Kouassi was a great bit of business when they got him. The question now is whether he's still the same player after blowing out his ACL.
exactly some players come back and its as if nothing happened while others are half the player they were before
Not really. Maybe if they have other tears involved too, but ACL repair (actually replacement) is one of the most routine and reliable repairs. The recovery time is longer, but the recovery prognosis for an ACL is better than almost any other kind of knee injury (and I'm speaking from personal experience!). A meniscus tear is a permanent degradation, an ACL repair should be as strong or stronger than before injury.
The biggest factor IMO is how well the 2 new centerbacks (and the entire back four, and the back four and keeper , and the back four keeper and dmids, ...) learn to work together. Defenses are not so much about individual abilities as becoming a cohesive unit that works together and communicates well. Becoming that unit will be a big challenge to achieve in the next 6 weeks or so (good thing one is in camp and the other is expected soon), but I'm hoping that giving Llamosa that assignment as his top priority will bring dividends. I fear that a lot of last year's defensive issues had to do with Heaps coaching the defense himself (yes, he played defense, but I never felt that he was ever one that really understood defensive tactics and nuances).
Agree that LL Cool Carlos give a much better vibe in terms of understanding the nuances of defensive structure. Which, of course, begs a much bigger question: "What does Jay bring to the table?"
I've had the surgery and had no issues with it, but they warned me that a significant portion of people do not come back to 100% of what they used to be.
exactly. While it is a rather routine type surgery these days not everyone comes back to full fitness. In some instances its psychological. While the ACL is as good as new as it can be some people fear the injury again and will not push themselves as they did before
Agreed. One thing I was considering: If this player is a fringe Nat player who might be getting called up - and since MLS does not respect the FIFA windows - Heaps is going to have to prove that he can coach/manage this situation. No guarantee, but if this player is as advertised, he might get the callups. What we hope is that he doesn't fall into the "Lee and JK" category - get called up by Nats to sit the bench. All that travel, no play, miss Revs games, hard to stay in sych....
Not to mention injuries. After that call up in the 2014 fall friendly against Colombia in London, Lee never looked right the rest of the playoffs.
I thought I ha read that this is his second ACL surgery. If so that could explain the slow return. Just about everyone I have talked to who have had repeat ACL repairs say the second is much harder to recover from.
I'm wondering where all this regard for the quality of MLS is coming from. The league's PR office? From my own comparisons with MLS vis a vis ANY respectable league, I'd rate MLS as vastly inferior. (And I cleaned up that description from my first choice of verbiage.) The Revs in particular. Remember, after over 20 seasons their best ever defender remains Francis Okaroh, and they dumped him after one season.
Well, it's really hard to juge a whole league against another. How do you do it, the best teams in each league? That's the Champions' League. Or is it the middle-of-the-pack teams, or the barely avoiding relegation teams? A lot of the "second tier" Euro leagues have 2-3 of top-notch clubs, and the rest is uninspiring. Do you rate the Portuguese league or Dutch league based on Ajax, PSV, Feyernoord, Benfica, Sporting and Porto, or are you looking at Go Ahead Eagles, Roda, Arouca, or Estoril? But if you look at the "average" rank and file MLS club, I would say they would hold their own (middle of the pack) in a league like those, while getting outclassed by the big clubs above. In the top countries (England, Italy, Germany, Spain and France), MLS clubs would probably be decent second-division clubs.
I look at Transfermarkt. Waterford Utd is currently leading the Irish league. Transfermarkt has values for four of their players, with the most valuable player rated at 250,000 euro. The rest, Transfermarkt doesn't bother valuing. Transfermarkt also values Femi at 250,000 euro. Nguyen's valued at 1.75 million, Angoua at 1.5 million, Kouassi at 1.25 million, etc. Daigo would be the most expensive player on Waterford's roster if he went there. So Transfermarkt clearly believes that the Revs are far superior to the best team in Ireland.
Sorry, but where did this random outburst come from? What is a respectable league in your mind? England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France? If that's the case then you're right. The General as the best defender in our club's history? Get a grip.
Well, anyone with an accent is automatically better. Then again, Americans are the ones with the accents when they go to places like England, Ireland, Australia, etc. BOOM! That was the sound of a head exploding
I think it has gradually gotten better. It's always hard to do a side-by-side comparison, but it seems to me that MLS is somewhere between the English Championship and League 1. I think in years past, it was more akin to the Scottish Premiership.
That is absolutely absurd. Do you watch English football? MLS is equivalent to the top half of the Championship. We used to be closer to the bottom of the Premier League but I think the recent influx of TV money has lead to some of the bottom table teams improving.