Well said. I think what Rev It Up says can make sense, if you've got a coach with some experience who knows how to do this. We still have no idea on Heaps. We have no idea how he changes his style ... except to see a record winless streak last year when OTHER teams learned how to play against us.
But do the major talent acquisitions we've made recently "fit"??? What's Juan Toja's role on this team? Is he even a starter? Does Jerry Bengtson's style "fit"? I don't think he's a traditional #9. How can we make a ton of noise about getting a true #9 in Moreno last year, and just forget about acquiring a traditional #9 after he doesn't work out? Not sure at all about the direction we're currently taking.
This team has hit if at all possible an all time low! The "talent" is.... my bloodpressure cant handle describing what it is. What is going on with our beloved group of annual losers!?
I saw MLS had the last match on Youtube. Anybody have an idea how long before tonight's match will be there?
I believe Heaps' style is a empty bucket 4-4-2, with an emphasis in playing out of the back and through, not over, the midfield. He brought in Cisse and Goncalves who can hold and pass the ball through the middle. He went after Ferrel who can play the modern age outside back with attacking overlapping runs. Trialist Donnie Smith plays a classic outside mid, running the sidelines like train tracks. Our forwards are the weakest part of the 4-4-2 with Bengston being a poacher not a target man, and no target men to put next to him. I will say that I'm confused on what he expects from guys like Toja and Nguyen. They are creative attacking mids, but Heaps seems to want to play two DMids, and then there is no room for these guys unless you drop one of the strikers. Many people on these boards have mentioned this same thing. They see this team as more of a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-5-1 if Heaps is hell bent on playing two DMids. I think his confusing use of these guys and not having the correct talent up top leads us to question if he knows what his style is. But from what Heaps' has shown thus far, it's bucket 4-4-2, passing and possession style.
ALL TIME LOW??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA They lost a game that had like 40+ players play in it, in February, in driving rain/sleet/snow...in a meaningless tournament. Joe Public was all-time low. Comparing this useless tournament to that is dumb, although hilarious.
hahahaha I love how Revs fans pick NOW to complain and get fired up. But when I do, during the time of the season when the team is actually about to start making tee-times, I'm being "too negative". Holy shit, it's a useless ********ing tournament that even the coaches don't care about winning. There was a U-8 style player-for-player mass substitution with 20 minutes left in the game!!!! The friggin referee called a timeout at one point!!!!!!!! hahaha I honestly appreciate all the negativity toward this franchise. They certainly deserve it, but come on, this is insane. If you want to get fired up, complain about the fact that this franchise is still playing on grid iron laden plastic turf in the forrest, in the middle of ********ing nowhere and the stadium will be more than 3/4 empty, with no atmosphere, nacho-night, TeamOps and a drunk owner who doesn't even know or care about the team at all.
Who was the person taking most of the free kicks and corners - 1st half and 2nd half? One of the trialists or player on roster - announcers couldn't keep up with play sometimes due to their location they said? It seems Heaps tried to balance the 2 halves with players to get them minutes. RSL started subbing in studs late in the game and it showed. I think the first goal wasn't entirely Shuttleworth, but the 3rd was very weak and I think a top MLS keeper makes that save, field conditions or not, or how open the player was 20 yards away given how the shot went in (unless it took deflection which I don't think anyone has confirmed or not - correct?)
My few quick takeaways from this game (I only saw the 2nd half): -It was encouraging to see Farrell and Diego play so well in the second half. Diego still needs to be more aware of when he needs to release the ball, but he actually made the right decision on the 2nd goal, which was pretty. -Dorman might have MOTM with how he was linking the patchwork midfield together. Toja again was really impressive with his strength and dribbling ability. -How is Soares better offensively in the air than McCarthy despite being FIVE inches shorter? -Polak still had a couple really bad giveaways, but he looked a lot more involved and confident than the last two games. -The defense still looks like a total mess inside the 18 - even when RSL didn't score you could pick out a ton of guys unmarked in the box. Also, every goal against in this tournament (except the EJ one) was a result of the defense not closing down in the center/top of the box - you'd think that would be lesson one when protecting a lead. -I lost a lot of confidence in Shuttleworth in this one. Both the 2nd and 3rd goals he wasn't in a good position to make the save - it was pretty clear in both cases which post the shot was going to and he should have been more ready for them. I think the 2nd goal goes in anyway, but he absolutely should have done better on the 3rd. I think the GK situation can be summed up this way: Reis is the superior shot stopper, Bobby is better at handling traffic in the box, and neither is a good distributor.
Latigue took the free kick that Soares scored on. He took a few others. They were decent. Trouble is, he can't play.
REVOLUTION 2013 Preseason Competitive Minutes Tally (After 5 Matches) REVS 0, SPORTING KC 0 VANCOUVER 4, REVS 1 SEATTLE 2, REVS 0 REVS 3, NEW YORK 1 SALT LAKE 3, REVS 2 (*-Unsigned) 299 - Bobby Shuttleworth (8 goals allowed, 2.41 GAA) 292 - Andrew Farrell (5 goals allowed) 259 - Diego Fagundez (1 ASSIST) 255 - Jose Goncalves (7 goals allowed) 243 - Scott Caldwell (5 goals allowed) 229 - Kalifa Cisse (7 goals allowed) 227 - *Donnie Smith (1 ASSIST, 3 goals allowed) 212 - Stephen McCarthy (1 penalty conceded, 2 goals allowed) 184 - Darrius Barnes (2 goals allowed, 1 Gm. Inj.) 183 - Tyler Polak (3 goals allowed) 180 - Bilal Duckett (5 goals allowed) 180 - A.J. Soares (1 GOAL, 8 goals allowed) 175 - *Gabe Latigue (1 ASSIST, 5 goals allowed) 173 - Clyde Simms (1 Gm. Inj., 5 goals allowed, 1 part-ejection) 154 - Jerry Bengtson (1 GOAL) 154 - Lee Nguyen (2 Gms. Inj., 3 goals allowed) 148 - Kelyn Rowe (1 Gm. Inj., 2 goals allowed) 146 - Andy Dorman (1 GOAL, 2 goals allowed) 133 - Kevin Alston (1 Gm. Inj., 4 goals allowed) 133 - Dimitry Imbongo 125 - Matt Horth (1 penalty drawn) 124 - Sainey Nyassi (3 goals allowed, 1 ejection/suspension) 120 - Matt Reis (1 goal allowed, 0.75 GAA, 1 Gm. Inj.) 117 - Chris Tierney (1 GOAL, 4 goals allowed, 2 Gms. Inj.) 105 - *Quinton Griffith (1 goal allowed) 75 - Ryan Guy (2 Gms. Inj.) 72 - Juan Toja (1 ASSIST, 2 Gms. Inj., 4 goals allowed) 71 - *Marko Jesic (1 GOAL) 43 - *Chris Thomas 42 - *Alex DeJohn 31 - *Luis Soffner (1 goal allowed, 2.90 GAA) 30 - *Luke Spencer 28 - *Cameron Brown 8 - *Anthony Salciccia 0 - Chad Barrett (2 Gms. Inj.) 0 - Saer Sene (4 Gms. Inj.) STARTERS ST1: Horth, Horth, Bengtson, Bengtson, Bengtson ST2: Imbongo, Fagundez, Fagundez, Fagundez, Nguyen LM: Tierney, Tierney, Nguyen, Smith, Smith CM1: Cisse, Cisse, Cisse, Cisse, Cisse CM2: Dorman, Caldwell, Simms, Simms, Caldwell RM: Rowe, *Latigue, *Latigue, Nguyen, Rowe LB: Alston, Alston, Tierney, Barnes, Alston CB1: Goncalves, Goncalves, Goncalves, Goncalves, Goncalves CB2: Soares, Soares, Soares, Soares, McCarthy RB: Duckett, Duckett, Farrell, Farrell, Farrell GK: Reis, Shuttleworth, Shuttleworth, Reis, Shuttleworth NOTE: If my math is correct at this point, the Revs have conceded 8 goals this preseason when A.J. Soares is on the field. For Soares that is averaging to 4 per 90 minutes.