I have to admit that I have been a little uncertain about all the changes in the roster. We have all lived through seeing the roster undergo major reconstructive surgery each year and I have been getting that unsettled feeling again as more and more changes are occuring. Then I looked at my desk blotter where I keep a copy of the 2002 MLS Cup roster and starting line up. Llamosa is the first player from the Cup starting line up to go. Twellman Harris Kamler Hernandez Cullen Ralston Franchino (Llamosa) Kante Heaps Brown We let go 5 bench players (Sommer, Fuller, Chacon, Asad and Cloutier) and one starter (Llamosa) and picked up 3 starters (Moore, Nowak and Reis) and 3 subs (Noonan, Singer and Westfield). Looking at it that way - the core is still there and we picked up talent that could slide them back on the depth chart - gives me a much better feeling. I'm sure that Nicol will feel much better looking at a bench with Cullen, Hernandez, Harris and Reis on it than Chacon, Cloutier, Fuller and Sommer.
This while the Revs still have an available roster spot for a senior international, and probably enough cap space to sign a solid discovery pick. The Magpie
well, none of the reasons why i though we were in good shape in preseason last season contributed to the seasons (2nd half) success...
Yes, well Buhlmann would be terrific as would the development of a cool-headed, ball wise center back to pair up with Kante. Maybe Rusty will become that, maybe Joseph already is but time will tell in the long run. I agree that the moves look pretty good but I really want to see what happens with Serna and the potential holes at Left mid and central D. JIM DOW
just a thought,,,,,but how about JMM taking over kamlers spot if we keep Serna? or having him take over for ralston and play ralston on the left? anyway u look at it a midfield of JMM, hernandez, nowak and Ralston looks much better than last years. with a healthy Serna teaming with twellman, this would be a very dangerous team. i think the only real problem postion is who will team up with kante in the middle, rusty 'red card waiting to happen' pierce or Sharlie 'never played a minute in the MLS' joseph. if JMM plays up front, Kamler is more than able on the leftside and is not a priority.
Boiling it down to basics: - The Revs reached the MLS Cup in 2002. - The 2003 roster appears better than the 2002 roster. - There will be no season-opening, five-game road trip. This is shaping up to be the Revs' best season ever.
It's ugly, but somebody's got to do it. This is the same glass seen as half empty: A huge amount depends on the health of two older players, JMM and PN, who were injured for a significant part of last year. At the moment, we have no credible substitute for either one. Our two offensive stars from last year took a beating, and will likely take a beating again. Both were injured and missed some games last year. We have no credible substitutes for them either. TnT was beginning to take on an attitude at the end of last season. I doubt that goes over well with PN and JMM. We have no starting left wing - or put differently, our best left wing is getting older and slowing down. While I like Joey as a person and as a player going forward, he is a defensive liability, and teams are going to build their attacks around exposing him. The defense as a whole, with the exception of Rusty (and possibly Joseph), is too slow to stay with the faster MLS forwards. We proved ourselves in the final to be vulnerable to quick counters. My nightmare: We play Crew and DCU, and the team is decimated. Sorry, everybody. Things will look brighter tomorrow.
Re: It's ugly, but somebody's got to do it. Lets wait till we see the final roster before we make up our minds. I think we will see at least one more major addition before opening day. George
Re: Re: It's ugly, but somebody's got to do it. i am thinking the same thing,,,we have one SI slot open and now with the loss of llamosa, possibly more cash to deal with. I think the biggest needs right now are 1) central defender 2) left winger and 3) left outside defender. i just don't feel comfortable with JF back there.
Never mind that Kante got a red card in the playoffs or that Llamosa, who I've probably seen get tossed twice against the Revs, got ejected and suspended during the Chicago series. It's obvious that our biggest concern is Rusty "I've played for 3 years and never been ejected" Pierce. If Rusty plays long enough, eventually he'll get a red card. I'm sure there will be a plethora of "I knew this would happen" posts. Until then, or until he starts doing the kind of foolish things Joey's been prone to, or what we saw from Heaps and Llamosa in the playoffs last year, I wouldn't let Rusty's "red card issues" keep him out of prospective lineups.
don't get me wrong,,,i like rusty alot,,,,i just don't really want him in the middle with kante. i think between franchino and Pierce we have two of the hardest working, toughest, nastiest players in the league that often make boneheaded plays....but they are our boneheads and I want to keep them here. Face it,,,if those two guys were on another team,,,,you would hate them.
Does any know anything about Shalrie Joseph? He seems to be a big question mark. I'm assuming that Nicol thinks pretty highly of him, otherwise he would've picked up a defender in the draft instead of Noonan. Nicol seems to know a good defender when he sees one. I strongly believe the team would NOT have made the playoffs if he didn't sign Kante. That said, I hope he can find a good replacement for Llamosa. That's my only concern about this team... well, that and keeping everyone healthy.
If JMM and PN are out, then we insert Wolde Harris and Leo Cullen, and we've got essentially the same lineup we had in the MLS Cup Final last year. Twellman played in all 28 regular season games, and six of seven post season games. Ralston played 27 of 28 regular season games, and all seven post season games. And I consider Wolde Harris a reasonable replacement for TNT, as far as MLS backup forwards go. Noonan could replace Ralston if he's hurt, or you could move Jay Heaps up to right mid, slide Rusty over to right back, and put Shalrie Joseph in the center of defense. Our best left wing was arguably our best all-around player in the post season last year. Vulnerable to quick counters? They scored ONE freakin' goal. And that was because Kante and Heaps were pushed up for a corner, and Franchino coughed the ball up in midfield. That left Rusty the only defender back. And I can't speak for everyone, but for a slow guy, I think Daouda Kante's pretty fast. Besides - I don't think we're done adding players on defense. The Crew? You mean the same Columbus team that nearly went four straight games against us without scoring a goal? And quick - name all the forwards on D.C. United that have scored six goals in an MLS season... I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. I think we're easily good enough to get in the playoffs, and I think we're going to be the type of team that will do well in the post season.
Morning, Mike. I honestly do want to stop being dismal - but as with the Godfather/Sopranos: "I tried to get out, but they pulled me back in!". Mike, we didn't score. Not just in that game either - for the last part of the season, we had a lot of trouble scoring, and TnT was getting hammered. I'm sure you're right, but you wouldn't argue that Noonan and Joseph are tested in any serious sense, much less play-off ready. I know, they'll get experience as the season progresses, but for all we know, they are this year's Semedo. Everyone who thinks Heaps is a strong right wing, raise your hand...Anyone? Kamler was awesome in the post-season, and I honor him for it. He is the anti-Kreis . Is this likely to continue over the course of the regular season? I agree that this problem was largely fixed by SN in the late regular season, but I would still argue that may come back to haunt us. I certainly didn't pick these teams for ability, but rather for their tendency to violence. What I'm concerned about is that they will become frustrated when they take their beating at the Razor, and take it out on JMM's knee. Me too
While Jon has done a pretty good analysis of what could go wrong, every team faces that situation. In fact, you can say for most teams, that if just about everyone has their own "personal best" season, they'll be a contender (i.e., 2002 Pats, 2002 Angels, 2003 Bucs, etc.). But for the majority of teams, injuries and inconsistencies factor in. I think when the "experts" weigh in on season predictions, NE will be the consensus pick for 1st place in the East. Other teams added boatloads of draft picks and made major trades, but the value of adding two proven MLS stars, along with a top-quality 2nd keeper is likely to be the among the most significant upgrades in MLS. While the overall record of the team was basically .500 last year, it's hard to overlook the fact that the team basically turned into a steamroller down the stretch, when the competition was at it's most intense. That's where we start from this spring ...