I really, really hope this is true. History has not always proven it to be true though. Because of that, there is still some nervousness that the Revs don't upgrade enough. We will know quickly with the expansion draft what some of their thinking is....wait, the last time there was an expansion draft, the Revs made that historical blunder... Again, history seems to have a way of repeating itself in Rev land. I am, and will always be (no matter how much pain it causes) in the camp that "hope" for the 10th year in a row, the Revs make some good roster decisons across the board.
I totally agree, we cannot stand pat. While the DC game was the best game I saw all season, it cannot erase the rest of the poor season and wholesale changes are needed. If the Revs put in that much effort every week, they would not have attendance problems. I think the players know that the teams can't really do too much once the season has started and that their jobs are secure.
Someday MLS may become a real league where there is no playoff system or a format where only the top 2-4 teams make the postseason. These late season sprints that NE had perfected will be too little too late, no one should be fooled into thinking everything is okay in NE because of the excitement at the end. Fans had to watch some pretty bad soccer for 5 of the 6 month season. This is probably another thread but is there any word on Twellman's options to leave and head to Euro? That would obviously have major implications for the off season planning.
This captures my thoughts the closest. We in Boston, with our manic-depressive nature tend to magnify both the wins and the losses. On the other hand, the basic question that BigFrank posed is legitimate - why such beautiful soccer at the end and such dreadful performances during the regular season? The regular season greatly disappointed me, and there needs to be some organizational analysis on making sure we don't have that again. On the other hand, it would be interesting to know how many games we actually played during the regular season with the lineup that started against DC. It may help explain the disparity in performance. The right combination having played together consistently for a period of time coming together at the right time and place. As professionals they need to do a better job week in and week out while dealing with the injuries, suspensions, etc, however, to directly compare the starting lineup against DC against the team that didn't win 24 out of 33 games is not totally accurate either. Was October 16th the first time we saw the lineup that played against DC? Before that we had Ralston at defense, Kamler at left mid, Franchino at left D, Cancela on the bench, etc. That all said, we do need more consistency from the organization from start to finish.
Well,I bet people in Chicago and Dallas are kicking themselves that they couldn't pick up a few more points in those "essentially meaningless" games in April, May, and June. This is the last time we will see this kind of scenario happening. Remember back in the "golden era" of the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny? You didn't have to just be a little less crap than one crap team to make the playoffs, you had to be a little less crap than two crap teams. That's how we missed out on the playoffs in 1998, 1999, and 2001. In 2000, we were the 7th best team out of 12, so we weren't really that bad. With 6 teams in the division next year, regardless of whether it's Dallas or Kansas City, we will have to be a lot better throughout the year. And if all goes according to plans, we will have 14 teams in a few more years and that will break down the teams further into groups of 3-4 teams each as the 1) Title Contenders, 2) Should be in Playoffs, 3) Could Make Playoffs, and 4) No Hope for Playoffs. The 2004 Revs were supposed to be in Group 1, but ended up in Group 3. Tom
The Revs had a four-phase season: Phase 1: Inundated by injuries. Bench players/rookies did well to contribute, but the best lineup they could field couldn't be expected to win many games. This lasted past midseason. Phase 2: Late summer, most injured players returned, team play improved, team put together an impressive unbeaten streak (although number of ties, particularly at home, a concern). Phase 3: Kind of unexpectedly, team hit another slump. This one is pretty hard to explain. My best guess is that the team felt out of synch, a kind of delayed reaction to the constantly juggled lineups. Maybe some bad karma from the fill-ins being pushed back to the bench? Phase 4: In the nick of time, as has been the pattern under Nicol, the team puts together enough of a hot streak to get into the playoffs and do some damage, before falling, unluckily, to penalty kicks after overtime. The only area where I can criticize Nicol is for what happened in the 3rd phase. But, I'm still waiting for a good explanation of how they lost their momentum and why they couldn't recapture it before things became really dicey.