MATCHDAY GUIDE | Revs at CF Montréal (August 26, 2023) Jeff Lemieux posted: Monday, Aug 21, 2023, 10:08 AM
“Good technique, a deadly finish” | Chancalay sharpening up for Revs’ MLS return Caroline Oatway Tuesday, Aug 22, 2023, 04:22 PM revolutionsoccer.net
Williams | Revs need to "stick together as a team and as a staff" as regular season resumes New England Revolution assistant coach Richie Williams speaks with the media ahead of the Revs' meeting with CF Montréal on Saturday, August 26, 2023 at Gillette Stadium. Video (4:36 length) Asked about Kessler, Richie said he's making progress, but still a ways away.
Preview | With 11 games remaining, Revs’ MLS campaign resumes with trip to CF Montréal Caroline Oatway Friday, Aug 25, 2023, 11:44 AM Petro too?:
Maybe he still has to pass his physical at Chelsea? Would've thought they'd have the results by now, but....
I saw one British media report that the deal had been finalized, but I don't know if that's confirmed.
You could see it coming. With Bou, Kessler, Jones, Bye, Borrero, Farrell all on the shelf, we're not good enough. The only thing about being without Petro tonight, maybe he steals us a 0-0 draw. But not having him isn't the reason we only generated two shots all game.
Watched till I fell asleep. I hope Arena comes back soon cause Williams will take this team to the bottom. No goals against Montreal? Give me a break! WTF is the league doing? Trying to make sure we fail? We have a ton of money now, buy some GOOD players
2 shots, 0 on goal, and the best shot was from just over the halfway line...smh. That's not how you fill stadiums and get people excited about the game....or win!
One thing that seems clear is that our starting fullbacks are actually more important to the attack than to the defense. We defended quite well (kudos to Omar, exceeding our collective expectations), so well that I actually thought we'd grind our way to a point. The attacking play was awful, but our attackers also didn't get the ball in very good spaces. Our CMs/CBs couldn't hit a line-splitting pass, and we lacked the attacking fullbacks to destabilize the opponents. Spaulding is gutsy as hell and, I think, a serviceable backup - but the drop off from Jones is significant. And to be without Jones AND Bye - a huge facet of our game just completely withers away. There was also a lot of rust evident, as we'd expected. Even Gil was mis-hitting passes. And Buck's in a bit of a slump - it's almost as if the "OMG I'm a pro soccer player" adrenaline has faded, and now he's struggling to adjust to the game-to-game grind. It's been sooo frustrating as a fan this season, watching the train continually falling apart just as it seems to be finally picking up momentum. The injuries are just...something else. And yet we're still right in the thick of things at the top half of the East, which is a testament, I think, to how solid of an MLS squad this actually is. We've got a starting 11 capable of winning the cup, and depth capable of keeping things afloat even with a massive injury list. Unfortunately, you're never going to be one of the top 2-3 teams in a parity-driven league if half your starters are out. So at this point, it's kind of a matter of timing. If we get healthy at the right time, we could enter the playoffs with a lineup of Vaclik-Jones-Kessler-Romney-Spaulding-Harkes-Polster-Chancalay-Gil-Bou-Vrioni...and we could win this thing! Or, we could limp into the playoffs in our current state and be lucky to win a game or two. Such is life in a salary cap league. Hopefully they loosen the roster rules and we can unleash some Petro money (hehe, like Newcastle) next winter.
That was an ugly game to watch. Neither team with much clue in the final 3rd Not sure how the Revs can compete with so many injuries and now Petro gone. We are on our 4th center back, have neither starting full back and a keeper who is a journeyman at best. Part of this is the turf at Gillette, but we just seem snake bit.
Worst game of the season by far. The troika of Gil, Harkes and Kaye was virtually non existent in the 2nd half and the result was no connection with the lone striker or Rivera/Ema or Buck/Chancelay. Collectively there seemed to be a commitment to pass to the other team vs trying to build any possession. On top of that the lack of pace in the back when you remove Farrell and use Omar became a problem. I love Romney, but one thing he isn't is fast. Farrell and Kessler can cover for that. But with Omar they're both exposed. Giving up a goal was only a matter of when, not if. That said I think they were rusty due to the layoff and when you combine it with so many injuries, grinding out a point was about the best result we could have hoped for. I thought they were OK the first half, but the lack of legs showed in the 2nd when everything fell apart. About the only positive is that there's another game Wednesday.
@BAC2829 fair point about our wing defender depth. You are right that Jone and Bye are game changers and their absence changes things significantly. Too bad they don’t have a Jon Bell-type backup anymore. With him there wasn’t as much of a drop off as we are seeing this year.
It was a horrid game to be at. First half to second half was a complete change. Felt OK in the first, but they definitely seemed to come out in the second trying to grind out a point. And of course, as usually happens in that situation, it fails. As others have already noted, that goal was coming for Montreal. The passing was atrocious, Gil again wasn't good but this time I can almost forgive him considering what was around him. 0 shots on goal is just not acceptable. Interestingly, while Montreal had 12 shots (to our 2), we didn't block a single shot. That stat surprised me a bit, but says they had a lot more space than they should have. The makeshift backline did OK though overall. There was just nothing through the midfield.
Yeah, Petro was just a waste of a signing. Borrero too. Gil. Bou, Buksa. C'mon man, I get the frustration but let's not make this out to be worse than it is.
Despite being in 2nd place, I just don't have a good feeling about this team right now. Petro gone, Bye done for the year, no idea when/if Bruce will be back. MON gave up 2 goals to a TOR team that hadn't scored since Bob Bradley was fired, and the Revs couldn't even get a shot on net? Although I don't think Petro would have stopped that goal either. Edwards had a great game.
I agree with everyone's pessimism, I think to have a shot the Revs would need to get Arena back and all the guys would need to start getting healthy in September. That might create a snowball rolling down a hill momentum shift, but most likely it's a snowball in August. With that said, and with how putrid they were Saturday with no shots on goal, I STILL feel like they were unlucky not to draw. Rivera was isolated in the box, shook his man and had a great look at goal, which he put wide. Gil hit the post from half field. Then Gil missed the pass to Vrioni in the second half - he would have been in on the keeper alone in acres of space. I don't know what the Revs xG was in this game, but I feel like they should have scored on one of those three plays. Still, it doesn't matter - this team as it stands now isn't making noise in the playoffs.
Wednesday's game is very important. If they follow pattern so far this season, they'll right the ship and play well. If not, then we may well be seeing a trend developing. I just think the drop off in the 2nd half spoke more to conditioning and the injury situation vs the club changing course. 3 of the starting back 4 were out plus the main reserve (Farrell) - there isn't a club in MLS that won't struggle with that situation.