I'm with the overall dissatisfaction with that game reflected on this thread, but I think I'm willing to give NYRB credit. They understood that (without Gil) the Revs would never find a rhythm if they pressed,. For 85 minutes, the Revs looked disjointed, except for one fast break. Buksa continues to work hard, but is never in a position to score. Bruce has got to pull some magic out of his hat to get him involved. Things looked better when he subbed out for McNamara (and DF come out for KR.) I don't know why, but somewhere mid-game, Stu Holden decided he didn't like the Revs. Weird. Also don't like Marrufo, and agree that it's not any one call, but rather that his games are less fun to watch. Question: What changed in the final few minutes of the game? Was it personnel? Were the cattle just gassed from pressing all game?
I'm heartened by the addition of McNamara. I think he can help us boss the middle for us going forward.
I liked the little bit I saw of McNamara. We're better when we play direct. The loss of Gil means we can't work it through the midfield.
While I'd like to see the Revs get positive results, I am approaching the rest of the season as a building experience. I like how Arena has developed the defense. Polster shows promise at DM. The key for the rest of the season is figuring out if there is a suitable back up for Gil on the team, or if they can figure out how to function offensively without him. The answer to both of those questions appears to be "no". I also see it as an opportunity to assess the current talent. For me Diego, Mancienne, Delamea are done here. Penilla is borderline. Given the ineptitude of the service, I'm not willing to give up on Buksa at this point.
Totally feel the same way however I saw the team get a spark from McNamara. Maybe he can skin the cat for us in a different way from Gil.
Verfurth? Certainly he needs to get better percentage-wise, but I think the bigger problem in the attack (at least in this game) is that they are totally focused on getting the ball to Bou. They have to be more balanced and let Bou get his chances in the flow of the game - if their total strategy is to get him the ball, he's going to be crowded out. A perfect example was on the goal scored, even if it worked - Teal could have scored (though I'd agree that's always a roll of the dice), he could have set up Buksa, but seemed %100 focused on playing it to Bou. It worked out on that play - and may have been the best decision that time, but there were too many times when it wasn't.
I think RB played totally to force and pounce on mistakes by our defense and it was a good strategy in this game. They caused enough chaotic moments - including the goal they scored. The more we pass it around the back and can't find a way to get the ball forward, the more chances there are for a defensive mistake. It seems like that was Armas' pre-game plan. This is the first game where Kessler had a bunch of shaky moments. Most came in the last 30', so I think the kid might need a game off. He mostly seems to get in trouble when he's isolated in space and has to run with smaller, quicker forwards. Early on, he handled those situations well, but later in the game he got into trouble a number of times. And for me, this was a big regression game from Farrell. He seemed to show all the bad traits we haven't seen much lately - dribbling into traps, not playing quickly and cleanly, failing to play a ball into midfield under pressure, hoofing the ball long w/o accuracy, ... I think he's been very good this season, but this one was several steps back. Bye looks like the steadiest guy in the back line. Buttner looks like a guy struggling to keep up with the speed of the game - and as our corner-specialist, wasted one and didn't do much with the others. Diego was pretty invisible, but still managed to play a couple of key, dangerous passes. Not nearly enough, though. Polster was huge again, though was beaten and the goal and no one stepped up decisively to help him out (I would think he'd be pretty ticked off about that). Bou had a horrible touch most of the game and when put in dribbling situations or getting the ball away from goal, he looked awful. It seems pretty clear that he needs to be getting the ball around the 18 and they have to figure out how to play through others so he can be in situations where he's most lethal. I thought this was a very good game for Bunbury, he was the most disruptive player in the Revs' attack. He's a pretty streaky player, so I think this was a good sign. Maybe it's the signing of Manneh, but whatever, if it gets him playing with more intensity and focus ... Penilla had a few good runs and showed a willingness to pass, but the chances generally came to nothing. Revs put on quite a pressure-show in the last few minutes. Where was that intensity all game? I feel like if they had 5 more minutes they would have won it. Scary stat about how the Revs haven't scored in the last 30' all season.
Exactly my observation as well. He had been so steady, and this was sad/disappointing to see. Maybe it's a one-off, maybe he was rattled/tired/etc. "Old" Farrell is back, seemingly in full force.Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.#NERevs— A Casual Fan (@A_Casual_Fan) August 30, 2020
Verfurth is playing every match for R2. I dont know that he needs to be cut. Your current roster churn would leave the team with 0 backup CB, so I think that might be a bit aggressive. I agree that Im not excited to see Mancienne one field, but given the Revs history of CB injuries i think carrying the warm bodies makes sense
Yeah, that's my takeaway as well from this game. That seemed like a different team the last five minutes. But to play a team that had replaced 8 starters, basically playing their B squad at home ... and tie is a terrible result. Also, was mine the only heart that stopped for a minute when Bou went down? I honestly thought that was the season ending right there. Was so glad to see him get back up. That's an injury we just can't survive (on top of Gil).
Yup! And the reason we cant score goals is we cant get the ball to our striker. Our AM turns the ball over far too frequently, so we cant reliably generate good chances
I think that may be a situation where having Arena on the sidelines would have (and will) helped. I'm not sure the players get the same urgency from Richie Williams that they would from the HC.