Is this the first time we've actually had a full coaching staff? Technical staff update: #NERevs hire Dave van den Bergh as Assistant Coach➡️ https://t.co/OwZ9eMR5W3 pic.twitter.com/IeauZtm5G8— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 25, 2019
Honestly, this couldn't be going any better. The players seem like a giant weight got lifted off of them. The organization landed a big fish in Bou. Arena comes across like a guy who's happy to be back to league soccer after his international calamity. The Revs not only look like a team that should make the playoffs, but one that can make a little noise if they get there. If you had told me that in April, I'd have thought it was impossible.
I have been impressed by Turner's shot stopping ability. I think there is much room for improvement in terms of positioning, and in taking command of the box. But those he can develop with effort and a smart coach. What a first class goal keeper must have is "catlike reflexes". The ability to adjust and make the body follow to flash rapid changes. I do believe that Turner demonstrates he has that. So the guy has potential... let's see if BA can help him realize it.
He also seems to know how to play with is feet, something that is missing from the other keepers the revs have had recently
I know that there is an Arena connection; but still, there is an article about the Revs in the LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-07-23/soccer-newsletter
Imagine how many cups we might have won when Stevie and Paul were coaching if Kraft was willing to spend $$ on players....quote from the above article below! "It’s almost certain Arena received assurances from owner Robert Kraft that the team, third from the bottom of MLS in payroll in 2018, would spend to get better. The acquisition of Bou is proof Kraft kept his word since the transfer fee is more than the team spent on its whole roster last season."
Arena on his weekly interview on 98.5 today. They did it in person because they were broadcasting down at the stadium. After he had left, they were still talking about it and Bertrand says something like I just have to say this but I didn't want to say it in front of Arena....how bad is he making Brad Friedel look right now? Bad, Beetle...he's making him look very, very bad.
This hasn't really changed. Every recent coach has said that the Krafts were willing to spend the money. The problem is that they weren't able to close the deal on players. This was made abundantly clear when Friedel couldn't get his player to sign (on what was clearly a sinking ship) and Arena (with his cache') was.
Right, and that was why it was so critical to get rid of Burns. That blithering dolt was the very definition of incompetence!
I think there is some truth to your statement. But then it begs the question, how did Burns keep his job for so long? If the owners said, "get what you need"(or something similar), to the coaches and nobody shows up you would think the red flags would have been waving for a few years. Especially since Burns and company basically ran the Revs into the ground. I guess I won't complain too much, I am so happy that we now have a soccer team in NE that should be competitive and worth rooting for.
I think the ownership are very reluctant "managers" for this enterprise. It really seems like they are very hesitant to step in and only do so when things get really bad. On the football side, they have Belichick to handle the whole show; on the soccer side they've always seemed to want the same kind of guru to take care of it for them (I'm guessing because they realize they just don't know the sport very well). I think they wanted Gulati to be that guy, then Nicol was pretty much able to be the trusted man at the helm. Arena is the absolute perfect guy for them now. My only concern is that he'll leave things well set up when he leaves (which he certainly will, soon enough). Getting back to Burns, my guess is that they pushed him out because Arena insisted on it.
What is this, Romania in 1989? How bad did things need to get before they noticed? Seriously, we've had a team for what, 24 seasons now, and they've just figured that out? Something other teams had figured out from the day they started operations? I said this before, but Arena is the closest thing to the soccer version of Belichick, even down to the personality. He was the perfect hire, and exactly the kind of guy they needed. But the idea of Gulati as the "Belichick" of an earlier era was totally misguided. He's not a "soccer guy" but a business guy. He can get contracts done, do the deals, that sort of thing. Given he was responsible for bringing in pretty much all of the top foreign players into the league in the early years, I expected we would be able to get our own Etcheverry or Valderrama, etc. So why was he not able to delver guys like that? Could it be fiscal budgeting? Or was he stretched too think on getting US games in Foxboro (which also declined under his watch)? Nicol was the exact opposite of Gulati, he was the soccer guy but didn't care much for the business end of it. The fact that there were no scouts and that Nicol had to take time away from the team to scout Nyassi and Dube at the U-20 WC on a week off says it all. And what about his list of "20 South Americans" that were never signed? Do you mean he won't leave things well set up when he leaves? I hope that he will groom someone (Onalfo or one of the other assistants) to move into that role, even if it is different people as the coach and GM, that would be fine, as long as the "Revolution Way" continues. Yeah, I'm sure that was the case, I can't imagine Arena working for Burns, even if Burns was just a figurehead whose main job was to count paper clips.I was joking on another forum that Austin should hire Burns simply because even the bad teams (like we recently were!) need to have someone they can regularly take points from, and with Burns at the helm, Austin would likely be at a 1999-Metros level of bad.
Yes (not saying he will or won't, just that I'm concerned about it). I don't want this to be a 1 or 2 year band-aid, like the signing of JJ ended up being. I want this to be a real course correction for this organization going forward.
I think the best indication will be in the game day experience. Improving the on-field product only solves half of the problem. Will they invest the money and attention towards the other things?
The best indication for me will be how he handles the youth academy and a potential second team. Will the proper infrastructure be built properly.
I’m interested to see 3 things: 1. Will the new level of spending be sustained as we go into next (future) BA seasons. 2. Will we continue to carry so many empty roster spots - in Arena we have a coach with a history. Did he carry significant empty spots at DC, NY, or LA? My recollection is no but I haven’t gone to check. In fact, I think of Arena as a guy who uses those spots to build significant depth. 3. How an Arena post season goes. Burns always seemed a bit behind (even disappearing for Nov. and Dec.) and had some pretty weak trialists for January. Speaking of Burns (and Friedel I guess), we all have to at least give him some credit for Gil. Great find.
Sure, Gil was a great find. But like other guys who were pretty good their first year (Penilla, Delamea, etc), Gil hasn't had enough time for his play to drop like a rock in his second year. I dunno if this was a matter of the "blind squirrel" theory, but of all the foreign players to bring in, most of them have been underwhelming. Going into the next off-season, I don't expect every signing to be at the Bou level (although one more like him would be great), I figure we should get a couple of guys who will be better-than-average MLS starters, solid contributors at the very least. And, I also bet they have a list of players in mind right now and are looking at them as we speak. I know I thought with JJ's signing that Ebeneezer Kraft became the leopard who had changed his spots (I think there was a National Geographic program on this), but there was no one to force the issue to keep the momentum going with other complementary players who would have put us over the top. I think Arena, as the "soccer Belichick," is able to persuade Kraft that if he wants to make the Revs the soccer version of the Pats, he will have to do it his way. And while it won't be crazy Toronto/Galaxy spending, you will still need to spend, but Arena is savvy enough to do it wisely. I don't think he would have taken the job if the din't get Kraft to buy into his vision. We'll see just how much Kraft really trusts Arena.
I doubt at his age that Arena will end up coaching more than a couple of more years. I think, ideally, I'd like to have him hire a coach and keep the technical director role beyond that. OTOH, he may relish the "Lazarus" role so much that he goes looking for another reclamation project.
Well, he needs to make sure this Lazarus is fully alive and kicking before he goes on to do CPR on some other crappy team like Chicago! I can see him staying on as the coach for maybe a couple more years after this, then turning it over to his hand-picked successor. Meanwhile, he would keep the TD role and make sure the chef has enough good groceries to make a five-star meal! Let's say he is able to do all we hope he can here -- reviving the Revs to where they were in the Nicol years and winning an MLS Cup or two in the process, while consistently being one of the better teams. That will be his legacy in 10 years. Sure, people will remember him for his early career at DCU and success with the Galaxy (and not so much with Red Bulls) and 2 stints with the Nats, but this will be the crowning achievement. LA has always been good, aside from the Ruudy can fail years. If he permanently turns the Revs around he would have done something no one else could have done--convince Kraft to take it seriously and get the right people to run things.
Arena was no Friedel as a player but he did play GK for Cornell and earned a cap for the USMNT in the 70s. Maybe he can share some wisdom with Turner.
On the "Six States" podcast, they interviewed a journo from the LA Times who has been a long-time confidante of Arena's, and that guy said that Arena was stir crazy when he wasn't coaching. And he's only in his mid-60s. I got the impression he will be on the sidelines for 4-5 years if things go well.