We were linked to a Portuguese player by the MLS Transfers Twitter account a couple weeks back. I don't have access to Twitter now, but I'll try to dig it out later.
Yeah, good thing I went out to Home Depot and got a new lock for that barn door. Maybe this time the horse won't escape again. Well, I gotta find him first, but I know he must be out there somewhere.... Not to get on you, Crooked, but being "linked" to someone isn't much to go on, and considering the time of year, how little good it would do. If this was before the transfer window ended, and he joined us right away, he could have made a difference. Anything after that won't help. We might as well sign a guy, let him play on loan until Christmas, and he'll be in good shape when our camp opens up. Of course, have some clause about him getting injured to protect us in the meantime, but I have no reason to think that the Revs could do something like that.
So ... about the game itself, anyone??? Good win. Where was the GD desperation that this team played with last night ... over the last month? Raises even more question marks about the coaching. Davies was solid, glad to see he finally got back on the board. Overall a very good performance by the boys last night. Still too many bad turnovers at bad times. But we got away with it, so I guess that's all that matters.
Activity doesn't mean a thing with this front office --- the ONLY thing that matters are results as they have continued to show an inability to close anything of substance (unless the win a coin-flip on a person that someone else found!) Glad the Revs won, don't like that they have to play DC at DC....but a win away from the Eastern Conference semifinals!!
It was nice to get that early goal, that's for sure. I was concerned with the period before our second goal, when a crap team with nothing to play for like NYC were bossing the game, and with a few breaks, could have changed things drastically. Very nice picture-perfect goal by Rowe to make it 3-0. The NY penalty was pretty soft. A ball-hits-hand play at the far outside corner of the box, with no imminent threat of a goal? If it wasn't a chance for a "big star" to get another meaningless goal to his tally, I don't think that gets called. I said in another thread that DC is the one team I fear least in a one game away playoff. They were terrible, getting blown out by an undermanned team in a gut-check game when they had a shot at second place. Bring 'em on, I say! Oh yeah, anyone else think that Montreal is this year's equivalent of us? Floundering through much of the season, they they sign a big-name DP who almost single-handedly turns their season around? For their sake, I hope it ends better for them than it does for us.
Note to Heaps: Davies can play as the lone striker or in a 2 man front line (a la US Nats). Agudelo cannot play as the lone striker in the same way for WHATEVER reason - great at holding it up, backing into players, etc - but there is no play behind the backline with Agudelo like there is with Davies. Agudelo is much better with 2 forwards. The rotation of using Agudelo and the results from starting him - cost us points dearly for those 3 games prior to this game. Unless Charlie was hurt (which I did not see in any injury reports), this is a problem on Heaps. Love Villa (Love Davies, but imagine Villa as our front runner). And he is on team that stinks. Will move this discussion to the Roster thread as to what is the plan for our forwards for next year (Agudelo as trade bait?)
I thought we generally looked good and better than good at some points when on attack. THe one comment I wanted to make was that I thought the ref was particularly poor by not protecting our players. We were hacked all night right in front of him and no call. We're going on and NYC isn't. We should have had more protection from the crap NYC was throwing. The league is developing fast but our officials are still second rate
FYP. There were really bad tackles that should have gotten yellows in both directions, that in some cases weren't even called fouls. Brad and Paul were calling it playoff-style officiating, but I think Marrufo was auditioning for MMA reffing.
Other than the Revs coaching staff/management that is. Although I guess you could argue that they're just as interested in tacking on "and not spending too much cash" to their list of things to do.
Davies was getting pretty stale - what was it, 9 games without a goal? Just because he looked great last night, doesn't mean that Heaps was wrong to sit him. In fact, I thought it was overdue. Maybe he needed rest, maybe he needed to watch for a bit, maybe he needed to have a fire lit, but this reflects well on Heaps, not badly, IMO. Yeah, the Pirlo hack on Nguyen seemed to signal that the Revs were fair game. No insight, but I think the chances of him being ready on Wednesday are close to zero. What I'd like to know is what the story is with Hall - he seems to have dropped off the planet. Maybe Heaps had Alston on the bench because he felt that he was more versatile, but I'd rather have Hall going on Wednesday. There was this Josh Phillips kid and a Portuguese forward (supposedly destined for NE or ?). There was also a 3rd within the last few weeks. Why no ones talked about them? Good question. But that is probably more about the group than the rumors. And, I'm not saying that any of them (well the Phillips trial is probably real) have any substance, but I think the Revs are getting linked to rumors probably because they have put out feelers. ----------------- - Kind of amazing that on such a tight little field, the Revs found more space than they have in the last month. Their movement created huge openings in that porous defense. - Nice to see Bunbury have a good game - been a long time. He was a huge difference-maker in the playoffs last year. Getting him back to form could be a huge boost for us. I expect he'll be back out there on Wednesday, with Diego coming off the bench. - Rowe was really, really good too. For as poorly he played early in the season, he's really in form now. He's showing a quickness and energy that wasn't there before. - Better game from Jones, even though a compacted field probably didn't help his game. - Very poor stint from Daigo. Lost the ball frequently, half-step behind, then blows the shutout with a handball. Wish we had a better option off the bench (Dorman seems to be a forgotten man at this point). - I was very nervous when Alston came on. Give him credit, he did well, but he still makes me very nervous going forward (heal quickly London). - Villa is worth the money, and some. Pirlo gives some nice flashes, but doesn't warrant a DP contract in my book. And, Lampard, even less so. NYC went for glitz, not substance, and it shows.
Agreed, and obviously this wasn't what Kreis wanted. The high profile DPs have garnered a lot of buzz for the franchise, but you wonder how long people will still stick with the team if they continue to struggle on the field.
It's a big enough market - they'll be fine. And they have a brilliant youth strategy - basically taking over a lot of leagues and turning them into NYC FC branded feeders. Their reach already is incredible in the tri state area.
I'm not familiar enough with their development/academy strategy. Do you think their in position to usurp RBNY? They seem be one of the better academies in the league (also helps being in a soccer hotbed like the tri-state area).
I think so. I've researched the various MLS academies a little bit. Currently, RB has a stranglehold on the u12s on up and have a very impressive academy for the older kids. NYC is starting younger with a pre-academy at u9s, which is even more strategic - it's what the top academies in Europe like Ajax, Barca etc do. RB has been dominant mainly because they haven't had great competition and can offer second to none facilities, but NYC is changing the game by getting into hundreds of NYC area leagues. Within 5 years NYC will have not only a stronger academy than RB but it will likely be the envy of the league. I'm very impressed with what they've done so far.
Parts of his game were good.... shooting wasn't one of those parts .... unless you count getting the ball in row 29 being good
He's just warming up to replicate last year's playoff goal against the Red Bulls. That one is still perfectly pictured in my mind.
Totally agree. Still I'm bothered by the clear chances they got and luckily this time the ball didn't bounce their way. Lampard's rocket off the crossbar was one of them. It was a few inches short of being goal of the month. Also, we are not going to be seeing defenses as shaky as NYCFC's going forward. Something to ponder. Yeah we played well Sunday. but luck also played a part, which is scary to me.
Well, the only goal against last week vs. Montreal was the MLS GOTW, so we've already been pretty unlucky in that regard. We've been the victim of some pretty amazing strikes, often going against the run of play. My senior year of HS in Westchester was the first year we had a soccer team (boys or girls). The dominant power in our league was a itty-bitty North Salem, but only because they didn't have football. I remember working out in a park with an Italian kid who was doing flying bicycle kicks, practicing by himself because there was no team to play with. Obviously things have come a long way since then. Jersey had the ethnic neighborhoods that spawned the Ramos/Harkes/Meola etc. wellspring, and NYC has for years been considered a gold mine of immigrant talent, waiting to be discovered. Still waiting ...
Despite their name, the Red Bulls/MetroStars have always been a New Jersey team, not New York City. Like all teams in the early MLS years, they relied on largely white, suburban middle-class families and youth players as their bread and butter fanbase. There was little to no outreach to the boroughs and even though you can get to their stadium on the subway-equivalent PATH trains, they still are not a New York team and never have been. NYC can capitalize on that by being the City team,and by setting up partnerships with various clubs in the city and even going out into non-Red Bull territory like Lawn Guylin. If they are smart, they will make this a priority that could pay serious dividends down the road, not only in player development but in building their fanbase.
They've already started to do that by reaching out to the youth leagues. They are making their presence felt for sure.