Just over here to say kudos on that performance today. It was well deserved and Philly is much improved top to bottom. FWIW, Curtin nailed his tactics today; going at Tierney is exactly what any team should do to us. Your GK Blake is a stud and saved the points on several occasions. The guy that saved two (2) penalties was miserable in net? I respectfully disagree. Granted, both penalties were poorly taken IMO but he kept the revs in the game. On the revs board (and indeed, the revs broadcast) Shuttleworth's talked about as the revs' MOTM. Not saying I necessarily agree but saying he was miserable is a bit harsh. Philly should have won something like 4 or 5-1 (come on 2 posts on the same shot..). The Le Toux miss at 76' is normally clinical for him and based on law of averages I'd expect at least one of the two penalties to go in on another day. In any event, good luck the rest of the way (except against us if course).
Sounds like I'm in the minority here, but while I think she did a great job with the anthem, I much prefer having the crowd sing it.
So the Union sit in 2nd place (behind Montreal on goals scored) with more than a few positives heading into the bye week: *Blake is the best young goalie in MLS despite others getting more accolades (Gonzalez - DAL, Bingham - SJ), he has yet to give up soft goals and has a real command of his 6 yard box on crosses - an achilles heel for Union goalies for a long time. MacMath showed it again tonight vs. DCU when his spill on a cross led to the goal to tie the game, while new Rapids GK Tim Howard watched the game from RFK. * Fabinho is surprisingly good in aerial duels despite his lack of height. * Rosenberry has some very good ball skills and was better defensively today. * Marquez and Tribbett were an effective CB pairing although can do without their Ethan White long balls to no one (Marquez was more the guilty one today). * Creavalle should be playing DM ahead of Carroll once Nogs returns. Creavalle has shown decent ball skills to go with his defensive range and tacklìng. Regardless of any Okugo-Curtin issues, Creavalle is showing why he deserves more DM minutes and why Okugo is not being considered. * Sapong continues to show his ability to score close to goal. The decision to not have him take the 2nd PK made sense (LeToux was 12 for 12, Sapong kicked his last PK into the River End in USOC game vs. Rochester. LeToux's decision to go low and down the middle on the PK was strange as he often goes for an upper corner.
Though to do when nobody shows up. It would and often has sounded like there was only a recorded band rather than the stadium singing.
I loved the win today. I had three open seats and nobody took them. Two things stood out for me. One was the intricate ball play. They had some great sequences. There were missed passes and lack of communication. But, the fact they can pass quickly and with purpose is great. They will fix the passing problems. Towards the end, Fabhino saved the shutout with a goal line save. He showed up when it was needed. Great time.
Just to check cause I travel intl a lot, Jamaica has a match on the 29th in Costa Rica. Which means he flies on the 30th at the earliest.There are three early flights SJO-PHL that land on the 30th,everything else has him in on the 31st with a team flight on the 1st to CHI. That's a lot of travel, time changes and two matches earlier in the week and expect him to be top form on the road. Unless the Sugacopter is involved, I won't be shocked to see Jones start with Blake in the 18. That was why he was signed right? To cover this break, the 4-6 matches he'll miss for the Copa and the 1-2 in September. I know I'm still lagged a couple days later without playing soccer at altitude and humidity.
They could fly him direct to Chicago... After digesting the performance yesterday, there are some things to refine, as there always will be this time of year, but that was a very tactical and gutty performance yesterday. That was really the first time under Curtain that I saw his team play so organized and where each player knew his role. That is encouraging to me. The work they've put in is really showing. The fact that two weeks in a row they've won without Nogs and Barnetta is fantastic and yesterday's game gives both an extra week to heal. Dare we play Crevalle with Nogs? At any rate there is competition for playing time all over the field now. Imagine if they can stay in this and find a legit striker in July...
Just a few thoughts As for Blake being out - MacDaddy was on the bench for back-ups so if Blake is not ready I'd think he is the starter The pairing of Ilsinho and Rosenberry on the right was something to watch. Ilsinho's ball skills had the Rev's back peddling even with 2 v 1 as evidenced down in the corner late in the game when he had LeToux coming over to help. He really seems to be bringing out the best in Rosenberry with the quick one-two or backheel passes right into perfect space when Keegan is making the overlapping run. Kid seems too inexperienced to understand that that kind of anticipatory pass is a rarity in this league and he is just playing like he expects to get the ball fed to him perfectly each time. I think this is great for his development and confidence and hope they can keep the 2 of them together on the right as this will created big headaches for opposing teams and require teams to game-plan specifically for them. I actually enjoyed the singer belting away with the River-end providing backup at a different tempo. Makes it really hard for her to stay on track but she did great and did not falter which made it all that more impressive to me. If you are going to bring it at our stadium you better be confident and do a good job and I think she fit the bill on both. Good on her and good on the River-end. Keep it going. Thanks for stopping by RevsLiverpool - agree that Suttlesworth played well but he looked to be one of the few players on your team who wanted to play. Everybody has down games once in a while and maybe this was it for you. Best of luck going forward. Can't wait for the Union to kick your ass again later this year. Pontius - Off on the set up touches but played a game in cold weather and didn't seem to limp or clutch at his hammi all day so yeah for that. Keeping my fingers crossed. Agree that I'd like to see Creavalle paired with Nogs next. Carroll had another under-the-radar, yeoman type performance which is a great asset to have but give the guy a rest - he's more than earned it and would be a great late defensive sub to have on the bench late in games like yesterday. When we were up 2-0 I was looking over at the bench wondering who was going to be able to come on to help shut down the game. Leading to my final point - Leo...If you are coming on as a late sub and your job is to chase the ball and make defenders play faster than they want to (see, LeToux) then you should not be walking - EVER, while the clock is running. Particularly after your coach calls you out and tells you to get back and chase. Not sure if he will even be with the team in Chicago as pissed as Curtin looked after yelling at him.
Shuttleworth single-handedly kept that result from being 6 or 7 to 0. It's a shame that his defense left him out to dry. The big thing I saw from Ilsinho is the small unexpected passes. He had some crazy touches in front of the team bench that had the Revs reeling. It was refreshing to say the least. I noted that before the game on walkout only Fabi clapped twice and waved once, usually you see the team applaud whoever showed up early on, but if having everyone serious gets us 3-0 wins and they spend the time to celebrate with the fans after I'm all for it every week.
Up 2-0, up a man, 10 minutes to play, Union playing nice possession soccer... guy behind me is screaming about them not attacking Don't ever change River End
Boy I love how the opposing defense actually has to worry about our revamped attacking midfield. What a difference it (and that beastly Blake of ours) has made so far. In Earnie we trust! I'm still picking loss every week though. Old habits and all.
So is Creavalle-Nogueira viable as a pivot? Will that expose the defense too much? 3/4 of the back line are inexperienced.
Actually, I'd like to see that since the Union weren't really possessing, had a total of 43%, at home and up a man. I want to see them hold it and kill the clock. I had that moment of fear after the 2nd goal of "man, how are they going to blow this?" and Nquyen's double post shot gave me hope. That's exactly the kind of FK and spot we'd let an opponent back in the game with. A minute later NER crapped the bed with the red card. I was pretty sure even we could see that out. Still, a killer instinct wouldn't be a bad thing. Yes, there are flight paths SJO to XXX to ORD. Just wasn't sure who had to pay. Does Jamaica pay return fare, does the player, does the club? Either way, he's still tired as hell. As for McCarthy being on the bench, is Jones hurt? Jones is a better keeper, right?
every year I always forget about the lunacy in the River End and I'm kindly reminded of it at the first game..... after Ilsinhio missed the PK he could do no right the rest of the game according to the gentleman behind me.
Ilsinho looked great to me. I loved what he provided on defense. He was practically doubling as a RB whenever the Revs came down the right side. It's nice to see a veteran player come from Europe and still be out to prove himself.
The man dribbled through two or three opposing markers at will, and still found an outlet pass. That is what we need. Yeah, we've had guys that could take defenders on, but how many times did it result in a disappointing loss of possession? Remember Ayuk's runs down the touchline? They looked cool, but he almost always lost the ball at the end. We've finally finally finally got somebody who can dribble and pass the ball. What a time to be alive.
I loved watching Alberg-Ilsinho make passes back and forth to each other. While I thought Sapong has a solid game he looked confused at times when they started to involve him. Watching those two together though....the Revs had major problems.
Did else anyone notice that Kevin Miller has an assistant this year. Completely different guy warmed up the subs at half time. That's a nice little upgrade there. Hopefully he got the smoothie machine too.
It definitely seemed like there were more people (trainers? coaches?) on the field during pre-game warm-ups as well.