News: Rev Roster 2018

“We’re going to continue to go until we feel like we’re closer to the 28,” Burns said. “And I say this every year, but we don’t want to sign guys just to sign guys.

The bold part does not mean he will keep signing players until we get to 28. It leaves enough weasel-room to get to the usual 25-26 and call it a day. His second statement says nothing has changed.

But every team in every sport brings in more players to camp than their roster allows, so that there will be competition for spots. Somebody out there can win himself a job with a good camp. But not if you're content with having a few empty roster places every year.

 

Present company (team) excluded, naturally...

 

Because they dumped a lot of salary (Kouassi, Koffee, Kamara) they have significantly more cap room, DP slots and at least one international slot to use. I don't think anyone knows how much allocation money they have, but they probably have a pretty good stack to use. It all adds up to better ability to acquire players than they've been able to recently.

 

But do they actually have "better ability to acquire players"? They've brought in some new guys who might be good, but I've thought that in the past. I'm cautiously optimistic (unless they totally bungle the Lee Nguyen situation), but until they prove they can consistently scout and sign players who will make a difference in MLS, I will remain skeptical.

But on the other hand, the National Geographic channel had this show on some sort of cat, a Jag-you-are, cheetah, panther or a leopard, I forget which, but his spots were in one pattern, and then the next day they were totally different! Then I switched to Animal Planet, and Cesar Milan was teaching this really old dog some new tricks. Amazing!

 

I still am not seeing the stud leader with the chops to back it up, the head turner, the field general that this team desperately needs.

But, to hear Friedel ain’t done and to rkupp and Toms comments translate to show how much Heaps was in way too over his head and was screwing the pooch.

 

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So that means our "big summer transfer signings" who will help us push for the playoffs. But they will need a year to get acclimated, so they will really be 2019 signings.

 

Agreed. And so so important in my opinion.

Conversations here and on social media frequently end up dissecting slots and players at the bottom of roster or as depth.

>> I continue to hope, as I do each season that a similar level of effort, and actual results, are forthcoming for slots at the **very top** of the roster. (I do not believe it will actually happen, but I do hope it will.)​

Not lining up one more more players, with the requisite "difference maker" characteristics, to fill these top slots makes the "bottom of roster" exercise one of futility.

>> The bottom-of-roster stuff is essentially a bit of sleight of hand, or misdirection, that draws eyes away from the most severe deficiency of this team/roster - the deficit of leadership (as @dncm says, "field general") as defined by intensity, focus, a spine, mental toughness, that can be translated to other team members who need that sort of example/model/inspiration.

>> It does not seem visibly present on this team; it seems to have been a deficiency for more seasons than not over the past near-decade. ​

What a refreshing change-of-pace treat it would be for one or two **true** JJ replacements to enter the mix. It is hard to secure this (seems like it is harder for Revs than a fair number of other teams, for whatever reasons), and even harder to replicate with just one player.

But, winning championships is hard too, and a team with a chronic leadership deficiency is handicapped from the outset - if the objective is to win championships.

 

just hope they are a level above the players signed so far. Enough with the walmart and target shopping time to head to Nordstroms or Bloomingdales

 

Macy's at best, though it beats the Christmas Tree Shop

 

I dunno, I think we would do alright in the Christmas Tree formation...

Agudelo
Fagundez-Nguyen
Rowe-Zahibo-Caldwell
back 4

 

A few things.
1. BF's comments about KR playing centrally.
2. Lee Nguyen.
3. Does Zahibo suck?

 

Anyone else see BF and wonder why Big Frank was commenting on Rowe? Crap, I guess I'm old.

 

Yikes.what a name drop.

 

I fail to see anything in the play of Kelyn Rowe that makes him any more effective than placing a folding chair, at random, somewhere on the field. It seems to me that about 80% of the time he has the ball he coughs it up, either his defender simply takes it away from him with disturbing ease, or he passes it to someone wearing a different colored shirt. (other than his keeper). Seriously, it's like playing with 10 men when he's out there. Of course there is the odd moment when actually does something constructive.

 

Rowe is much more of a high-risk/high-reward type player. Nguyen is more cautious and always wants to maintain possession first. Rowe will take more chances but will also pull off more incredible passes (remember that 40 yard assist to Agudelo in Colorado, or the juggle --> cross to Kouassi in the Bronx). I think we can be very effective with Rowe as our primary chance creator, but we'll need to be able to win the ball back quickly, or be comfortable out of possession, assuming that we'll have comparatively more giveaways.

 

Ok -- a question. Wasn't it two weeks ago that Brad promised an attacking player that we would all be giddy over would be signing within 1-2 weeks? Did I miss the giddiness or is my memory worse that I thought?

 

That was Penilla, a career journeyman, albeit in leagues of better quality than MLS (Liga MX, Brazil).

 

Thanks...now I see the couple of posts mentioning the signing. So I missed the giddiness I guess. Hopefully we get all giddy after watching him play for a bit.

 

Given the lack of soccer nutrients on this team, I'm giddy already.

 

Very good description of Rowe. With Heaps, that lack of technical chops limited the value of Rowe. With Friedel's style of play and a potential role for the NT as motivation, hopefully his value skyrockets.

 

This is a big factor in matching up the lineup - if you have players who are high-risk/high-reward in the lineup along with ultra-possession-oriented players (Caldwell, Fagundez, Nguyen), it creates problems (and tension, most likely).

I've thought that Heaps has kind of neutralized Fagundez by having him play more conservatively - he doesn't scare defenders when he's just working the ball around, not willing to take a chance on losing it.

 

Early Fagundez was a much more gung-ho high risk/high reward type player. If we go in that direction, hopefully Friedel can bring that back.