News: Revolution Acquire Edgar Castillo from Colorado in Exchange for Kelyn Rowe

I think he could work out if Freidel realized he isnt an attacking FB. From a field geometry perspective, our RW players tended to stay out wide, so having our RB play extremely deep in the offensive 3rd didnt make a whole bunch of sense. Conversely, with Penilla make cuts inside all the time it made considerable sense to attack with our LB.

Freidel should be asking Farrel not to get so deep in the attacking 3rd and let him focus on playing passable defense. Giving the CB a little more cover could work wonders for a defense that routinely looked like toast

 

What a deal and the irony is is this that club is affiliated with us and yet Mike Burns is too stupid to make deals with our sister club

He was easily the best central defender for Rio Ave and now he is at sporting CP any only cost 500k

A Bola: #SportingCP central defender 29yr Marcelo is reportedly set to join Chicago Fire of #MLS in a 500k deal. Marcelo joined this past summer from Rio Ave but has not been able to earn a regular playing spot. #cf97

 

Being a fan of the New England revolution when it comes to transfers is like having a new car without a key

 

But you're still looking at them as individuals, not a cohesive unit.

You say Delemea is a decent back, but in 2017 he was outstanding. Same guy. What changed? Mostly the people around him.

Yes, Mancienne was inconsistent - but thrown in to play with a bunch of guys he doesn't really know isn't a fair test.

The center backs never were able to rely on their left back to just do his job and provide reliable marking - until maybe Bye got a string of games (and then they had to live with his understandable rookie mistakes).

All that makes a difference - you can't really look good as a defender if you are working well the rest of the back line. Continually changing individuals is not the answer here - getting them working better together is.

 

Or being given a key that says "Lamborghini ! " but turns out to only work on a Fiat.

 

You described Rowe succinctly even if you were talking about Farrell. Our defacto RB should be next on the trading block.

 

Who would want him? The Revs most likely have succeeded in making his skills decline.

Let’s get a starting quality RB and keep Farrel as backup. Unless you think BF/Burns will shell out for a starter and a backup?

 

I dont see that happening and I dont have a big problem with Farrell. I am more concerned with the Midfield. We never replaced Lee and now Rowe is gone. Diego is effective when he plays off people, but not so much when leading the charge. In other words, he can't do what GB said he could do when Lee was traded. What the Hell is the plan there Burns? Every day I read about trades in MLS and NONE are ever involving the Revs. Sound familiar? New season, same crap. We'll open camp short handed .... again

 

Farrell is upgradeable, but definitely not the main weakness in the squad. I agree that we need a reliably creative player - can't just rely on Penilla's speed and Fagundez's tricks.

Lewis Holtby (at Hamburg - arrived at Hamburg when Mancienne left), Marco Fabian (leaving Frankfurt in June), and Mauricio Pereyra (Uruguayan, plays in Russia, contract ends June 2019) all should be reachable targets for us and would instantly lift our talent level.

 

Nah complete opposite for me. Midfield is set, right back still a weakness. Can't play the press without reliable outside backs. Bye needs to win the job outright, Farrell a decent backup. His decision making in the final third is often atrocious.

 

You do realize you posted this in the thread about the Revs trading for Edgar Castillo?

 

You also can't simply rely on the press. What happens when teams just stay in their shell and hoof it long, and don't give us any opportunities to press?

 

Agreed - not just the press, but to make it an option they need reliable outside backs. To keep teams guessing, they need a veteran midfielder or defender like Mancienne hopefully, with the tactical acumen and awareness strong enough to change it up on the fly and adapt to in-game situations.

 

Its a lot more important in single striker setups, because the wingers are expected to cut inside which, in the absense of attacking fullbacks, leaves vacated space.

If the Revs end up moving to a 2 striker setup it becomes less important, because the wingers generally stay in the wider spaces, so an attacking fullback would occupy the same space as the winger and be less effective. With 2 strikers the fullbacks (or the centerbacks depending on their talents) are instead needed to support the smaller # of midfield players and help recycle possessiom

 

Why dont you post this on EVERY other post below mine? All on pressing, not on Castillo.

Castillo might help at left back but if we dont find more ways to score, we dont win many and people dont pay to watch defenders.

 

I suppose we should thank Orlando for their dedicated try at maintaining a team worse than the Revs. We could well be below the Fire this upcoming year.

 

Yes I am, because first and foremost what is the level of the player individually? I am talking about both sides of the ball- defensively and offensively.

And my point is, that even super organized defenses who have been playing together for years miss marks, get stretched, etc. And that is based on what the rest of the team is doing and what the coach is demanding.

I think Friedel's tactics have not proved out, and we did not have a strong enough front 6 to alleviate pressure on the backs last year.

We will see if any new players, and any changes in Friedel tactics help with this off-season.

I understand about the cohesion and playing together, but I think you are putting too much faith that this preseason will solve all that. Plus there are injuries and suspensions that are the norm - if the players level individually and coaches tactics are right - you should not see some of the horrible passing lanes and mis-marks that we saw all last year under Friedel.

I agree this solves one problem, but it begs the question - is this the dominating quality of a RB and one that will help this team win games/championships.

If we are locked into Farrell from a contract perspective, then I would expect Friedel to solve problems elsewhere through stud upgrades (or some amazing tactical plan which I am not sure he possesses)

 

It can be!

At that point you're looking at a back 4 in defense that morphs into a back 3 in the attack (because the LB gets forward). We just watched Atlanta win a championship playing more or less that way with Garza on the left.

 

Actually, I'm not - I'm concerned as well. But, we won't know till we've been through 5-6 regular season games IMO.

Mancienne should have the individual abilities to be one of the better MLS central defenders and we've seen Delamea play very well in 2017. Just about everyone thinks Castillo can be a very good left back. Leaving Farrell aside for a moment, that is a good foundation to work into a starting unit. Yes, we could change more bodies, but they did change the most critical spot, LB. We've had a lot of central defenders the last few years - at some point you have to stop the merry-go-round and make it work with the guys you have.

As for Farrell, the last few years have been head-scratching for me. I know he runs himself into traps going forward, despite some good skills, but he continues to alternate very good 1v1 defending with rookie mistakes. He should be better on the attacking end at this point in his career and he should be much steadier defending. Going forward with him makes me pretty nervous, but maybe Friedel can work some magic?

 

Totally agree - but in my opinion I am still thinking without upgrades in the front 6(beyond new Caicedo), playing this way helps minimize one problem without solving the complete picture. We do not have an Almiron or Martinez to play the exact Atlanta way with that shape of that backline and still pump in the goals. We do not know level of new Caicedo, but we do know all the other players(so far).

And we need to have the coach and his tactics communicated to the team how they need to play. Martino got that across to his team. I am very interested to see what Friedel has learned on his first year of the job and has he shown any advancement in his coaching abilities to get across whatever those tactics are because Friedel believes it will make the team successful (and recognize like you correctly pointed out a couple of posts ago - how to maximize his defensive line and Farrell's limitations).

THAT is the million dollar question.

 

We definitely need more upgrades. My wishlist looks like

1) A true #8. Playing 2 CDMs with Caldwell and Caicedo is fine if both fullbacks are attacking, but 1 of ours cant attack. Someone needs to be a threat to get into the box and do damage.

2) A better SS than Agudelo OR a better #10 than Diego. I'd prefer not having Juan on the team at all, and leaving 1 RW spot for both of them maximizes the chance that Diego knocks him out of the starting lineup.

3) An upgrade from Farrell. At this point you wouldn't have a bad team (heck the post draft roster might have 28 players!)

 

Hopefully Caicedo can be a lethal striker for us

Castillo will give us a gray outlet for crosses and Fegundez as a central role would be good. Possibly go with Bunbury as a RW/RM also do we still have Machado and Guache?

 

Nope! Machado is negotiating his return to his Bolivian club and Hauché played poorly enough to be released without fanfare

 

This is the crux of it, IMHO, as Friedel had mentioned in mid- and post-game comments a number of times that the players weren't effectively executing the game plan. If that continues, it's on Brad, as communication is always a two-way street.

 

This is one thing I noticed about him that really bugged me. He seems to throw players under the bus publicly and I've never once heard him own up to anything that appeared like a coaching blunder. Exhibit A: The L.A. Galaxy Implosion. His fault!!