So now that we're about 1/3rd of the way through the season, we should have a pretty good idea of what this team is capable of going forward. What does everyone think of the fresh roster talent? Heaps? Any thoughts on transactions to come? tl;dr for below: 2-3-7 doesn't mean anything, we're in a good spot. I think that, having closed the transfer window with a last-minute desperation trade, this transfer window was probably the best all-around that I've seen from the Revs since I started following the team, before Dempsey came and went. All of this year's signings save for a couple of draft picks have come into the team and made an impact, and hasn't altered team chemistry a whole lot. I still think we could trade away a forward this summer for a proven and solid CB, but overall I think there is enough here to send this squad deep into the playoffs. Sambinha - not enough info to judge, but that should speak to his level currently. Kouassi - excited to see what he can do, although... Koffie - has been super solid for the most part. Drawing more cards than I would like but he holds space well and is great with reading and breaking down attacking plays. More importantly, especially recently his ability to defend is opening up space for Caldwell to join the attack a bit more. I think in the long run, Scotty has to remember and incorporate some of those old attacking instincts from when he was a CAM to truly make the best of this partnership. Either that, or Kouassi hopefully comes in with more of an attacking mindset. I think our CDMs are the best we could hope for, just would like to see some variety in how they play the game to get the most out of their partnerships. Watson - grab bag of excellence and shit, with some bad luck sprinkled in there. He has had streaks of great games and a couple of games where his play significantly contributed to our loss (DC and LA). Still though, I think that this was one of the smartest (and most clearly needed) moves of the offseason, especially having gotten to this point in the season and looking at our backline injuries. We haven't seen Sambinha aside from a cameo, no McCrary, no Barnes, despite injuries to JoGo and Tierney. In other words, we've been able to fill the holes left by MLS starters, with another MLS starter instead of a draft pick or consistently injured CB/RB. I don't think we have 7 draws without Watson in the lineup...and while we may have not lost a couple of games either, I think on balance this was the signing that prevented us from being complete crap to start the season. Femi - who would have thought a 3rd round draft pick would be generating this kind of buzz? He's big, he's fast and he blows himself out hustling and chasing every opportunity. He's great with his feet, is capable of small touches and misdirections, and has a good eye for the pass. He's super raw. He doesn't know how to slow down and conserve to play a 90 min game, but he'll learn. It'll be very exciting to see what he can do and what he can learn from Juan and Kei and Charlie, because the talent is there. Most importantly, the team changes when he's on the pitch and everyone finds that little bit of reserve energy, and that alone to me is worth a start even if you have to replace him shortly after the half. Kamara - so much said and thought about this trade, but at the end of the day he brings along a matured version of what Femi brings. He's big, fast, is a target by default and is strong enough to hold up under the pressure of being that target guy. He brings defenders off of Juan, Diego and Lee and opens up space for the midfield to do what they do best, and just by being there he doesn't allow defenders to just keep hacking at Lee all day. I think he brings exactly what JJ brought...he's big and he's enough of a threat to distract from our smaller skill guys. I think this squad will do fine. Oh yeah, do we think there will be another summer slump?
Does today end with the letter y? Yes - the revs will do their routine 8 game slump followed by their routine 8 game run to coincide with STH renewals and just sneak into the playoffs.
I'm still feeling the massive Kool-Aid buzz from Kamara's arrival. I haven't been so pleasantly surprised since reading about getting Mauricio Wright in the Boston Globe (which I believe was the last soccer-related story they covered.) I think we are going on a winning run as of right now. I think we are going to be tough to beat until Nguyen, Kamara, Farrell, and/or Koffie get injured, at which point the S.S. Revolution starts taking on water.
So the Summer Window is 24 days away. Revs have typically made additions during this window. That said with the move to bring Kamara to the team will the Revs still look to add to the team? What are the greatest needs?
I agree, but I'm not sure we'd get any consensus here on where we need help. Our depth is probably as good as it's been in while, mostly due to having more versatile defenders. The fact that we haven't seen Barnes, McCrary, and have rarely seen Samba is one measure of that. Unfortunately. as a collection of individuals, each of whom have their own weak points, it seems their collective level is not where it should be. If I could make one defensive move, and assuming we wouldn't pop for a DP-level player (but maybe someone better than your average MLS journeyman), I'd push Watson to first off the bench, either by upgrading right back, or calling an end to the Farrell experiment, return him to RB and back-fill his CB spot with more with quality. Another way to look at this: which of our defenders would you protect in the upcoming 2017 Expansion draft? Barnes, Farrell, Goncalves, Samba, McCrary, Tierney, Watson, Woodbury.
I tend to agree regarding Farrell. Let's move him back to RB and sign a starter level CB. AJ Soares It might be time to trade again and try to trade for a starting level CB. What would a depth chart look like at each position on the back line if we consider Farrell a RB? Here are our back four in each game this season (left to right): 1: (HOU) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 2: (DCU) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 3: (PHI) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 4: (NYCFC) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Woodberry 5: (NYRB) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Woodberry 6: (TFC) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 7: (OCFC) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Woodberry 8: (DCU) Tierney - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 9: (PTFC) Smith - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 10: (OCFC) Smith - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 11: (LA) Woodberry - Goncalves - Farrell - Watson 12: (CHI) Woodberry - Watson - Farrell - Rowe 13: (FCD) Tierney - Farrell - Sambinha - Watson 14: (SEA) Tierney - Goncalves - Woodberry - Farrell LB: Tierney Smith Woodberry CB1: Goncalves NEW_PLAYER_NEEDED Samba CB2: NEW_PLAYER_NEEDED Woodberry/Watson Barnes RB: Farrell Woodberry/Watson Rowe McCrary We have flexibility/versatility which provides depth, but Goncalves might be the only player in the back who is even a little better than MLS average quality. Tierney is average MLS level quality at his position too, I guess. Maybe I am taking him for granted and I do not see Tierney as the problem. We need another better than average, better than Goncalves (today's version) starter in the middle. If we can end the Farrell in the middle experiment and let players play to their strengths we will be better off. No more square pegs and round holes.
We already have that coming in Kouassi. I don't think the problem is that any of our top 5 or 6 defenders aren't good enough, it's more that each of them has at times made critical mistakes. Improved results are more likely to come from finding a way to cut down on mistakes, rather than bringing in better players (ex., bringing in 1 or 2 better defenders isn't likely to cut down on mistakes by the remaining defenders; OTOH moving Farrell to a position where he's more confident and comfortable, can help reduce mistakes at 2 positions). They need to find ways to become more consistent and more reliable. Steve Nicol was almost always able to do this when the defense became too disorganized and out-of-sync. Now Heaps has to show that he can do it as well - there are quality players; they need to find quality performances for 90 minutes.
I dunno, my definition of "good enough" includes seldom makes critical mistakes. Part of our problem is that the mistakes are frequent enough on an individual basis that even over the course of few matches, they seem to be happening all the time. Further, I don't think it's improved much over last year - Watson and Alston are more or less a wash in that regard. Good example - just saying that whoever replaces Farrell at CB is probably not on our current roster.
I would argue (relative to the bolded part) that all of them, except maybe JoGo, are flawed in different ways (Tierney, pace, Farrell, ball-watching, Watson, wandering to far forward, too often, etc.). The only player, so far, (and it's a limited history) who directly fits the brain-cramp mistake mold is Samba. Nicol was able to tailor roles for defenders that minimized their flaws -- Heaps doesn't seem to be as effective at this. Spot on that Kouassi is the replacement (or hopefully upgrade) for Koffie.
From his highlights I had thought Kouassi was more of a roving #8 rather than a #6. But his transfermarkt lists him as a pure D-Mid so I guess it'll be a straight swap.
Revolution waive midfielder Michael Gamble. Here is a link to the release on revolutionsoccer.net According to the salary thread he was on a salary of $51,500. I have no idea what we have for roster spots at this point. Lacking a real development environment/USL Pro Team/reserve team and given our midfield depth, this probably makes sense for both sides. Anybody know if he played in the U23 games?
This move drops the Revs to 25 players (3 open slots), not including Kouassi, who doesn't count against the roster until July. So effectively, it opens up a second slot. It would make sense that this move was made in order to sign another player. But when does the Revs roster management ever make sense?
If we had open slots beforehand, then there wouldn't be a "need" to waive him in order to sign a single player (other than a phobia about having a full roster), so I'd think this would mean either they're about to sign multiple players, or they waived him for other reasons, such as he, or the team, doesn't think he's got much of a shot at playing for the first team any time soon, if ever, so he wanted to try his luck elsewhere, or go do something else.