDuckDong

    LongDuckDong Member+

    Jan 26, 2011
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But Chicago, Philadelphia, and Columbus have had the easiest schedules by far this season. All of their opponents have averaged less than 1 point per game (in home/away records) while our opponents have averaged 1.6 points per game. They may have some games in hand, but their schedules look increasingly harder as the season progresses, while our schedule looks increasingly lighter.
     
  19. CottageRev

    CottageRev Member+

    Jun 13, 2010
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Beyond what LDD said, here's my breakdown on the individual teams I named and my rationale:

    Philly: I think Nowak losing the team is going to affect them all year - from what I've noticed on soccer the players giving up on the manager (Chelsea: Villas-Boas and Liverpool: Hodgson off the top of my head) has a much more dramatic/visible effect on performance than other sports. Plus, Philly is far less talented offensively than last year. The Union were largely driven by Ruiz and Le Toux in 2011 and right now all they have is an underachieving Mwanga and some young guys.

    Houston: Houston plays horrifically boring and overly basic soccer, with a group of guys that are competent but outside of a few (Davis, Cameron, Hainault), have low talent ceilings. Their strikers are completely unproven Will Bruin and ancient Brian Ching. An extremely beatable team.

    Columbus: Really, take a look at their roster - outside of Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven, player-for-player the Revs are better on paper.

    Chicago: Admittedly this team would be tough for the Revs - Oduro has been on fire (no pun intended) and they'll be adding Rolfe and some top-line defensive help soon. Pardo, Nyarko and Pappa are always solid players. They still lack depth and some key injuries could knock them down to the bottom.
     
  20. RevsLiverpool

    RevsLiverpool Member+

    Nov 12, 2005
    Boston
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sublime? Not really, more like good fortune. Cardenas simply put it on frame, it was the keeper's poor positioning and misjudgment that resulted in the goal.

    I'd agree on McCarthy that he's trying to cause mayhem in the box with his size. However, he hasn't gotten many headers on frame so no, he's nothing like Crouch apart from the height.

    However, he's got some of the 'bite' Heaps was looking for. I wish he'd tutor Sene on how to use size to his advantage.
     
  21. alter

    alter Member

    Mar 19, 2012
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Another positive thingabout him that I haven't noticed anyone mention: he plays Alston into space, which plays to his strength. KA needs to let the ball and his pace make him the threat he should be going forward. Too often he dribbles into traffic and seems overwhelmed by his options.
     
  22. Jon Martin

    Jon Martin Member+

    Apr 25, 2000
    SE Mass
    My brother-in-law is a Union fan. He says that Philly fans have never forgiven Nowak for letting LeToux go. They feel that Philly is dreck now.
     
  23. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But you can't look at it that way ... part of the reason that our opponents have a 1.6 PPG is because 6 of them have beaten us. Our 9 opponents are averaging a 2.0 PPG just based off us. I'm just looking at the talent Philly has, and I think they're better than us (but I already had noted that I'm wondering about Nowak losing that team). Chicago is just a point behind, with two games in hand. Houston hasn't even played a home game yet. I didn't mention CBus because I have no idea what's going on with them.
     
  24. Abebe

    Abebe Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We have 2 maybe three positive forces on our team; Sene, Heaps, and maybe Cardenas. By that I mean will not easily allow losing ways. They may keep this team on the upward trend we have been on. But I am by no means reassured we are better than any of the eastern conference teams, except maybe Columbus as they seem to be starting slow.
     
  25. Crooked

    Crooked Member+

    May 1, 2005
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Lee Nguyen? Why is this guy still not getting any respect? He's probably our best attacking player.
     
    RevsLiverpool repped this.

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