Ok, we've met them five times this year. Revs have beaten us three times. We've won one and tied one. Taylor Twellman only played in one of the matches, the 3-3 tie at Foxboro. Eddie Pope only played in two of the five matches. The 2-1 Open Cup quarters victory, and the 2-1 loss in the home finale. Metro have tried all kinds of D combinations in these games, including last Saturday's Juan Forchetti-Joe Addo Debacle. I swear Noonan has scored every NE goal against us...I know he hasn't...but it seems that way...NE has scored an early goal against us in three of the games...they've taken the lead on us four times. Here are our goal scorers vs. NE... Woly. Own Goal. Rico. Jolley. Jusko. And Mathis and Amado in the Open Cup. We did not miss any pk's against NE...Amazing! Adin Brown made the best MLS save of the year in the first 2-1 home loss, a Jolley re-direction that would've tied the match. Mike Magee and Woly both missed good chances to make the first roadie in New England a 4-3 victory. Brown made two point blank saves on Woly as time expired. Amado could not put the ball into an empty net in the last game...would've cut the score to 2-1 just before half.
so what your saying is that the revolution deserve to be higher in the standings than the metrostars? good assumption, because its correct. The metros got their asses handed to them on a platter 3 games, and without many of their starters. thats an acomplishment. The Metros better be making some adjustments during the off season. GO REVS!!
My only assumption is that these will be close, tight games. I do like the fact that we've played them once this year with everything on the line and that was the one time we beat them (despite Clint's momentary loss of brains). Here's my best guess lineup. Jonny. Leitch, Pope, Jolley, Edgar. Rico, Richie. Amado, Gaven. Clint, Jusko.
I can guess at ours: Brown Heaps Llamosa Pierce Franchino Joseph Ralston Kamler Cancela Noonan Fabbro Joe-Max will probably start if he's well enough.
I disagree slightly. [L] [R] Brown Pierce Llamosa Kante Franchino Kamler Cancela Joseph Ralston Noonan Fabbro I think Kante has dome much more this season than Jay has. Daouda definately deserves to at least start this game, even if hes subed out eatly on.
i think they will want to stay with leonard at the back, he has been key to our success as of late. Brown Leonard Kante Pierce Franchino Joseph Ralston Kamler Noonan Fabbro (hack hack hack)
??? what are you trying to imply? even though noonan is a rookie he's doing much better than many veterans in the league...hes scored 7 goals against the metros this season, and dont think he'll stop there...
thats what i'm saying!!! new england will get beat like they do by every NY team in every sport. i'm not worried one bit.
"Did the Revs board get shut down? Well, in the absence of Metrofan participation ;-) Keys to the game: Metro: * Limiting the effectiveness of Kamler and Ralston on the wings. Any number of Rev goals against Metro have come from plays having developed out-wide. * Denying Pat Noonan the ball. The Revolution rookie has excellent ball control in tight quarters, and Metro needs to put a body or two on him to disrupt this. Revolution: * Better response to the counter, starting with disruptive play in the middle third. The Revolution have a habit of giving Metro attackers too much room on the ball when breaking on attack, their greatest success coming when finding space between the outside and center backs. * Good ball movement through the center of midfield through Cancela and Joseph. They don't necessarily need to move the ball forward, but rather, more so to open space. This will help spread the field (making our wings more effective), while also helping in terms of overall possession. Have to agree that this will be a closer series than people think. Revs have the momentum but Metro is no push-over. The Magpie
Of course it will be a closer series. I think it's a push at this point. You guys don't have your starting forwards (doesn't matter with how lucky Noonan gets against us, is JMM rusty from all his injuries????). Plus, Pope is going to play in both of these games. I think he's only played once against you guys, and he is honestly the team. We hinge on him like no other player. Ralston is the guy on your team, for all the shifty little moves of Cancela, Ralston is the mover. I wish the Metros had gotten Ralston from Tampa Bay then instead of Mamadou Diallou. We would have been a completely different team with Ralston on the right wing and Chung on the left. That would have been a pretty lethal combination. If I was the Revs, I'd be worried about my defense. A metros offense with NO Gueverra and Mathis harrassed you guys for long stretches of time on Saturday. These were not random lucky shots, this was continued and well organized attacks. The amount of open space players like Nugent got was insane. Llamossa and Pierce were bad all day. Leonard I guess is an improvement over Heaps. Heaps is probably the worst RB in the league by my estimation. We'll see, hopefully we can get the jump start in the first home game against the Revs. Like most New England sports teams, they have unearned hubris. In other words, they think they are world beaters, which is probably not true. So we should take advantage of that arrogance, and play with a lot of intensity and most importantly, tenacity.
I'm not a Jets fan but the Jets are the defending AFC East Champions. Since the Revs are still touting themselves as MLS Eastern Conference champions from 12+ months ago, then at the moment the Jets are the ones with the superiority over the NE team until somebody else becomes the new AFC East Champions.
I haven't seen any productivity from Gaven as a forward, but it's a moot point as Lisi's not going to start. It's amazing he played 90 the other day. I can't see him going more than 30 on the turf, however, so the Gaven-Rico-Richie-Amado midfield is the likely lineup.
I just think it is sad that Clint may have already received the last red card of his MLS career. If he is not on the field, I would consider sitting Joe Franchino, because he will not have his head in the game if Clint Mathis is sitting over on the sideline on the bench. I suppose we might see Clint get a run out at the end of a game if Metrostars are desparate or there are some injuries.
This Pat Noonan bandwagon is pretty freaking hilarious, IMHO. You'd think he was Ronaldinho by the way people are talking him up, thanks to a couple good performances against a Metro backline featuring Juan 'Baresi' Forchetti and Joe 'Beckenbauer' Addo. If the Metros get beat in this series, it's not going to be by guys like Noonan - who's going to be isolated by our regular starting defense and marooned by his useless strike partner, Fabbro. It's going to be through goals by people like Kamler or Shalrie Joseph. But then, I don't think we're going to lose against what, in the end, is a pretty punchless Revs team. Not that we haven't been punchless either, but our defense gives me more confidence than the rickety Revolution backline. Here's my prediction: Pat Van Basten Noonan will score as many goals - or not - as John Wolyniec in this series. Not that I really care that much to begin with, but just for the hell of it, I'll put a Revs logo as my avatar for as many weeks as goals Noonan outscores Woly by in the next two games.
You gotta give the guy his props, though. If it were not for Damani Ralph getting more starts/quality playing time on the front line, Noonan would very likely have matched his goalscoring. Noonan did it with Fabbro, with Twellman, with Joe Max-Moore, with Chad whats-his-face, with everybody. And he played in midfield pretty frequently as well. He has probably been as valuable to his team as Ralph has been to Chicago - perhaps moreso, since Twellman has been out of commission so much. Think where New England would have been last season if Twellman had gone down. But Noonan has the team playing as well as it did down the stretch last year (what has it been, five games on the trot?) Though Ralph did it first, Noonan also blew away the scoring record (7 goals) for new players in the league without prior professional experience. Sure some of the goals came against soft opposition, but every team has games like that. Noonan is on pretty good form right now. Your bet is a pretty good one. Metrostars have been fortunate to have guys like Woly and Mike Magee step in and make an instant difference. Who would have expected Woly to play such a key role earlier in the season? Now he is probably as much of a fan favorite as any other guy on Metrostars.