Final home game of the season. MATCHDAY GUIDE | Revs vs. D.C. United (October 5, 2024) Jeff Lemieux posted: Thursday, Oct 3, 2024, 11:19 AM
Too bad the long sought but easily earned “e -“ still isn’t in front of the team name in the standings. ELIMINATE THEM. PLEASE.
Preview | Revs host D.C. United for final home clash of 2024 regular season Nick Boonstra posted: Friday, Oct 4, 2024, 03:47 PM And the Revs are SO good at defending in stoppage time...
Microcosm of the season right there. Our luck has not been great this year. That second goal of DC's, for example -- that ball had to fall in a precise spot and bounce to a precise height for things to go Benteke's way. Even DC's first goal was a very low-percentage thing. But then, on top of that, we just have so, so much trouble scoring. Shocking how many flat-out misses the Revs had yesterday. Bad luck plus a few defensive lapses along the way plus an inability to score -- I'm no mathematician, but that doesn't seem like the formula for a winning season.
Despite being slightly more interesting the last half hour (or 20 minutes), this team is pretty boring and it was hard to endure the first half and make it through to the interesting part. Too often, the interesting part never materializes. Really, with elimination, it’s time to discuss just how useful this coach, this GM and this set of players really are. Or not, because it is Kraft Soccer and it will just be, more or less, this all over again next year.
The first half was unwatchable. 2nd half was better. All Vrioni had to do was put a foot on Langoni's cross and he had a tap in goal. The master off the missed sitter misses yet another. You can't get him out of here fast enough for me. Yusuf didn't play well and neither did Miller. Could be the 3 games in 8 days stretch was too much. As for the rest - shame on Porter for not giving Farrell some minutes in what may well be his last home game. Borrero actually was somewhat effective, though he still can't get anything on goal. Nacho kicked 2 field goals to spoil decent scoring opportunities. I've just had it with this squad and this coach. They both suck.
The question right now is just how much remediation is needed to detoxify the earth. The roster is not devoid of talent. They shouldn't have been this bad. But the pieces didn't click and the team has shown a remarkable lack of leadership and resilience. I don't think there is any reason to expect the Krafts to gut the front office. Pretty sure Onalfo and Porter are both here at least one more season. But I'd like to think they will be on a short leash and will have to engineer a turnaround next season. It doesn't take much in MLS to go from where the Revs are now to a contender. I wish I had faith that they will come through. But I don't. Hey, on the bright side, maybe we will get to do the Open Cup next year?
Down by 2 goals, and they can't muster a shot on goal until the 81st minute. DCU had more shots on Bono's net than the Revs did at that point. Unacceptable. Concerning that Harkes replacing Capi was the spark they needed to start playing with desperation. It's not a matter of talent, it's attitude. Bye could have been first to the ball on goal #1, but Santos just wanted it more. Arreaga could have been first to the ball on goal #2, but he points to Ivacic and let's the Golden Boot leader race past him. I don't know who (besides Arena) can fix that attitude, but it certainly isn't Porter. Charlie Davies was saying the same thing on the broadcast. Charlie was all over them the whole game, and he was spot on. Pollyana Feldman was having a hard time countering.
Eight straight games (5 starts) without a goal or assist. Offside 10 times in that stretch (3 Sat night). Davies was all over him for that (offsides) too. Hard to believe he leads this team with 9 goals this year. Saturday will be interesting with Miller, Arreaga, Esmir and possibly Yusuf on international duty. Yikes....
Owen Goal is now tied for 5th on the Revs scoring list this year. 1- Vrioni 9 2- Gil 7 3- Bajraktarevic 3 3- Wood 3 5 - Owen Goal 2 5 - Boateng 2 5 - Chancalay 2 5 - Langoni 2 DCU has allowed 67 goals this year (2nd only to SJE) and the Revs still couldn't score on them.
I was listening a bit to Zolak's show on 98.5 earlier and they were talking about some Pats players blaming the refs for yesterday's loss and Zolak said 'loser mentality'. Made me immediately think of Porter who has blamed the officiating for bad results all season.
At least last year can be (partially) blamed on the Arena debacle. This year the fall was initiated by Porter. I think it’s 85% a man management problem (Borreo, Romney) and 15% on Onalfo (goalkeeper, Nick Lima, Revs II). The two early DC goals took the crowd out of the match and left us with the kids attempting to start the wave in the 15th minute. At this point, I don’t think we can prevent Miami from breaking our seasonal points record.