The off-season

I'd guess that it's somewhere between 50-60%. Very few teams have had as many large international signings go bust like the Revs have. Toronto and Chivas might be the only other teams, and that's obviously bad company to keep. Houston has also been surprisingly bad considering how successful they've been.

 

Actually, I'd say 50% is about just above average for the league. Toronto and Chivas are closer to 90% failure.

If you look at a another middle of the road team like Philadelphia, you see about 50% failure.

Success:
Gomez

Kinda:
Kleberson
Fabinho
Torres
Pajoy
Kai Herdling
Soumare

Failure to make an impact:
Nikolov
Gilberto
Yann Ekra (still young, so maybe not complete failure)
Khalfan
Josue Martinez
Lopez

The issue is that you don't hear about the failures on other teams. Do you think fans of other MLS teams have ever heard of Björn Runström?

 

Really? Luis Landin a long time ago and Carlo Costly are the only ones I remember. Boniek Garcia, Giles Barnes, Jermaine Taylor, and Andrew Driver are all solid contributors.

Seattle though, are underrated in the "bust" department internationally - Freddie Ljungberg, Blaise Nkufo, Christian Tiffert - all Designated Players. The Fire's DP history is even more eye-popping with how bad it's been.

 

A guy who plays four times on loan (Herdling) is a "kinda"-success. I'd call that a mulligan (same for Charlie Davies). Same goes for Soumare, a guy who left MLS and came back, but only played four times for the Union and was dealt for a second round pick. I don't think we're applying the same low bar for our signings that you seem to have applied here.

 

I follow the league extremely closely so I've heard of other team's equivalents of Runstrom.

As for the above. I discluded Toja from my calculation for the Revs, so Soumare would also be out. The Kleberson deal was merely a partial season rental and a way to get rid of Freddy Adu's contract. So I think that needs some consideration as well.

It's worth noting that you're comparing us to a non-playoff caliber team. If you want to make the playoffs you have to be more successful with foreign signings. Houston is the only team I can think of that has been successful without making quality international signings.

 

If somebody has the time I would also be interested to know how the "fell into our laps" signings have worked for the Revs and the rest of the league. I am thinking about some of the "lottery" situations where some folks (myself included) wonder why the Revs did not participate at times as well as the Benny or Toja sort of acquisitions.

 

Houston simply doesn't rely heavily on foreign players. I guess that was more of my point. The don't have a ton of busts, but they also don't have a ton of successes.

As for Seattle, Ljundberg wasn't a bust IMO. Nkufo and Tiffert were. Jury is out on Martins. Montero, Hurtado, Morales, Gspurning, and Gonzalez have been good signings. I'd argue about 50%, although their busts have been more expensive than their successes.

 

Easily accessible info from Wikipedia (no interest in digging for earlier years).

2011
Allocations - Jay DeMerit (VAN), Kenny Cooper (POR), Charlie Davies (DC), Freddy Adu (PHL), Benny Feilhaber (NE), Sammy Ochoa (SEA)
Lotteries - David Bingham (SJ), Cody Arnoux (RSL), Chris Agorsor (PHL), Korey Veeder (CMB), Soony Saad (SKC)

2012
Allocations - Eddie Johnson (MTL, traded to SEA), Bakary Soumare (PHL), Juan Toja (NE), Marcus Hahnemann (SEA, acquired from TOR), Kamani Hill (COL), Luis Robles (NY)
Lotteries - Lee Nguyen (VAN, released), Marcus Tracey (SJ)

2013
Allocations - Carlos Bocanegra (CHV), Carlos Ruiz (DC)
Lotteries - Mobi Fehr (POR), Gale Agbossoumonde (TOR), Charles Eloundou (COL), Conor Doyle (DC)

The overall success rate does not seem particularly high for acquisitions in this manner.

 

The "allocations falling into our laps" method (Toja and Feilhaber) are situations where if you get a decent player and he works out, great, but it shouldn't be counted at the same standard as a guy who you targeted, and went out and signed, instead of a half-dozen other guys you might have. The other thing is that you get guys who are good players but inthe wrong situation, which is how I'd classify both of our guys.

 

I fully agree with the bolded above. I am actually not being sarcastic about releasing Imbongo (aka Khano 2.0). I agree that his goal in the last match was very nice and that he has the ability to play a decent hold up role. Unfortunately...that's it for him.
His game sense is terrible. He is constantly out of position for a hold up forward. He puts himself to the sideline as if he were going to receive a clearance there and make a 1v1 run at the defenders. This is not something he does well at all.
He does not dribble in traffic nor pass well. He does not shoot well from outside the 6 (not a typo) and he may win some headers but for the life of me I cannot remember him scoring from a set piece (header). I may have missed seeing that though.
There are any number of tough forwards in the league (and coming into the draft) that can do what he does plus shoot, pass and if the stars align, dribble in traffic. (younger versions of say Conor Casey, Lenhart, Gordon, Ching etc.)
Tough is good. Tough is glorious and I am 100% behind some good smashmouth football if the need arises. However, limiting ourselves to "well, he's good enough" is in fact, limiting ourselves.
Rarely am I so often disappointed in the decisions a player makes game in and game out but between Khano previously and Imbongo now, I just don't see the attraction. If he improves over the silly season and proves me wrong, I will happily retract.
God I'm pompous (sorry about that).

 

I would never put Khano and Imbongo in the same category. Imbongo is just better than Khano ever was, and Imbongo is only 23 years old. Not only that, but Imbongo has improved immensely over the last year, something Khano never really did. I think Imbongo projects to be a starting level forward in MLS a year or two down the road.

With Imbongo, the only thing that's missing is his decision making. Khano was missing both tactics and technique.

 

But why? I listed all the reasons I felt excluded him from a spot. "Just better than Khano" doesn't really give me a warm fuzzy.
Also, Improved how? I get that people like the guy, I just don't see the actual reasons why.

 

Because, this is how I'd scout them:

0 = bare minimum for a professional
5 = near world class

Code:

Player   Dribbling  Finishing  Touch  Passing  Vission  Speed  Heading  Phsyicality  Maturity  Defense  Total
Khano        1          0        1       1        0       4       1          1           2        1       12
DI (bef.)    1          0        1       0        1       3       2          3           1        1       13
DI (now)     2          1        2       1        1       3       2          4           1        1       18
DI (pot.)    2          3        3       2        2       3       3          4           3        1       26

I'd think that a player over a 22/50 would be a decent MLS starter.

 

I guess we'll agree to disagree then. No way is DI a better finisher or dribbler than Khano imho. I can't point to a single game where DI demonstrated that. How you expect DI to go from never heading a ball on frame to rating him a 3/5 for World class is just without merit, I'm sorry. There is also no way he rates a 4/5 for speed with or without the ball. Not World class 4/5. He's barely MLS 3/5 downhill with a strong wind.
You like the guy. I get it. I like his attitude as well. The evidence just doesn't support the optimism.
(I will add the caveat that I mostly see him on TV and I know what a difference that makes.)

 

I look for a couple things as far as dribbling. Speed: Imbongo is faster with the ball at his feet. 1v1 ability: Imbongo can regularly beat 1 defender, the issue is when he tries to take on 3 or 4. Khano was slower when he actually had to dribble in traffic. Also, he really couldn't beat a player 1v1 unless he could just knock it by him and run.

As far as finishing, I'm just looking at general accuracy. Khano was known for hitting them 20 rows up. Imbongo, not really. If you look at the percentage of on target shots over a season, Khano and Imbongo were about the same, but Imbongo during the second half of this season was better (approaching 50%).

Heading =/= heading the ball on frame. Heading = aerial ability, or the ability to win aerial challenges.

That's why I gave him a 3/5 for speed.

 

Heaps isn't a good coach at all. Preseason predictions for the team may have been low but they had the talent to do better than they did.

 

How did they happen to get that talent? You give Heaps no credit for putting this team together?

 

Burns is the GM. Heaps has a say but this is Burns' team.

 

Yes, we have a pretty talented team. Credit Heaps or Burns with that all you want, that doesn't make him a good *coach*. Maybe his talent would be better served in a front office/player acquisition role but not with lineups/substitutions/tactics.

 

I disagree. I think he is a very good coach, and the Revs are either very smart or very lucky to have him. In two years he has remade the team, shipping out veterans (including the iconic Shalrie) and keeping the few he wanted (Reis), bringing in talent from trades, signings, draft, academy, and putting people in spots where they can succeed (Fagundez, McCarthy, Rowe and Nguyen). He has put together a talented team that is developing a system of play. The team overcame crushing losses (2012 USOC, and the 2012 endless series of one goal losses) and has developed a toughness, confidence, even swagger. Lineups, substitutions, tactics? All good. The tactics against SKC, and the sub of Dorman off/Caldwell on at halftime, gave the Revs a chance to steal a win against a team that is deeper, more experienced, father along in having a style they can impose on other teams.

Yes, the team still needs a few pieces -- a replacement for Agudelo and a replacement for what Bengtsen was supposed to be, and one more midfielder, and maybe a new keeper. But while still a work in progress, the team is already widely admired around the league by soccer journalist and fans who note the talented core and the exciting style. We are fortunate to be following this team in the Heaps era.

I have no info on who has the most say on player acquisition, but it seems unlikely that Heaps is not calling the shots on player evaluation. But you follow this closer than I do -- are you saying it is Burns' team because he has the GM title, or do you know that he is making the decisions about signees, draftees, trades, contract renewals, etc?

 

One of the good things about the Burns/Heaps method towards drafting is they don't think they're smarter than everyone else. Farrell and Rowe were both widely considered to be top picks.
Compare that to Nicol, who often couldn't help himself in drafting someone no one else thought was worth a first round pick.

 

Again, the recent personnel moves have been good overall (although Reis has been pretty bad for quite some time) but his lineups aren't great, his substitutions aren't overly timely or effective, and he isn't really a tactical genius.