The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread XV

Discussion in 'New England Revolution' started by abecedarian, May 7, 2022.

  1. abecedarian

    abecedarian Member+

    Mar 25, 2009
    SSSomerville
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I just watched that crazy match between NYRB and the Rapids. I was stunned to see Collen Warner playing for Colorado. I hadn't seen that guy in ten years, since he played for Montreal. He even scored a goal, only the fifth of his MLS career. If there's ever a trophy for the longest, most obscure MLS career, Collen Warner is my nominee.
     
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  2. SamSam

    SamSam Member

    Feb 26, 2009
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  3. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A bit too early to start the offseason thread, but I found this interesting, only because the SuperDraft, which traditionally has been in January, has been moved up to December 21st:

    2022 MLS offseason calendar for player moves
    By MLSsoccer staff
    Thursday, Sep 15, 2022, 01:23 PM

     
  4. rkane1226

    rkane1226 Member+

    Apr 9, 2000
    Club:
    Stade Brestois 29
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    From SS winners to (most likely) not even making the playoffs… Isn’t that like going from Premier League top 4-5 to the relegation zone? How does that happen?
     
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  5. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In a word, injuries. They were amazingly healthy last year. This year, not so much:

    Key Revs 2022 missed games due to injury:
    Bou - 15 games
    Borrero - 10 games
    Kessler - 10 games (not including 2 in Canada)
    Turner - 8 games (before being sold) (2W-5L-1D in those 8 games)
    Vrioni - 6 games (6 subs, 0 starts, never fully fit)
    Tajori-Shradi - 10 games

    Missing Turner and Kessler cost several points early in the season. Missing nearly the entire offense has cost them the last 2 months. That is the difference between making the playoffs and not.

    Turner was undefeated (2W-3D) this year. If the Revs had won just 2 of the 5 games they lost without him, they would be above the playoff line right now.
     
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  6. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's more than just those guys (remember Buksa missed a few, as did Bye, Kaptoum, Polster, Maciel). We just got shredded.

    And maybe because of those injuries, the second reason ... blown points. We're going to break another record this year, but this one we didn't want. If close to half of the (did we get to 30?) points we lost were kept, we're comfortably fighting for a home playoff spot. Last year, this team had this amazing tendency/ability to hit the on-switch whenever they needed. This year, they've hit the off-switch as soon as they've taken a lead.
     
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  7. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    The blown points and injuries are inextricably linked - just look at the goalkeeping blunders and the 'Omar' effect.

    In addition to the obvious point of injured players missing games, the injuries really impact their rhythm and fitness, which takes a while to build up. Bou has never really ramped up to where he was in June. Kaptoum was playing the best he ever had for the Revs - and really improving the midfield - when he went down. He hasn't been close to being that effective since.

    And, one more comment about Omar - while we all saw what a disaster he was early in the season, his last two sub appearances, while brief, were very effective and showed what he could do in protecting a late lead. I suspect that was the role Arena had in mind for him when he was signed, but injuries (and lack of quality depth) pushed him into a role that he wasn't capable of.
     
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  8. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    FC Tucson sold, dropping a level:

    FC Tucson to Join USL League Two in 2023
    October 18, 2022
    United Soccer League One (USL1)
    FC Tucson News Release

    Brett Johnson, CEO of Benevolent Sports:
     
  9. Minutemanii

    Minutemanii Member+

    Dec 29, 2005
    Abington MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Who says there's no relegation in American soccer? :ROFLMAO:
     
  10. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would say the RI team is still years away from joining USL-C.

    The USL-C site lists Queensboro FC joining in 2023, and an Iowa team slated to join in 2025, but nothing about any RI team yet.
     
  11. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  12. rkane1226

    rkane1226 Member+

    Apr 9, 2000
    Club:
    Stade Brestois 29
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    NYCFC seem to have found a place to build…. How’d they do that?
     
  13. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  14. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    Political support?

    A major difference between NYC and Boston is that NYC includes almost all of the surrounding urban area - everything except Yonkers and Joisey. Boston is a very small part of the surrounding urban area - and population-wise and geographically is a pretty small city. So, even if the mayor is in support, there are very few options in Boston proper and a lot of competition and competing interests in very limited space (especially for big enough parcels for a stadium).

    If you go and look at surrounding urban areas, which seems to be the Revs strategy at this point, any political support is only going to be very localized.

    So, Eric Adams can bring a huge amount of support, which Michelle Wu can't nearly match. And, Carlo DeMaria *had* big power in Everett, where it seems like a plan is progressing behind the scenes, has major political problems which may bring him down - along with much of the city's political leadership. And, what would that do to a new stadium project there?
     
  15. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    Bruce seems a little generous, probably basking in the glow of a great win, like all of us.

    I think Robinson's touch was really rough and he lost a lot of possessions for us. And, Weah, as well - at least a couple of times he tried making a move to the end line when he hadn't really given himself enough room to pull it off. I also thought he was guilty of over-passing a few times, rather than going for a quick shot from the top of the box.

    Overall I was really happy that we came out with a strong attacking posture and sustained it until getting the goal we needed late in the half. Then we played a much more balanced 2nd half than we did against Wales, where we got way too passive.

    Hopefully it won't cost us Pulisic going forward (I'd guess there's a bit of freaking out at Chelsea about now).
     
  16. BERich

    BERich Member+

    Feb 3, 2012
    New England
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'll have to disagree with your balanced 2nd half-comment. We basically did the same thing as the Wales game, bunker down and try to protect a 1 - 0 lead. Which we barely succeeded in doing. The coach drives me crazy with his boring, scaredy-cat way to play the game. We needed to win, so in the first half, he let them play. We completely dominated them and scored to go up 1 - 0. Then in the 2nd half, it's bunker down. It's just the reverse of what we did in qualifying, where we bunked in the first half and then had to let them go in the second half to get a result. I have "argued" for years that if we played like we did in the first half the popularity of the game would rise quickly in this country. Americans aren't known for their cautious approach to anything! :)
     
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  17. teskicks

    teskicks Member+

    New England Revolution
    United States
    Jan 14, 2002
    Wrentham, MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I had a few non-soccer relatives ask me why they only played defense in the second half.
     
  18. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    I often share that criticism of the USMNT, but in an elimination game, the opponents will go all out on attack if they are desperate for a result and to continue to attack with the same abandon as if you are behind would leave huge gaps to be exploited and make the game basically an offensive free-for-all.

    The team ends up defensive because that is what the opponent dictates, once they have nothing left to lose. To ignore that is irresponsible of players or coaches.
     
  19. teskicks

    teskicks Member+

    New England Revolution
    United States
    Jan 14, 2002
    Wrentham, MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Fully understand. It is not an easy thing for non-soccer fans to understand. That question was preceded with "Why do they allow ties?". What blew my mind is that this couple has a son who played at Amherst and was a very good player. How did they not learn this already.
     
  20. BERich

    BERich Member+

    Feb 3, 2012
    New England
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The best teams in the world and club football don't stop playing offense when they go up a goal. If someday you want to be considered in the top tier of world football you'll need to maybe not bring on all your CBs to play the 2nd half. Just saying. :D
     
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  21. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    How'd that work out for Spain?

    I think we were on seriously under siege for about the last 10 minutes (might have been more with injury time ...), but I think bringing Zimmerman in really payed off big-time.
     
  22. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  23. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    I think Bruce goes too easy on some of them.

    Everyone likes Tyler Adams, but he failed to track his man in a critical situation - and didn't even seem to notice the urgency of the situation.

    And, basically the same for Dest.

    Reyna just didn't look fit to me - I thought he looked tired and slow from the time he came on and I think he was always struggling to keep up with the speed of the game.

    Robinson defended well, but his ball skills are way below par for this level - maybe the weakest starting left back in the tournament with the ball on his feet.

    Ream and Zimmerman overall played very well, but the thing that was missing showed on the 3rd and game-over goal. How two experienced center-backs could not have noticed a player standing wide-open for hours and not organize their back-line to have *someone* react is a mystery. Centerbacks need to not only defend their positions, but organize the wing-backs and draft midfielders when required. We didn't seem much of those skills in this game.

    Overall, the US look skilled, energetic and eager for the moment, but also looked tactically naive. We outplayed Wales significantly, but only came out with one point. We outplayed England (granted, in a game where they didn't feel the need to extend themselves), but couldn't muster a goal. We came up with the necessary win over Iran, who are probably only slightly more tactically aware then us, but were totally exposed by Netherlands' sophistication, where they allowed us the better play while they took the goals.

    I'll give Berhalter for providing a better WC Final result than I expected, but we need more sophistication to move forward and take advantage of a young, talented core.
     
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  24. BERich

    BERich Member+

    Feb 3, 2012
    New England
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The US did what I expected them to do, get out of the group stage. Just as in qualifying, they barely scraped by! Now we get to wait and see if GGG continues as a coach; which for the record I'm fully and adamantly opposed to. I have come to the conclusion that US Soccer is just as incompetent of an organization as say, the Washington Commies, or the NY Knicks. A good ol'boys network - yes, I know it's now run by a woman - that picks their buddies for key positions. The US did what they did at least 4 out of the last 6 world cups and they are acting like it was some sort of brilliant coaching when he had the best overall talent this country has ever produced.
     
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  25. Crooked

    Crooked Member+

    May 1, 2005
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    I mean they were often starting the youngest XI in the tournament, with no players having WC experience. I get that our expectations should be higher going forward based on the level of young talent we have, but we hadn't made a World Cup in eight years. This was a successful step in the right direction.
     
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