I'm just curious how people see the revs lining up defensively. Assuming all are healthy, who does Nicol go with on the backline and supporting d-mid(s)? I think the backline of Franchino, Kante, Llamosa, and Pierce would probably be my all-healthy backline, but it's kind of tough leaving Heaps off the field. Anyone have any idea what Nicol may be leaning toward?
IMO, I see him playing Heaps, Kante, Llamosa and Franchino, with Pierce battling for a position. Pierce will be tryed at different defensive spots to see if he can beat out the current person in that position. I think he will see a fair amount of starts with the Revs busy schedule next season.
And what is the latest on Kante's contract? I know Nicol was quoted last week as saying it WILL get done, but has it yet?? Will Kante travel to Costa Rica??? Right now I'd say we are looking at Franchino-Pierce-Llamosa-Heaps until Daouda signs. I'm with you keeppah on having Pierce out there instead of Heaps when all are available, but I can understand the argument of having it the other way around.
Heaps and Pierce are bothat that tricky point when soccer middle age begins to settle in. By that I mean that while they are still in their physical prime their ability to learn and improve physically can begin to slow down, if not actually stop. This is particularly tricky with US-bred players, since they start late out of the blocks as pros due to the problematic nature of development while in college (big fish in small ponds, too few games, poor tactical training, etc.). Often, players like Heaps actually improve significantly while in their mid to late 20's, really bringing themselves up to where they would have been had they been trained in a quality soccer situation while younger. What we might call the Tony Sanneh factor. In this regard, Heaps has made significantly more progress in the last season-plus than Rusty. While the future may be different, especially if Baby Psycho avoids injury, right now Heaps has become a more polished, sure player and should start. JIM DOW
Sorry, but I'll disagree with most of this. Heaps may have improved in his mid to late twenties, but there's no reason to expect that Rusty won't when he gets there. He's still only 23 or so. I thought Pierce made some good progress last year, he's still our best man marker, and he played as well as a central back as aonyone else. If you recall that, when we had all of our central defensive problems 2 years ago, the concensus on this board was that Rusty wasn't capable of playing in the middle, I'd call that an improvement. Heaps probably did improve more, but much of this was because Rusty was injured a lot and Heaps was so bad to begin with (his time on defense in 2001 was poor at best and his stints at left mid were forgettable this year). I'll watch Jay this year (because I expect him to start) but my impression of him last year was average defender, but good in the attack. Having said that, I'd go with a back line of Joey, Rusty, Kante and Heaps. I thought Llamosa's play last year was comparable to Leo Alvarez the year before. Unless he was injured for most of last year and he's now fully recovered, he's going to have a tough time against the faster players in the league.
I don't disagree that Rusty has more potential upside as to improvement but, at present, it is potential. Heaps went from poor to pretty good in 1.5 seasons. Pierce has stayed at about the same level as he was at the end of his first year, which is pretty good but still flawed on a day to day basis. He certainly CAN be as good as Heaps (although with different upsides, as you point out) but at this juncture the RB position is Heaps' to lose. JIM DOW
I see two main differences in the "potential" of Heaps and Pierce. One is that Heaps is a tremendous "athlete" - he has a great combination of speed, strength and jumping ability. Pierce makes up for a lot of that with pure determination, but I don't think he's as naturally gifted. The second is that Heaps has turned out to be quite durable. I can't remember him missing games because of injury. Pierce was an iron man for his first couple of years, but ever since that time when he got tossed into the team bench (Mid-Michigan part I?), he's had a series of nagging injuries. Once you're in that cycle of injury-rehab, it's hard to get out (ask Chrono). It is understandable that Pierce hasn't been able to improve his game at the rate that Heaps has, because he's had to struggle with rehab and fitness. Not only that, but Heaps' limitations were mostly on the mental side of the game and were very obvious - knowing when to commit and when not to, developing a sense of timing and poise in his game. With Pierce, the things he needs to improve are more difficult to learn: ball control, distribution, vision, etc. I also suspect that Heaps had a special "tutor" last year, as in the head coach - one of the world's best at the position. None of that changes the fact that Nicol has to put the best (2-way) player out on the field (and, IMO, hold the more versatile one as an option off the bench).
I think that Nicol should start both and have Llamosa available in reserve. He's not getting any faster and I don't know how well he'll hold up over the course of a 30+ game season. I'm not really trying to slam Heaps. I started my list of necessary offseason upgrades with 2nd forward, left mid, and left defender like many others. I just think that Pierce (in spite of his offensive limitations) is our best pure defender, and we're going to need him on the pitch, especially if we go away from our 2 D-mid formation a year ago.
This season needs to start soon. I think this team is solid all the way around, and I forgot just how comfortable I am with this defense. I don't remember ever feeling this way in the offseason. I think we have five defenders that I am more than comfortable with and one (Joseph) who could turn out to be solid. I almost wish someone was willing to trade for Llamosa. Although I think he's still a very capable defender, his time is almost up. Besides, it's nice to know we have some depth at a key position.
so im guessing it will be between Heaps and Pierce for that final spot? unless i totally missed something...
Not to put too sharp an edge on it, but Heaps had exactly one good season as a Rev - and not even a full season at that. He started out shaky and turned in some fine performances at the end. This year will definitely show a lot for both players. As far as athleticism is concerned, I'd have to agree that heaps has the edge on Pierce (and over many other players for that matter). In the area of concentration however, Pierce definitley has the edge over Heaps. If you look at Rusty's performances, it's kind of remarkable how few lapses in concentration he has that lead to easy goals (remember Brian Dunseth?). Heaps isn't quite there yet. He's more apt to make make a both a stunning play, and a stupid play. You can't emphasize this trait too much for a defender, and it's not always something that can be taught. Pierce's main challenge is to learn to play within the reasonable limits of the human body. He's got to learn that not every challenge is worth making and not ball is worth contending for. If he doesn't learn pretty quickly, his career probably won't last as long as it should.
I agree with everything you say, although I would add that from midseason on, Heaps seemed to show pretty steady improvement (that's why I think Nicol was tutoring him). The other factor with Heaps is that he's not someone you'd want when the rest of the defense is shaky, as it was early on, but did a heckuva lot better when the other pieces were in place. As for Pierce, the best testament to him, I think, is the number of the best MLS forwards who have the tendency to try to work the other side when he's playing. I've seen Cobi Jones and Graziani totally abandon Pierce's side out of frustration.