P/I/P: Match 20, DC vs Revs 7/12/2019, 7:00PM ET [R]

Arena has me feeling like they can win any game they play!

 

Armchair Analyst: Grading all 24 MLS teams at midseason
July 11, 2019, 2:00PM EDT
Matthew Doyle

New England Revolution: B+

 

Grab another road scalp. ******** DC! 2-1 revs.

 

Tough week for Acostas!

 

Another red for zahibo. Classic

 

Id sit him on the bench for many moons. He cost us this game and 2 points. Nice to see Arriola isnt any better in MLS then he was in the Gold Cup

 

For the first time in a long time, I can say I feel happy that I am mad that we pissed away what should have been 3 points on the road. I am happy because I actually have raised my expectations for this team and this organization. I'm not satisfied with a point on the road from a match when we have a 2-0 lead, I expect them to be able to do better. Maybe I shouldn't because we still have deficiencies to fix on this roster, but it feels so strange to actually think that I can hold this organization to a high standard.

 

Same. I'm happy that we managed to hold a point, but mad that (essentially) Zahibo's dumb yellow cards cost us three points against an eastern conference team. I'm not pinning that on the ref; I've just seen him make so many poorly timed fouls in situations that don't warrant them that I'm really done with tolerating it.

Teal's goal shocked me. In a good way. I might not verbalize it on here, but I'm definitely a critic of him. It's a hard habit to break out of, but if he keeps scoring, I'll do my best.

And I love Gil. Love him love him love him. Can't wait to see him link up with Bou. Now we need to sign somebody named Achilles so can make epic greek puns.

 

• I've been anti-Zahibo, and overall feel like he's replaceable, but that second yellow was bogus. I don't even think it was a foul. He beat Rodríguez to the ball, Rodríguez flopped, and Unkel bought it.
• For me the villain was Castillo, ball-watching on the second goal.
• Agree completely re: Teal. It's not just that he is scoring, he's scoring classy goals. I do wish he'd stop miscontrolling the ball out of touch.
• Also agree that Gil is a superhero.
• It was nice that Twellman and pseudo-Adrian Healey saw the same things that we are seeing. It reinforces the idea that I'm not dreaming.
• CM Agudelo > wing Agudelo, but Penilla is MIA.
• I think the second half DCU rather than the first half DCU was the real DCU, but even so, other than Rooney they're not that amazing. Rooney may be an asshat, but he is a really skilled player.

 

Two comments here:
1) Zahibo is too dumb to be on this team going forward. He will always commit stupid fouls. Arena needs to sit him a couple of games (beyond suspension) and see if that wakes him up. If not... dump him
2) The most impressive thing about the "young star" Rodriguez is that he is a graduate of the Neymar Diving school. Blow on him and he's rolling on the ground.

 

Good game sucks we drew though

 

Well, would have to say the improvement under Arena has been significant and sustained! Watched the game, we have room to improve for sure, but getting a point on the road is not a bad thing. Not a good think when you have a 2-0 lead, but not a bad thing. This roster needs a lot of reconfiguration to be a contender, but this roster certainly is a lot better now than it was when Brad left.

 

Agree with this completely. Gil showed his class once again. He was such a great signing and with Arena coaching we should expect to see even more production from him. I was impressed in the first half with the positioning and combination play by the revs. That seemed to never happen under Friedel. It was refreshing to see a bit of possession and balls played from the back. Not emergency defending every time. Zahibo was an overall positive last night and has looked much better under a coach that knows how to optimize his skillset. The second yellow was harsh but he deserves a starting role after the 1 game suspension.

As for DC, they had their moments but it was frustrating because the first goal especially was preventable. Turner needs to make himself big and be stronger there. It was a hopeful cross and should have been stopped. Can't really do much about Amerikwa's athletic goal though marking was suspect at times. In general, Castillo was the weak link far too often. That said, Rooney and a couple other of their guys missed sitters. Arriola was dangerous all game for them. I was hoping we would see Penilla to offset him a bit and pin DC back. In terms of subs, Diego and Caldwell did nothing but taking out Gil was smart because he was close to missing a game due to yellows. Unfortunate timing with Jones. Wheres Buchanon?

On balance, 2-2 is probably fair.

 

Wondering that myself

 

Have to disagree with this. Castillo was marking a man in the box. The villain is the midfielder who did run with Jara. Jara made a late run and no one ran with him.

 

That was a very soft second yellow on Zahibo. It's an easy W otherwise.

 

Agree with the soft yellow, but Zahibo has to be smarter and not give the ref any opportunity to pull out a card. That should mean staying on his feet in the middle of the field.

A point is probably fair given the “tale of two halves”, but it is disappointing. It’s nice to be disappointed with a road point.

 

I believe that was the first goal. Terrible job picking up Jara

 

Pretty obvious after this game that even with Bou this team is in need of upgrade on the back line as well as DM. It can only go so far with the current defenders. I honestly can't see Mancienne as part of this team next year. Even though he is trying to get back into the lineup I feel Bruce has seen enough film of him to see that they are paying way too much for what he brings to the table. Bruce is probably done with Zahibo as well

 

First minute of the game and he took a total dive that both the linesman and ref bought. Hopefully the league disciplines him for that (he saw Farrell coming and just took a leap and roll).

 

I stand corrected. Either way he is a horrible defender.