Revolution need work in defense departmentBy Frank Dell’Apa in The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2011/02/02/revolution_need_work_in_defense_department/ Ryan Cochrane, acquired from Houston in the MLS re-entry draft, is expected to start alongside Darrius Barnes, who missed the start of last season with injuries. A.J. Soares and an expected foreign-player signing will be given a chance to challenge during the preseason. One of the internationals that they are looking to sign is a defender Shalrie Joseph participated in yesterday’s training session after missing the opening preseason practice Monday. Vice president of player personnel Michael Burns said no fine will be imposed. “It’s the first day of preseason and we typically don’t like to do that,’’ said Burns. “At some point, Stevie and I will speak to him. I’m glad there is no issue and there is nothing wrong with him. He’s healthy and fine and we’ll just move forward and not make a big deal of it.’’ Nicol said Joseph’s absence “was a personal thing. He tried to get me but I had no phone.’’ Joseph declined to comment. Stevie's Shopping List for today: 1) Attacking CM 2) Rock Salt 3) Goal scoring forward 4) Bread 5) Milk 6) Windshield washer fluid 7) Phone
The three biggest pickups so far this offseason are Domi (a defender), Soares (a defender) and McCarthy (a DM). And the speculation is that at least one on of the internationals they're trying to sign is also a defender. I know we sucked on the defensive side last year ... but we weren't all that good on the other side either folks. I also know that it starts from the back, but I'd hate to see this get to where we just play a ton of 1-0 wins and losses all year long because we can't score. It's been boring enough the last 2.5 years watching this offense.
The roster currently is thin in the back line. I believe they have 6 defenders in camp. No brainer to want to sign another defender. That said, those two other players better be attacking options. I hope to God that they are not putting all their eggs in the Stoli, Schil, Dube, rookie basket or we are all in for a lot of scrambled eggs
We could definitely use another quality CB. Injuries and suspension will take a toll, plus the fact that competition is good, especially for our trio who are all flawed in various ways -- Barnes (inconsistent), Cochrane (generally mediocre), Soares (inexperienced/unknown quantity). Let's just hope that three international signings come through instead of two. We desperately need a starting forward and unless McCarthy has an unexpectedly good rookie season, we are screwed at CM without reinforcements.
Not questioning that ... would just be a better off-season hearing about attacking options coming in.
We can't score, we also have no midfield. and i am not convinced that the defensive pickups are good enough.
Defense Sucks..!! And it doesn't fill seats!! I would have rather had the most goals scored last season with a goal diff of 0..and still have had our record than where we are now!!! When are THESE BOZOS ever going to learn..??? They're shoring up the defense like we're AC MILAN...Go take a chance on some attacking players and get to business scoring goals...FORGET the defense!! If we had scored 1 extra goal every other game...we may have had the best record in MLS!!! WE NEED AN ATTACKING MIDFIELDER AND A STRIKER!!! Enough of these defenders...JPA, Landy, Wondo, etc..etc..are still gonna score on them!!!
I agree, my point was more along the lines of "oh great, another mediocre defender" (/sarcasm) and that the defender we're getting might not even be an upgrade from Ryan Cochrane (based on the quote from the article). It's going to take some doing, and a lot more than this, for the Revs FO to reel me back in.
Well, some people may rate Cochrane higher than I do, and I hope they are right. I see him as a useful guy to pick up, a guy who we can trot out there without getting embarrassed and a guy we might bring in if we have a lead with 15 minutes to go. I hope we aren't depending on him to be a major player for us. So if one of the guys we are signing is an international CB, he damn well be better than someone who can "compete" with Cochrane for the job. He had better be an automatic starter, and among the better CBs in the league.
Exactly, how in the world does bringing in a backup or someone who has to beat out a mediocre player improve anything?
You guys are writing here as if these three unknown and pointedly unnamed internationals were actually going to materialize. Given the historical success that the FO has exhibited, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Would any of you like to have more players of the Khano/Niouky variety to fill the vacancies left by the aforementioned departures? Thought not. It does seem that this is the type of player that they seem to attract given the copious amount of mazuma they a willing to part with. My apprehension is that such an event might be the best we can hope for. Don't you just love ending sentences with prepositions? Personally, I'll believe three quality signings when I see them; not before. A casual perusal of the activities of the other teams in the league, some of whom have already played actual games, viewed against the half empty locker room, and the vague statements, loaded with qualifiers, made by the Rev management, would lead any fair-minded fan to conclude that this team has done it's usual half-a$$ed, (possibly no-a$$ed), job of assembling a team. Do I think they'd lie to us? Well........yes. I do. It's a lot less expensive than actually producing. Am I pi$$ed off? I am. Am I letting my emotions cloud my judgment? Am I too pessimistic? Quite possibly. I hope I'm wrong. I really do.
I'm willing to give them the two weeks they said ... and we're getting to half that time being used since the original tweet by Brian right?
They have a lot more money to spend than they did when they got Assengue or Niouky. I'm willing to wait until I see who these 3 players are before I judge them.
Thanks. So it actually said the next week or so, and that week has passed. I'll give them another before I start to wonder.
Should these three signings materialize, I will lower the bar and give them enough credit for offseason activity that I renew. However, we all seem so excited that they may have done almost anything (3 potential players) that we are ignoring that all and any talk of a DP has disappeared from the FO comments. I know, I know, it wasn't a lie, they are just severely time displaced from the truth which will happen sometime in the next 10 years. I'm not hard over on a DP but I really think the quote at the end of last season was very suggestive that they planned to get one or MORE DPs. Were we being "handled?" Probably, because what they appear to be doing is indeed, "a lot less expensive than actually producing," on that front. For a group that is so controlling of what information gets out how did that erroneous claim squeeze out?
Ok...Let's see how many season tix they sell because they signed Domi..and that their back 4 is kinda sorta ok. And we'll see what the Revs record is, say in mid July.
Having skilled defenders is fairly important to having a good, diversified offense. From his comments, I don't think Nicol wanted Domi primarily for his defending, but more for his ability on the ball. We suffered long enough with guys like Heaps and Franchino, who had no clue what to do with the ball when it ended up in their possession. If you don't have defenders who are able to make the transition to offense, teams will have no fear of pressing you in your end and you will be destined to spending the majority of the game defending.
Agree with rkupp. You can have all the strikers or attacking midfielders in the world, but if your defenders can't handle and distribute the ball, those attacking players will NEVER be in position to be dangerous. You can't attack if you can't get the ball out of your own end.
We basically just need good players at this point, at every position. I don't care where on the field they play, we just need people better than the ones we have now. It sounds pretty basic, but that's the situation we're in.