Same. I think of it as the bare minimum of optimism. A little better than last year, maybe enough to get into the playoffs.
C'mon, who's gonna clean up the mess when rkupp's head explodes when forced to make a prediction? This is a tough choice: Either aim low-ish and have a reasonable chance of being right, based on current information and be mocked for lack of faith, or be Pollyanna, and enjoy the very slim chance that you might be right, but more likely be mocked for it later. Either way, there will be serious chop-busting involved. Me? I would love, more than anything, to be proven wrong on my 41-point prediction, and if the Revs surpass my low expectations by leaps and bounds, we're all happy. I'll gladly take all the "I tole ya so" barbs.
I might be ready to throw a prediction out there by late July. By which point, technically, a lot of my prediction would be better classified as "post-diction".
I'm aiming low. I don't want to harsh anyone's buzz, but Friedel has yet to establish a style or system (pressing isn't a system), we have new players who aren't integrated, and old players whom I'm worried want out (Diego, Cropper, to name two.) We never acquired a game-changing player. I'm just worried about the whole vibe around the club, and I am not convinced that we are a better club than we were last year. Meanwhile, a number of other clubs, most notably Philly, are looking much better. I promise I would be delighted to be wrong.
I agree with so much of this except maybe the "pressing tendencies" of Friedel. He claims he'll not be a pressing coach if he has other options in terms of quality personnel on the field. As for him yet to establish a style or system. I totally agree. And, I believe the players know this and I think they privately resent him for it. They also resent how B.F. calls them out publicly for their errors, but never owns up to his own errors - which we saw in plain view last year. Some of his subs and tactics had me scratching my head. The L.A. Galaxy implosion at home is the first one to come to mind.
I know it's just your belief, but can you point to anything as evidence of that? I know Rowe seems happy to have moved on, but that probably has as much to do with reduced playing time as anything. -------------- I'm going with 51, which includes a large amount of faith that the roster hasn't had enough time to really get in sync this preseason (though they should have been able to). I think they brought in some solid additions last year, I think Mancienne hasn't come close to showing his best yet, Bye will start to mature, Castillo will be a major improvement at LB (which should help Penilla significantly), Gil will find a role as the director of this orchestra and that our improved artillery of attacking options will provide some good options. We still have a number of troubling issues as well and hopefully they will get solved over time (finding a quality #6, developing some cohesion/consistency in the back 5).
The procrastination club will be meeting next week. Time and place have yet to be determined. Regarding your prediction, all I can say is that I hope you know something I don't and you're a lot smarter than I am!
Let me start by saying I sincerely, hope I'm wrong and that Brad has his team and knows what he's doing. That said, no, I can't point to evidence. The operative word I used is believe and I thank you for acknowledging that.
I hope you are right, but I think the odds of all of that happening are pretty small. The "experts" putting the Revs behind every team from last year doesn't fill me with confidence, even if I do think they may have put too much weight into the Orlando debacle. I believe it is possible the Revs make the playoffs, but I don't believe it will happen until I see more evidence. 43 pts.
33 points. This team is not good at winning the ball or possessing the ball, which makes it really difficult to score. I don’t see this team being able to pull off a bunch of 1-0 wins.
Initially came out with 45 points, which feels high but I don't think we drop below last year's 41. Thankfully that all works out to the same range.
Please sir, could we vote again? I bet most of you would like to take a re-vote. 0.25 PPG after 4 games. They are on a path to 8.5 points for the season. How's that going to shape up even next to the every sinking MLS playoff bar?
The last time we had that bad a season, Burns and Bilello got a promotion! So you know ... we've got that going for us!