Steve Nicol is the best coach in the league Able to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse....I mean, who are these guys? No big name players and they come up huge. Such a high work rate for all of the Rev players all over the field and very smart defending. Great saves by Burpo and I really like Sinovic at left back....needless to say , a magical substitution to put in Mansally...he should be the MLS player of the week!!! Loved Jay Heaps comment about Mansally's second goal...it "sucked the air out of the stadium." DC is still looking to score their first goal and have picked 6 balls out of their own net already this season
Based on what I saw in the first half (I stopped watching, I'm a great fan), how is this scoreline even remotely possible?
This was not a pretty game to watch by no means but it was a favorable result. Mansally comes on in a supersub role and puts the ball in the net twice and wins my MOTM. I thought the second half they came out with a little hop in their step. The back four was good but if there was a weak link it was Osei. He was just not steady, had a could mis-queues but luckily they did not cost the Revs. I thought Desi had a pretty solid game, even better in the second half. Tierney, Gibbs and Alston all had pretty solid games. Hopefully Alston does not make the injury list next week.
Yeah, big props to Nicol. He really does know how to find players and gets them to buy into his system. In fact, he actually adjusts his system to fit the players he has (e.g. 3-5-2 when we had more talent to 4-4-2 now). Just think how good we'd be if we actually had more talent!
Goal Of The Week...that's what happened! Very nice to see. Nicol's reaction was the same as mine! I jumped of my couch in disbelief that the Revs scored a top drawer finish to put the match away.
Pretty even game in the second half (Revs started having possession, creating chances, etc), then Kenny Mansally came in and did his famous Lionel Messi impression. As bad as the Revs looked for the first 30 minutes, they looked equally good for the last 30.
Boring and ugly dump-and-chase (er...kick-and-chase) soccer somehow mutated into the Revs, judo-esque, flipping the pressure back on DC.
We were better than we were last week (admittedly against a worse team). But this is not a talentless team - not entirely -- some of it is just this has become an incredibly young team. Schiwalski, Sinovic and Boggs were playing their 2nd game as pros. Alston and Barnes are in their second season as professionals. Mansally and Nyassy are finally able to buy a drink in this country. We had, what? one actual grown-up on the pitch the last 2 games?
Hard game to react to, great to see Mansally pop in those 2 goals and the Revs get this road win against DC. Hard to see them play exactly like they did against LA for 85 minutes of the 90.
Mine too, and for playing like 12 minutes? Amazing! That second strike was definitely Goal of the Week material.
I'd just like to congratulate the Revs on defeating the evil, baby-eating satanists of DC United. Tonight, every Red Bulls fan was a Revolution fan for 90+ minutes. Those were two great goals from Mansally and a terrific win.
and the bad news about the game, from kyle mccarthy's twitter: "90' 2-0 N.E.: Barnes on, Alston off. Looks like he's limping a bit and chatting with the Revs training staff... "
After watching Dempsey's goal again, they do share some surprising similarities. If we ignore the talent level and the exact nature of each goal, they do share similar flight paths, range, power, etc.
An ugly win is still 3 points. It will be interesting to see what this team looks like when the rest of the projected starters get healthy. That second goal was world class.
Mansally looked like he was out to prove something. I think he did, and expect to see him starting next game. Schilawski takes a seat. Odd to see Nyassi subbed out though. He was having a good two way game.
I was pleasantly surprised by Nyassi's defense tonight. He played well and maybe he was just running out of gas. How were the away game viewings tonight?
I don't know what Nicol said at the half but what a difference it made. Mansally definitely MOTM, the second goal was a thing of beauty. The rookies looked more comfortable out there. Sinovic is really impressing me. Makes me wonder when Barnes is at 100% who they sit, because this kid should be a starter. I thought Phelan and Niouky had better games tonight but Joseph was missed. Tierny really impressed me today as well, his crosses may not always be perfect but he was affective and he played smart. Great win for our boys, great momentum heading into the home opener.
That was an ugly first half with absolutely no midfield play by the Revs. I'm not sure I can remember a two pass sequence that didn't involve Burpo. However, once again, it was hard to break down us down in the box. I hope Gibbs stays healthy. His composure and positioning are terrific. It's got to help the young guys, especially when Osei is mixing great ball skills with some serious WTF decisions. I wonder if Nicol gave his "lacked a wee bit of self belief" talk again. Seemed like the Revs were better from the start of the second half. Great goals by Mansally, but full credit to Tierney for his play and cross setting up the first goal. Of the rookies, Sinovic showed well. Schilawski didn't do much up top, though neither did Dube. Niouky was better than last week, but not exactly a force in the middle. Boggs wasn't a factor going forward, but seemed to defend well. Got to give MOTM to Mansally, but Gibbs, Burpo and Tierney were solid as well.
I believe each goal was with the player's shooting foot (Dempsey right, Mansally left). Slightly different angle, but I agree overall pretty close. The thing about Dempsey's goal was that his head was down when he shot it. It was like he picked his spot before the turn...side netting inches from post...glorious! Mansally's little extra touch to set up the shot was very pretty.