Just devil's advocate but do you recall the circumstances around the first revs goal? A shot followed by a parry into the danger area for Lee to finish clinically. If you know their keeper has a weakness, why not exploit it? If Rowe shoots there and creates a rebound for other revs making late runs, I wouldn't criticize him. Yes, it was a tough angle and Johnson was always going to make a save. However, it's a higher percentage play to create a rebound than overweighting the pass and expecting a gassed Davies to get there. His pass was awful; no striker in the world gets on the end of that one.
I watched the replay several times, and all I saw was Accam tripping over the ball. The camera angle wasn't the best, so I can't say for sure there wasn't any contact from JoGo, but I didn't see any. Not a PK in my book. I think they said it was the 7th PK called against the Revs this year, while only 1 PK for.
Given the benefit of replay, it's clear that the PK was a solid clean tackle by Goncalves and a dive by Accam. However the play was so fast that it's hard for me to really be angry at Salazar for messing up the call. Also I can't be mad at Salazar for the Davies goal that was called back. He played advantage to Davies who scored, and Salazar's linesman flags Davies offsides. Salazar has to go with his linesman. The only beef I have with Salazar is that I thought that either Harry Shipp or Gehrig could/should have been redcarded for planting their studs on Nguyen, and instead he gave them both yellows. Overall the Revs played well. Corner kick/set piece defending continues to be a big problem for us. But we created plenty of chances on the road and really should have won it at the end. Not sure if Rowe's pass was too hard or if Davies was out of gas. Rowe made the right decision and Davies made the right run, they just couldn't connect. But a road tie is rarely a bad result.
Final: New England Revolution 2, Chicago Fire 2 Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe score as Revs remain tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference July 26, 2015
Result wasn't great, but could have been worse I suppose. Nice to see them come back and tie the game, that's for sure. I've stayed out of the long running debate about Tierney mostly, except to acknowledge that his pace is awful. But I'm starting to agree with rkupp and others that when people find a whipping boy, man they stick by it while ignoring other blatant mistakes by others. The new one on this board is JoGo. I didn't think it was a PK, but he probably made Salazar's decision tough with how he played it. But how about Farrell? He had two horrendous giveaways, one that resulted in a two-on-one, that we were lucky to get away with. And this isn't the first time. This has been talked about, but a reminder. This is who the Revs have beaten this year: San Jose (currently out of the playoffs). Colorado (same) Philly (same) RSL (same) RBNY (playoff team) Chicago (currently out of the playoffs) NYCFC (same) 1 good team this year is all they've beaten.
Revs currently 15th in MLS in PPG, 6th in the East. NYC is 7th, and Pirlo looks like he could do for them this year what Jones did for us last year. If he does, Revs could miss the playoffs.
Entertaining game and I think the Revs were pretty unfortunate to come out with only a tie - gift PK right before halftime, missed/allowed handball by the Fiya defense, premature whistle/blown offsides call on Davies and near miss on Rowe's pass for Davies. Interesting also that both teams conceded both of their goals on the same kind of plays: - Revs had trouble clearing the box after set pieces - Fire failed to defend the weak side on low crosses/shots I think the Revs' confidence has taken a real beating through that win-less streak. They got a result last week and a half-result on Saturday, but in neither game did they look tremendously confident. But, they do seem to be getting strides in getting it (that sense that you expect to win when you step on the field) back. Good signs: Nguyen, Caldwell, Fagundez all playing quite well IMO. Not such good signs: Bunbury not looking like the player he was the 2nd half of last year; Agudelo looking more and more lost; Goncalves carrying some kind of curse. This game was one of the better mixes of short-pass possession around the attacking end along with crosses from the wings. Seems like we had become over-dependent on the crossing game - this looked a lot more balanced. Less booting it up the field, but still too much. - I'm hoping that Woodbury was just getting some rest. I don't believe in Hall over Woody.
And yet he made the MLS Allstar team before yielding to the injury that has kept him from playing one minute. Only in MLS
Great posts and agreed on those 3 players. That is a troubling sign....but fear not. Like everything, Jones will solve it all Also agreed on Woodbury. Will we catch a break with Toronto having Bradley and Giovinco playing midweek in All-Star Game?
They will probably only play about 45 minutes. Bradley might be more exhausted from the Gold Cup. He played a ton of minutes in a short amount of days and that could have some carry over affect.
Yeah he didn't dive. More of an incidental fall. JoGo needs to be smarter there and not give the ref a decision to make (I agree with PM).
Not a matter of could, it's a matter of will. The revs aren't making the playoffs this year, JJ or not. They will fall just short and regret their recent swoon. Dropping 2 points against a team like Chicago (on top of a 2 and 6 run of form) will cost them in a few months.
Is JoGo supposed to not tackle or not supposed to go for the ball at the top of the penalty area? I mean, he won the ball in a 100% clean tackle.
I watched it again this morning and Accam got there first. Goncalves stuck his leg out and got both Accam and the ball, so it wasn't a 100% clean tackle. It was a pretty amateur play. Not saying you don't go for the ball at the top of the area but if you aren't going to beat the attacker, which was obvious given how quick Accam is, you don't lunge for it and give the ref an opportunity to call a pen. Stand your ground, position yourself so he doesn't have good passing options and give your defense behind you a chance to reset. 50/50 balls are always a risk in the box. You don't go for them unless you know you are going to win it cleanly. Of course, the play could have been avoided if Knighton punched it out of the area entirely.
I agree with your analysis of the play; that is what I saw as well. I would like to add that JoGo has a habit of sticking his hands up in the air after he runs thru someone. He is trying to claim his innocence even before the ref blows his whistle. I think that action plays against him; it's like the divers with 2 feet together; dead give away that you are guilty of something.
Agree that the two fouls (in the span of two minutes) both have been reds more often than not (just ask Tierney and Ned Grabavoy). The Shipp scissors tackle from behind was the worse of the two. On the bad PK call, Salazar immediately called PK, then never went over to talk to the A/R (who should have had a better angle to see it--Salazar apparently saw it through the body of JoGo). I'd have been less upset with it if he'd at least asked first (of course the AR can signal him if he's wrong, but that's hard to do if the head ref signals that confidently). There was also a pretty clear handling in the box that could have been called late in the game.
Simon Borg mentioned that handball by Polster while he was marking Agudelo as well. Per Borg, Accam and Gehrig (but not Shipp) should have been sent off, no PK against Goncalves, Davies goal should have stood, plus the PK against Polster, resulting in a 4-1 comprehensive victory and likely more since it'd be against 9 men.
- the players were coming from entirely different angles, so it's pretty hard to figure out who else has a chance at the ball, how fast they are, will they get their first, etc., etc. in a split second decision. Also, in order to just "contain" on a moving, loose ball like that, you've got to get in front of it after a full-out sprint and then stay in front of the attacker as he has the ability to take the ball laterally as far as he wants. I'm not sure who has the agility to do that. OTOH, if you've got a shot at the ball, you take it. I thought JoGo played it exceptionally well. I don't think players should make plays thinking about what if the ref blows it. It was a bad call, in a situation where there was no way the ref could be sure (without consulting the AR). PK should not be your default call - or your most likely evaluation. JoGo's made some mistakes this year, that wasn't one of them. - the moment you start to play with hesitation, you've lost it. IIRC, that's two consecutive PK calls that JoGo's been screwed on.
Bradley has pulled out of the All Star Game (along with Lampard, Keane, Gerrard). Giovinco will be evaluated before the all sart game to see if he should play. Bradley is being considered questionable for the Revs game
Tierny has also pulled out of the all star game. Colorado midfielder Sam Cronin, Columbus midfielder Ethan Finlay and defender Waylon Francis, and forward Gyasi Zardes and midfielder Juninho of the LA Galaxy have all been added to the all star roster.
Probably, but not necessarily related to player acquisition. My guess is he's spending some of his time helping Heaps diagram more variations of the short corner, as we really need some new and different ways to squander those opportunities.
Somehow, I missed this article from Sunday: New England Revolution's Jose Goncalves disputes Chicago Fire PK in 2-2 draw: "I never touched the guy" July 26, 2015 Craig Forde MLSsoccer.com So, if JoGo is to be believed, even Accam admitted JoGo never touched him.