Ten Points from my seat at HDC: 1. Simms doesn't get a lot of credit, but he might just be one of the 3 best players on the squad right now. He isn't putting a foot wrong anywhere, and has saved the day defensively a few times. 2. Sene can score, but I'm not convinced he's a starter on an MLS Cup winning side. That said, his hold-up play tonight was excellent, hopefully that wasn't a fluke. 3. I was nervous about Nguyen in the second half. I don't think he's at his finest defensively yet, but he's got room to grow. 4. That said, I can't really complain about Heaps' subs. Cardenas came in at the perfect time. 5. Guy has a heck of a motor. If this team is going to win, it's going to be as a blue-collar side, and that squad needs a Ryan Guy in it. 6. Rowe showed what all the hype was about. He was very composed all night and his passing was excellent. 7. The fact that the team played such great possession soccer in that much rain says a lot about their potential. 8. Tierney has been much better than he was in recent seasons at LB, but if this team is going to progress, it will need outside backs who can overlap when Rowe and Nguyen move centrally. It's up to Tierney and Alston to prove they are those guys. They helped their cause tonight. 9. Props to Reis. 10. If Moreno is legit or another striker is brought in, one more Zerka-level starter (defender?) is added, and this team gets hot at the right time...I'd much more optimistic about their potential. Shows you how much I value one game, but that was at SuperLiga final levels for me...
Interesting. I would like to see Benny organizing the O, and Shalrie in back organizing from there, sit McCarthy. But I give Heaps the benefit of the doubt.
His passing has been clean so far this season. He's really keeping the game simple. Pass and move. Loved his play in the 1st half last night, but LA bypassed him too easily in the 2nd. Stephens in particular found room to operate in spaces Simms should have been closing down.
This rendition of the Revs reminds me of the old Brooklyn Dodgers that I went to see regularly as a boy in the 1940's--da bums--da Boys of Summer. They didn't really have stars but a bunch of adequate players who were more as a whole than the sum of the parts. I think there is still a place in MLS for a starless TEAM of well coached, well matched blue collar, hard nosed, hard working players. I'm not saying what Heaps has put together has reached that level of quality (those Dodgers were regularly World Champs) but so far this group has been a bit of a surprise. As was opined in preseason the potential of this seasons roster is really unpredictable and could be very bad or reasonably good. Last night they looked promising.
This is where I thought Shalrie struggled as well. Too easy for the other team to play around him. Simms can't cover the entire middle.
Actually, Doc, they were regularly National League champs, finally winning the World's Serious (Pogo allusion) in 1955 with that basic group of players...but I like the shout out for da Bums!
You wish. The Brooklyn dodgers were world champs once (1955) -- every other time (six) they reached the world series they lost to the team whose name cannot be mentioned in New England.
Whoops -- you beat me to it. But here: the World Serious is originally from Ring Lardner, author of You Know Me, Al, which is a wonderful book. At least I think that's where it is from . . . but when I tried to Google it to make sure,Google keeps asking if I mean "world series"
I agree Donovan is probably the best player in the league. But that doesn't have anything to do with my post. I was remembering that people here were wringing their hands all winter over the FO and Heaps doing "bargain basemen" shopping instead of signing players we've heard of. Then last night Heaps sent out a team that consisted of seven guys off last year's roster, plus one rookie draftee, one obscure guy from an second tier league in France, and two guys other MLS teams gave up on -- and that bargain basement team spanked the defending champs, on their home turf. So maybe you don't have to have marquee signings to build a good team in MLS 2.0. Maybe player being good at evaluation, training, and game day coaching are still the keys to building a winning team.
We'll see how this team stacks up over the course of a long season, but that's a great point. Having a bunch of no names won't get people out to the stadium however.
But it does. If Donovan plays, this game is probably different (not saying the result is, but the game would have been different). You also had noted in your post that Benny, Lozano etc weren't playing ... so I was pointing out that if you look at it that way, Donovan wasn't either. We've played one very good game. Last night didn't prove anything for the year, it proved that we can play well ... once. Just like people here hate when one game is used to prove that we suck, one game doesn't prove that "bargain basement" works. I'd love to see them do this quite a few more times this year, and if they do, I'll admit that this can work. Maybe we need to actually have a winning record, to be a winning team first?
Ooops your right. My memory isn't what it used to be (age ). I was really remembering those great pennant fights against the Giants. The fact check correction not withstanding my point stands. A team doesn't need to be made up of stars to be winners.
I pointed out that we were playing without our marquee guys. . . that's the only reason I mentioned Lozano etc -- I was making the point that we ran out a team made up of last year's left-overs and a few un-heralded signees. Donovan's absence doesn't change that. With or without Donovan, LAG are one of the marquee teams (Beckham, Keane), and our non-marquee team beat their MSL 2.0 team last night. And yeah, its one game. But do you think a team can look as good as the Revs did last night based on luck? I guess if you've had heart broken by the Revs you might want to be cautious lest you get your hopes dashed again, but I think the evidence is there to see. They showed promise last night, and yeah, there will be bumps in the road, but I think last night showed that used in the right way, put in the right spots, surrounded by the right pieces with the right preparation and the right game plan, that guys like Sims, Sene, Nguyen, Cardenas, Guy, Tierney, Alston can be part of a winning team in MLS 2.0.
For me the success of the rebuilding effort will get high marks---IF--- the tinkering process and across the season additions (via subtractions) have this team playing solid soccer across the last third of the season. I will take any quality results prior to that as a bonus
Seconded. The Revs historically have done best with a spine (gk, cd, cm, fwd) with reliable distribution skills - I trust Shalrie to distribute more than I do McCarthy at the moment. But we'll see what McC can do.
Speaking only for myself, I thought McCarthy's anticipation, toughness, ability in the air, and passing were good enough to make me very comfortable with him starting.
Everyone hopes you are right. But it is one game. If you want to stretch for two go ahead. Signs are promising the last two games. Let's hold our breath. If they can put on a display like last night for greater than 20 games this season (that doesn't mean win 20) then THAT will be progress. Let's talk again after the 5th win which I hope is in May, not November
Fair point - 1 win does not a season make. However, a win in LA is a win in LA. No Landycakes, but the salaries of Beckham and Keane almost equal our entire starting 11 (ok I haven't verified that but you get my point). I hope Heaps does not tinker too much with the lineup in order to control as many variables as possible.
Simms is positioned as the DM playing behind Shalrie at CM. In that formation it's Simms' job to be the primary ball winner and Shalrie's job to be the guy who links play out of the back up to the front. Of those two, Shalrie's the guy who did his job best. What you're looking for is for Shalrie to chase the ball around as a DM, but that would break down the team's ability to work the ball forward.