After the post-Montreal Jonestown reenactment, I thought it might be healthy to take a break from the self-loathing "We now officially stink" theme. The boys are unpredictable. Just when they look more or less clueless, they will pull it together and beat a team that should have beaten them. (Some of you have coached teams like this. I know I have.) You heard it first here. KC is going down. Seriously. Heaps is not the bonehead he is currently said to be. The team is way more talented than last year's team, and is capable of real surprises.
If Heaps is not a bonehead and this team is way more talented, why is our record only slightly better? I want to believe, but I've seen very little from Heaps that shows me he has enough tactical knowledge to take this team anywhere. His decisions with regards to personnel and gameplan leave me dumbfounded more often than not. I do think we play more attractive soccer at times, but that's not enough. You have to get results at some point.
Well at least maybe this time McCarthy won't be in there to get red carded after ten minutes and we can keep it to a slightly more respectable 2-0 loss
I know what you're trying to say, and if this game was at home, I'd like our chances a slight bit better. But having won 2 of our last 25 or whatever road games ... I hate our odds on this.
Because we had a long ways to go and we're not quite there. If the Revs lose 2-0 that would be their worst loss of the year (other than the previous game at SKC). That's what's frustrating about this team -- while the record is disappointing and the losses to Toronto and Montreal are doubly disappointing, there hasn't been a single game this year (other than the red-card SKC game) where the Revs got really dominated. or where they weren't close to getting a deserved point. Heaps passed a number of tests right from the get-go: bring in a lot of new players? move beyond smash-and-grab and install a new style? increase the skill level and get enough depth that there is competition for playing time? Check. Check. and Check. He kept the team upbeat and believing in itself while they went through the difficult start, playing reasonably well but not getting points in the first month or two. He's even shown that he'll sit the aging one-time stars who were once his teammates. Now he's facing the next biggest test -- can he keep the team upbeat and believing now that they've hit a bad stretch in mid-season? This next stretch should be really interesting. Jon is right -- Heaps is not a bone head (where was that discussion when his subs were scoring goals game after game -- did he suddenly get stupid over the last two weeks?). I think Jon's prediciton is plausible -- the current Revs team may do better when they aren't expected to win and when the opponents come out attacking.
Bad teams lose close games in all sports. It's not frustrating that they lose close games. It's frustrating that people talk about how "close" they are to getting it all "together". New style? They've had spurts of good play, but this team lacks a true identifying style. I don't see a tremendous difference in how they've played under Nicol. I also wouldn't expect it 20 games into the reign of a new coach, BUT that doesn't mean he has implemented any new "style" Where is their depth? Sure, they have competition for spots...because everyone is mediocre. platitude Did he suddenly get stupid? No, of course not. He also didn't suddenly get smart for a stretch of good results. He has had far more tactical gaffs than he has had brilliant moves this year. The one thing he has done well, which you cited above, is helped keep the spirit high. That is important, and in some ways smart, but tactically the guy has proven (so far) to be naive, and IMO a bonehead. If you want to anoint him, have at it. I'd rather watch the games, judge the level of play and let the results and play do the talking. Right now, they aren't favorably talking about the great Jay Heaps.
That is one thing Jay Heaps seems reluctant to do. Against Montreal, he took out Simms (DM) for BB (forward) when the score was tied, something Nicol never would have done. It's not the first time Heaps has done that, only to have it backfire (Simms for Moreno in DAL).
Actually, putting BB in for Simms was a tactically move that made them less of an attacking threat and much more smash-n-grab.
Would be nice to have our new striker available, especially with Bengston gone for the foreseeable future.
Specifically because it was Brettschneider. Changing the DM for a striker in general doesn't have that effect, but some strikers, well...
Well, it does also if you take out your ball winner. Without Simms, as mediocre as he is going forward, the Revs don't have anyone else to win the ball back and direct play out of the back.
Exactly. When your other midfielders are Benny, Nguyen, Rowe, Cardenas, and Nyassi substituting out your ball winning DM is absolutely moronic. As much as I hate BB, this substitution wasn't a failure because of who we were bringing on but mainly because of who we were bringing off. Even if we were bringing on a quality striker, we still would have struggled to win balls in the midfield without Simms.
Yeah exactly. It wasn't an attacking move at all. It was nothing more than poor tactics and naive ideas.
I'd like the Revs to go with two forwards in this match. I think Sene plays best in that situation. Hard to be optimistic for this match given the opponent and being away.
If Moreno 's fit for this match I 'd like to see 4-2-3-1 formation. ---------------Moreno --------Lee------Benny------Sene -----------Shalrie----Simms Tierney---Soares----Barnes---Lechner If Moreno 's not fit I 'd like to see 4-6-0 formation because BB=0 anyway so --Rowe----Lee----Benny-----Sene -------Simms---Shalrie Tierney---Soares----Barnes---Lechner Tierney and Shalrie were awful lately, but it looks like Heaps has no other choices.
On the injury report, Shalrie is questionable, but McCarthy is probable, so you're more likely to see McCarthy than Barnes, I'd guess. If you drop Benny back, you'll probably see Rowe in one of the midfield spots. I agree about Moreno -- to the extent that he is still here, he might as well play. Put Fagundez in as a second-half sub. I wonder who's in goal.
There's a lot of 'hoping' going on here.....I'm hoping too, I'm just not that confident. The team may be better than last year's version, they are not necessarily good enough to 'compete' in MLS - at least even to contend for a playoff spot. Disappointing, very disappointing.
Well, fans of the 4-6-0 got their wish. Very different look tonight. Reis, Barnes, Soares, McCarthy, Alston, Tierney, Joseph, Feilhaber, Rowe, Nguyen, Guy
Odd, Moreno and Simms traveled, but not in the gameday roster. I have to imagine Simms is injury related, or I'm totally flabbergasted.