Revs v SJ - 10 Mar 2012 "LET THE GAMES BEGIN"

First game of the year. New coach, new players new attitude and the same questions to be answered:
Who will the scoring come from and how will the back line do?
My guess looking at today's roster
[lineup-4-4-2]Sene,Cardenas or Brettschneider, Fielhaber, SJ, Simms, Rowe, Tierney, Lozano, Soares, Alston, Reis[/lineup-4-4-2]
Personally I'd rather see more of a 4-2-3-1 or a variation with Simms and SJ playing deeper and Benny centrally as a few others have discussed
[lineup-4-5-1]Sene, Cardenas, Rowe, SJ, Fielhaber, Simms, Tierney, Lozano, Soares, Alston, Reis[/lineup-4-5-1]
Bench right now: Shuttleworth, McCarthy, Guy, Cardenas or Brettschneider, Nguyen, Barnes, and one of either Fagundez, Nyassi or Kinne.
Things could change in the next day or two. Lechner, White or Rummstrun could be signed which could effect thes starts or the bench.

The key to this game is shutting down SJ's wingers (likely Chavez and either Baca or Salinas). If they can prevent crosses from coming in, the big striking duo of Wondo and Lenhart are next to useless. Because of this, Benny better not be playing on the left. He'll drift inside and not always track back, and especially since this game on the road that is a recipe for disaster. Despite the fact I want them to play 4-5-1 all the time, it's especially looking like the better option for this game.

NE has been prone to bone head marking of crosses from the corners. Lets home they squared that away. I do however think that as long as Tierney or Barnes are our starting LB's this will be an issue

I think no matter how this team lines up they won't have much width on the left. I'm ok with that, as they are really strong and creative centrally. They desperately need to get Feilhaber and Rowe closer on the pitch.

Revs 3 San Jose 1

Per Kyle McCarthy twitter:

I may be a bit too focused on the most recent result, but before Saturday I thought we had a good chance for a win in the opener. With away games at KC and LA, we need at least a tie in this game. I'm going with a 1-1 draw. Saer with a goal before half.
I will be content with 4 pts after March. Anything more is gravy.

I'd forgotten that Tierney got a red card in the season finale in Toronto last year.

Now they have to sign Lechner?

Well Cochrane, Coria and Phelan are gone. Those were last years worts offenders IMHO

Two months ago if you had told me Nyassi, Schilawski and Tierney would not be playing on opening day, I would have given you an open mouth kiss.

I must say the 2012 opening day lineup will be much better than the 2011 lineup. I just don't think the result will be. 2-1 Quakes. Hope I'm wrong.

Wow. Glad I didn't tell you.

But someone (Patfan?) owes me a beer on the wager about Schilawski starting opening day.

I like the positivity but no matter how many chances Rowe, Feilhaber, and Joseph create we still need a striker to finish the chance. I'm not convinced we have the guys ready to do that. I hope I'm wrong.

Nah it's me. Happy to be wrong about this. In fact, trading one beer for an upgraded (on paper) forward corps is well worth it.

No more Psycho and no more Killer. More Seneity up top this year? (too easy)

Never liked Schilawski's game from the day we drafted him. Good luck Zack.

I think 1-1 at San Jose is a fair expectation based on the past few years.

That was a great bet for you -- you could lose and still feel really good about it. I, on the other hand, have no consolation about owing Crooked a jersey for the Revs finishing behind DC last year . . . speaking of which, I haven't seen him here recently. Crooked . . . ?

For this week, I have no idea what to expect. We've had horrible results on the West Coast in recent years . . . is time zone discomfort the kind of thing a smart fitness coach could fix?

San Jose sucks. I also think the Revs are still riding high, despite the "cup final" loss. First game under near coach will bring tons of energy.

I think the early results will be pretty decent. Tons of energy for Heaps. Lots of young guys looking to prove themselves and being a bit naive. The true test will be after 4-5 games when teams begin to be able to gameplan for the likes of Rowe, Cardenas, Sene etc...

I hope you're right about the good start. The schedule isn't helpful -- 4 of the first 5 on the road, including 2 on the west coast. But maybe an energetic roster with newbies trying to impress a new coach is the antidote to time zone blues.

Yeah, I think those west coast trips have more of an impact in the middle of a season. I wouldn't look to that effecting them much.

oh boy

Our best forward got injured early in the 2nd half and was left on the field the rest of the match; in a preseason match, when our #9 won't even be in the country for First Kick. So now we will be without our first 2 forward options.

On the plus side, we may only have enough forwards to field the 4-5-1 I've been wanting.

I can't imagine Wondo not scoring on our back line, and without our best two options on top, our offense will likely be suspect throughout the game. I say put Cardenas up top on his own, five-man midfield, I think our midfield is good enough to slot in a goal and thus give us a 1-1 draw to start the season.

so maybe we go with:

[LINEUP-4-4-2]Nguyen, Brettschneider, Feilhaber, Joseph, Simms, Rowe, Tierney, Soares, Lozano, Alston, Reis[/LINEUP-4-4-2]

?

or maybe Cardenas instead of Nguyen?

I'm feeling pretty good headed into the season. Except for the forward situation. But hey, they've only had 3 years to work on it.