Interesting move with SKC coming to town. Revolution sign veteran MLS defender Ben Sweat By revolutionsoccer.net Tuesday, Apr 18, 2023, 02:00 PM
Ben Sweat's last moment in an SKC kit was getting a red card 3/25 in a 4-1 loss to SEA. It was the first red card of his MLS career (7 seasons). He did serve his one-game suspension before they cut him.
Nice move to sure up a position where we didn't really have a quality backup. Nice to have a veteran of over 100 starts, left-sided, not too old/stale/frail to back up Jones. And, I think it implicitly gives us a backup option for Bye, since Jones can move to the right if necessary.
I was pleased that trading is not over yet, my concern is that Sweat has played for a half dozen teams over a dozen years. However. bottom line, he is a much stronger replacement that Omar. Bruce needs to suck it up and accept he made a few mistakes and let Omar and Jozy go, eat the contract loss. Unless either of those guys is working with the academy players/ younger guys on the Rev's 1 or 2 team, then neither serve a purpose.
Altidore is bright, knowledgeable and likable as a personality. I can see him as a great analyst for Apple TV when he retires.
Rather than being a move to push Omar out the door, doesn't this speak more to Bruce not having anyone he trusts backing up Jones and Bye?
Well, since both are considered well-liked and good teammates, I'm not sure what good releasing them would do, since they more than likely have guaranteed contracts. In fact, unless they have target players that they want to bring in and need roster spots for, I think dumping them would be bad for team chemistry. Arena's been trying to use both of them pretty selectively and in positions where they can add value (in contrast to last year, where, at least early in the season, Arena was forced to use Omar in broader situations that he wasn't suited for, because of injuries. Yes, I think so. I think going into the season, the hope was that Spaulding and Bolma could provide that and I think this is confirmation that they aren't ready yet. The fact that Spaulding has been loaned out recently isn't coincidental IMO - and Bolma's not even starting for Revs II.
He started 2 of the 4 games, and has played 67% of the possible minutes for R2 (8th highest on the team), so it's not like he's chained to the bench.
He also hasnt been good for R2, although of the plethora of positions hes been deployed in the time he spent at DM has been most promising (albeit he did concede a penalty in that spot)
Yeah, not suggesting he's been a failure - just that he's probably not likely to be counted on to start an MLS game in place of Bye this year.
During the 98.5 quick chat with Arena today, he mentioned that Kessler is having surgery tomorrow and will be out 4 months.
I was afraid of this -- in Polster's interview last week he said something about Kessler being on track for a good career and the injury is a shame and he hopes it is all resolved, whatever it is -- that's not a direct quote but its pretty close and it sounded like he was talking about something serious and maybe even a potentially career ending injury, which seemed weird at the time because he didn't limp off at halftime against Montreal so it did look at the time to be something minor.
So now we're back to Omar potentially getting minutes. Are there any other viable in house options or does Bruce have to bring in someone?
Pierre Cayet is a CB for R2, the only player on the team to play every minute in all 4 games this year. But since the Revs roster is full, they would have to make a move to sign him. Would require international slot as well. Edit: Actually, I was counting Ben Reveno, who is on season-long loan to Birmingham, so that frees up a spot.
That's still another injury away, so, knock on wood, Farrell and Romney will hold the fort. But, Omar's been fine in his brief appearances this year - at some point, we need to let last year be last year. Sweat is not naturally a cdef, but I suspect Kessler's injury played a role in that decision. He's got decent height.
I hope you're right, but that's asking for four months worth of games (yes, that includes the league break). And I agree with you on Omar, but I still stick by ... he's not a regular starter. He's OK as a late game sub, but if he has to start playing 90, we're f'ed.