News: Revs sign French/Malian midfielder Kalifa Cisse

What are you complaining about? He's just 28, has played at the highest levels and is an experienced Defensive Midfielder/Center Back which we have all been saying we need to sign.
IMO this appears to be a GREAT signing.

 

Completely agreed. I'm hoping he's an improvement over Simms. Plus I think we're going to see a lot of players overhauled in our midfield this offseason. There's clearly no enough room for all of these CMs.

 

I like this more than the Dorman signing. Hopefully this guy can be an defensive influence in the midfield that was missing last year. We need to nasty it up a bit

 

Agreed, I don't know to much about his style of play, but it looks like he had been training with the Revs for a few weeks now and clearly fits in very well with the team.

 

Cisse's wiki says he can also play CB. I imagine this signing pushes Simms to a sub role, assuming the plan isn't for him to start at CB.

 

Considering they announced him as a midfielder in the press release, I assume that's where he'll be playing.

 

"At the moment," being the key words there. We're clearly going to see some midfielders leaving this team.

 

We have a gluttony of attacking and wing mids - unless you count McCarthy, Simms is the only DM on the team. Simms is somewhat injury prone and has gaps in his skills, so Cisse's signing hopefully addresses a huge need.

 

Or they could play like they have for years with two DM, Simms and SJ, SJ and Phelan, SJ and Larentowicz etc...

 

DM was a big hole. Hopfully this guys fills that....Now about that back line!

 

Intersting video in the sense that whoever took the time to make it showed him heading, passing and tackling in the miiddle third. His style is very Shalrie-like; he seems tough, and much more incisive than Simms.

 

You're right, but it's not clear to me who will be leaving. I imagine Nyassi is gone, and they may decide to throw Alec Purdie and Michael Roach under the bus. Beyond that, Jay seems to really like the next two obvious candidates: Tierney and Guy. If they are dealing Benny or Toja, I imagine it won't happen until the Super Draft.

 

Wow

Wow, he does a great job intercepting balls then redistributing them with perfect passes to get the momentum going towards attacking the opponent in very short order. I could see him defusing attacks calmly then doing the right thing to set up pressure on the opponent. This is a hole that needed filling in my mind.

Teams would slice right through our midfield last year and place very undue pressure on our back line. This needs to stop.

 

Looks like he's got some quick feet for a big guy and he keeps his head up when passing.

Cautiously optimistic.

 

FWIW, if the Revs sign Caldwell they still have five open roster spot

 

Wow, Great signing for 3 years. Our (other than SJ)CDM spot has steadily changed (& gotten better IMO) over the last few years. Simms was quite the upgrade from Phelan and really helped this team win a few games this year, but this still seems like an upgrade.
Would Heaps really keep Simms as just a sub? It would be ideal for the team IMO, but would Simms want to just get sub minutes and reserve game time?

 

I don't think it would be that limited. The projected stable of midfielders, or even an approximation of it, gives Heaps a wealth of options. Multiple attacking mids, multiple defending mids, wide player, central players, mids who can play inside or outside, some with good size, some with real speed, ...

Heaps could have a rotation at dmid, play 2 dmids, rotate attacking mids, rotate wings, have enough options to play 5 in the middle, have guys who can wing in a 4-3-3, ...

 

No blonde Mohawk? can he really be French?

I refuse to get excited over signings until I see him on the field. He now has to play on stinking field turf and that is a whole different thing

 

I agree, very Shalrie-esque. The rev's are ahead of previous years by signing players now instead of May, June, July, etc...

 

i like this signing. hope he plays well here.

and yes, this is the time we need to start making moves. the earlier the better.

 

what youtube clips are not good enough? You are correct. A great signing would be a 28 year old regular starter in la liga, bundisliga, Serie A or BPL. A guy that played most of his career in the Championship league or lower is more like a "looks good on paper but lets wait and see" signing