P/I/P Match 22: Revs vs CIN, Sat 08/21/21 8:00p [R]

So then, let's just attack them with abandon!

 

So for Heineken Rivalry Week, New England is playing... Cincinnati? Meanwhile, Columbus is playing Seattle.

Hell isn't real, I guess.

 

Midfield might be a little light for this one. No Tristerson, Polster. Does Bruce put Kaptoum and Maciel back out there? Or start Caldwell. Best odds I can get are 1.44 for 1. The draw might be the smart play for the neutral observer. Which I'm not. Go Revs!

 

Good result against a bad team. FCC is so, so bad it is hard to take too much away from this, although...the fact that we can put a comprehensive beating on an opponent even with our missing pieces and making some lineup changes does speak to our overall quality.

 

GREAT stuff! Thanks, Revs, for playing with skill and determination! Those of us long-time supporters as well as newbie fans have been waiting to experience these good times along with the players, staff and coaches! Best playing for the remaining season 12 matches and beyond!!! BTW, Boetang’s an emerging “keeper!”

 

We have played other bad teams and only squeaked out a win. What was different this time? (Arena take notes) Several things. One... a pressing midfield. I thought Caldwell was excellent... T Mac too. And where the Hell has Boateng been hiding? These three guys are the difference between a slow, dull team and what we saw last night. Forget about Traustason. I have felt he's a bust for a long time. Stick with what we saw last night. Fast, attacking soccer, A pleasure to watch. Also I am soo impressed with Kessler. He quietly is solid and steady, makes few mistakes.....and last night, showed he can create offense as well. To summarize .... More minutes for Boateng and Caldwell. Forget about Traustason. Make Polster a part time player. Will Arena do it? I doubt it. He will roll out Traustason, Kaptoum, Polster and Maciel and we will continue to struggle for goals

 

The machine just keeps rolling along. Missing your starting midfield, we'll just plug in a new one and never miss a beat! The Revs started this game strong; they waited until the second half to take their 10 minute break and kick it between the CBs. I thought their second goal was just brilliant; Buksa releasing Tajon, then the cross to Boateng. It was nice to see Boateng get rewarded.

So you have played 5 games without your best player and you have 4 wins and a tie; just amazing. I hope the injured can be ready to go when the Revs start losing players to their national teams.

 

Sure, Cinci is still in development phase, but that was a very satisfying game to watch as a Revs fan regardless.

Didn't think "glass legs" Mafla was going to return once I saw him call for training staff but in the end he was serviceable in a match where you have the ball 80% of the time.

Great shift by Boateng & fun to see the kid from Revs II get a run-out (he looked like it was his first MLS minutes). Really enjoying this season. Suck it, Burns. Go Revs.

 

Agree with much of the above. Feldman referred last night to "nosebleed territory" when Kessler made his run to set up the first goal. We Rev fans are also in nosebleed territory, having the hottest, most relentlessly consistent team in MLS.

There were no holes in the line-up last night - Other than a collective sag at 45-60, it wasn't close. There is no doubt that Ema Boateng is the most fun new addition to the starting 11 (His delicate and microprecise cross to Buchanan was a joy.), and I agree that his sparkling is bad news for Traustason.

I also agree that Caldwell and Mac get a special shout-out. I have never seen Caldwell play better.

Someone should have warned Buchanan about Geoff Cameron.

Any news on the injured players?

 

Something I noticed in the stands last night - lots of actual soccer fans as opposed to the 'soccer smiles' crowd - i.e. parents babysitting their kids. Folks were having a great time and enjoying the home team's dominance. If Arena can stick around for awhile, they're finally starting to build something that's hopefully going to be sustainable.

 

Great shift by Caldwell.

I don't see how Arena can take Boateng out of the lineup.

 

I noticed the same thing. The people sitting behind me had actual soccer discussions. So nice to hear.

 

On Boateng's minutes . . . I agree he has looked good (he also looked good in earlier cameos this year), but I would not be surprised to see him on the bench next week in Yankee Stadium.

Arena has built a really fascinating roster. He has nine (!!) mids he is willing to use, and they each have their own pluses and minuses. I think he puts his midfield together depending on who is healthy, who needs rest, who is currently in good form, and who is able to exploit a weakness or neutralize a strength of the next opponent. Cincinnati is a bunker team that was pitching shutouts, and as Arena pointed out they rotate very little and were on short rest -- solving that puzzle is very different from solving NYFC, who like possession and who try to play proper football. So while Boateng/Buchanon on the wings was exactly right for tearing Cincinnati apart, I think Arena might chose someone else (Trautson or Maciel or McNamara) to trouble NYFC. (The two exceptions are Gil, whose pluses are so great that he is a pencil-in started whenever he is healthy, and Polster, who has emerged as a really efficient anchor to whatever midfield Arena puts around him.)

I think a lot of Arena's success comes from his ability to figure out how to build a roster with the right parts, and then how to put those parts together for the next opponent.

It is amazing that he has put together an MLS team in that has nine serviceable mids and seven reliable backs and three quality strikers . . . and while some of these parts are DPs and some (Turner and Buchanon) are surprise stars he inherited, others he developed (Maciel and Bell). And for that matter, he has "developed" his DPs -- Buska and Bou are better, more complete players today than they were when they arrived -- as Buska often says in his interviews. And to really appreciate Arena's genius, look at what he has done with MLS journeymen -- Polster, McNamara, Delagarza, Boateng . . . these guys were available for the asking, and when he traded for or signed them, none of us were saying "Well there you go -- we're going win some trophies now!" And yet those four are playing big roles in the juggernaut Arena has built.

We are fortunate to be watching something rare. Arena is the best American coach ever -- he has won championships at college level, he took the US team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and he has won multiple MLS championships. There is always uncertainty (remember the T&T loss in 2017) and he may not win the Shield or the MLS Cup this year, but he has already demonstrated that he still knows more than anyone else about building an MLS team.

 

Excellent post, KG. It is interesting to compare Bruce's approach and team to Stevie's during our previous time in the sun. We mostly played the same thirteen or fourteen players. There was little rotation which showed up in the tired legs of our annual summer swoon. If we needed to play someone outside the top fourteen the inexperience showed. Since there was no Revs II option and Stevie didn't see the need to rotate the team, where was the experience going to come from?

Now, not only are players kept fresh, we have guys who can be effective in multiple positions. While Boateng made a huge difference when he came in on Wednesday, Traustason also was a big step up at the 8. Under Stevie, we would likely not have seen either switch. Combine the roster depth with Bruce's ability to ID strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and we are in the enviable position of being able to "ask questions" of pretty much anyone in the league regardless of their style.

There still is something a little off with our defense though. Whether it's switching off like we did at the beginning of the second half against FCC or the need for diving in and emergency defending, it feels like we are getting pulled out of shape more than we should. That will come back to bite us severely against better teams in the playoffs. I'd like to see evidence that Bruce was making progress strengthening that area as well.

 

This.

Plus, he's getting in the right places to get scoring opportunities. He's pretty snake-bit there, but ... you keep getting chances, eventually they'll start going in - ask Adam Buksa (or even Teal).

 

I really loved the defensive alignment that Arena came out with for this one. AJ clearly didn't get it done replacing Bye in the last one, so he let Jones play his natural side for a change and put a natural left back on the left side. Even with Bye doing very well this season, if Mafla can stay healthy, this alignment might be our best defense.

Caldwell was a good choice for this one because Cincy didn't have a power central mid who would overpower him. But, credit also to Caldwell who has kept himself in great condition with minimal playing time.

I feel that even though we miss some size and physicality with Polster out, we are also transitioning much quicker/smoother to offense without him. I've felt that opposing teams have intentionally been giving Polster space, because they'd rather see him handling the ball than anyone else (and then closing in on him when he does go forward).

Bou has really been embracing the setup player role in recent games. On Buksa's 2nd, Bou got the ball near the top of the circle, then took a touch that carried him well towards the corner, having me wondering why in the world he was moving out of prime scoring position. But, then he used all that open space towards the wing to lay a low cross behind the defense for Buksa to tap in. So clever. And, earlier he made a similar move and gave Buksa a clear header that required a big save from the keeper.

One of the reasons we're not missing Gil as much as we might have thought is that we are much more balanced defensively without him. There's no obvious weakness to try to exploit.

And kudos for Tajon for making the quick glance up while breaking in on goal to spot Boateng - and then laying a pin-point ball off to him for a weak-side finish.

I think the unselfish attitude among the attackers has been contagious lately.

 

One thing that surprised me a bit was seeing Bou's anger/frustration with some teammates. Ema was a target on several occasions but there were others.

 

He seemed to be the most vocal Rev out there by far and seemed to be directing the offensive attack. Arena also left him out there for the full 90 - maybe to keep things focused once subs started entering?