~Could it be that they Revs don't like grass? On plastic they play well but on grass they stink. ~Are the Revs color bind? Maybe they didn't tell them the other team was wearing white? ~Is Goose thinking about a switch to WWF? He's is still ugley even with a hair cut. ~They should have not let Noel Kenny back to Ref in MLS. He is mega-inconsistant in his calls. Hey Noel. that yellow card you gave Goose should have been a RED. ~Joseph is real player but he needs to learn to not let crappy Refs get into his head. That bogus foul Kenny called on him that lead to the first goal got him off his game. ~What happened at HalfTime? The Revs came out mega-flat. ~Why was attendance so low? Nice weather; double header; JMM's return; Landon of Nazarerth in town. George
For the life of me, I don't understand why this organization can't seem to find 11 players that want to show up and play hard for 90 minutes week in an week out. The effort against the Quakes stunk, just like it stunk against Columbus two weeks ago. The only difference is that San Jose wasn't quite as sharp or quite as good as the Crew were, so they didn't seem quite as dominant. I thought we were past this - really. I thought we'd move past the Rongen/Zenga/Clavijo eras where the team doesn't even bother to show up for half the games, but I guess we're not. And until this coaching staff solves that problem, all the positive tactics and mystery central midfielders in the world won't mean a thing.
Revs should have stayed for the Breakers' match. They could have learned a thing or two about passing, finding space and hustle. It more than made up for the miserable afternoon.
Don't the Revs practice mostly on field turf? Maybe that's what's making them so frikkin' awful at Gillette. What an awful game. I can't think of anyone who played well, or anything positive to say. Feh.
It's gotta be those damn team photos: why on Earth are both teams joining for one large group one rather than separate ones. Bad karma man. The Magpie
You may be right Evan. The combined picture may have confused them about what color kits they were wearing. It could be why they were passing to players in White all day.
Is either the plastic or the High School size pitch. Next game in the bubble, please. I am sure that if they do not give free tickets, the audience can be accomodated in the bubble. The REVs passed well when doing it backwards. Since that was their "forte" they used it with abandon.
I thought it was interesting that Stevie reverted to what a lot of us have been calling for with the personnel that we have, JMM at attacking mid with Wolde and Taylor up top. Wonder if he is thinking of trying this for an entire game. JMM does the frustrated face better than most actors- if this keeps up, TNT and JMM are going to have a come to Jesus talk with the coaching staff (not with the press). They can't be expected to get their only service from poaching off of slow opposing goalies. I say trade Daniel ( who could not have looked less interested in being on the field) for some cap room and get a midfielder that can pass the ball forward. On a positive note, I thought the play of Rusty was really good and Adin continues to look really strong. In the first half, I was impressed with Cullen's offensive forays. He may not have all the tools but his body language at being subbed was very clear that he wanted to leave it all on the field and not on the bench. My fantasy team is a mess now!!
Agoos may be ugly, but he had a heck of a game today. A vicious free kick forced the first goal and he had TT and JMM for lunch on defense. More than once JMM tried a move on him and Goose took him off the ball with ease. He may not be the man for the USNats any more, but he is still top class in MLS.
In the first 35-40 minutes the Revs did play well with Joseph moving the ball well and the Revs getting into good positions. Unfortunately, again and again the last pass was poor. Cullen may have come forward but his crosses were very poor. I continue to be impressed with Joseph. He played well till SJ got their first goal and then he went flat just like the rest of the Revs.
The troubles have something to do with the fact that they are dead if they give up the first goal. If the opposition scores first, the attack doesn't develop quickly enough and the midfield doesn't hold the ball well enough (or, as George says, make the last pass well enough) to unbalance the opposing defence. When the defence makes forward runs to help, they become exposed. The only times we look good are when the opposing team has to take chances. Can you imagine the Revs coming back from 2-0 against KC? It's ironic that even though the Revs have been accused of being a bunker-and-counter team, they don't bunker as well as either Cow-bus or SJ. For those who haven't seen it, Landon of Nazareth says in today's Globe: "In the first half we were playing poorly, so we just decided to give it to [the Revolution] and defend and hope they didn't score." Bottom line: I'm not sure I buy Mike's argument that they weren't trying hard enough. I think they were stumped, because they didn't have the solution to the puzzle. Whether he plays on the left wing or in the center, they need an offensive threat who can crack open an organized defence; either that, or they need a way to score first in every game.
Fire the midfield. They're the problem and the Rev's inability to sign a player that they know they need will keep the Reves in a tail-spin. I give them zero chance against LA next week with this lineup
You need balls to play soccer You need balls to play soccer and the Rev's were left in the bubble. The defining moment of the game came in the first half, Waibel mugged Kamler in the offensive corner. Waibel got a yellow but he set the tone. Several minutes later a ball was left way short to Waibel in the same corner, Kamler could have nailed him hard to reverse the psychological impact but he right pulled out of the tackle. Game over, Agoos and co. just kicked the crap out of Rev after that and nobody on the Rev had any balls to play with.
perhaps a silver lining ... Boy did they stink yesterday. However, Jospeph continued to impress me (as he had in each of his appearances). During the first half he didn't have a bad touch, didn't loose a 50/50 header, and could pass (if not drive the pass) with (albeit short range) precision. I found him a (relative) pleasure to watch.
Their problem is not effort or personnel, it is tactical. Nicol has chosen to emphasize midfield pressure around the ball to eliminate short passing options and regain possession. It is quite effective against most teams, including the Quakes, but its weakness is that once you win possession you have too many players in the same part of the field with no good attacking options. The Revs solution has been to play long to Twellman which doesn't work because Twellman is not a gifted target player outside of shooting range. When he is dispossessed the midfield can be bypassed as they rush forward, as Columbus did so easily. The adjustment they need to make is to provide a better holding option than Twellman, which had beeen Hernandez's main contribution to the team previously. When they build the attack more patiently, as you saw in the first half, they can play quite well (although they will need much better play out of their wide midfielders than we have seen yet this year). Yesterday's game also reaffirmed the validity (though not the wisdom) of Hernandez's comments. Nicol fixed a similar problem last year (although he stuck with Rooney way too long) and will certainly correct it again. It is discouraging, however, to see the players recognize the problem before their coach. As a final thought, it should be noted how JMM's well-intentioned but misplaced hustle hurt the team as time and time again he found himself deep in the midfield with Twellman unsupported up front.
Anybody notice how Cullen played yesterday? I know nobody in white did. As far as the game goes. The Revs got their asses handed to them by a first-rate MLS team. SJ relly made a believer out of me. They're big, physical, skilled, disciplined and play a system that suits their personal. The Revs, as someone else said, played pretty well until they gave up the goal. The Revs are a pretty decent team (although their fullbacks can't pass worth a damn and they have no mechanism for generating possesion or offense in the middle of the field), they're just not in the same category of SJ or Columbus. Last thing: anybody who was booing last night should stop going to games. Booing the home team after the forth game of the season is just bad form.
Yesterday was my first trip out to the Big Razor, and I must say I was impressed with the Fort as well as the number of fans in other sections wearing some sort of Revs gear (looked much higher than I am used to in San Jose.) The biggest difference in the game was the Quakes defense. I wouldn't say they were bunkering so much as keeping the defensive shape extremely well. Donovan and Ching pressured the backline all day, so that the distribution from the back was at best a 50-50 ball. The last 10 minutes looked much better for the Revs, and I'd like to see Twellman and Harris up top with Moore a recessed striker. Certainly, the service was utterly lacking yesterday, though I thought Twellman had a nice opportunity in the first half on the diving header. Despite the two fouls with Waibel (don't worry, Quakes fans don't like him either) and Agoos, it wasn't that physical a game (or any more so than an average game.) The ref was pretty inconsistent though, and I was never sure what he'd stop and when he'd play an advantage. Are tickets always $21 for the cheap seats? Or was that just for the double header?
Oh, and for the US games and any non-Quakes games, I'll gladly join you guys in the Fort. The general malaise in the other endzone detracted from the excitement of the game (and that game needed some outside source of excitement.)
No, they're usually $16....addtional tickets are $13 for season tix holders, before game day. You're welcome to join us in the Fort! amy Check out the Midnight Riders pages
Thanks! I'll definitely be at some more MLS games this season (having a car makes things WORLDS easier to get down there.) In fact, I'd love to make it to the LA game next weekend (can't pass up a chance to rip on LA ) Good to hear about the ticket price too...I thought $21 seemed a little steep when tickets at San Jose have been in the $10-13 range the past few seasons.
EXACTLY His passing was downright awful JMM is a forward not a mid. Too often he seemed to be on the right side in the area Ralston normally likes to operate in He should be partnering Twellman and that's about it Hustle is nice, but it doesn't win championships And WOW did we miss Kante
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the continued lackluster play of Jay Heaps. He's not playing poorly (his marking on the second goal was suspect, though that had as much to do with Landon's neat near post run which drew Llamosa and opened up the middle). However, he's not playing anywhere near the level he played down the stretch last season. His passing out of the back is inconsistent and his play pushing forward is poor. I'm beginning to wonder if Kante and Llamosa ever get on the field at the same time, should Pierce move to right back? Brian
Revs fans I think your team does not lack effort, but creativity instead...Your coach saying that SJ packed it in is a bit hypocritical (it's not unlike the Revs own style)...However, i thought you had salary cap left when you could not get Nowak...What has the coach/ front office done about this? With all due respect, both your team and Colorado appear to be the least capable so far this season....Hopefully once you get someone to fill the space Nowak did not fill, and Colorado does the same about Grimandi, people watching you on TV won't have to suffer so much (Revs fans or not)
My observations from the Big Razor (without the benefit of the TV replay): We need another attacking option. Kamler just can't do it. It seemed that he was open, and players with the ball looked that way, and decided to go another. We looked much better as soon as Noonan came in. Joseph might be a fine defensive mid, and it's great to have someone with that much size in the midfield, but he just isn't the playmaker to break down a stacked defense. Rodan: I agree about Leo Cullen. His first touch was awful, and he didn't get it right all day. Both he and Kamler need to sit... Make that needed to sit. 20 minutes of that and he would have been on the bench if it were my team. I know, we have all said it before. We need someone with speed (none of the Revs posess what would pass as really good speed), someone who can take on defenders, and someone who can create chances for Twellman and Joe-Max. Nowak anyone? Socdoc: I believe that Daniel Hernandez was right. Nicol loses points for being too slow to recognize it, and just dumb enough to argue with him. Of course Daniel spouted off to the media. That's his nature! Nicol was the one who couldn't MANAGE the situation. Just my opinion