I didn't think either Rowe or Tierney was very good (so I thought everyone sucked). I was wondering at one point if Rowe was traded to Philly, as he spent the first half completing most of his passes to them. Tierney's usually pretty good free kick taking eluded him totally (long, short, wide, everything but on target). Kamara has been good enough other places, and several of the other players should be better (Lee, Tierney, Agudelo, Diego). They aren't being put in positions to succeed by the coach, and/or aren't being motivated to play by the coach.
To sum up: We've won 6 of 24 league games. We have conceded 44 goals (league worst). We have a -15 goal differential (league worst). Only 6 teams have scored fewer goals than the Revs. Right now, we're below the red playoff line in a league where 12 of 20 teams qualify for the postseason, and the teams closest to us in the standings have played fewer games. We are 3-6-1 in our last ten. We've given up 2 or more goals 12 times. In our last 3, we've been outscored 11-2. Even our "magical" Open Cup run saw us squeak by in a nail-biting OT win and a come-from-behind-twice win against lower division teams, plus a PK shootout before gifting us the pitiful Fire in the semifinals. Our players are not performing well, our coaching staff is bereft of ideas, and our player personnel geniuses can't find even a single player to add to the mix. How do Heaps & Burns still have jobs?
Heaps has to be on thin ice. But changing the coach won't fix this. There's too much crap on the roster.
I agree, more or less. Tierney stood out as poor due to his shockingly low percentage of good crosses. I'd rate Kamara higher than his teammates as he seemed to be the only player who put in the work. I'd think Caldwell and Farrell had particularly poor performances. It was an embarassing performance.
The discussion earlier this week about us being the biggest whiners on BS.....we should just accept this and be quiet??? That was awful. To add insult to injury; we had thunderstorm after thunderstorm pounds us during the game and my TV never went out. PM's comments about tired legs They are professional players who are suppose to be in top physical condition. The best teams and players in the world play mid-week games in the champions league and then league games on the weekend. The revs will play 39 games this year; 34 in the league and 5 in the Open Cup - they are not making the play-offs. That's all of 1 more game than the EPL regular schedule. A while back I looked up what Messi averaged for games played a year, I think it was about 56. Oh he must have tired legs. Maybe if the Revs had a full roster they couldn't use that excuse.
what a steaming pile of turd this game was. Kudos to the fans that did not walk out after the 3rd goal. only two positives in this game for me. 1. Pontious scored and he is on my fantasy team. 2. they showed that hot blonde Philly fan more than they showed Monty. One other thing, thank god we have depth at forward!
i am watching the post game show and Ethan Zon asked Paul and Brad if the Revs lack a leader to rally the team. Paul basically said he felt there are many leaders on the team (JoGo, Lee etc...) but everyone has to step up their game and not depend on one guy to pick up the team. While I agree with the later part of that statement I disagree with the first part. I recall Jones' first game with the Revs and he went off on JoGo and several other teammates. I also remember Shalrie not being afraid to speak his mind and tell a call a teammate out on the field. Because you are a veteran player does not mean you are a leader. This team does lack that type of player. Not sure of Koussi will bring that to the table but the team does not have that guy currently
I've had no problem pointing the finger at Kraft or Burns through the years but I really can't do that this year. To me, the problem here is Heaps. Let's take a look: -They always could have done more, but the FO identified that they had a good team and added some legitimate pieces to it: Koffie, Kouassi, Kamara, Watson. -Last night, with the exception of Bobby Shuttleworth, everyone in the Revs starting XI last night is probably AT LEAST an AVERAGE MLS player, if not an above-average or good one. Defense is the team's biggest problem, and yet look at who's on the back line - Tierney's been an allstar, JoGo has been player of the year, Watson is a Jamaican international, Farrell was an all star. Woodbery and Barnes aren't great, and you do wish they had more depth there, but overall, the group of defensive players are not a trash heap. Caldwell is generally recognized to be a solid player. Rowe as well. Diego at one point was supposed to be a superstar (more on this later). Nguyen is one of the best players in the league, as is Kamara. Bunbury may not be close to this level now, but he's been capped on the USMNT. This is not a bad roster. It might not be a perfectly constructed roster, but it's not a bad one. It's pretty good, and most media observers figured they would contend. So that's one reason why I point the finger at Heaps - underachieving relative to talent level. The second reason is that the young players on this roster aren't getting better and in fact are getting worse. Diego is regressing. Rowe and Farrell were supposed to be possible USMNT guys at one point (though I guess Farrell is developing pretty well when played in the right position). Agudelo has gone backwards. What young players are getting better on this team? Caldwell has been good but is he getting better? Is he taking his game to another level? Nobody is. A young core hasn't been able to improve. That points to coaching. Look around at how this team looks on both ends of the pitch. They look confused. They make really basic errors in defending. They seem to have no new ideas when attacking despite all the weapons they have. This is not on Kraft. Ownership and management gave Heaps enough tools to compete this year. Either Heaps can't do the job, or the players have switched off.
Who made the choice in November of 2011 - after what we were told at the time by Brian Bilello was "a comprehensive search" - to hire as the head coach of the New England Revolution a person whose sum total of soccer coaching experience at said juncture was three seasons (2004 - 2006) as a collegiate volunteer assistant? To hire as the head coach of the New England Revolution someone who would not receive his USSF "A" Coaching License for another 2-plus years? After all, it isn't as if Jay Heaps simply showed up in Foxborough and unilaterally claimed the Revolution Head Coach's position as his own. (Then again, at the time of Heaps' hiring, one of the Massachusetts newspapers - it may have been the Worcester Telegram & Gazette or The Republican out in Springfield - characterized his winning over of the Revolution executive team as a case of him "wearing them down until they said yes". Well, that's one way to hire a head coach - allow yourself to be "worn down" by a candidate.) Who has provided Heaps with a roster comprised of "probably AT LEAST... AVERAGE MLS players"? PROBABLY? AT LEAST... AVERAGE? That's hardly a ringing endorsement of the quality of roster that's been put together by the Revolution brain-trust. Frankly, neither is the addendum of "if not an above average or good one". Who has sat by and elected to do nothing as Jay Heaps has allowed the Revolution roster to "underachiev[e] relative to talent level"? Who has sat by and elected to do nothing as Jay Heaps has presided over the young players on the Revolution "getting worse", "regressing", "[going] backwards", and becoming "confused"? Who has sat by and elected to do nothing as the Jay Heaps-coached New England Revolution have increasingly made "really basic errors in defending" and exhibited "no new ideas when attacking"? The New England Revolution (dis)organization lacks engaged leadership from the top down. The rot starts with Kraft pere et fils and permeates the management structure down through Messrs. Bilello, Burns, and Heaps. Where is the accountability? Where is the sense of urgency? Where is anything but the same tired bromides and platitudes - "We're extremely committed."... "We're frustrated as well."... "We're going to solve it." - being spouted? Heaps could - in fact, should - be shown the door tomorrow (ditto for Bilello and Burns), but unless Robert and Jonathan Kraft elect to bring in top-tier soccer-savvy personnel to replace them, commit to providing said replacements with the resources necessary to compete with the very best franchises in Major League Soccer on a consistent basis, and hold all New England Revolution management personnel - including themselves - accountable for operating a benchmark best-practices organization in professional sports, nothing significant is going to change for this team. NOTHING. Bottom line? Anyone who believes that Jay Heaps is the only problem afflicting this franchise is kidding themselves. His hiring is simply a symptom of systemic problems facing the organization.
Down 3-0, and you decide to bring in Daigo to fix it. Well done, Heaps. Well done. That's about all I have to say about this abysmal game.
you know I was going to mention that. Up until then I though Diego was one of the better players that game. One the first goal who is the player that stops running after Farrell makes the challenge on the touch line? Teal Bunbury. This seems to be a common occurrence with him. If I am the new coach I will be looking at where Teal is on every goal given up and chances are I am unloading him during the off season
Yes. but if the question is framed as, "Is Heaps producing results commensurate with the quality of the roster?" the answer is no. As pointed out above, this roster is decent enough for the team to be in the middle of the table. But it's nowhere close, and getting worse with every passing game. The Revs have no real ideas on offense, and the defense has been shambolic. That's not Kraft, that's not Bilello, that's not Burns -- that's Heaps.
This horrid performance coming just after the high from making the Open Cup final brings back up a question I asked last week. If the Revs win the Open Cup, and continue to under perform in the regular season, does Heaps keep his job? Does an Open Cup title save him?
My comment was meant as black humor. Though it's not bullshit that all we got from Philly is money and a pick swap. Even if Charlie wanted it (and I understand his motives completely), the Revs opted once again not for talent, but for money that won't help us any time soon.
... or the Revs think that an expansion draft will be in place again next year when Atlanta and most likely Minnesota enter the league. Davies would be very attractive to an expansion team given he's a cheap, American veteran with a little bit of name recognition.
Ok, then I certainly overreacted. Are you suggesting that we traded Charlie now to get a bit of value in return for a player we had no plans to protect?
I think the plan is to have lots of open roster spots year over year to be exempt from future expansion drafts. "Expose players? We don't even have a full roster!" THAT's something praiseworthy as forward thinking. Master strategists, the lot of 'em..
I agree with @joegrav and @abecedarian . The FO, despite their many other problems, has provided a good (not great, but good) roster for Heaps to work with. Heaps has done nothing with it. 2 MLS all-star fullbacks and yet we give up goals from crosses every game. A former defender of the year CB and a Jamaican national CB and yet teams just walk up the middle. And from just watching the recent games, Teal has flat out given up on multiple plays that resulted in giving up goals. That is very bizarre behavior from someone who in previous seasons was one of the hardest working players on the field. Nguyen is dropping back practically to his own 18 to pick up the ball, Tierney looks incredibly frustrated, Diego looks like he has the attitude of "well I'll just try to take care of my guy/section of the field and whatever happens happens." The team just looks like its missing glue to keep it together. The coach is supposed to be that glue. Jermaine Jones was that glue when he was here but it looks more and more like he just functioned as a bandaid in terms of team morale and cohesiveness.
In short, maybe. It depends on what the rules of the expansion draft are, but I suspect Charlie would be on the fringe of being protected given our current roster.
I agree, and although I was only half listening during the US Open Cup halftime I think Twellman said part of Charlie's asking for a trade was that he did not want the uncertainty of being exposed if the expansion draft. He also mentioned transparency, but I had not yet focused on what he was saying. Is the game still available on espn3? Do they show the halftime segments of games as part of the replays?