Can we review why 12 teams make the playoffs? Why there isn't relegation? I know protection of owner investment is offered for the latter but shouldn't there be some risk for the complacent?
Kraft would likely sue mls if they instituted relegation. The whole reason he invested was that he gets a constant revenue stream for minimal inputs every year.
This team quit in this game. Farrell didn't, Caldwell didn't, Nguyen didn't, but Davies, Agudelo, Woodberry, Goncalves all quit. Davies didn't even chase a nice through ball by Fagundez in the second half. Really disappointing to watch. Heaps has lost the respect/fear of the players, I think.
And that is just more evidence that this league really needs it. Owners like Kraft are the death of franchises. Get in regulation and then you get excitement inserted into the league, and as a huge bonus you can't get dead anchors on franchises like Kraft because they won't just own the team as one other ledger notation that they can use to funnel money though and after a couple of weeks forget that they even own a team as the money piles up.
It begs the question, what has Donny Smith or Hall done to be SO buries on the bench? It's kind of incredible.
I've supported Newcastle United since before MLS existed. Their current owner makes Kraft look wonderful. P/r is not a magical pill to eliminate bad ownership. Think about this way- the team gets by right now with 15,000-16,000 people coming out. What percentage would really notice or care that tonight's opponent isn't Philadelphia Union but Harrisburg City Islanders instead? 70%? 80%? Be careful what you wish for. Bob would love relegation. He'd settle in at the bottom and still get 8,000 or so to come out, plus Gold Cup and other US games. More than he'd bring in if the stadium was just closed during the whole NFL offseason (which is the sole reason the team exists).
I don't think I've ever seen a more shambolic 20 minutes from the Revs than the opener of this game. Painful to watch. The thing that struck me is how when Fagundez came on, the team suddenly began to play with more tempo, intensity, purpose and effectiveness. Suddenly every player on the Revs was magically better. This team can't really afford to have someone like Agudelo sucking all the air from the room. Too bad he didn't choose to model his career on someone other than Freddy Adu.
They didn't look any better when Fagundez started the previous two matches over Agudelo. There isn't one leader on this team right now.
I have often wondered why the Krafts owned the Revs and I think you just hit the nail on the head, Thank you. I have thought that Juan is back to being as productive as he was with Chivas, which is close to non-existence. In his defense, Jay is trying to make a winger out of him. He is not a winger, just because it worked with Teal, doesn't mean it will always work. Juan is your lazy striker who only moves if he sees a goal scoring opportunity. My number one complaint about Heaps as a coach is you have Juan and Charlie and you don't play a 4 4 2. Heaps has his system; well it's not working!!!
Yeah we only really have a thin bench at the centerback and central defensive midfield position. At fullback, we have Tierney, Alston, Smith and Hall, plus 3 out of our four centerbacks are at least decent at the position in Barnes, Woodberry and Farrell. We only have 4 CBs and 1 of those is our starting fullback; we only have 3 CDMs with one injured longterm and one constantly getting yellows and not having the required fitness to finish a game. But if Heaps decides Davies should sit, he has Agudelo and Okoli to choose from. If Nguyen should sit, we have Rowe, Fagundez, Neumann and Kobayashi. If Bunbury/Agudelo the winger should sit, we have Rowe, Fagundez, Neumann, Tierney and Smith. Heaps has plenty of attacking options; he's just been rolling out basically the same lineup every game of this losing streak, with the exception of flipping between Fagundez and Agudelo.
[QUOTE=" Heaps has plenty of attacking options; he's just been rolling out basically the same lineup every game of this losing streak, with the exception of flipping between Fagundez and Agudelo.[/QUOTE] Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.
I think the real issue here is the lack of depth prevents out of form players from sitting. It seems like most of the team is out of form, which is why they've played so poorly as of late. I'm sure they'll turn it around after a while, but will be bleeding points until then.
My condolences to the fans who made the trip. Man, that must have sucked to be down 3-0 12 minutes into the game. Looking ahead to next year (which is all we can do at this point), it seems that Jones isn't coming back, and neither is JoGo. Probably other guys will be moved and we will add nothing again. This team is looking like the last 2 years of the Nicol era. Makes me want to be a Chicago Fire fan.
It was tough, not gonna lie. I'm glad my phone died on the way home, otherwise Twitter would have fueled my frustration.
I guess I'm not sold on Smith, Hall, or Okoli as anything more than emergency, late game subs. I think if Heaps thought they could play, they'd be out there more.
Well, Hall sucked the last time he got a shot and Smith is a lefty and Tierney's probably the least of the issues at this point. FWIW, that's actually not true, but it gets repeated so often people think it is. Still struggling to think of something positive to say about this game. It would be one thing to lose to a late goal or be competitive, but come up short. But, to basically play themselves out of the game in the first few minutes, like they've done the last couple of games, is a whole new level of dysfunction. I disagree with the Twellman tweet - I think Heaps is very much in trouble here. There was an awful lot of positive energy after last season. Now, that's been all flipped on it's head. Plenty of blame goes to Burns for not delivering some reinforcements, but alarm bells have to be going off for a coach who seems unable to stop a long losing skid for the 2nd year in a row. Two games where we didn't even have a chance. A couple more like that and a change will have to be made IMO. To miss the playoffs with this team (even without any reinforcements beyond Agudelo and Woodbury) would be a colossal failure.
YOUR New England Revolution, leading the league in unwanted MLS records: New York Red Bulls set Major League Soccer record with early goal explosion vs. New England Revolution July 13, 2015 MLSsoccer staff MLSsoccer.com
I disagree with you and Twellman. The revs exceeded expectations last year and went on an improbable run and played far better than their level of talent. This season is far more accurate in terms of who they are. Without a healthy and dominant JJ played in his normal position, they are just a mediocre team that may indeed sneak into thethe playoffs, but it certainly isn't an expectation. I disagree that it would be a colossal failure.
Trouble with who? Burns is too busy chasing that defender he's been looking for the last 9 months. Bilello is too busy with SSS 2024. Attendance is up and the Revs aren't in last place (yet), so the Kraft's haven't noticed anything. As soon as Jones gets healthy, everything will be fine (or so they keep telling themselves). Like you and others have pointed out, they swoon EVERY summer. Clavijo was the only one fired mid year, and that was in May, before the summer swoon. Heaps is safe until end of season at a minimum. MLS Cup appearance most likely bought him a year beyond that. Now, end of 2016, with no Jones, no JoGo and the Revs out of the playoffs, then maybe.
But Clavijo was fired in May, only because they really should have fired him in the off-season and brought in Nicol as his "assistant," with the obvious move to make the change if, I mean when things started to turn sour. Also, wRongen was fired mid-season (or actually toward the end) when he too should have been fired the year before. Of course, Nicol stayed on about 2 years too long, but whose counting? Bottom line is that Heaps may get the axe once we finish in 8th place in 2016, after another winter of discontent, and no significant influx of new players. He may but he'll likely get another chance to turn the ship around. After all, he "led us to MLS Cup a couple of years ago."