I have been under the impression that the league scouting report on Taylor is let him set up back-to-goal and just whack him as hard as possible as the ball get delivered. I think he can make separation between himself and the defender when the ball is played on the ground to his feet. When its played in the air, he's a sitting duck. I think there were more ground balls through the midfield yesterday. Cancela and Dempsey still like to force things up the gut when there isn't anything there. How many "final balls into the box" hit a defenders shin ?
When the Crew came out for the pre-game intros a seatmate remarked to me that they looked like the Ohio State starting front line. They were huge and I realize that our dark kits make the lads look smaller but this was an amazing discrepancy. Anyway, what surprised me was how strong the Revs were both in the air and with the body against at team that, at least on paper and by their look, had a huge physical advantage. Certainly Columbus had a good deal of the ball and a lot of positional play in the second half but, a couple of scrambles aside, the Revs defenders seemed to be right on top of their marks. Buddle and Cunningham must be totally frustrating for Crew fans to watch. They both have so many positive attributes and can seemingly gain space for themselves at will but they are totally inept at decision-making. If Noonan and Twelllman could borrow about 1/3 of their speed we would have two 20 goal scorers, our striker's basic soccer instincts are that much better. The passing, interplay and off the ball movement by the Revs in the first 35 minutes were stunning at times and just a pleasure to watch. I just hope the building and changes that will take place in the off season don't break up Cancela, Dempsey, Ralston and Joseph, plus figuring out how to properly deploy twellman and Noonan. When they move like last night it is wonderful stuff. I don't think the Revs can shut down the Crew over two games but last night was a masterful job and some of the best soccer I've seen our team play. JIM DOW
Isn't this a foul? I'm just amazed at how much abuse TnT takes on these plays and no fould get called. Last night he got knocked forward on his face and there was no call. What gives?
Indeed--high fives. Now finish the job next week! You probably don't want to hear this, but Nicol totally outcoached Androoolis, especially the last 10/15 minutes. The FoxSports guys kept bemoaning that the Revs were sitting on the one-goal lead, and yet they came much closer to getting a goal at the end than the Crew, who were making the same we-gotta-get-one-back mistake that Cheatin' Bob Bradley made last night, and that Ray Hudson made last year vs. the Fire. Hold that lead!
I'm curious, does anybody else see 5000+ in attendence a good thing, considering it was directly intefereing with Game 1 of the World Series?
One thing for certain, the 5,000 +/- at the stadium were people who really wanted to be there and that made for quite a bit of enthusiasm and noise. Imagine what the game might have been like for atmosphere had that same group (myself included) been stuffed into, say, Lusitano Field in Ludlow. The house would have rocked. Personally I got burnt out of any baseball fever quite a while ago and while I used to be a fan and wish the Red Sox well, the Revs are my team now and my big game was Sat. v the Crew. I don't know how others felt but it was great in my part of the upper Fort where everything was totally Revs focused. With bigger crowds we often get people who sit quietly and moon about Tom Brady and other Patties foolishness, I'm never sure why they come at all. Kudos to all the folks who came out. JIM DOW
Well, considering the game (playoff games have never especially drawn well at Foxboro), conflict with the Sox, the awful weather, and the recognized decline in attendance over the last two seasons, I guess you can consider it a "good thing." Once again, there appeared to be a pretty decent number of youth soccer types represented, perhaps using up those extra flex tickets, but that being said: you had about 5,000 people in a stadium that seats close to 70,000, and no matter how you rationalize it, that's still not good. The Magpie
I agree. Even the usually quiet fellow fans in Sec 110 were hopping and yelling. Sure was fun. Sue and I drove the 800 miles back to PEI after the game and we just floated all the way to the Island. We were so high from what we saw that we just let the car and the dog do the driving . Great weekend for Boston Sports. The Pats, Sox (2), Revs and BC all with solid wins.
Well it's definately not something the organization should celebrate but I think some may have been suprised by the turnout. I'm just glad I saw the same people who have been in the Fort all year long in there for the only playoff game at Gillette, even though i know some are more baseball fans then soccer fans.
Congrats on the win....well deserved. I agreee with the point that on attack we just didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do to create chances. As for the Twellman abuse, welcome to the big leagues.....find some old Crew game tapes and look for the abuse that McHead used to suffer. What Taylor takes is a drop in the bucket comparatively. My frustration with Cunningham and Buddle are that they aren't partnered in the first 11. Jeffro was benched at the start of our run and IMO is our best attacking option. GA wants to stick with the 4-5-1 (Martino is a forward by designation only) for defensive reasons and will do so to the end. I just hope the end doesn't come on Sunday.