The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread X

Yes. They practice in the stadium occasionally.

 

Anyone else concerned about scoring? We spend a lot of time dissecting the D, but with the exception of RSL 4/25 (4GF) and TFC 8/1 (3GF), it has been at times 2, mostly 1, or almost as frequently 0 goals scored. Feels like way too many single goal games.

Maybe that is par for the course historically, but the gut keeps on telling me that all is not well in the finishing department. And the gut is significant (it literally carries some weight).

We know about the woes of the D, but this year it seems like the goals have been at a premium. You either need to "D" your way through playoffs, or "outscore". This team seems prepared to do neither particularly well.

 

Exactly right. I said that at the beginning of the year and it's gotten progressively worse. They put all their goal scoring eggs in the Davies and Agudelo basket which was a stupid decision based mainly on the latter being meh in his second stint as a rev. I had a slim hope Okoli would provide "diamond in the rough" quality but he's mainly been all rough and no diamond. In fact, he's underperformed enough to never see the field. With Nguyen regressing to the mean, Bunbury and Rowe being mediocre and Fagundez contributing but nowhere near what he's done in the past, goals were always going to be hard to come by.

 

They are 9th in MLS in goals per game (1.35). So yeah, they are in the top half of the league in that department but barely. For comparison, last year's team averaged 1.5 goals per game which was good for...9th! Last year's offense was red hot down the stretch and scored 2+ goals in 8 of the 10 games in that 9-1 stretch with Jones to end the year.

While the stats might not show it, I think this team is probably better off offensively than it was last year. Nguyen has definitely cooled off since last year but he's still good and has been better of late. Diego and Rowe have been better than they were last year. Davies has been more dangerous this year. Agudelo is a better option as a backup striker than Mullins or anyone we had last year (even if that's not what we brought him here to be). Bunbury has been about the same.

Though, it almost seems like it could be as simple as this team is so different (and very dependent) on Jones. Did a little number crunching so excuse me if my math is off by a bit:
2015 with Jones in the lineup: 22 goals in 12 games (1.86 g/g, shut out once)
2015 without Jones: 13 goals in 14 games (0.92 g/g, shut out 5 times)
All time with Jones (regular season + last year's playoffs): 52 goals in 26 games (2 g/g, shut out twice)

It's pretty insane how one guy (a central midfielder no less) makes such a huge difference in the team's offense. He seems to be worth every penny of that DP contract.

 

Tell that to Bilello, the MIT number-crunching quant, when it comes time to make a decision. I share your view and shudder to think what this team will be like going into next year without Jones. I can just hear Burns now say how surprised he was that he signed somewhere else, or sniffing that, well, he was injured a lot of the time here, so we couldn't justify the fiscal imprudence. And there's another transfer window coming up, so we're sure gonna try to sign someone who's just as good, but younger and healthier, for less money, which will give us more cap flexibility to sign even more players...

 

Sorry, I wasn't comparing Mullins this year vs. Agudelo this year. I meant Agudelo this year vs. Mullins last year. Mullins scored 4 goals last year (in 21 GP, 14 GS, 1198 minutes), but all of those goals came in May. He really struggled to get anything going at the end of the year last year. That assist to Tierney in MLS Cup was the only offensive contribution I can remember him making after May.

Agudelo has also been playing out of position for most of the year at wing, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Davies has really cemented his spot as the starter, which I don't think many people expected with Agudelo returning. Agudelo has been a disappointment, but I still think he's a better option off the bench than what we had last year, especially if he can play just close to his potential. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's looked more alive the last few games, when Heaps has been subbing him on as a striker rather than playing him at wing.

Also, they only protected Neumann after Mullins was taken. They should have had Neumann get minutes somewhere else though, I agree.

 

Pats use Gillette Field for practice quite a bit during the regular season, especially when the Revs season ends and colder/snow weather arrives.

 

Pats play home on Thursday Night. So the grass isn't down yet.

 

The revs are grooming Caldwell to be JJ's long term replacement. It's obvious.

 

Just like Dorman was Clint Dempsey's replacement.

 

Speaking of Dorman, yesterday I saw him on the sidelines as an assistant coach for BU/BC in front of an announced 7,379 at BU (game was free). The announcers also annouced Charlie Davies and Lee Nyguen as special coaches for BC, but I didn't see them on the sideline.

 

Making their "Bones" in preparation for coaching careers?

 

Felix De Bona scored BU's second goal. Is he still revs property?

 

Saw this article on Arsenal's lack of summer transfers and cracked up.

Arsenal are the revs of the prem!

 

But, I think that's exactly it. Jones switches the field with one pinpoint long, cross-field pass, so defenses don't have the time to shift their whole formation over (which means they have to commit a little more to the weak side, so there is more space through the middle).

When Jones isn't in the lineup, it takes us 3-4, slow, methodical, often-inaccurate passes to switch fields, so that by the time the ball arrives at the defenses "weak" side, it's already their "strong" side.

Without Jones, we play the ball back way too often - as though they see that as an option with no downside (but, of course, there is. It's slows their attack, allows the defense to reform and ends the attacking threat). We get our goals, usually, through some kind of sustained attack.

 

This makes me wonder if they will even be laying the grass.

They can't lay it on Friday as it would be unplayable on Saturday and then they likely could not lay it on Sunday with the US game on Tuesday for the same reason.

 

Exactly right! Jones is as often the guy who passes to the guy who passes to the guy who scores (and often that pass is the one that springs the play) as the one who gets the assist. There are some similarities between his role and Shalrie's in the mid-2000's as the "quarterback" of the offense, even though he's usually playing out of the back.

 

Yes. That's also one of the reasons I loved Andy Williams - among the best long-passers ever in MLS.

 

With respect to the Leo Alvarez admirers, I never liked that trade.

 

Alvarez was acquired for Ariel Graziani not Andy Williams.

Andy Williams was in the six player trade to Metros in 2002.

 

Yup, it was Williams, Ted Chronopolous and Mamadou Diallo for Daniel Hernandez, Brian Kamler and Diego Serna. I remember at the time having mixed feelings--in the dispersal draft, I would have taken Serna (he always killed us when he was with Miami) instead of Diallo, and the other guys, well, being more familiar with the Revs, I liked our existing guys better. But both Kamler and Hernandez turned out to be pretty good players for us during the time they were here. Williams and Teddy C unfortunately didn't do a whole lot in Metro-land, but that probably had more to do with the overall dysfunction of their entire organization. Metro Playoff Fever indeed!

I liked Alvarez a lot when he was here, but it was weird trading Graziani almost the minute we had signed him. This was before the Allocation Order was in place, so you can see that happening today, but then, we deliberately went out of our way to sign a guy, and then turned around and traded him. We did this with Oscar Pareja as well. I'm drawing a blank on who we got for him. Anyone remember?

 

Both trades were Dallas and both times we got an Alvarez in return. Graziani for Leo Alvarez; Pareja for Damian Alvarez. We lost out on both trades.

 

Thanks for the correction! I remembered the bad taste better than the details, apparently.

 

No question about the 2nd, but the 1st was a good deal for the Revs. Graziani scored a ton of goals - and maybe he would have for us also - but for some reason, none of his MLS teams wanted to hold onto him for very long, despite his scoring abilities.