Kante becomes central figure, Revolution give defender key role By Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff Twellman makes his mark by Gus Martins, Boston Herald
''It's an honor to be part of a good team, a team with a good tradition.'' Daouda apparently has already had his first front office brainwashing session. Next comes the electric collar so he doesn't run away from Foxboro. -john
I would love to see the response on this thread if Kante had said something approaching the following...... "Well, I've trained with this bunch for about three weeks and, as far as I can see, they are hopeless shite. Losers? These guys couldn't beat the Little Sisters of the Poor. The coach hasn't a clue and the ownership is worse than absent. I took this chance because no one else would have me and if I can make any sort of splash atall I'll be off to the Cypriot second division where they pay higher than these tightwads." Sure, "a team with a good tradition (or whatever)" is over the top but what the hell do you expect him to say? JIM DOW
Can you imagine how inappropriate that comment would have been less than ONE year ago? 20+ years of hysterics, stupidity and incompetence wiped out by winning their last playoff game! Like the incomprehensible transition of the "lovable losers", the Mets, in 1969. There IS hope for the Revs.
Er, in lieu of a patently false statement...? How about nothing? I don't think anyone's really taking Kante to task - just regretting that professional athletes have to toss out such time worn platitudes instead of either a) speaking frankly (in which case half the fans hate them because they're arrogant) or b) saying nothing.
Not that we need more ath-uh-leets to talk in cliche speak, but he could have just said that he's "happy to get his chance to show what he can do with the Revolution, and eager to show that he belongs in the top division." Nothing wrong with that. You surely don't expect him to say what all the players who joined Kansas City (a.k.a. West Scotland FC) from 1996-99 said, like Uche Okafor, Refik Sabanazovic, Mark Chung, Digital Takawira, Alexi Lalas and Matt McKeon: "Greet, fokkin greet!" Kansas City arra gree-ist fitba club inna Western Missouri an Eastern Kansas, an ye cannae dispuute that!" Then again, I was hoping DC would sign Gazza just for the quotes alone, especially since the last time we played them here, Hudson was too chicken to come out and talk to the press. Nicol does spice things up with his references to "th' lads" but he tends to get caught in the trap of talking for a while but not really saying much of anything. Tom
There's our line up Looks like Frank has the line up for us ..........???..........Twellman Griffiths...........................Ralston ............Rooney...Cloutier Cullen...Llamosa...Kante...Downing ..................Brown The other starting forward is the only remaining question. Any guesses?
Actually he doesn't really say that Downing or Cullen are starting against the Galaxy (alhough I'd assume so) - just that they did against the Crusaders. Same goes for Cloutier and he says nothing about Rooney or Hernandez - except that Hernandez has been out of practice for the week. So the defensive midfield seems like a crap shoot (excuse the telling pun). I wouldn't be surprised to see Cloutier and Rooney start with Hernandez coming off the bench - though what I'd really like to see is how things would work with Rooney on the bench and Cloutier and Hernandez as the Dmids. Probably not happening though.
I didn't like Hernandez at D-mid at all when I went to the Metros game (admittedly, one of our worst). He seemed a little confused about where to go and what to do. When the ball came near him, he would make a good stab at disposessing the opponent. Other than that, he seemed unsure where to go, who to cover, and whether to challenge opponents or whether to leave them to Kamler or Rooney. Cullen seems to play the part a little more instinctively. The only problem is can Hernandez, Llamosa, or Kante play left defender? It isn't a great spot for Cullen, due to his lack of size/speed. Or would they play Downing on the left and then need a right back?
point well taken, but I think it can also be applied to most players on the Revs team. Fact is, besides Rooney, Twellman, Llamosa, and Pierce (the latter two - in the limited minutes they've played), everybody has asked to play a variety of positions this year. Almost everybody has looked awkward/uneasy in one game or another. This is understandable. Personally I think Hernandez would do better as a central defender - but the Revs now have a bunch of those (with no true left back - go figure). The Rev's don't have is a ball-winner in the defensive midfield - especially with the Rooney/Cullen pairing. This is why I'd like to see Rooney get a chance to sit. He's had all season to play the middle, but has looked serviceable at his best and thoroughly inadequate at his worst.