This is my big takeaway too. I had no real problem with the lineup that was announced before the game, I don't care how good a USL side it is I expect our second 11 to be able to beat them. Six of the starting 11 last night regularly make the MLS gameday 18, 3 of the other 5 have been in and out of the 18, only Segbers & Samayoa have been buried/on loan. If they can't get it done then the depth isn't good enough or something else needs to change either in scouting/drafting/signing or in getting the bottom half of the roster meaningful minutes together somewhere.
It will be interesting to see if Segbers goes back to OCSC, or sticks around to take Tierney's spot. My guess is that this was a USOC call up and he'll go back. The Revs had 6 players making their first MLS start of the year, 4 of them with their first MLS minutes of the year. Of them, only Segbers had playing time outside MLS, 11 GP, 703 minutes with OCSC. USL Hartford can't come fast enough.
I agree the second goal was semi-earned. It was in a dangerous place, the keeper didn't couldn't get to it, the defender felt forced to try to do something. Your last point about needing a league for our reserves is on point. But it also begs the question why the REVs don't adopt a different strategy for USOC? Maybe they need to adopt a strategy of playing a larger percentage of regular starters so that a lower percentage of bench players get more than a single competitive USOC game under their belt? Instead they make wholesale changes and are "one and done" nearly every year.
They were in the final just 2 years ago. And last year they won their first 2 games before falling to NYRB in a closely contested match. They have failed to reach the QF only one other time this decade and that was in 2015. As for whether they need to be rotating the reserves into their gameday rosters more frequently, I would say the level the reserves showed Tuesday (and the level players like Somi, Zahibo, and Bye have shown most of the season) isnt high enough to warrant inclusion in league competitions. I think if the revs schedule betrayed them with regard to continuing to ride 1st team players, and BF wants to continue to pick up league results more than commit to high variance tourney results
More big talk. How about putting a team on the field that is capable of winning? Players can certainly play on Tuesday then again on Saturday...not that much to ask. They do it in other leagues. Maybe, they're starting to tune him out... we'll call that act a "Heaps" If he's starting to lose them, it will be a long season. The starters have little to worry about as the backups aren't going to challenge. The backups don't care as they're going anywhere either. Pretty hard to keep their attention Brad
I thought Wright looked good, I didn't see the first 30 minutes of the match though. But his turn and breakaway right before halftime where he missed the post by about 6 inches was really impressive. He torched the entire back line.
Ok, I know it doesn't seem like it, but it is big talk. If it were Heaps, these quotes would be filled with "we hoped, we tried, we wanted, some calls clearly didn't go our way..." These are excuses. And we had them for years (Burns excels at the "we tried really hard" argument). For Friedel to call out his players to step up and be accountable? I like that change. I want this team to hold themselves (players and management) accountable so when they lose, they have to acknowledge it and improve, not brush it off with "we tried" or "we got unlucky." The years of excuses has stagnated and left the team in the dismal hole where it is. Is our depth abysmal? Compared to other teams, certainly. At least now it can be acknowledged, rather than brushed aside and hope no one notices. (I also do not remember exactly the things Steve Nicol would have said, I mostly understood him when he was swearing)
I'm saying, pay more attention to what BF does (who he's playing), less attention to what he's telling the press.
Because, the idea is to use the USOC to develop some chemistry in a "2nd team", playing several games over the course of a few weeks, then only bring in most of the 1st team when you get within sight of the Cup (semis/final). It's a risk that you won't get out of the early rounds, which is what happened this year (and has happened a few times before). But, that's actually how most teams do it. Happens to a few teams every year. I don't believe that's true - I think that's just people trying to read into his comments and mis-interpreting them. Making lemonade out of lemons doesn't mean you didn't want the lemons.
Nicol, to his credit, was an equal opportunity deliberate loser. There is no Concacaf Championship moment quite like Joe Public with any other team.
Maybe he took too much of a risk. A few more regulars on the field might have made a difference. I mean, he started Femi. FEMI!
.@NERevolution have now lost in @opencup in 11 states outside #Massachusetts . Revs unbeaten in New York (3-0-1), N.C., R.I. and Va. in #USOC .— Frank Dell'Apa (@frankdellapa) June 7, 2018
I do like that the blame is being cast in the organization now, rather than out of it, on luck or referees or whatever. But what I would have liked even more from Brad is if he accepted some of the blame himself. Maybe he said more elsewhere - I've only seen the post-game comments published on the Revs article - but he seems to have aimed his criticism at his players to the exclusion of his own planning. Seems to me that if anyone should be taking heat for fielding a team that showed no fire, it's the guy who failed to get that team ready and then put them on the field.
Well said. It would be nice to have more accountability from the coaching staff. That said he is right that he gave a few guys a good opportunity to show they deserve more first team minutes and those players fell flat. Whether it's Herivaux, Femi, Segbers or anyone else who played, if you can't show your talent against a (good) USL side, you're not going to show it in MLS.
If the team didn't have its head up its ass it would have a reserve team in USL, PDL like many others or a strong working relationship with one where their players get consistent game time minutes with other reserve players with a coach that plays the same style and has the same philosophy. This would allow them to develop chemistry and not have to look out of place when they step on the field with 3 or 4 of the regular team starters. Approx 20 MLS teams are already doing this
(from the Revs perspective) That would cost money wouldn't it? Would it put more fans in the seats? Sell more expensive beer? More Pats jerseys? NO therefore why would we do it? The same amount of people will show up anyway The Revs are all about an off season tenant for the Morgue. As long as they don't lose much AND increase in overall value... it's a long term investment. The Krafts dont give a rats ass about the Revs or they would see the BURNS is the biggest problem and send him, and those above him, packing. As it is, every few years they fire the coach (buys them more time), they dont spend much money on players (compared to real teams), and cant keep any talent they ever had that has an option to move and time goes on ..... Were kidding ourselves if we hope for anything different PS - Remember when we used to get the NAT team in here... international friendlies? Where'd that go? Were not even on the radar screen anymore. Lack of interest or turf?
Oh, they spend money, look at Nemeth's [Dr. Evil]ONE MILLION DOLLAR[/Dr. Evil] salary. Trouble is, he either isn't good enough to earn a starting spot or he doesn't fit the coach's "system," which is pretty much the same thing. Maybe if they spent the same amount of money, but more wisely (you can get 2 Penillas for one Nemeth), they'd be better off. I realize that we're not even halfway through the first season with a new manager, and while we are slightly better than we were last year, crashing out of the Open Cup isn't time to hit hte panic button. What happens the rest of the season will go a long way to determining the success of the Friedel Era. We assume they will sign at least one (but hopefully 2-3) significant player(s) during the summer window. If that happens, and how well he integrates as a "difference maker" for the rest of the season will show us a lot as to whether this is actually a new day or just putting up new window curtains on a house that's burning down.
I'll nitpick on that - it's a much different game; this is the highlight of their season, it's one of the least significant games of ours. That team (LC) and that crowd were incredibly pumped; the USL teams always are. Playing them is much different than playing MLS teams and not typically easier IMO. No argument from me.
And I'll nitpick on that. For the guys Friedel threw out there, especially the six getting their first MLS starts of the year, it was the MOST significant game of the season.
You make it sound like it happens completely at random. Yet somehow this guy predicted two of the upsets, and was a PK shootout away from going 3 for 3: Will there be more "Cupsets" in the US Open Cup? Here are three candidates June 6, 2018, 11:26AM EDT Dylan Butler