Post-match: Revs - Onion (R)

A lot of unhappiness in the PBP thread, usual scapegoats listed.
My 2 cents:
• Rainy, sloppy conditions are going to favor route 1 teams, and hack teams, and will work against possession and finesse teams. That said, we seemed to do well holding possession for the beginning and end of the game, which suggests that we took our foot off the pedal for the middle third, when we lost the game, or at least failed to match Philly's energy.
• We missed Cisse. a lot. Caldwell and Dorman were fine in their own way, but neither can do what Cisse did against Fire.
• I thought their work rate was fine, but I don't think Bengtson or Toja are on their best game when it's 37° and raining.
• My biggest complaint is that we continue to do poorly on set plays, both on offense and defense. The corner on which we lost the game was a complete c.........k, where every Rev's facial expression afterward said "Not my mark!" This was a regular feature of last year's Rev team, and must change ASAP. I'm not going to condemn Heaps based on that one play, but if this keeps happening, it's on him.
• [broken record] The team relies on Bengtson too much. Sene ≠ Bengtson. We need a new DP scoring threat. [/broken record]
• Players will play their way on to or off the starting 11 and bench in the first 4-5 games. If Tierney or anyone else gets on the field in March or April, and sinks instead or swimming, that's OK. If it's May or June, it's no longer acceptable. You will say last year should have been enough. I'm OK with everyone competing for a spot. I would expect Duckett first off the bench next game.

Condemn away.

The practice, organization , offense created and defense generated off of set plays should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the coach. Every team has video of their MLS opponent and can see what that opponent has previously attempted. How frequently and how well they are practiced will determine the effectiveness within the game. That is the coach's responsibility to train the team to a sufficient level to perform against their current opponent.

Thought it was an innovative tactic to drill the ball into the head of Philly' s Cruz thus removing him from the starting lineup.

I thought they didn't play horribly. Decent possession, some good chances. But the marking on that corner kick was atrocious. Two guys wide open, six yards out, dead center. My old U-15 team would do mucho laps for giving up a goal like that.

Cruz deserved a yellow card for encroachment earning the Rev a re-kick.

I liked a lot of the passing I saw, especially in those conditions. I just hope they can do that on field turf.

I couldn't believe he made it to the roster for 2013! It is a real mystery how he survived the housecleaning.

That game was a typical ugly March game. The 3 points were there for the taking, but I'm not going to lose my mind over a game like that.

To be honest, if anything, I was relatively encouraged by some things I saw in the game. The conditions were absolutely awful, but they still moved the ball fairly well at times. The play out of the back was direct and panicky at times, but I'll worry more about that if they are doing that in a 70 degree day in June than a 40 degree rainy day in March. I loved the way they started the game pressing high and holding a high defensive line. They sagged as the game went on, but it was nice to see them implement such an aggressive gameplan from the start. That was when they were most effective in the game, and where I think they will be most effective this season. Early season fitness will test that model a bit, as pressing for 90 minutes may take a few more games to be able to actually do.

The only player I was totally discouraged by was Simms. He was thoroughly ineffective. He also seemed even more limited in movement.

Shit game. Shit weather. That game should hopefully be looked at as an outlier when we look back on the season.

BTW, I know Philly took the 3 points, but they are effing awful. That is the effort they put out in their home opener? lmao that team is deplorable.

Also, Bengston has to put those two opportunities away. He is a DP striker, and he needs to bury those. Even the one on the fading volley should have tested the goal better.

The Toja chip was especially frustrating. A goalscorer puts that thing away. They lay out and put that thing in the back of the net regardless of whether they are going to crash into the net or not, or if it's a cold hard ground. I don't care. Put the thing away. In big games, those are the types of goals that need to be put away. He is a bit of an enigma, and it's starting to become really annoying.

You gotta believe Twellman would have been throwing his body after that ball

Twellman, Keane, Henry, Cooper, Wondo, Saborio....You know, strikers who actually score real goals.

I dunno bout you..but, FIFA should investigate match fixing in MLS!!

And see if Bob Kraft has been intentionally throwing games the past 3 years on purpose!! LOL

Well, I'm an idiot

Twellman would have gone for it and most likely finished the volley too. That's why I would go to see Twellman play and could care less if Bengston comes or goes

If the first two games are any indication, the Revs' season will be filled with lots and lots of boring games with no discernable fluidity from either the Revs or their opponents this season. Even if they get to the playoffs they will not be fun to watch. But if I had to choose between winning ugly and losing pretty, I'll take the 3 points every time.

They should use that as an instructional clip to teach kids to "never turn away". Catch a driven ball on the side or back of your head and it's almost a guaranteed concussion.

Twellman was hardly the clinical finisher. He missed plenty of chances. When the Revs generated lots of chances, he was almost guaranteed to finish one or two, but when they didn't ... he didn't.

I couldn't disagree more. There were stretches in both of the first two games where we played some beautiful, flowing soccer. The problem is that they haven't been able to do it more or sustain it longer, but you can see the seeds of it are there.

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It's discouraging to give up a set piece goal in such a tight game, but this wasn't quite the same as last year. That goal came at the end of a sustained period of pressure that included several corner kicks. The real issue there was that we were unable to re-assert any possession during that sequence. If you give any team a good 5 minutes almost uninterrupted in your end, you're asking for trouble.

Some good things, though:

- Toja looked much improved over last week - let's hope he keeps improving.
- Caldwell was one of the smartest players with the ball for either team. He continually made the smart, simple, quick decision to play the ball out of pressure.
- Dorman looked like a significant upgrade over Simms initially, but seemed to fade in the late going.
- Really fine pressuring from Bengston. I lost count of how many times he won back possession just by pressuring the keeper or defenders.

Some not so:

- a little bit of a come-down for Farrell; more mistakes, fewer attacks.
- Alston - shakiest game so far on the left.
- Shuttleworth - was indecisive on the goal; regardless of mistakes in marking, he could have and should have grabbed that corner.
- Nguyen - still playing positively, but the possession-passing style is working against what was his strength last year - creating space for himself and taking players on.

I question pulling Toja for Barrett--90 mins fit or no, Heaps should've kept him on there to feed passes to the frontrunners.

We got a couple chances, but tactically I didn't have any sense that we "went for it" after going a goal down, other than Philly letting us have a bit more of the ball.

My broken record is this: move Toja back next to Cisse to be a deeper-lying creator/possessor and go spend $$$$ and get a true AM/withdrawn striker/freekick taker in the Higuain mold to play just behind Bengtson or Sene, whoever's fit or present to be up top.

Except for the corner, I liked our back line. Goncalves and Farrell are a huge improvement. We've graduated from being a total doormat to being a solid, unspectacular team.

From your keyboard....

That's not just a commentary on the revs, it describes lots of MLS teams.

Bengtsons willingness to dive will literally define our 2013 season. God I wish he gave a rat's ass about this team. He is very talented but there is no way Bengtson puts his body on the line when he has WCQs coming up. We seem to be a magnet for apathy.

March is notorious for poorly played games. Often times, teams lacking cohesion are playing on slippery wet/cold pitches. It makes for soccer that isn't exactly easy on the eyes.

Right but I've been to some KC-Revs yawners in beautiful weather mid season also.