Fellow Fans- I would say the Revs have done a very good job of upgrading a team that went to the final. They've added: Matt Reis: a quality back that will get games and do well. Peter Novak: little needs to be said. Add him to the center mid rotation with Cullen and Hernandez and you have three players that have different strengths. Shalrie Joseph: a 6'-3" defender with speed and the skill of a forward. Pat Noonan: a quality college player that will provide depth at both flank midfield positions. He serves a very nice ball. This guy started every game during his 4 years at IU. Coach Yeagley believes he is capable of having the greateest impact of any IU player to date in MLS. Joe-Max: Not only is he capable of scoring 15 goals, he immediately takes a lot of pressure off of Twellman. When Taylor is gone with the national team, the Revs will still be able to field JMM and Wolde. Dimelon Westfield: can provide useful depth at the forward position. The future looks good.
Re: pep talk from cb If Noonan is actually capable of playing either wing - a fact thus far not mentioned in his BS bio - it would make him a far more interesting candidate than he has been given credit for thus far. So what's the deal? Could he do himself credit at left wing? Altenatively, for those of you who have been pencilling Ralston in at left wing, has he ever done this before?
Re: Re: pep talk from cb Winston and Ralston frequently switched sides in the latter half of 2002. Nicol flopped them, usually in the second half of games, and presumably to throw off opposing defenses. Whether it's the best move is up for debate, but Ralston has shown he's capable enough to move to the left if necessary.
not to mention we got rid of valuable cap space (Sommer, Chacon, Asad [although he doesnt count because he is pro-40 but its still nice to get rid of him], Fuller). Do you think Harris could play left mid? I like how he plays the games with heart, and playing left mid will take the pressure off of him of scoring goals with twellman. Just a thought.
Fellow Fans- Noonan's coaches at IU strongly believe that Noonan will be best suited out wide in the MLS due to his ability to serve balls and his work rate. maybe later as he gets more acustomed to MLS , he may move back up front. Remember, Ralston was an attacking mid in college, in fact led the nation in scoring his senior year before switching out wide to become the most consistent wide player in MLS. He'll stay on the right while Noonan tries the left and give Ralston ocassional breaks.
left mid What about Marshall Leonard for left mid. He's a left footed player. I think he played left defender at UVa, but the few friendlies he played in with NE last year I believed he played left mid. He's still on the NE roster.
Based upon what we saw last year, Wolde cannot play left wing. I will say this for him, though. He certainly gave it a good effort.
I think that Kamler actually did a pretty good job at left mid. He does need support at that position and we'll see if that will be Griffiths, Noonan or Leonard. The problems with the left side, IMO, go back to Franchino, who keeps making the same old mistakes when he has the ball.