P/I/P Match 13: Revs vs PHI, Sat 5/28/22 7:30p [R]

Just saw the starting lineup. OMG....not sure what Arena is doing? We'll see. I choked when I saw Omar starting. It didnt get a lot better going forward either. AND Our high priced, do noting, forward is on the bench to. Dont see Bou going 90 so Im sure we'll see Antiscore too?

 

I have to say I am impressed with Buksa and Henry missing, I was expecting to see Phily dominate the field. We seem to be holding our own while playing mostly an offensive game.

 

F'ING OMAR!!!!!!!!! WTF IS HE DOING ON THE GD FIELD!!!!!!!!

 

Omar with the assist. Knew that sooner or later he's screw us. Bou has skill but is too slow. I wonder if it occurs to Arena just how many goals are Omar's fault. This should have been 3 points. Kids are taught from a very young age not to pass it in front of your own net. Guess Omar never had that lesson?

 

Good thing we blew off the Open Cup game to get 3 points against Philly

Is Arena the only person in New England who doesn't know that Omar is a washed up train wreck? And why put in the slow, useless Altidore instead of Rennicks? I'm really starting to question Arena's ability to get this team back on track.

 

Such a winnable game.

 

I thought the first half was the best the Revs have looked this season. They moved the ball well and switched fields with long accurate passes. The Revs had a couple of good opportunities to score. Bou was a little rusty, but that was to be expected. Philly was the East Leader and the Revs clearly dominated them. But Philly was smart, they attacked Omar all night. They knew he would give them a goal and he finally did, 30 seconds after we score. I would be fine with Reveno playing instead of Omar. If the kid did that at least you could chalk it up to being a rookie mistake. Although even rookies should know better!!

 

I am very frustrated with Arena these days. He is stubborn, takes forever to make changes, and blindly loyal to people that are long past their expiration date. Omar sucks...period. He looks ok until under pressure. Then he screws up time after time. Philly was targeting him cause they know hes the weak link. He is a waste of money these days... cut him. Maybe Polster could be trained as a backup center? Apparently Bell is DOA. Problem number 2 and 3. Bou - good skills. Too slow to play CF. Was caught from behind 3 or 4 times. Find another place for him. Altadore - Was not happy when Arena signed him. I was right. He is finished. Im tired of hearing them say "work his way back into shape" News flash .... this is IT. He does NOTHING every time he gets on and costs us 3 or 4 million for one back pass.
Overall, Arena needs to get younger and faster. He has always had this same problem and was the reason he failed at his second stint at NAT coach. He values experience over youth and speed in most cases. Now the Revs are his team and he started well. Not as good now but still better than the last version. Apparently we miss Tajon a lot more than people thought we would but the big issue is still his tendency to sign expensive dinosaurs and reluctance to work younger players into the starting group. Please explain why Borrero is not starting somewhere? Why does he put Antiscore on the field instead of Rennicks? Bou at CF? and Omar (OMG) We cant score enough goals to cover Omar's mistakes. Rivera? has speed and skill. Work with him and Rennicks Forget the dinosaurs... other teams have

 

Just watched the highlights--- every single highlight was the Revs attacking -- EXCEPT Omars assist on the goal. WOW -- how to dominate a game and only come away with a point, what a disappointment.

Omar is well past his due date. While kids are taught not to pass in front of their goal, professionals do it all the time. You just have to be careful about it -- Omar was not. You have to think that someone else would be no worse back there, or even if worse, younger and able to learn and gain experience to be better. Omar's trajectory is in the wrong direction - you'd think it wouldn't take long for someone who is young and on the up to pass Omar -- if only they got the experience. Come on Bruce -- wake up here.

That said, we should have had three or four goals from what I saw of the highlights, 22 shots!!! (Just checked our stats, our XG was 3!) Bou is a scorer, give him time. Wondered why they showed the guy in the fort with the grey Revs sweat top on --- thought he must be related to Bou and then they confirmed it. Nice -- that was a very well taken PK.

 

Arena inherited a talented team. As players left he brought in the broken but familiar faces from his dead past. That Omar and Jozy were signed by him for the Revs is comical. That Omar and Jozy actually get put out on the field is comically destructive to the Revs. Arena has to decide if he wants to manage team that can vie for the top, or he wants to be the Joker to the Revs' Gotham......

 

This is true to a point. Friedel/Burns signed Gil, gave Turner his first shot, drafted Bye/Buchanan/Jones. There was talent in place, but the roster was still thinner than it was last year/is now and there is no doubt the Arena era has been more successful than the previous two managers because we actually have a trophy to show for it. Arena's by no means been perfect in the additions that have come in, but he's had a number of big hits. Bou and Buksa alone have been massive additions, and then of course there are Kessler, Polster, TMac, Ema who have all been key contributors. And Turner really didn't become Turner until the Arena era. Arnor may be turning into something useful. I think Borerro and Petrovic look promising, possibly also the Dias kid with Revs II.

But at the same time, there is no denying the overall substance that there is a hesitancy to give the keys to younger guys like Rennicks, Rivera, Bell, maybe even Reveno in favor of experienced guys like AJ, Omar & Jozy that just don't have it in the tank to do what you are asking them to do any more. Omar has singlehandedly cost us enough points that we would be above the playoff red line right now if not for his inevitable at least once a game major mistakes. And Jozy is contributing nothing to the attack. So the offseason has been a step back. The summer window HAS to be a step forward if we have any chance of doing anything this year.

 

Did the math on the points Omar has lost us.
as of today its definitely 7 (Columbus, Phili, DC), maybe 8 if you blame him for knighton's gaffe in Miami, and also got us eliminated from ccl.

it'll only get worse from here

 

While I let loose a string of profanities when you know what happened, I came away incredibly encouraged by this performance. We faced off against the best team in the East and thoroughly controlled and out-played them. What stood out most to me was that finally (after what, close to 2 years?) we were able to get a really strong and influential performance out of Kaptoum. I loved how he played, moving the ball fluidly through the midfield, getting us into transition. He's a heads-up, eyes-up player and had us steadily going forward instead of back and side-to-side so much of the time.

I also felt that Bou was getting closer and closer and that if he had another chance or two, he would have converted (from the run of play).

There was one play where we had the best interior passing that we've seen all season - and beyond, though sadly it didn't result in a goal (I think the shot that it built up to went off a defender).

I was frustrated that we again gave away points (at home!), but was very impressed by how we bossed the game. We're on an upward path.

I also thought that Borrero was influential, but was trying too hard to do something spectacular, when probably a simpler play would have worked better. My sense is that he'll fit in very well, probably when he has a full 90 to settle in.

Also, a very good game by Lleget IMO. And good performance by McNamara as well.

Probably the most maddening thing about Omar's game is that up until his blunder, I thought he had done very well and was clearly having his steadiest performance of the season.

I'd really like to have been the proverbial fly on the wall in the Revs' locker room after this one. I'm sure personally, guys wanted to pat Omar on the back and support him, but professionally, they probably want to boot his @$$ out of the room. They probably all want the guy off the field, one way or the other at this point, but they have to be good teammates and maintain the good chemistry they've had since Arena came to the rescue just about 2 years ago.

 

Problem is hes playing exactly the same as he did all of last year for TFC.

the brain farrs aren't new, they're a feature and with his diminishing athleticism this is just what you get from Omar now.

 

I watched Omar pretty carefully most of the night. Thought he actually played fairly decent until his one mistake, which of course wound up in the net. He was solid in the air. Also painfully slow trying to track Philly's attackers. He can't move any more. I figured it was only a matter of time before they'd burn him - yet he ended up handing them a gift.

Did they gurantee him any money? That's the only logical reason I can think of as to why he's still here.

 

Honestly, does it matter if Omar is still on the team vs. just not playing?

Presumably Bruce sees some sort of veteran values in him - lockerroom leadership or coaching younger players or whatever. And Omar may well provide that. The place where he clearly kills us is on the field. So long as he's not there and actively doing harm to the team's results, I don't care that much if he's eating up payroll.

(Yes, I'd think his salary could be better used by someone else, but we can't see his intangibles, and Bruce can. I'll defer to the guy with decades of experience absent evidence not to.)

 

That was the fear all along from fans, that he would be a detriment if he saw the field too much. There is no way Bruce ever intended to have Omar play as much as he has. He's played more than Kessler, for God's sake. That was NEVER the plan. If Kessler had been healthy, he and Andrew would have seen the vast majority of the minutes and Omar's role on the field would have been greatly reduced. Bell's had his own fitness issues, so that has also added to the problem, although I don't know if that is the only reason why Bell hasn't featured as much as Omar. The problem isn't really that Omar is on the roster, it's that he's the third choice center back and not the 4th or 5th choice. Since we've had to trot the 3rd choice guy out there so often, he's been put in a position to fail because he can be exploited by opponents and can't play mistake-free football over the minutes he's being asked to take on. So Bruce the GM has failed Bruce the coach in this case by not building a deeper central defender group. I for one can only hope that Bruce the coach decides to give Bell or Reveno a shot the next time he has to put someone other than Kessler or Farrell on the field. Really, how much worse can it get?