According to USsoccerUK.com, finally Baker signed a contract with the revolution. Revs sign up Irish youngster
Congratulations. I've heard good things about him from Irishmen on another board. If he plays anything like Ronnie O'Brien y'all are in for a treat.
Yea, and now only if we can get Ronnie to play here we'd be set. Wasn't there another thread about this on this board, i swear I saw one. As for the issue, this is a great pick up, but where will we put him. Will he be an understudy of Ralston. If so we are set for a while regarding outside mids. I guess this signing may be the end of Jason Moore's stay in NE.
If he wins the spot on left wing, Kamler should move to left back. Joey Franchino is not a left back. He should play defensive midfield like he did when he was with LA.
If Joey is going to play D-mid, hes going to need to be able to steal the job away from Armas on the National Team because I think Joseph has that spot locked up. I don't know if Baker is a left mid or right mid, but I do know Dempsey is a left mid and is the understudy of Kamler.
Then where would you play Shalrie? The Revs actually have a bit of depth right now. This is where I see them lining up, with the backup in parentheses: G: Brown (Reis) RB: Heaps CB: Pierce CB:Llamosa LB: Franchino (CB: Kante, Kamler) (LB: Leonard) DM: Joseph (DM: Franchino) RW: Ralston LW: Baker (RW: Noonan, Jn Moore) (LW: Kamler, Dempsey) AM: Cancela (AM: Joseph, Baker) F: Twellman F: Noonan/JMMoore (F: Brown) (F: Baker) It could use some tweaking, but having Kam as a super reserve who can play in a few positions will be a huge asset. This lineup is pretty flexible, and with the usual amount of injuries, suspensions and callups, we'll definitely need guys who can play in more than one place. Tom
I think they will go into training camp with a lot of spots undefined. Other than Twellman, Ralston, Cancela, Joseph and ABrown, I don't think there is much set in stone. Kante wasn't in good shape last spring and never caught up. If he comes back fully prepared he could win a spot in central defense. Leonard looked better and better in "Franchino's" spot. Heaps could stand some competition for his spot. Nicol has said they'll look at Dempsey in several spots. JMM has to show he can stay healthy to win a spot. Noonan has shown too much to sit back down. Penciling Baker for a starting spot is kind of premature - he hasn't even worked out with the team yet. The fact that Kamler was signed to a 4-year deal makes me think he is being groomed for a central defense or midfield sub role. I don't see any way he's going to hold up that long running the left wing - he started out great last year, but really seemed to wear down as the season progressed. And there is still an allocation due...
Thats the scary part. What else do we need? I think the only weakness on the team has to be the RB position. Otherwise we are good to go.
Prior to the draft, there seemed to be a lot of interest - at least on this board - in picking up a center back. Even after the draft there was that cryptic Nicol comment about how we got one of the two players we wanted. The logical choices for what player he might have meant were Cochrane and Goodson. The collective BS wisdom seemed at the time (post-draft) to be that I think SN would hold onto the allocation. Doesn't this new FIFA ruling shrinking the transfer window put more pressure on to snap up an opportunity if it presents itself? Isn't the next opportunity 4 months into the season?
August is when the transfer window opens again, which is a main reason why Donovan isn't in Portsmouth yet. Under the new regulations, Donovan wouldn't be able to play with the Earthquakes til August, which isn't worth it on both sides.
I dont understand why everyone thinks Heaps isnt good enough. I would say he is better than half the RB's in MLS right now. Can someone explain to me why you dont think he should be replaced?
Well the reason I said weakness is because if Heaps goes down, we don't have a RB to replace him. Plus Heaps has been known to get beat on the outside because he gets involved in the attack too much. That can be fixed with simple coaching. His greatest attribute is his vertical leap. But I would feel more comfortable if we had a decent backup for him. Backups give the starters pressure to play better.
I think we may see Kam start to play a bit of center back this year. And Pierce can play RB. A completely different type of RB then Heaps, but I would say he is our backup there. With Marshall the 3rd option. It's good to have the versatile players we have, especially with the loss of the ultimate utility man - Cullen. At some point, with injuries, suspension, and nat team duty, we'll need all of these guys. Lee
Absolutely. 2004 could have the most national team callups in recent memory. Shalrie will certainly get the call if/when Grenada advance to play the US. Brown and Pierce had to turn down invitations to camp this winter for health reasons - they may be invited again. Ralston. At least one of Noonan and Twellman should also be in the mix. And did anyone notice that Arena mentioned JMM as possibly playing a role in qualifying? (Before anyone has a stroke, I'm not saying that all or even any of those players will be capped early in qualifying, particularly during the European off season. But I think they will be in camps and spend time away from the Revs.) Brian
There is nothing wrong with Heaps. People on this board simply pick a whipping boy and will run him into ground, no matter what he does or doesn't do. Heaps is a good, solid player... period and is valuable to this team
After reading the description of Baker and his accomplishments at Revsnet, I have to conclude that we were very lucky that he has a girlfriend in Boston.
Coach Barry: A good idea on the roses. For sure they will have plenty of Irish and Irish American friends in Boston.
Future Richie Baker headlines: Baker is one tough cookie. No loaf in Richie Baker. Baker turns up heat on Fire. Nothing crumby about Richie Baker. The possibilities seem endless!
Interesting that Baker still hasn't been officially announced yet. Maybe after today's parade the office will re-open?
No matter how you slice it... So long as we don't have to read: Revs lose Baker - didn't give him enough dough.
An article about why Baker signed with the Revs (with an unlikely explanation): "Baker needs the dough"!