Stretch drive again with the Revs sucking wind as usual. The next two matches with the Fire should make or break what little chance the Revs have for a playoff spot. Fortunately the roster will be healthy and elegable for a change and Griffith and kante are solid additions.
Good point with the make-or-break. Who do we have available this week, cuz we could do some major line-juggling. im thinkin : Twellman Griffiths* Cloutier* Cullen Hernandez Ralston Franchino Llamosa Kante Pierce *if cloutier plays, and kamler is still hurt. Not bad on paper.
Why do I get the feeling that watching this game is going to be something akin to shoving knitting needles under my fingernails?
What is Cloutier's position? Obviously its not up the middle, because he showed that Saturday. Is he more defensive? We need Griffiths on the outside to take some pressure off of Ralston and the right side. I had mentioned this before, what we need is to solidfy our defense (Kante), a good goaltender (Brown is turning into one), an outside mid (Griffiths), and attacking mid and a forward who can score. We are more then half way there.
Heres who I'd start Brown Pierce, Llmosa, Kante, Franchino Ralston, Cullen, Hernandez, Griffith TnT, Fuller I think Rooney has earned a sit down as has APC and Cloutier. As long as Griffiths is playing well I don't see Kamler regaining his starting role even if he's fit. Off the bench: Woldi for Fuller and Heaps for Rusty if he's not fully game fit. I think Fuller is ready for a break out performance. He's tall enough to be a target and he holds the ball well. With Griffith and Ralston feeding him and TnT there's no reason for the Revs not to score a couple. Biggest question is can the defense do it's job and will Cullen and Hernandez be able to win balls and control the midfield? If the Revs show up and play this match well they may just gain some momentum and make the run up to the play offs interesting. If they lose this Saturday the only question is who will they be looking to draft in the 2003 Super Draft.
i agree with soccer doc, Chicago isn't like LA, they have a weaker defense. Give Fuller another shot, maybe he will get the mentality that if he scores this tme around he will be in there more. Problem is we still need an attacking mid to switch the flow of the game. Chacon is the only player on the team that can do this but has proven he isnt up for it. Should we put Hernandez there, he's got some confidence from doubling his scoring from last year. At least when he takes a shot, you know that the chance of it being in the 6th row is less then it being on goal.
I love how people say that Chacon has proven he can't score and he is useless out on the field but you are all very willing to give Fuller 17 frigeen trys. Keep Chacon on the field, Fuller is a useless lump of crap. If your going to give Fuller 101 chances give Chacon more than one or two.
Sunday worked out fairly well for us--even though we lost--and I still think we have a 50/50 chance of getting in the playoffs. The Crew lost, and their performance the rest of the season is crucial to our fate. All the other Eastern teams above us in the standings lost as well. I never expected us to beat LA away--who did?--but giving up the tie was a big disappointment. Kante was impressive, Llamosa looked good (and healthy). We should have Rusty for at least half the Chicago match, and Jay and Joe will be back. Where is Ralston on caution points? It would be terrible to lose him during the stretch, but isn't he close to sitting? Griffiths was impressive against LA, but is he for real? He's bounced around the league so much that it seems most teams have regarded him as a hole-plugger than a starter. Surely Sommer is done. No way I'm sending Brown back to the pines unless he gets hurt, God forbid. Brown Pierce Llamosa Kante Franchino Ralston Kamler(if available) Griffiths Heaps TT APC Hernandez, I suppose, if Kamler's not available--but I still think he's a head-case.
Um because you are a long-time Revs fan who has not yet killed enough brain cells at the tailgates to reach the point of blissfull ignorance? Just a guess
"...if your going to give Fuller 101 chances give Chacon more than one or two..." Ian Fuller's played 371 minutes where he's earned 3 assists. Chacon'es played 958 minutes and has 2 goals and 2 assists. Fuller's taken 5 shots with 2 on goal. Chacon's taken 20 shots with 9 being on goal. Doesn't look like it makes much difference who you play. Neither player's doing a great deal, and they've still accomplished more than Wolde Harris. The Magpie
If all are healthy: ...........................Brown ....Rusty.......LLamosa...Kante.......Joey .....Ralston.....Cullen....Hernandez..Kamler ..............Twellman.....Griffiths Or Bench Kamler, drop Griffiths and start "Fulchalde" up top with Twellman....I figure if we can fuse Fuller, chacon and wolde together, we might just have something!! Then again this is the Revs and it might just come out as an even worse forward than what we have now!!
Let's be wary of making Griffiths the second coming... he had a nice game on the left side, leave him there. I know that Wolde takes lots of abuse here (and deservedly at times) but given the type of player he can be (good at checking to the ball, holding and giving it off) it seems he is the correct partner for Twellman up front. Taylor can run off of him to create those quick scoring opportunities.
JMMUSA - Dude you are killing me over here, Nicol does not use an attacking mid, that position left with FC, so please stop adding to the confusion. GO back and read some of FDA's articles about the system.... As for Griffiths playing up front, are you people crazy, we finally find somebody who is a true winger and you want to convert him into a striker? Classic
At this point, I'm torn between a 4-5-1 with 3 central mids (instead of pretending we have a second forward) or a 4-4-2 with Fuller. Did you love the "praise" APC got during the game? Something like "He's had a lot of giveaways during the game, but, to his credit, he's trying to get the ball back when that happens, instead of standing around and watching like he did earlier this year. I know Nicol didn't like that...". If playing Fuller (or even Wolde, we're desperate) can add to our posession, try them. ......................Brown .Heaps...Kante..Llamosa...Pierce ......Hernandez.......Joey .Ralston............................Griffiths ........Twellman.........Fuller or ...................Brown .Heaps...Kante...Llamosa..Pierce ...........Leo........Joey .Ralston..Hernandez...Griffiths ................Twellman Pierce is out of position in both of these but it might be worth it to get Joey into D-mid. Griffiths, Ralston, and Twellman should sit down a few times this week and watch a tape of the Dallas Chicago game on Saturday. Chicago's defense left as many people wide open in the box as I've seen in the last two or three years.
I see. Vast quantities of alcohol are the key to enjoying The Revolution Experience. I'll have to make a note of that. By the way, this thread reminds me - is there some sort of unofficial protest scheduled for this game? For instance, the paper bag thing again? Or something else? If they lose this game, they're done like dinner.
Yikes, after the way the Fire played last night this could be a real test for our defense even with everyone back and healthy. Histo, Josh, Beasley, Ante-attitude, et all really put on a show last night. My guess we will see Heaps, Llamosa, Rusty and Joey fronted by Ralston, Hernandez and Cullen, Griffith. Who is paired with TnT at forward is anyones guess but I would start Woldi. He is still better than Fuller or APC and may just regain his touch. If we are to have a chance in this match we will need to have Griffith and the second forward step up as well as our six defenders mentioned above. This is a match where Rooney should be on the bench
I agree Soccer Doc, Rooney has had his chances and continues to play horrible. Meanwhile, Hernandez has been playing great, with 2 nice goals and actually passes the ball to the person. He's doing what he needs to do, and lets reward him, put him in the starting lineup. Cullen should move back to his regular position, D-mid, and with him and hernandez there they could probably stop the Chicago offense before it gets started. The major question for this game will be who will pair with Twellman. I would love to see Harris come out of this slump, but I don't think we can count on it (please prove me wrong Harris). Fuller could get another shot, and I think he will probably get the nod, but will it attract enough attention to get Twellman free?
I've got to go along with pretty much everything in the last two posts, except I think Cloutier has looked pretty good at Dmid and should get the nod over Cullen. As a coach it's hard to take some one out who's played as hard as Cullen and has been so willing to change positions to help the team. But sometime size and athletic ability just make the difference. Anyway you slice it, the Revs are going to get skewered unless they can generate some offense. Bunkering down (as they did against LA) against a team that could start Wolff, Ratzov, Stoitchkov, Beasley, and Kovalenko, and will in all likelihood dominate the middle of the field (thank goodness Novak isn't back yet), is simply begging for an ass-whoopping. Too bad Pierce isn't further along.
Rodan is usually spot on, but I've got to disagree on this one. How many touches of the ball did Cloutier and Rooney get against the Galaxy? That was the Revos starting central midfield. Big Sig took away the flanks and dared the Revos to come at them down the middle. Rooney and Cloutier were invisible. Maybe one or the other could play D-mid with a good playmaker, but when have the Revos ever had one of those? (Oh, Williams (last year) and Gorter (his first year), who were both run out of town because they weren't pragmatic enough!) Right now, I'd take Hernandez/Cullen combo over Rooney/Cloutier in a heartbeat. The younger duo are better at getting forward, and Cullen is better defensively than either. Size is less of an issue for him at D-mid the C-def.
Fire 2 Rev 0 Defensive breakdowns once again. Another loss at home, with gridiron markings all over the place to boot! TnT and Ralston are shut down once again now that everyone knows that, if you stop those two, you win. It doesn't matter who plays defense anymore. Hernandez/Cullen is preferable to Cloutier/Rooney in MF. After we lose (and are out of the mythical playoff race) could we give Shaker Asad midfield starts for the rest of the season. At least we'll know if we should keep him. After we lose I don't want to see any of the following the rest of the season.: APC Rooney Wolde
well you won't have to worry about Josh Wolff doing much to you. not official (yet), but he's got a torn ACL.