Dempsey scores goals!?? This is where we differ in our approach to team building - I would pay top dollar to build out of the back. Even though I'm obsessed with goals/assist as the most important stats for my forwards, I'd still spend money on defense that you clearly wouldn't. In MLS - or really any league - when things get tight it's the quality of the defense combined with timely goals that will make the difference between winning and losing. You gave Collin as an example to refute my argument - well he's a damn good example of who I'd pay DP salary to as he provides both high quality defense AND timely goals (as evidenced by his 2013). He was part of the best defensive unit in the league last season that happened to also win the title. JoGo didn't have as many timely goals but he was in the same conversation as Collin in terms of defensive quality.
We paid a transfer fee for Bengston? OMG, we have to have the most inept FO in the world. The Revs should pay another transfer to get somebody to take him off our hands.
Trust me, I have tossed that possibility out the window as soon as they traded for Teal Bunbury and therefore closed the books on the shopping season. We ain't never gonna sign no one this year, DP or otherwise. 1 is hearsay on your part. Just because he has bounced around and played for more than a few clubs does not mean he was "trouble." 2 I agree with. Heaps has to be the boss here and if he lets JoGo pout like this and have it erode away at team morale, he might as well resign right now and turn the team over to Tom InSoehn. It certainly didn't help that he had an absolute stinker of a game, where he caused us to go down a goal barely a minute into the season. I am hoping that this will be like the time Lalas was putting himself before the team and Stapleton benched him for a game in NJ. The next game he started and had one of the best games of his career in a Revs jersey. Someone didn't remember the details, so I provided them to put in context that this isn't the first time this kind of crap has happened. And this was also corroberated by others. Even the Revs took the stance that "there was nothing illegal about it." And of course you are forgetting that I said they still should have cut him, but there was no reason to handle it the way they did. But you knew that. And by your reasoning, we can't say that Richard Nixon was a scumbag because, well, he's dead and none of his flunkes are still active in today's political scene? Generally, other players will side with their teammates, whether the opponent is some punk from Kansas City who is trying to mug them on the field or if they are in a dispute with management. Rightly or wrongly, they tend to see it as if they put the screws to one of their teammates on a contract negotiation, the next time they are trying to get a better deal, management will screw them too. Right or wrong, that is how the vast majority of players see it. Now if he becomes a disruptive, divisive force in the locker room, then some people will side with him and others will be against him, but either way, it would be a very bad thing. That is why I hope he just shuts up and plays like we know he can.
But we couldn't sign three or four guys in his place. We're currently paying Jose a near max deal (we'll know for sure when the players union releases the salary info), so increasing his salary to $1.4m wouldn't free up any cap space for us to sign another player, since all of that money would be off the books anyway.
"Prior to joining the Revolution, Goncalves was stuck in the roughest patch of his career after he left Hearts in controversial fashion in 2010. Goncalves had been a success at Hearts, and was even on the Portuguese National Team radar in the summer of 2009. He was reportedly the club’s highest paid player with a £12,000-per-week salary (roughly $1 million per year), and was offered an extension that Hearts’ manager Jim Jefferies claimed was “fantastic.” It was an offer even Goncalves’ agent was surprised he wouldn’t sign. But Goncalves apparently made it clear at some point in the winter of 2010 that he wouldn’t re-sign with Hearts, and his manager left him out of the squad because of it for much of the second half of the season." http://nesoccertoday.com/?p=23709
It seems from his history and the current situation that this is another case of a human being with the mental and physical skills to play a sport well who unfortunately lacks a sense of responsibility and professional ethics. As the press reminds us every day this is an all too common reality among sports "stars". I sure would like to see this all get worked through and him back to last years form but that appears doubtful. Sad.
Goncalves lacks responsibility and ethics? You're being so negative doc! A bad case of Opticalrectitus It's no wonder we can't sign DPs, with posts like this!
Just wanted to add some humor from the Edinburgh News about JoGo that was published today, but doesn't seem to reflect the current situation. A few quotes: "(About Gillete)Crowds usually hover around the 20,000 mark..." "When I was with FC Thun in Switzerland I played against Henry in the Champions League....I had a chat with him in the lobby over coffee and I told him I played against him when he was with Arsenal. He didn’t remember.”
Irony: the one international acquisition in the last decade that both KuppKapeDocs and NNNs just about to a man (or woman) can agree to give our embattled FO credit for, is now pissed at the organization and has one foot out the door.
Some other quotes from the Edinburgh news piece: “The first year went well so my girlfriend and I decided to stay for one more year,” Goncalves told the Evening News. “The league is growing, but I think people don’t see a lot of it from the outside. The level is not the same as Europe, but it is improving. In the future, I think the MLS will be a strong league. People come to the US and think the MLS is easy. It’s not easy. It’s not as straightforward as you think. “I cannot say how long I will stay. I like it here, but it’s also different. At the moment, I try to enjoy it and play my best football. It’s important my girlfriend is happy as well as myself. If everything goes well, we could maybe stay for another couple of years, but I cannot say I will stay for four or five years.” So he's being pretty blatant that he's not planning to stay here long term, but hopefully the situation is settling down a little. Hopefully he can get back in the lineup and play out at least this season. Him and Farrell would look really, really good in central defense together. http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...s-loving-his-new-england-revolution-1-3345755
At first I thought it was an older article, before all this mess happened, because he is saying a lot of the expected things. Then they mention the Houston game, so obviously it was pretty recent. Perhaps the interview was done during training camp, and they updated it with the recent result? Ah, who cares, as long as he settles down, keeps his displeasure to himself, gets back in the lineup, and plays like he did last year, not much else will matter.
I wonder if part of the contract issue is the length of the contract or who controls the option years (if they exist)? It sounds like he wants to control his options over the next few years as he holds on to his dream of getting some time for Portugal.
Great point. At 28, his dream to play for Portugal is probably quickly dying. Getting called up for a post-WC friendly may be do-able if he follows up his 2013 with outstanding performances this year. Perhaps a call up to Portugal for Euro 2016 is a stretch goal to shoot for. I doubt he's ever going to be more than a friendly type defender for the Portuguese, given how much young talent they have at their disposal.
There's no chance of him getting called up for Portugal. Jose Fonte has been starting in the EPL for Southampton for the past four seasons and can't get a sniff. Starring in MLS isn't gonna do it for Jose.
Not much of an answer, but what was the question? I'm not all that interested in why he didn't travel to Philadelphia, that is over and done with. My question is what has happened since then? Did Goncalves realize his mistake, that his own ego was hurting the team and did he work hard in practice to put it all behind them and remain committed to the team? If that's the case, he'll be in the lineup this week, and the whole thing has a good chance at blowing over until at some point they decide to either renegotiate or part ways. That wouldn't likeley happen until after the season. If he doesn't play, then this is a much more serious situation and the team is imploding before our very eyes. A week should be enough time to make things right, especially where it is in everyone's best interest to have him in the lineup--this game and every game. Obviously I hope it's the first scenario, but because of the dead silence coming out of the Kremlin, I fear that it might be the second scenario. I mean, not even the Revs are stupid enough to not say everything was hunky-dory with JoGo if that was the case, right?