Andrew Farrell (eye) still listed as out on #NERevs injury report, but Juan Fernando Caicedo (muscle injury) upgraded to probable, and Michael Mancienne isn't on the injury report at all. Good signs for Saturday.— Jeff Lemieux (@jeff_lemieux) March 7, 2019
Ah, Crew week! Now that the Save the Crew movement is over, we can go back to our usual mode of hatin' on them like we always have! Cleetus Crewfan was at work at the auto shop. His boss sees him drinking brake fluid at lunch. "What are you doing, man? You can't drink that stuff!" "Relax," replied Cleetus, "this stuff tastes pretty good, and I don't drink it all the time." "Seriously," the boss exclaimed, "that brake fluid is poison!" "Hey, man" yelled Cleetus, "back off! I can stop any time I want." Seriously, I'm all in favor of Crew fans owning guns. That increases the odds of two of them blowing each other's heads off.
New England Revolution confident they'll reach playoffs in 2019 March 7, 2019, 5:23PM EST Jason York New England Revolution vs. Columbus Crew SC | 2019 MLS Match Preview March 6, 2019, 2:10PM EST Dylan Butler
I'd say there is a chance to see JC in a sub role if they are down late but I would not push him into service if he is not ready and not needed. Save him for next week. I predict the Revs settle for 1 pt at home. 1-1 Zardes and Gil scoring. For those watching at home every time Homer Brad says Delorean you must take a shot of whiskey or chug a beer!
Will be interesting to see what Friedel does with the following groupings and who plays and who is on bench (ie, what is Friedel's plan/assessment of how to win): Agudelo, Bunbury, and Fagundez - a lot depends on C2 status Zahibo, Caldwell, and C1 I will be interested to see which goalkeeper makes the bench - assuming Knighton starts
Just noticed the earlier than usual start. Will help fans in Foxboro stay warm(er) that sun is out -- yay, MLS schedulers.
Some 1st half thoughts: Bye did a nice job playing Bunbury into space. Bunbury was solid both defensively and going forward, and got 3 nice chances to do stuff. However no one supported him, so the plays fizzled out. The Revs seem to be focusing their attack down the right. Its strange, because their stronger attacking players are all on the left. Zahibo cost the Revs the goal, he needs to close down with more urgency, not much anyone else could have done once that cross gets played in.
Uninspired and confusing to me. I like to see Castillo getting forward but that is cutting into Panilla's effectiveness. I think Castillo spent more time in the middle of the field than on the left. I don't understand these tactics.
So on the plus side, Friedel seems to have given up on the press. On the minus side, he doesn’t seem to have replaced it with anything. The first half was boring, if low risk. The second half was more dangerous and interesting, but also riskier. Our defense didn’t look any better than last year. Our dmids were lackluster. Our attack lacks strikers/poachers who can put it away. And it’s not clear that we’ve got any strategy at all. It’s still early days. But unless the Caicedos get into the lineup soon and play like gang busters, and we get a difference maker DP, this feels like a retread of last year at best.
Castillo is.a real live wire and I thought was MOM and I thought Diego was for the most part great, but you've got to bury the penalty. Otherwise not much. I was (unlike most others) impressed with Rennicks but thought Buchanan was good (although hard to judge when he comes on fresh at minute 80). I don't think Bye, Caldwell, Zahibo, Bunbury or Aguedelo are good enough to be starters on an MLS playoff team Mancienne got beaten by Zardes on both goals. The first one was a great cross but he was not hustling getting back on the second. I worry that Brad is so focused on showing that he is the boss that he loses sight of, for example, that Penilla is our most dangerous player and that while Bunbury works hard he isn't really a very skilled soccer player
Lack of investment in the squad, watching Minnesota and they have Quintero, Mannone, Alonso, Gregus, Schuller, Opara and Calvo They are a new team and like us they are not a massive cosmopolitan place like LA or NY
Bunbury should not be a starter on any MLS team. Never have been impressed with his play. A lot of effort but the skill is lacking. Friedel trying again to make a point/send a message by making two halftime subs without anything to show for it. My guess is that kind of move is going to backfire. Perilla is one of the Revs best players, even on an off day. Friedel is out of his depth.
Hmmm. Did anyone stick around for the post game program? Brad Friedel was about to be interviewed, when they cut to a 7 minute segment of Comcast public service messages and assorted commercials. When they returned to the program, no Friedel. Just replays, and no mention of what Friedel said, nor any mention of technical difficulties. The Revs website posted the usual calm, matter of fact post-game Friedel interview, which was clearly recorded at a later time. I wonder if there were technical issues, or whether something else went on?
I think the Revs missed out on some great potential acquisitions- John Mary- plays for Meizhou Hakka of the 2nd tier league in China Maka Mary- plays for SC Bastia Ludovic Mary- available! at a price the Revs are willing to pay. ($0) Eric Mary- FSV Hilbringen With their current approach to attacking football, it makes sense to have as many Marys in the lineup as possible to hail.
The FO is on it as we speak. They're about to announce Typhoid Mary as their new DP signing. Gotta say, the word on the streets is that she's a game changer with killer skillz,
The positives: The weather - how great was that. Sitting in the sun, watching soccer - perfect In all seriousness, the one thing I did like about Gil trying to look for penetrating passes. Instead of just swinging the ball side to side, I can remember a moment when he could have just passed to Castillo, but instead was looking central while holding the ball. Problem was there was no quality in front of him getting into the right spots. Unless C2 is as delivered, we are still going to struggle for goals. I watched the game again afterwards on dvr - and Mariner said he thinks Penilla is not 100% fit - ie, carrying a little injury? Was that the reason for the sub or something else? Agreed - and we play them in a couple of weeks. I watched this on the DVR and agreed - super weird. There is a video up on the MLS website where Freidel is saying "we're happy with the players we have" Including Friedel in this - although he did give debuts to Rennicks and Buchanan. This sums it up.