Eastern Conference playoff teams Atlanta, Toronto, NYC FC, Chicago, Columbus, Orlando. BD Toronto, Atlanta, New York Red Bulls, NYC FC, Orlando, Chicago. GP Toronto, Atlanta, NYC FC, Orlando, New York Red Bulls, Columbus. MP Toronto, Atlanta, NYC FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando, Columbus. GR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Guardian "experts" made their picks for play-off teams. Another pre-season list we failed to make!
Don't we all! It's entirely predictable. The Revs are in show me mode for everyone here, for all of the prognosticators, etc. The safest predictions are predicting what happened last year - yes, it won't be all correct, but it will be pretty good. But, in MLS, teams often go from low to high (and vice-versa) pretty quickly - ex., Chicago, Montreal. I don't expect anyone to give the Revs any respect, because they don't really know anything about how good Friedel or our new players are.
Wait, how long did Nguyen actually hold out? If I remember, it was two weeks, because there was some clause that kicks in where he'd be in jeopardy of losing some serious money or having another year tacked on to the end of his contract. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. So Friedel and a few others are saying he's 3 weeks behind schedule and now, according to Doyle, it's a month. If he doesn't play Saturday, are we going to hear about how unfortunate it is that he held out for the entire 2018 season? Y'know, facts do matter...
Just drank some of the kool aide and changed my vote -- upped it to the 51-55 range, and here's why. For the last few years, it seemed to me that the Revs had enough talent to be getting better results. I suppose a fan (which I am) generally over-values his own team (well, not here on the Revs board, but in most of the world), but there was some evidence to support the idea that they had enough talent to win . . . primarily the home record. On the other side, the amazing collapses -- in the open cup going up three goals in OT and then managing to lose; blowing the two goal lead in Seattle last year -- they just seemed snake-bitten. Then as soon as Heaps left, there was the mini turn-around under Sohn, where they managed to win rather than managing to lose. And now, Tierney's interview and other stories about the more structured, more challenging pre-season. And winning the pk shoot out with Houston . . . I was a huge Heaps fan and I wanted him to succeed -- I'm hoping he builds something good in Binghamton -- and I don't like hearing players (and Freidel) talk about how they've installed a more profession atmosphere, but tonight, sitting in front of the fire in stormy New England, waiting for the opening game tomorrow, I'm thinking, okay, maybe this new guy can bring a winning mentality and maybe that is what's missing. Maybe. So okay. Get players in their best positions (Rowe in the center, Fagundez in the center, Agudelo as a #9); get a stable, well organized back line; hope our new #6 is all he is advertised to be; go into away games with confidence. And watch out for Bye, the WMU Bronco. Bingo. 16-12-6. 54 points.
12-15-7, 43 points, 10th in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I'm not buying in at this point. - Not convinced Diego Fagundez will be an effective #10. - If Zahibo can't play, the Revs will get pinned in their own end repeatedly, because NONE of the other midfielders on the roster are ball-winners. - Juan Agudelo as your lone forward? Never scored more than 8 goals in an MLS season. Can't believe the Revs didn't go out and sign a forward. - Arguably the worst set of goalkeepers in MLS. - Not sold on the Dielna/Delamea center back pairing.
I wonder how the first ten games impacted people's predictions. At our current pace of 1.7 ppg, we will end up in the 51-55 points zone. I'll acknowledge that I saw us well out of the playoff race with 41-45 pts at year end. I'm encouraged enough by the style we're playing and the effectiveness of some of the new players that I think 51-55 pt zone is very realistic. Have others' year end predictions changed?
I'm curious if your opinion has changed. Before the season started, I thought Turner was the third string. He's been a pleasant surprise for me.
While I am cautiously optimistic that they will exceed my prediction, I'm not ready to change it yet.
10 of the last 17 games are on the road. Till they prove they can actually do something on the road, I'm not changing the prediction I had.
Darn. I My original pick was 51-55 and I bailed after the awful first game. Now 51-55 is looking like a pretty good pick. They are currently on a 58 point pace. On the NNN side * there is sometime an positive affect when there is a coaching change * they've played 60% of their games at home * they've been beneficiaries of some good fortune On the KAD side * they are playing a system that is new to them and they might get better at it * BF is using 17 field players and has gotten some value from them all * they have money to spend and their recent singings have been good * you make your own fortune, and this year instead of being an Aww-Really? team they are a Hey-look-at-that team!
Another (KAD) factor, this year("fuggedaboudit, Lucy"), I believe they actually will bring in contributors during the summer window.
They still have some challenges ahead. Flying to Vancouver, then coming home to play Atlanta on 3 days rest will be a challenge. The big one: Can Friedel avoid the annual summer swoon?
If I was projecting in detail I wouldn't expect points either at Vancouver or against Atlanta. We're not in Atlanta's league. The summer swoon and poor away form are my big worries. Their press is going to be a lot tougher in July and August. They've shown some ability to turn it on and off which should help in the heat but our summers aren't conducive to an aggressive style. I'm hopeful that the increased professionalism under Brad will help with away form, but I also think that they benefit from playing on their turf which is unfamiliar to visiting teams. Conversely, they are disadvantaged when they play on the other team's grass. We'll see how this works out.
Well, it isn't like we're the only team that plays on turf. You'd think we'd do well in turf places like Atlanta or Seattle, where we were up 3-0 in the 75th minute and still blew the game. But maybe they'll be lucky and the Pats will let them train on a grass field before going on the road this year...
True that other teams play on turf. However, I was away most of the first part of the season watching matches with the other team’s commentary. A couple of times the commentators mentioned that our turf was particularly challenging. I don’t know whether that is true, but I heard it more than once. Also, away at Seattle and Atlanta have other differences. Like, you know, big raucous crowds! And, in the case of Atlanta, a really strong, well-coached team that beats pretty much everybody.
Yeah, but we only lost by a touchdown in Atlanta, Imagine how bad it would have been if they played on grass... Seriously, I'm glad to see them get a couple of away wins so far this year, and I hope it continues. In particular, they need to be able to beat the bad teams. Going into a top team's home and getting 3 points is going to be hard, so we need to get points when and where we can. Last year, if they had taken the league-wide average number of away points, they would have been comfortably in 2nd or 3rd place. The difference was huge! If they can do that this year it will be like night and day.
You're expecting 29 points from the last 24 games -- I'm curious . . . last year they earned 1.32 ppg. To finish at 46 this year, they have to earn 1.2 from here on out -- do you think this year's team is worse than last year's? I'm curious where you think they have gotten worse - or do you think other teams are that much better?