Giacomo Vrioni is quickly approaching "Worst DP in Revs History" territory. That said, I'm not sure I saw an angle that showed the ball conclusively over the line.
Aside from all the obvious bad stuff… Esmir looks like he’s living up to the hype so far. Really nice pass to start the counter that led to Chancalay’s chance, and in general he’s looked dangerous. Ravas at least looks like a competent MLS starter, which puts him ahead of Edwards and Jackson. Romney is still good. Polster is still a turnover machine, not to mention being good for multiple dumb fouls each time out. Lima looked pretty lost out there. Although the red card was the correct decision, this ref has been pretty bad. Failed to blow for multiple fouls that led to dangerous attacks for DC. I’m also not convinced that wasn’t handling in the box on that shot the Revs had late in the half.
Jones has been the turnover machine for me tonight. That ball may have been over the line but I saw nothing Clear & Obvious that proved it.
We saw the same angle the ref did. I agree with you, there was nothing clear and obvious. What's mind boggling is there was no view straight on the goal line.
You don't want to jump to too many conclusions because it's Game 1 and MLS is very forgiving in terms of playoff spots but I wonder how long Porter sticks with Vrioni? I just heard an interview where Porter was lauding him, but tonight Vrioni let his entire team down. We need a striker. The Good: Esmir, Carles. They showed some fight unlike the 2nd half of last season. The Bad: (besides Vrioni), They had major league problems wtih DC's press to start the game. They were starting to grow into the game when Vrioni lost his mind. But then once they tied the game, you would have hoped they'd tighten up defensively, but the opposite happened. The backline fell apart. Polster wasn't good, neither was Lima. Ema stunk when he came on. I thought Ravas was at fault on the 3rd goal. If you come out like that you need get the ball.
So with that, I’m firmly in the "move on from Vrioni" camp after a year of wavering. The red was obviously awful, but even before that, he was the clear weak link in an otherwise dangerous attack. One play in particular stands out...when he failed to make the hard run necessary to get on the end of an Esmir cross, then chased the ball down just to backheel it off his own ankle for a goal kick. And then to see Benteke do what he did...it was a nice reminder that a DP #9 could - you know- be a clear net positive. Imagine how this game would've gone if Vrioni and Benteke switched teams before kikoff. We're an above-average #9 away from having an elite MLS attack. Make it happen sometime before August, Curt!
I want Vrioni to work out so bad. I mean we've seen some flashes here and there that indicate he could be something. But the lack of composure and awareness that it takes to get two incredibly stupid yellow cards in the first half hour of a game isn't something that fills me with hope that he has the mental component of the game that makes a successful striker. And I have to concur with the last post and the contrast between what you see out of Benteke vs. a guy like Vrioni. And it isn't just about one game. The eye test between those two guys is informative enough, and Benteke's body of work vs. Vrioni's speaks for itself. And it isn't like we haven't seen goal scorers in Revs kits. Joe Max, Taylor, Bou, Buksa. That "IT" thing that they had, I am sadly more of the opinion now that Vrioni doesn't have "IT". Vrioni's flashes haven't come close to indicating he can join those kind of ranks. It seems pretty clear that we need an upgrade there. It is especially annoying because the Revs were just starting to get a foot into the game when the second yellow came out. For all the pressure the Revs were under early on, the best chance prior to the red card was Chancalay's. He buries that and/or Vrioni screws his head on straight and doesn't get sent off, and the game plays out differently. The same way I wasn't trying to get too high after the midweek game, I'm not going to get too low here. Lots of guys could have been better, we needed to deal with the high pressure better earlier on, but it was always going to be a difficult game under the circumstances, made worse by the red card. Esmir continues to indicate he's ready. Gil's goal was spectacular. Let's see how they respond because they don't have a lot of time to mope and a lot to do in the next week.
Revs didn't play well enough to win today, but by god this ref. Pekmic is watching this game at home taking notes on new ways to screw over the revs
A few Random thoughts: That ref was horrible. Are they replacement refs? On their last goal, Ema got elbowed in the back and knocked off the ball, no call, wtf! Chancalay and Gil got mugged all game long with no calls, but when a Rev player tried that it was a foul. I agree with everybody that their first goal was more than likely a goal, but var didn't show a clear and obvious mistake in the call of no goal. As for Esmir's call, his foot wasn't on the line when he was falling down! Just terrible refereeing. As for Vrioni, I think it's a red flag when you get players who keep doing stupid things. I have a real problem with players who get the stupid automatic yellow cards; e.g. not giving a player 10 yards on a free kick, taking your shirt off after a goal, or kicking the ball away after a call. You might need them to make a hard tackle to save your team later in the game. The announcer Wednesday night was a character and rambled on, but I would prefer to listen to him rather than the DC homers who did last night's game. First MLS game, away in DC, the result wasn't good, but they did show a lot of fight being down a man. I would like to see Harkes get a start in Polster's place to see what that looks like.
Put me in the "done with Vrioni" camp. Two completely unnecessary yellows. Now, he has to play 90 against CAI so Wood can go 90 against Toronto next Sunday. Throughout the game, the word that kept coming to mind was: sloppy. The 12 hour trip from Panama clearly affected the whole team. After going back and watching Benteke's hat trick again, I'm a bit disappointed with Ravas. I think Turner would have saved at least 2 of those. I agree there was no definitive camera angle on the first goal, but it's clear his foot (that made the save) was more than a ball's length behind the line. A keeper can't let himself get that far behind the line. The second went between his legs (granted it was close range, so no time to react). The last one, a keeper who is 6'5" has to get to that ball first. Not much else you can take from this game due to the red card, other than Carles' moment of sheer brilliance (and he will probably lose out on goal of the week to Bogusz, who had a similar goal on the opposite side). DCU had 31 shots (only 5 on goal), 17 of them were blocked. My guess is Romney had at least 10 of those blocks. He was everywhere. Pyrrhic award, but he gets my MOTM.
I'm going to add to The Bad: the Gil brothers. Not in their play, but their constant whining is getting to even me as a Revs die-hard. Play the f'in game. We're setting up to lose at least Carles again for a game or two over the course of the season with his arguing EVERY SINGLE call.
My take on the game........ Vrioni - I know we've all discussed this, but I just can't fathom what was going through his head when he interfered with DC's free kick to get his first yellow. I mean, it was like 12 minutes into the game and DC had a harmless free kick deep in their own half of the field. As soon as he did that I thought "oh boy, that was idiotic and I'm sure it will come back to bite us"....it did Lack of Control - For the 25 minutes that we were even strength we still saw very little possession. This is very concerning coming off a season in which we only had 3 road wins. There is no rule book that says you must play anxious and defensive on the road. We need to be more aggressive and not play into this stigma of 'home vs away'. Hopefully this isn't a continued coaching trend. Gil - oh man, what a FANTASTIC goal...such a beauty
Carles currently has a slight lead (35.1% to 33.9) over Bogusz. Opening week treated us well with these goals. 😏Vote for @ATT Goal of the Matchday!— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 26, 2024
I don't know - it's not like he has a history of this - it's his first red here. The 2nd yellow, I don't know, pretty soft. I think a more confident ref gives him the stern talking to - especially so early. Yes, it was kind of dumb, but you don't want to lose your aggressiveness and in the end it was just a minor clip of the heel. Live and learn. Yeah, %100. They were clearly not right opening the game - they looked like they were running in sand. Totally agree - if you are a foot back into your own goal, you're pretty much useless. Gotta stay on balance. And, the 2nd, that was a complete blunder. If nothing else, punch that ball away. A 6'5" keeper getting beat to a high ball that he had the chance to get under? Should never happen. And, his distribution was all over the place - particularly when they were under the heaviest pressure. A couple of good reaction saves, but he's got a LOT to work on. Romney and Mensah looked like they hadn't ever played together - not sure if that combo was run in the exhibition games. Polster was one of the slowest, most struggling Revs out there. Well behind on every play - just looked like he couldn't keep up - at a critical position. So, early season/road game, not too unexpected to not win, but I didn't see anything to convince me that DC isn't going to be near the bottom of the conference and we'll look back at this as a game we should have gotten points from. Unbelievable goal from Gil - and he made it look so effortless. Such perfect placement (and amazing bend) on a shot with such a quick release ... incredible.
Perhaps it's a bad omen to have last year's season end on a first half red card only to open the next year's season opener with another first half red card.
I didn't see the game, but judging by the highlights, the second yellow looked pretty weak. Sure, it was a foul, but it really didn't look that bad, especially if it was his second. In that case, it should be a more "clear and obvious" yellow to warrant a sending off. In the past when down a man, the Revs have often--well, given up is a bit harsh, but the fact that they were able to equalize on a spectacular goal and hang in there was a positive. I was hoping for something better after coming away with a good result in Panama, but being down a man a quarter of the way into the game is tough to overcome. It's a long season, so no need to panic. But what are we going to do without Vrioni? Wood is the (only) obvious choice, and I'm not sure about starting Chancalay up top, since he'd very effective on the wing. Another reason we needed to get another striker...