Well, there's Noonan! I gotta say, I'm a little concerned. In his few brief appearances last season, I was hoping for a few glimpses of what to expect once he was fully fit and integrated.
Yup, Freddy Adu and Edson Buddle are two others who have been rather disappointing since returning from Europe. There's a few, I'm just saying that the list is quite shorter than the list of players who have returned and found success. You could also add Chris Rolfe and Josh Wolff to the list of players who came back and were successful.
I dont believe draft players can make any real impact on the Revs. We drafted the consensus number one and he was deemed "the most MLS ready" player in the draft. Im sorry but that doesn't make me confident We need help everywhere and Im not talking about college players. Maybe defense is a pressing need and you need to stop the bleeding in order to have a chance to win HOWEVER, people dont go to a soccer game to see a good defense. If the Revs want to improve their attendance, and make this team a contender, they need to do something about scoring goals. That will take money for a proven player or two and I don't think they will ever sign expensive players. Id end the Bengtson experiment early in the season if he doesnt start showing something
I think a skilled, athletic American defender is one of the better uses of the college draft. We are all hoping that he can contribute meaningful minutes to the team this season. I agree this team is not going to land a big name, expensive player ( Lampard, Kaka, Beckham, etc.) . Instead, it'll be a team loaded with "blue collar" workingmen. We have almost a full squad heading into pre-season. It's not the Bengston experiment that needs to produce this season. It's the Heaps experiment that now needs to deliver. They scored goals last year. They leaked goals , too. The Heaps experiment will be judged on if they can continue to score goals and if they are able to stop giving them away.
Thank you - finally someone who acknowledges the strengthening needs to be in the attack. Farrell was a good choice as a defender - but the jury is out on Bengtson until he can start scoring goals consistently in MLS. Sene came in and started scoring goals, same conditions, same players on the field, same coaching staff. Now it's Bengtson's turn to show us something. 2 goals in 13 appearances translates to about 5 in a full season, which ain't enough for a Designated Player taking up a SI spot. We know he can score based on his impressive national team performances. Heaps needs to study his NT film and instruct his players to recreate conditions that would enable Bengtson to score and thrive. If Bengtson doesn't score 10+ goals this year with some assists and really impact results positively, DP will stand for "Disappointing Performance" (for me, anyway). Obviously, if he's away for WCQs those expectations will be adjusted accordingly but to make the playoffs we need game winning goals from our forward corps, with Toja and others chipping in periodically. I think the Bengtson experiment still needs to produce. Sene did last season, why not our DP? I think we saw from Bengtson what we're going to see this year - limited results. He will score 4 or 5 goals with maybe 3 assists. Nothing spectactular, just bang 'em in from 6 yards poacher goals, which of course count the same as a bike from 30 yards. Being around this game my whole life and playing as a forward, my sense for forwards is usually a guy is either prolific or at least shows flashes of brilliance through his play right away (Caraglio did IMO) or he doesn't. You know that with more time, maybe some better players around him, he will produce, but if you're good you're good in an instinctive "nose for goal" way. If Caraglio had stayed I've got no doubt he would have produced. But Bengtson just didn't impress me (limited appearances, I realize that). He is not the same guy in MLS as he is for his NT. But I can't wait to be wrong.
I guess it all depends on how one defines successful but i would be more likely to heap blame on Heaps if Toja and/or Cisse and/or Dorman ... Under achieve. I wish Benny had carried the team to great heights too but how many talented guys have to fail b4 you look toward the coach? It will be interesting to see how Benny and Shalrie play, under new coaches, in 2013. I'm not sure what players on the Revs are being asked to " figure out a way to be succesful" while they play in an uncomfortable role? Sene? Nope. Bengston? Nope. Nguyen? Nope. So i'd have to dig down to McCarthy, Alston, Tierney and Guy to feel like they were in new/uncomfortable positions or roles but I would say the jury is out on their success.
So, you're as concerned as I am that we didn't sign another striker, considering his performance and Sene's injury?
Yes. Right now, there's a lot of questions up top. I expect a shortage of goals to start the year if we go to battle with the team as currently constructed. Without reinforcements up top, 2013 will be similar to the 2009 season where we had a relatively airtight defense between Barnes-Osei but had a lot of close losses or undeserved draws because we just couldn't finish. Deja vu all over again.
I guess, for me, I just have higher expectations the better a player is. That's in any sport I follow, and actually, in general business also. "Figuring out a way to be successful" means I'd expect anyone to be able to adapt to where their manager puts them and to give 110% effort. If my boss asked me to do something different than what I'm normally used to, I'd figure out a way to get it done to the best of my ability. That's a simple expectation whether I'm managing people or watching pro athletes in a MLS game. A few "out of position" revs examples and my thoughts on their performance there: Shalrie never wanted to play up top, he has been quoted in the past saying he much prefers the middle of the park. However, in 2009 when goals were needed, Nicol played him as a forward and he had 8 goals, 8 assists. Successful. Kevin Alston wasn't used to being a left sided defender and may or may not have wanted to switch from a position he'd played his whole professional career. But Heaps put him over there and the team went 2-3-2. It's not great but the revs had 3 shutouts, while 2 of the losses were shutouts. I'd say during that stretch he did reasonably well as the problem was scoring. McCarthy had his bad moments but he adjusted as the season wore on at CB. Longterm I wouldn't want to see him there and I'm glad the Revs drafted Farrell but considering he's a converted back who beat out Colombian import Lozano, I don't consider him a complete failure. Cardenas played on the left, on the right and even played in goal one game. While he didn't contribute as much on the scoresheet as I was hoping, he busted his tail no matter where he played. Ryan Guy is a very limited player but he played so many positions willingly in 2012, I don't really know what his normal role was. I wouldn't say he was particularly successful or an abject failure but I can't fault him on effort. I think you get what I'm saying. A player who plays out of position shouldn't be judged to the same standard as a player forever used to that role but a versatile player is more valuable to any team.
Ok I was wrong about Cardenas, confused him with something else. But how about the other 99.9% of my post? Are you suggesting the rest aren't facts? I love unsubstantiated drive bys.
Fwiw - I saw Kyle McCarthy at Wegmans last night. Briefly asked him about Farrell. He hadn't seen him on the flank during the college combine and doesn't know how well he can cross a ball. He feels the Revs will initially try him at Cb.
So, I will set Cardenas aside. I also set Shalrie aside - more on that below. I foresaw the Guy, McCarthy and Alston comments. As I said originally, I don't feel that excited about their success which is not meant to demean their effort or willingness to play out of position. Of them all, I thought Alston looked the most promising. I set Shalrie aside because the example pre-dates Heaps and this is also about Heaps. I'm not a SN fan, but maybe that coach and staff were better at maximizing Shalrie's success in that position? I can't say that I agree with your comment, "a versatile player is more valuable to any team." At least I can't in the peculiar way the REVS have been picking versatile players. You are correct that Guy is versatile and I'd say Tierney is versatile as well. Sadly they are versatile at a skill level well below MLS starting quality. I know money plays a role but I'd have been happier to let Guy, McCarthy, or Tierney or all of them go and keep Benny, assuming the coach could get him to play well. That isn't just attitude, IMHO, it is picking formations and roles that let players excel. No doubt a player can be part of the problem but I think the coach can be too. Maybe Heaps is growing rapidly into his job but I'm not sure he helped Benny be all that he could be (or anyone else - may McCarthy). I worry that may extend to first round draft picks, new foreign signings for 2013, etc. You aren't sold on Benny and he's gone. I'm not sold on Heaps and he's still here.
My comment was actually about Toja, not Bengston. I think you forget the conditions that Bengston was thrown into last year. The team was already struggling to create chances by the time he arrived. He was still shuttling back and forth between Honduras matches and our games. He had zero training camp and very little practice time. The big difference between the environment where he's averaged an outstanding goal for every two games and with the Revs, is that with Honduras he's been able to stay high and let his team create chances With the Revs, he actually received very few balls directly and spent a majority of his time pressuring defenders. An improved attack is what will help Bengston get rolling. Bengston's success will (if it happens) be the result of an improved offense, not the cause of it.