REVOLUTION 2012 Preseason Competitive Minutes Tally REVS 2, FC TUCSON 1 REVS 3, BOSTON COLLEGE 0 REVS 2, BOSTON COLLEGE 1 REVS 3, LA GALAXY 2 REVS 2, NY RED BULLS 0 REVS 12, OPPONENTS 4 403 SHALRIE JOSEPH - 1 GOAL 387 KELYN ROWE - 4 GOALS, 4 ASSISTS 386 DARRIUS BARNES 365 BENNY FEILHABER - 1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST 335 CHRIS TIERNEY 320 STEPHEN MCCARTHY 295 MATT REIS 221 CLYDE SIMMS 196 JOHN LOZANO - 1 GOAL 196 FERNANDO CARDENAS 180 BOBBY SHUTTLEWORTH 152 KEVIN ALSTON - 3 GMS INJ 141 AJ SOARES - 2 GMS INJ *126 ALEC PURDIE - 1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS *125 RICK SMITH *119 BLAKE BRETTSCHNEIDER 117 ZACK SCHILAWSKI 99 SAINEY NYASSI - 1 GOAL, 2 GMS INJ 91 DIEGO FAGUNDEZ 90 SAER SENE - 1 ASSIST *90 BLAKE WAGNER 86 TYLER POLAK *79 BJORN RUNSTROM *78 MICHAEL ROACH - 1 GOAL 78 RYAN KINNE *76 FLORIAN LECHNER 72 KENNY MANSALLY - 1 GOAL *57 LUISITO CAMPISI 42 ZAK BOGGS *41 GABE MERCIER *35 JEREMIAH WHITE *35 JUNIOR N’TAME *34 JEREMIAH WHITE - 1 GOAL *23 TOM CRUISE *22 KEVIN GARCIA *22 DAVID FOLEY 0 JOSE MORENO 0 RYAN GUY - 3 GMS INJ 0 TIM MURRAY *-Unsigned CONCLUSIONS: 1. Firstshirt said that Cardenas looks like Nyassi with a little bit more skill. I had that exact thought watching the NY match. 2. After last game I thought Purdie, White, Brettschneider, and Cruise/Lechner had the inside track. It's very tough to pick 4 right now. Going on need I think it'd have to be Runstrom, Lechner, Cruise, and Purdie. A lot of change for me in 3 days. That's 3 international slots though. 3. I really liked Campisi, more than Cardenas actually. His international status, plus the lack of depth at FWD and DEF limit his chances though. 4. Nyassi and Mansally have played very few minutes due to national team commitments and injury. That won't help their spots heading into the season. 5. A lot of roster decisions might be based on Ryan Guy's health. Alston/Guy/Barnes cover at right back might be enough, but if that chain is weak, Lechner almost HAS to be signed. Unless Kinne or Boggs are suitable? 6. Rowe's stats up there are really striking. Pun intended. He's also come right out of college to play the second-most minutes. Hopefully, he doesn't burn out. 7. Going back to NEEDs, this team can't have Tierney or Barnes at left back with Polak in reserve. Doesn't that mean Cruise is a sure thing, too?
Didn't get a chance to see the game tonight, did Cruise show any quality? Looks like he played only 20ish minutes, but if there're any highlights from his time on the field it'd be awesome to hear. Also, any word if we'll see Moreno before the Desert cup is over?
PRESEASON HIGHLIGHTS - New England 2 - New York 0 Standings Code: Club Pts Pld W L T GF GA GD New England Revolution 6 2 2 0 0 5 2 +3 Los Angeles Galaxy 3 2 1 1 0 4 3 +1 Real Salt Lake 3 2 1 1 0 1 2 -1 New York Red Bulls 0 2 0 2 0 0 3 -3
Thanks for the summary. Rowe seems to finally be the replacement for Dempsey. I think he's young enough to play the minutes like Parkhurst did. He is versatile but I think he needs to be in the center of the park. I like Sene and am admittedly biased (Go Bayern). The big man has pace and " a soft touch" as they mentioned last night. He had a nice left footed shot off the post and I thought he had laid the ball off for Rowe. The RB defender knocked the ball for Rowe to run on to. Still a good sized target man with pace. Cardenas has more effort than Lekic which was one of the most frustrating things with Radjko last season. More skill than Nyassi. McCarthy is not the answer at defense. Still holding judgement on Lechner and Cruise until I see more of them.The return of Soares and Allston can only help the backline. Need to hold a foreigners spot for Moreno
Thanks for doing this, and nice work on the conclusions. . . 1. Cardenas being Nyassi with a bit more skill -- that's a good thing, right? 2. It is hard to predict the last signings -- any reason to think it'll be 28 rather than 29 or 30? If they keep 30 and want to sign someone this summer, can they cut someone (Boggs, Schilawski, Kinne) to make room? 5. Guy's status may influence whether or not White is signed. If Heaps takes just four more, he probably takes one back -- presumably Cruise or Lechner, but given that they are internationals, its hard to see signing them for depth, so unless he sees them as a significant upgrade to Tierney . . . which brings us to . . . 7. The announcers last night on the MLS broadcast seemed to like Tierney better than anyone here. Just saying.
Disagree about Rowe needing to play centrally. If we have to force a wide player in our current [Benny - Shalrie - Simms - Rowe] midfield, I would much rather it be Benny. The game completely changed last night when Benny moved inside and Simms came out, when Campisi was wide left. Benny was pulling the strings and nice passes led to several chances. McCarthy I think could be a great CD. He has made very few mistakes in these first couple games... Just needs more time, which is why it's great they are giving him time during pre-season. As for who to sign, I would love to sign a lot of these trialists. We have 24 spots taken right now with 5 Internationals (these figures including Moreno, who seems like he'll report on March 1st). So we have room for 6 players, 3 of which can be internationals. Here's the break down. 3 of 5 USA players can be signed: Jeremiah White Blake Brettschneider Alec Purdie Gabe Mercier Michael Roach 3 of 5 internationals can be signed: Luiscito Campisi (ITA) Tom Cruise (ENG) Florian Lechner (GER) Bjorn Runstrom (SWE) Rick Smith (JAM) I say sign White, Brettschneider, Purdie for USA players, and Runstrom, Cruise and Lechner for internationals. If we wanted to sign another USA player (I would pick Roach), I would say cut Shilawski or Boggs, which seems like a no brainer anyway... Tough break for Campisi, as I think he's a quality player too. Assuming those picks, possible starting 11: Reis Alston-Soares-Lozano-Cruise Rowe-Joseph-Simms-Feilhaber Runstrom-Sene Bench: White, Tierney, Lechner, McCarthy, Moreno, Cardenas, Shuttleworth Serious competition for spots, as players like Mansally, Nyassi, Purdie, Guy, Barnes not even making bench... Very tough to choose. This roster would also turn players like Shilawski and Boggs into afterthoughts who really have no business being in the 18... which I think we agree is a good thing! It will be interesting to see if Heaps will push Tierney to the bench... I feel like he really likes his set piece ability, but with Benny and Rowe out there too, it really should come down to who is the best pure LB. There is also the "leadership" and "intangibles" everyone is always talking about, re: Tierney. That would be a full roster of 30 players with 8 internationals. Will we actually fill the roster? Probably not, we may want to keep 1 roster spot, likely international, open for the summer window. Lots of competition for these final spots... excited to see what we do with all these options.
I guess I stopped watching at the wrong time (when it looked as though they had lost transmission.) Is the show archived at all? I have mostly been a Tierney defender on this board, but I thought that Tierney and Simms stood out as being the 2 players who were not pulling their weight last night.
Back when I had season tickets last year, I sat and watched Chris Tierney get burned for pace time and again literally right in front of me. He's fine going forward as a left back. He's is far from fine defending, however. Considering that defense is and will remain our collective weakness for the near future, I don't see how we can afford to make that sacrifice. If he had had Dane Richards going at him instead of the scrubs from last night, it would've been a far different story.
Greg Lalas is the only MLSsoccer guy that defends Tierney. He's not the solution at LB. I really hope Heaps gives Lechner a shot.
really good point there. i would like to see Cruise start against RSL and play for at least the fist 45, just to see where we stand at LB. i would like to see the Revs trim the fat, as many here have said, and make room for more of these trialists to make the roster. Campisi looks to be an upgrade over Mansally and i would argue that White and Purdie would both be upgrades over Nyassi. Boggs simply cannot be on this squad. Schilawski and Kinne are probably expendable, too. i think we need at least 6 of these guys.
Lechner should be given 60 minutes on Wednesday and Cruise 60 on Saturday. Tierney doesn't need experience, he is what he is. Take a longer look at the other options.
I agree. Alston, Soares and Guy are suppose to see action Wednesday but I would not have a problem sitting Alston for "Hannibal Lechner". He was lively coming out of the back and Heaps said he wants to see that. Cruise has to see more than 25 minutes for them to really see what he is about. Give him at least 60 and then bring in Polak, give Tierney the night off. As for Campisi, he had a few moments of good play but for the most part I thought he was just running around aimlessly and got schooled a few time defensively.
Billelo or Burns said they were going to stick at 28 for the total number of players due to the allocation money you receive so they're only going to sign 4 new players. Unless... They cut some of the guys who are already rostered. Schilawski, Kinne, and Boggs could all be deemed excess.
To be honest I don't see why either of those three players are still on the Revs roster, I can't recall the last time I see these guys making an impact or really contributing. Though their cost is minimal, cutting them would only be helpful, that excess money could make the difference between signing a guy and not.
I didn't watch the last game, and it's tough to make judgments about trialists anyway with these one-camera broadcasts -- but that said, it seems like there's a consensus that there's some quality there, which is always an encouraging sign. If your metric is simply "Are these guys better than Schilawski, Boggs, et al.?", looks to me like the answer is probably yes. Perish the thought, but that's a success the FO can claim.
what are the options available to the team in regards to those players? Can they cut them and if so what are the financial implications?
If you cut players before July 1st, their salaries don't count against the cap, but after that, their full salary counts against the cap. The transfer window now starts on June 27, so if we can reach a deal before then, we could presumably cut any dead weight.
Hoover Dam represented the Revs last night. Wish I knew the Union players well enough to the point where I can get free player worn jerseys.
That's what I thought. So all this talk of "only signing four or five" isn't fully accurate as they could also cut Kinne, Schilawski, and Boggs. And Nyassi and Mansally for that matter, though I bet they wouldn't. I think Schilawski has to be the most likely, not as cheap or versatile as Kinne and Boggs.
Yeah, except they only have 4 international slots, and may save one for the summer. There is also Dev roster vs Senior roster (or whatever they are calling it this week). Tom Cruise is only 20, so I assume he would qualify for Dev roster status, but not sure.
MLS announced a change in the amount younger DP's would cost each team which makes a good case for Mr. Cruise. "Beginning in 2012, teams can acquire Designated Players based overseas who are 20 years of age or younger for a budget charge of only $150,000, while Designated Players between the ages of 21 and 23 will count just $200,000 against a team’s salary budget. Current DPs represent a $335,000 hit to a club’s player budget of $2,675,000, regardless of their age." Shalrie Joseph is identified as our current DP.