Revs at Houston POST Game Discussion (R)

I for one was very impressed overall by the young ones. Of course there were some mistakes, but the desired result is what we got so it is all good!

 

huge 3 points going forward with these games in hand.

 

Yeah, great game. The Revs were attacking well and looked quite dangerous offensively. MOTM for me would be Matt Reis who stopped about 3 shots that mere mortals wouldn't be able to. 2nd would be Kheli Dube who has really stepped his game up in the past month or two.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the defense is playing. 2 rookies, 1 eccentric rogue defender with no prior MLS experience, and 1 player who joined the Revs just over a year ago as a developmental player... and they have the longest current streak of not allowing goals in the MLS at 307 minutes? Great work.
One other thing, the Shalrie substitution looked like a mistake.

 

I think the coaches have gotten to Osei, who seems to be making a lot more long clearances than was his wont.

Incidentally, speaking of Osei, on the telecast they said he had "limited English." But the guy is from Ghana, an English-speaking country. Anyone know the truth of the matter?

Howzat?

 

I think playing the counter attacking game against Houston made sense due to the injury situation and the temp / humidity. I felt it was a dogged performance, making it difficult for Houston but also reminding them every now and again that the Revs could be dangerous with counter attacks. For the most part I felt it worked though they rode their luck at times especially after they took the lead and Houston showed more urgency to equalise. Probably unlucky not to score before when Dube actually did (hit the post / crossbar twice if i'm not mistaken).

Various notes:

- Osei - He seems to read the game well knowing when to attack the ball, when to help out a colleague and when to stay back. Showed it throughout the game.
- Alston - Solid display. Guy has bags and bags of energy making loads of runs to support the attack
- Mansally - Decent display. Made a good cross field pass to Nyassi. Unfortunately Nyassi wasn't able to finish it though.
- Ralston & Dube - For being aware & alive to the pass into space, making a low cross into the box to be finished for the goal.
- Nyassi - Shots on goal were a lot closer with one or two on target forcing a save.
- Whole team - Solid defensive display with one or two heart stopping moments.
- Thompson - Don't think he gave up possession for the 10+ minutes he was on the park!

 

I was watching Alston's runs and hoping he could connect on that final pass. He didn't for the most part and I was thinking that when he does his game will be amazing. Then he made that sweet pass that led to the goal! If there weren't a bumper crop of rookies this year he'd be a shoe in for rookie of the year.

I was also very impressed with Mansally's game. He dropped back on defense very consistently, making some important plays.

With the limited minutes our expected starters have played, this team is very impressive up to this point. It will be interesting to see what Nicol does once Albright, Castro and Twellman are truly available.

 

Very impressive performance on the whole. Onstad did a great job making stop and being proactive, he really kept Houston in the game.

Also, if Heaps isn't ready to play next saturday, and Shalrie can go 90 mins, I'd like to see the revs go back to a 3-5-2. Tierney really hasn't been bringing anything to the table and I'd like to see Mike V and Rally get a chance to play together more.

Reis
Alston Barnes Osei
Nyassi Red Dread Mansally
Mike V
Rally Dube​

 

Here are some shots of Reis that I took during the game - the first one looks very uncomfortable





Last save was amazing

 

Reis does that every week.

 

Can't believe the Revs put out that kind of effort in that heat and humidity.

Only downside is our wings need to play good balls more often. Both of their play is erratic.

 

A gritty, professional performance. It was encouraging to see these young guys work within a game plan - and be effective. We need to work on killing off a match though - Matty saved our asses.

They seem to be really taking it easy with Joseph - even late in the game when we could have used him in DMid for possession, SN had him playing up top.

With Toronto, DC, Chicago and KC all leaving points on the table, it was a good week to win our 2nd on the road.

 

I can't remember a Revs game where the Revs had that many chances and Twellman wasn't playing. I was hoping to see Castro get in there. We are getting the points we needed to with the games in hand.

 

Amazing

SN's new game plan. Play mostly poor the first half, bring in Joseph to save the day, get 3 points. I suspect we'll see the same thing until it stops working

I thought Dube was crap all night then he's in the right place and scores the winner If Wells had 1/4 the turnovers that Dube or Nyassi had, these boards would be calling for his head

For all his speed, what does Nyassi really accomplish? His crossing is poor, he often takes the shot when others are open (with a better angle). When he does shoot, he usually overcooks it to the point that it's usually not on net.

There was nothing wrong with Wells last night, he added stability and possession over Nyassi

Alston was just great last night. My MOTM. Great work rate and speed. Numerious 1v1 shutdowns and that killer pass that lead to the goal. His best game IMO. Next week we get Heaps back and that will help too

We've got 6 points out of the last two games and that's good. I just wonder if this can continue? Joseph can't always save the game in the second half.

 

I thought the Revs played better in the first half then they did in the second half. Dube had plenty of chances and didn't do anything with them, but he also did create chances and got himself open for those chances, which is the first thing a forward needs to do.

Nyassi has better ball control and more explosiveness then Wells. He's also younger. I'll take Nyassi over Wells any day of the week, because he's just a better player.

 

What a great game...end to end action with chances by both sides.

A beautiful goal by the Rev's , great vision by the Rev's defender with an excellent thru ball into space for Ralston to run on to. I've watched the replay several times and his composure in seeing the approaching Onstad and the closing defender combined with the ability to deftly lift the ball up and over with the outside of his left foot was sensational. Great timing run by Dube for the finish.

Watching Reis in the closing minutes was a thrill. If you watch a replay on that save, he couldn't get to the ball, got tripped , was on the ground and made it back up and into a position to make the one handed flip save. CLASSIC!

I have underwear older than some of our defenders last night. Fortunately, there are fewer holes in our defense than my old BVD's....

 

nice game by the Revs. I thought everyone played well. I do cringe everytime Wells takes the field but they were able to dodge a few bullets and take 3 on the road. Well deserved win

 

Huge win for the team, and I didn't realize that Houston's loss was their first home loss this season, so that makes it extra special.

The Revs have some great momentum going to next weeks game which in my opinion will be the biggest game of the season thus far.

With Heaps back in the fold I think the holes we've been seeing in the defence will improve. and if I was Chris Albright I would be very concern for my job right now because Alston is the real deal.

Go Revs!!!

 

It looks like Houston missed Ching and Holden more than we did Heaps. We definiteley outplayed them the whole game. Maybe the Dynamos underestimated us because of all our injuries.

 

Not sure about the outplayed part but we won anyway.

If Houston had Holden and Ching we would have needed Heaps more. Their attack suffered greatly with the absences and our defense was mostly solid. If we were under attack more, we might have been more exposed and then the Heaps absence would have been more obvious.

I'm just happy for Jay right now that he's getting these caps.

 

Who's Chris Albright?

 

Revs have a nice string of matches where they've played well. Couldn't be more pleased how the players are moving, passing, and using each other so much better than at the beginning of the year.

Number of good quality shot opportunities was impressive. Team needs to convert more of them or they won't climb the ladder much.

Great to see Reis have such a big match.

Mansally seems to be taking more and more of a leadership role on the team.

Houston looked tired.