I'm familiar with what we've seen from him in the past, hence my not having a ton of confidence in him coming into the season, but it's possible he could have improved on his organizing of defenses. He's still on the young side for a keeper. I would say the goals were all more down to just individual stupidity rather than lack of leadership from the back. Though I also freely admit that good organization stops problems before they happen, but Shuttleworth can't be blamed for JoGo's poor decision to go for a ball he couldn't reach, or Caldwell giving the ball away with a terribly struck pass deep in his own half.
4-0. If our DP could finish from inside the 6 and Rowe could have kept his knee over the ball, we'd have at least not been shut out. Oh well, on to next game.
Again, I'm saying he shouldn't have started based on their preseason form. Knighton was outstanding, making big save after big save keeping shutouts with a mix of defenders. I don't see how Heaps can claim it's an open competition and then choose the starter completely against what was visible in competition. Players are affected by those types of decisions as well. That said, Shuttleworth was pretty solid tonight, apart from a couple poor clearances on crosses. I hope he makes the most of the chance he's been handed.
I understand the point of him not earning it on preseason matches, I agreed with that notion, but I also have to admit coaches look at more than just the matches, there's a lot of training sessions that the fans don't see, and for all we know, maybe the defense is more comfortable with him having played with him in that past. Shuttleworth still has a way to go to win me over, but I'm trying to keep an open mind, and I have to admit that when hung out on his own as the team was pushing numbers forward, he kept things close enough in the second half that the Revs could have gotten themselves back into the game had they been able to finish any of the good chances they created.
I think its because Shuttleworth is a known quantity (from games last season) versus Knighton (new this season), who's only been shown a small sample of games. Coaches usually go with what they know, rather than experimenting in the unknown, for fear of it blowing up in there faces. Although, I guess a 4-0 scoreline kinda falls into "blow up in your faces" category. I don't think Shutters had a bad game; I think he had some weak moments/decisions, but he also came up big 2-3 times, especially on that 1v1 against Bruin. Someone earlier questioned his communication with the backline; I've been wondering about that, too. It could also be the backline adjusting to a keeper that isn't Reis. I saw Tierney I think panic and hold possession of the ball when Shuttleworth was coming out calling for it.
This thread is unbearable. @Soccer Doc @rkupp @KapeGuy I'm starting to see things your way, these people are not mentally stable. It was one game, people. Everybody take a deep breath.
Bad game all around. which I'll blame on the lineup Heaps sent out there - as I said earlier in the thread starting a really out of shape Tierney was a huge mistake - he was beaten like a steel drum defensively all night (at fault on one goal and partially at fault on another), and offensively he must have sent a dozen balls straight at Tally Hall tonight. His worst game ever as a Rev and totally avoidable. Woodbine played well in preseason, got a ton of minutes and was healthy - why wasn't he even in the 18? Houston, even without Adam Moffat, is still a very physical team, so why play Caldwell and not Dorman, who can hang with that type of play better? Jerry Bengtson - wow, just buy out his contract, KSG. The mythical post-World Cup ROI isn't going to happen. Keeping around a guy who will never contribute is better than losing a few hundred grand on a pro sports team? Kobayashi right now isn't fully integrated into this team, so again starting him instead of Dorman or even Neumann was probably an error - as other posters pointed out he's not aware of his proper positioning in the Revs' formation yet. On the other hand, there were some positives - until the last 7-8 minutes (when the whole team just gave up), they were still generating a solid number of scoring chances. Bunbury looks like he fits this team well. Other than not going toward the ball on Caldwell's weak pass, Mullins looked pro-ready. Sene's leg didn't explode. Once Nguyen and Farrell are back, the team will look substantially better. Hopefully that's next week.
Okey doke.....oxygen levels fine, solid intake and exhalation...fine...... Now, how exactly should this fine night's fine 0-4 thumping indicate that KuppKapeDoc's fine sentiments as to how "All is Fine" should persuade us that sceptics of La Via Koolaida are "not mentally stable"??
I NEVER thought getting Parky back would be idiotic. In fact, if last night is any indication on how things are going to go, it may go down as the blunder of the decade. Who did we basically give him up for? was it the Newmann draft pick? How'd he do last night????? BTW the Crew won 3-0 and Parky was in the middle. Also saw the KC- Portland game and Benny looked very good.... another quality player lost. We've had good players here. We either wont pay them, pay them to keep them or just find other ways to lose them. It's no wonder experienced players don't want to come here.... our management plain stinks. Ask youself this... what's going to change between last night and the next outing? Will our porous defense suddenly get better? Will our impotent attack suddenly remember how to score? We will get better as the season goes on most likely BUT this league has improved too much for us to be a contender following this "team on the cheap" business model. Every friggin year they blow smoke with talk of "missing pieces" or "we like what we have" crap. The prospects for professional soccer in New England is bleak as long as Kraft owns the team. I envy Portland. Good owner, good team, good crowd. Looks like fun to attend a game there. Contrast that with an empty stadium, no atmosphere and a college all star team. Also, we no longer get any big games here because of the damn turf. I dont give a damn about the annual Ka Ching tour.... I mean US NAT games. We always used to get those.... now were not even on the radar. The best thing that could happen here is for Kraft to sell the team and the new owner move the team to a smaller stadium with grass. I might start going again if that happened. PS - one last thing from the MLS game report on the Crew game. Johnson, who signed a new Designated Player contract this week, searched for space, but was smothered or subdued again and again by the Crew's Parkhurst and Giancarlo Gonzalez.
In my profession we have a diagnosis for it and when we make that diagnosis usually it says a person is severely mentally ill.
So, if you're vocal in your disappointment in last night's performance you need a shrink? I will leave you to the diagnosing Doc but I think ranting and raving in an online message board about a soccer team you're passionate about may be a little less serious than mental instability. Demonstrating a lack of perspective or big picture thinking? Sure, but that's why its fun to be a sports fan.
Worst 90 minute moment of the night -- the game. Best take away of the night -- rebranding the 19 season strong KAD's as the KKD's, the KuppKapeDocs. Brilliant!
Who knew the KADs get a rebrand before the revs. Want to take a stab at designing their crest? My take would be a Life is good logo with a walking dead backdrop. Or - a Venn diagram of Burns Bilello and Heaps smiling.
I'm not saying they're right, I'm just saying that the posters in this thread are overreacting. It was one game, the first game of the season at that. We were without Nguyen and Farrell, two important contributors, and lost Kevin Alston in the first 20 minutes. There was a lot that went wrong in this game, but let's see how they adjust and come out against Philly next weekend. Like I said, it was one game.
Haha, I did feel left out that I was not included in the group, but I realize I haven't posted much during the off-season and only a single post last night. One game, not worried.
You missed my point (as usual ). Posters on soccer discussions boards usually manifest wide "bipolar-like" swings. Tonights performance evoked the extremes of negativity. Walk away with a big win next week and we are likely to see many/most posts glowingly positive --- although thats unlikely ---ever---from some of our posters who have a bad case of Opticalanalopathy.. Seriously, I see nothing wrong in venting dismay after your team comes out sleepwalking. OTOH, to try to paint a picture of how this roster will play the rest of the year based on the first half of last lights game is very much over the top.