MLS Power Rankings: Week 27 by Lisa E. It includes this quote: "The Revolution played well against the NY Red Bulls for 15 minutes then decided to park the bus and the game degenerated into the equivalent of two chubby boys slapping each other on the playground. In a refreshing change, no one from New England was ejected, but with five of their upcoming six games against top teams, the Revolution are looking less and less like a playoff team." I love this woman.
Yes! Because she states the painfully obvious and doesn't dress it up with excuses. FDA would have buried the fact with excuses about Jankauskus being unavailable and Ralston having just recovered from the flu. Maybe we would have gotten a sentence or two about injury challenges, etc.
What about this gem: 5. Seattle Sounders: (-1) The Sounders and Chivas cancelled each other out in a 0-0 tie, but Seattle will make short work of New England if they’re not overwhelmed by the cavernous and empty Gillette Stadium this weekend
When most media is too infatuated with Steve Nicol* and most fans are doing the same ... it's good to see someone else notice the issues. *I got sick at the last four five drafts whenever the Revs would pick someone in the first round and the media's response was "Well, we're not sure about that pick, but hey you have to give Nicol credit blah blah blah." Steve should get a free pass for a draft or two. But when you look at what the team drafted the past few years ... yikes.
To you guys who think she doesn't suck up; how about the articles that continually suck up to the players, and especially the star players like Ralston or Joseph? She clearly has the same bias other 'journalists' in this town do. As far as her 'watching the same game as we do' then I guess for the most parts, I don't watch the same games you all do. I think her tactical breakdowns of games are shoddy at best, and her naivety toward the game is exposed almost every time she tries to comment on tactics, or even simple technical issues. Comparing her to FDA is silly, because FDA knows almost zero about soccer. McCarthy knows the game, and is pretty balanced in his reporting. He breaks games down tactically, as they happen. Check out his ingame twitter feeds, and post game comments. He is one of the best in the country IMO. Eisenmenger gives nonsensicle observations at the time, then reads McCarthy, and pretty much plagiarizes his ideas. It is kind of comical. She also gets very defensive when you call her out on it, and starts acting like a child (I know, irony LOL). Seriously, send her an email just questioning an opinion of hers or an assessment, and she will berate you for the next week. I guess that goes to show why she is writing for a piece of shit 'news' source like the Examiner.
As clever as you may think that is, she still gives no tactical breakdown of why, or presents any evidence to support her claim. At the same time she completely ignores the fact that Seattle has played like crap away from home, and in empty stadiums like....oh i dunno...Giants Stadium. Hell, they lost 4-0 @ SanJo, in front of like 8k. As far as tactical matchups go, the Revs matchup somewhat favorably against this team. Seattle's biggest weakness is through the middle of the park, and Joseph, Ralston, JL ate up Vagina and Alonso and Seattle looked a bit stale in possession. Part of that was due to not having Ljunberg, and he will be effective against this Revs team, but the central midfield battle will still likely go the Revs way. Does that mean the Revs will win? Maybe not, because they don't have strikers who can finish, and have been prone to the mental lapses in their own end. But it does nothing to suggest they will be made 'short work of' against a Seattle team that plays a style that suits Nicols tactical game plan, as far as defending and possession.
Seattle's not been all that good away from home, but sadly we could say the same. Seattle's 3-4-5 on the road, with a -3 GD. We're 3-5-4 on the road, with a -10.
well, luckily for us, the revs are playing at home. plus, one of the three wins, and one of the 9 goals scored away from home, came against this seattle team.
I was not implying that it was clever(gem was probably the wrong word) - just that she was making it a point to take a shot at the Revs. I don't disagree that it was just author liberty
Considering he came up with two starters this year, who have locked down their positions, that's pretty darn good. But, as I've maintained in the past, the "pundits" miss his real skill - it's not drafting as much as it is developing. Wow, I am shocked that she took offense at your comments.
You are right that they have added two decent starting rookies to the mix this year. They deserve credit for both. He also deserves credit for developing players like Dempsey, JL, Noonan, Cristman, Barnes, Alston, SJ, Nyassi, Mansally etc... Akshully, without an audience (bigsoccer, yay!), I sent a fairly respectful email disagreeing with one of her sentiments. I wasn't looking for laughs, but was kind of looking for a discussion, because she asked for opinions. I gave mine, and it was not harsh or demeaning at all, and she spazzed. So I was all ROFLMAOLAWLZZZZZZZ after I got her response.
Originally Posted by jokeefe80 "She also gets very defensive when you call her out on it, and starts acting like a child (I know, irony LOL). Seriously, send her an email just questioning an opinion of hers or an assessment, and she will berate you for the next week. I guess that goes to show why she is writing for a piece of shit 'news' source like the Examiner." Jokeefe, I can't recall ever receiving an email from you. I save all my email and sent messages and I don't see anything. Please refresh me. Resend your email and my response to eisenmenger@soccerlens.com and I'll be happy to chat. Examiner, owned by AEG, is just over a year old and growing in leaps and bounds, including the recent purchase of Now Public, reporting from over 130 countries. It's a huge work in progress and the nationwide collaboration with fantastic colleagues is one of the best parts, although there are many. It's good there are a few journalists with different styles and points of view covering the Revolution now. You want this! Readership is very diverse. I always enjoy reading Frank, Kyle, and John Connolly's work and obviously nobody "plagiarizes" anyone's work. It's also great that Dave Beard, who manages all of Boston.com, is a huge soccer fan, very knowledgeable, and pushing for more online coverage. It may not be where you or he want it to be, but he's made some big changes (you want to try this in a room full of Pats, Celtics, and Sox writers and editors?) and you could show a little love. What's missing this year is the voice of Sean Donahue, the host of Revolution Recap, who brought Revs players and the best pundits live on his radio/podcast show for real talk. He lost sponsorship this year and couldn't proceed, even though it was a low weekly figure and he never profited himself. It would be great to get Sean back on the air, even if it was only for another month. This readership seems professional, educated, and somewhat civilized, and orchestrating funding for a project like that isn't overwhelming and would provide an opportunity for you to connect with your own questions through a call-in. There's lots of ways to make things work out. Lisa
