P/I/P Match 19: Revs vs PHI, Sun 08/08/21 6:00p [R]

This is not the same Revs, however.

 

Philly may also not be the same team. Worth noting from the latest MLS power rankings:

 

Yes, but we should be 2-0 in the last 2 matchups against them (both in Philly) in my book. We had the win against them in the spring, until Pryzbylko was allowed to throw an elbow into Turner's mug.

Through the regular season last year, they had our number. No longer.

 

Bruce was very answer-averse, borderline terse, in his press availability today, based on quotes/answers the press guys have been posting on Twitter. His tone is moving towards Belichickian.

He's sounding like he's working through a few stressors.

 

Is Gil questionable for this one?

 

The more the Revs D dink with the ball in their own end and the more the Revs O are inept at coordinating effective attacks, the more the Revs exhibit the teams’s fundamental weaknesses. Thank you Pollster, but waiting for Buksa or Bou to find the well coordinated magic moment has not yet worked this season despite the Revs’ record. Second PK touch works!

 

Me, I'll take a narrow victory over a good divisional rival any day of the week, particularly with our best player missing.

 

- Farrell makes a big gaffe again. And this time it cost us.

- Kessler was HUGE in this game. I felt sure we were going to give up a PK (and maybe a red card) when he slid in to clear Turner's save, but he timed it perfectly.

- I loved Buksa's work-rate, but he's got to start finishing the headers that he's getting.

- I also thought Maciel was very, very good - very clean and quick moving the ball.

- Any explanation of why Polster came out? He's an Arena-stalwart, so I would have to assume some knock/injury.

- Another game, another McNamara overheating sub. Once he goes head-hunting, it's time to get him off!

- We had a number of excellent crossing opportunities - and too many of them ended up in Blake's mitts. Maybe we were misjudging his quickness, but every goalkeeper is going to have his indecision zone and we weren't finding it often enough.

- Bou had a shockingly weak PK (he has enough power/reliability to render a keeper's guesses irrelevant), but Blake really bollixed the save - he let that ball bounce off his knee and sit right up for Bou to finish off.

- Yes, a sub-heavy team gave us some problems, but the subs brought a lot of energy and probably made it very difficult to game-plan for.

 

I read on #NERevs Twitter in the pre-game build up that he might have injured something during warm ups.

 

I read somewhere yesterday that he took a 'minor' knock to his knee.

 

Buksa and Traustason both had multiple good chances vs Philly. I continue to hold out hope that they find either the missing confidence, missing focus, or missing luck they need to raise their respective games a notch or two.

They both seem to have skills this team needs, but they need to sharpen up and raise their respective success rates. No idea how...

The #NERevs Northern Europeans tonight collectively should have had about 5 goals.

— A Casual Fan (@A_Casual_Fan) August 9, 2021

 

Totally agree - he's so clean on the ball, effortlessly making quick decisions and has enough ball-skill to be very reliable.