I tell you what, Lechner is a much better fullback than both Alston or Tierney. Defense is much more secure when he's out there.
Possession - Revs=35%, Union=65% Corners - Revs=3, Union=10 (Revs don't get their first till 71st min) Revs had zeros in all stats except for a yellow at halftime Heaps had 5 starters whom he brought in(Bengston, Lee, Cardenas, Lechner, and Simms), along with DP Benny, and his move of McCarthy to CB. Granted they were missing Sene. Impression is this is his vision of the team. Barnes was no better than Soares (and that goes to show that neither of them are going to be All-stars of the future). At least no dreaded long throw-ins from Barnes. Not sure we missed the cultured left foot either. Team is just plain lost, and not sure if the players are unsure of Heaps and that is playing into it. Here comes red hot Columbus on Wed
Watched the highlights on MLSsoccer.com. Only 1 clip featured the Revs offense, and that was Rowe's shot, which was created by a weird deflection from the left side of the field to the right. Pathetic.
Missed this game but reading your guys' impressions, seems like I missed nothing. That sucks about Sene's injury. I hope those who wanted him benched are happy now. So is Diego Fagundez still a future Rev starter? Haven't seen the kid on the scoresheet and have hardly noticed him on the field. If you're good, you're old enough and I don't know if he's good. On to the next one.
It's tough to judge any of these guys individually right now. You can only look good if you play as a team and that simply isn't happening. We have guys on this roster that have excelled on their previous teams, but fail to make an impact here. That tells you somethings wrong. If we go the rest of the season without winning a game, do people really want to see Heaps and Burns in charge. I'm sure Heaps is capable given the right resources (human and other), but he didn't have the right resources this year. The team performed horribly (especially given the individual talent on the roster), and I think the players may loose faith. Do you really want to go into next season with players that don't "believe" in the coach?
I agree with that. No one looked particularly bad last night, but it just didn't come together, especially on offense. I'd be hard put to say exactly what was wrong, though I do think Philly had a stronger and more disciplined back line that the Revs have faced recently. One positive note is that the defensive shakeup produced better results, in spite of a few nervous moments. Those who have been wanting the Revs to play a more physical game will have been gratified by Lechner's presence in the back. Alston was solid on the left, but the attacking game missed Tierney's willingness to get forward. It's a pity -- combine the best of Alston and the best of Tierney, and you'd have one pretty good fullback.
Agreed. I thought we looked much better in the back without Tierney. And we looked like utter crap attacking. I thought Benny actually wasn't too bad, but just too many give aways in the attacking half by everyone. Reis easily MOTM. 11,841 attendance. We're just getting worse and worse. And no one in the Revs organization seems to care.
Not true--Mike Burns was shown on camera aggressively going after...the last bite of chicken on his plate. The headline: BURNS STUFFS FACE WHILE TEAM FLOUNDERS
Would you guys be saying this if Reis wasn't MOTM and given an average 2012 performance. I like Lechner but his pace isn't good enough to regularly start. He made mistakes that almost lead to a few goals. But I like his intensity and offensive upside which is far beyond Alston. Sure the end result was a shutout, but I didn't feel anymore competent in them than usual. We played Philly, who is a single point ahead of us in the standings, at home! Now if Alston can play LB (can anyone play it better, is the real question) I think Lechner starts. Barnes looked the best of the bunch, especially with his recovery speed which is Maca's huge weakness. Midfield coverage continued to by shaky, but I'm glad we finally tried something different at D. Reis made them defense successful last night, plain and simple.
Alston hit the best cross of his career with his left foot last night. I say keep him at lb, and rotate Lechner, Barnes, Guy at rb.
Burns was revolting. Here's my version of your excellent headline: Television audience sees Burns champ on "see food" while team flounders.
Really?? I like Flo, I love his crossing ability and veteran savvy, but he seems to make some bogus errors... like dribbling into traffic in the middle of the field and letting the ball bounce under his foot. I think the turf actually might have something to do with it... that and lack of communication in the back line, because I refuse to believe that a long time German veteran could make such ridiculous mistakes
And making blind passes to areas with no teammates. And having the ball stripped off his feet by an opponent whom he never saw coming. Interesting. I have wondered the same thing. He seems to have some expectations of his teammates that are not being met. At the same time, he is not adapting as quickly as one could have hoped.
This was one of the worst games I have ever attended. Both teams were bad, but I'd say the Revs were worse. The highlight of the night for me was getting a new Nike Deion Branch jersey in the Proshop for $25. (yes I know he was cut, but I think they will bring him back after week 1).
I only got to see the second half. Honestly, I was just happy to see a change in the back line. Something different to work with. I see Lechner have these great moments... and then he cancels it out with an incredibly bad one. I liked seeing Barnes back on the field (with his main contributions not revolving solely on long throw-ins). The backline's been pretty consistent, meaning the same four players losing the same amount of games and feeling like the cause of many gut-wrenching losses. New blood, in Barnes and Flo, don't bear those scars. Those two have something to prove, and want in on the starting XI. They're playing with passion. Something the rest of the regulars are in short supply. And it was such an awesome relief knowing CT wasn't taking any set pieces for us today. (I only saw part of the game, so I don't really know how the overall quality of deliveries were) Even if it was ugly, at least it was different.
I wonder why Tierney is not practicing/dressing but not on the injury list? Is he in the process of being traded? In all likelihood he just needed a rest but it's strange his sitting things out. I know people on this Board hold his playing abilities in low esteem but I'm not sure that's a universally held opinion by his peers and league coaches.
It's not about that, its about positional discipline. Alston and Tierney wander forwards forgetting the space they leave behind, they make it impossible for the center backs. Lechner isn't as active offensively but he understands the game better.
Agreed - -and yes she is 11. We sit right in the front row and her grandparents came down to the seats near us to watch her. She is 11. And while she had her nervous parts she also came through at key times and put her stamp on the anthem - she was great. (BTW - she had never sung in a venue where you need to deal with the delayed feedback, so she had to figure that out between her practice session and going live...) This team is dreck - it was an absolutely (save Reis) dismal performance by every single person on the pitch IMHO. We are consistently a step slow, a thought slow a second slow on almost everything we do. In fact, we are more than a thought slow, it appears most of the time we have no idea whatsoever what to do. People with their heads down dribbling into 'cul de sacs', passes where we don't see the defense (Flo gave the ball away at our 20 yard line on a simple pass, incredible!!!) We were lost out there on Saturday, the only time I seriously considered leaving the game early in 17 years. For those singing Lechner's praises, I'm sorry I just don't see it. He is slow of foot and over aggressive. He consistently gets himself out of position and he consistently passes the ball to nowhere I do see his passion and his fervor and I liked that he went at the Philly defender when Rowe went down, but he was a liability out there (more than I think Tierney is). Jay - he needs to stop coaching basketball and start coaching soccer. He spends WAYYYY too much time complaining about the officiating - way too much time. He's going apoplectic on the sideline - basically giving his team an excuse as to why they "have it tough". The ref isn't calling the game that unevenly. You know - that can be true now and then, but not every single game - if you think that every game, then you need to really re-think what is going on. I do agree that the ref stunk on Saturday very badly. But he stunk both ways - not sure it was exactly 50-50, but nothing to say he adversely influenced the outcome of the game. Matt Reiss is the only Rev on the field who exercised any significant influence on the outcome of the game - thank goodness. Jay - stop going crazy on the refs and start thinking about what your team can do differently. He kept on telling them to hurry up on the throw-ins and keep the pace up. I can understand that in light of their need to 'think the game' faster, but they need more than someone telling them to go faster, they need some practice/drills that moves them there. I just think that while we may have a lot of individually talented players, they are talented with the ball, perhaps, but we need to evaluate them on their talent in playing the game. On Saturday, the Revs fell woefully short on that criteria.
It was only one game. I don't think this was an injury situation, more likely just to either rest him or to sit him because of another bad performance.
Did the Revs even get a shot on net from the run of play in the first half? Heaps subs actually had some affect, but he waited too long to swap Imbongo for Fagundez. Diego did nothing. He gets moved off the ball far too easily and just looks like a boy playing with men. Imbongo at least put some pressure on the Philly back line and once that happened they started coughing up the ball a little bit. Simms cross to no one was about the ONLY cross of the entire first half. That first half lineup was terrible. Philly closed down their wings and Diego far too easily.