Davies has been distracted this year (you mentioned twins in the NICU - valid reason). He didn't forget but until he, shall we say, remembers, the revs will average a goal per game which isn't good enough. Nguyen needs to step it up too. You're perhaps forgetting Giovinco DID score - and that's all it takes is 1 goal, deflection or not. Even if the revs shut down Kaka, Shea is still a beast. When he plays OCFC wins. Then there's defending set pieces. I just don't see the revs getting a result there.
The thing is even Twellman wouldn't be the answer. He wouldn't thrive under Heaps' tactics. He was always more effective playing with another forward. I think Heaps is as much to blame as the lack of talent for the Revs scoring woes.
Couldn't agree more. Heaps won't change it up though so I was trying to think of who would be a better fit up top than our current forward corps.
I couldn't agree more. I also agree that If Twellman were coming into the league now, he would do better with, say, Houston, than with NER. If we stay within the confines of past MLS players, I see Robbie Keane as the player who would kill it as a Rev.
To be fair, Heaps doesn't have a Ralston (or a close approximation). The tactics are due, in some part, to the fact that we don't have classic wingers.
I think it is fair to question Heaps' tactics. I just wanted to point out that Agudelo has had one stretch of his career where he looked like a true USMNT player instead of a talented prospect. That was when he was playing under Heaps in 2013. Unless my memory is off, it was basically the same formation with Nguyen in support and Fagundez on one of the wings. I think everyone, including Juan, wants to know where that player is and I don't know if partnering him with another forward will make a difference given his form.
What about Tierney's "cultured left foot"? I agree. The tactics are completely different from Nicol's.
This. For a modern data-driven organization, we have very few recent data points on this. What might this say about Heaps' regard for his lineup as a whole? Will our possession crumble with two forwards? Will Caldwell be exposed as a latter-day Pat Phelan if we play a 4-4-2?
Take out Rowe. Something like a 4-4-2 Shuttleworth Tierney-JoGo-Farrell-Watson Caldwell-Koffie Diego-Lee Davies-Bunbury (or even Diego up top and Teal on the wing)
The revs have been outpossessed 4 if their 6 matches so far this season. One of the 2 games they had more possession was in Philly, where they lost 3 0. The other was against DC where they had 18 shots but rarely even hit the net, let alone score. If we correlate possession with results, that's 0 goals, 0 wins and a single point. Not good enough. So FWIW, I think Heaps is misguided if his goal is outpossessing the opponent since his tactics haven't been successful this season and the mediocre record shows that. Time for the revs to stop pretending they have enough quality to pull off the lone forward and try something different.
I don't think you want Lee out on the wing, so my preference would be a diamond 4-4-2 with Lee at the top: Davies-Agudelo Lee Diego-Bunbury Koffie Tierney-JoGo-Farrell-Watson I'm not sure how you keep Caldwell in the diamond 4-4-2. I'm not sure a traditional 4-4-2 would work for the Revs because I think you want to Keep Caldwell and Lee central and you only have Davies and Agudelo who are actually forwards.
I think Bunbury would not do well as a shuttling midfielder in a 4-4-2 diamond. I think, in a diamond, that Koffie could be the base with Caldwell a shuttler or vice versa. Rowe could also be an effective shuttler. In order to get the width from a diamond we'd really have to push the fullbacks. Watson is fast enough to get back and defend against a counter but Tierney is not, so we'd be very vulnerable to counters. Although we could try Donnie Smith at left-back with Tierney as a shuttling midfielder, with Diego as a forward when either Agudelo or Davies is injured (i.e. often): Davies-Agudelo Nguyen Tierney-Caldwell Koffie Smith-JoGo-Farrell-Watson Alternatively we could try a 3-5-2, with either Tierney pushed or held Davies-Agudelo Tierney-Nguyen-Diego Caldwell-Koffie JoGo-Farrell-Watson/Woodbury or Davies-Agudelo Diego-Nguyen-Bunbury Caldwell-Koffie Tierney-JoGo-Farrell
Given our depth at mid, I really have a strong preference for your last option. This also takes a lot of the producing pressure off Lee, who strikes me as a poor choice for the top of a diamond (not quick enough getting the ball distributed).
All of this kind of lends support to the theory that the Revs don't build teams, they collect talent. "See good player. Sign good player. Figure everything else out later." It still bugs the crap out of me that they've got one of the best crossers of the ball in the entire league, and they've never given him a target forward who's any kind of threat to score with his head.
Lee is the ideal guy or the top of the diamond, he's the creative number 10 playmaker who sits between the defense's back line and midfield, think Higuiun, Kaka, Javi Morales.
Lots of good comments. I wish there were better statistics. Is the possession stat still based on completed passes? That is if the Revs complete 100 passes, but the opponents complete 150, then the Revs have 40% possession, but the opponents had 60%? If so, it is really unreliable. It is not necessarily possession, but I would be interested in seeing a stat based on where the ball is? Which half of the field, which quarter, or which third? That would tell you where the ball is most of the time and could help identify exposure.
Not sure about that, though in his current role, he does exhibit that tendency. It would require the two forwards to make decent off ball runs - it seems to me that Lee's always waiting for them to happen, and gets closed down.
I'm not sure I get why Lee being too slow on the ball right now affects his ideal position being the 10 in a 442 diamond. Is Lee slower on the ball than Higuiun, Kaka, Javi Morales?
Lee tends to dwell on the ball too long as he thinks about his next move. The revs forwards rarely make good off ball runs. Combine the two and you have a dysfunctional offense in the final third which will continue until Heaps pulls his head out of his and properly diagnosed the scoring problems.