Can't break down a team if you can't connect a pass... what is with the MANY 40-50 yard efforts over the top... especially when the revs have no speed up top... and the crossing was abysmal... recipe for success against the revs: push the defense up (the revs will never beat you over the top); clog the middle of the field (make the revs pass it around the periphery); the over/under for successful consecutive revs passes is 2.5, so just be patient and the ball will be given to you; then counterattack with speed (fortunately, the revs have a little speed in defense, so this has been the weak spot in this strategy - but it only has to succeed once a game). what is up with this guy de Olivera (he wasn't listed among the injured revs on the telecast last night). We need someone with speed who can stretch the defense when they try to compact the field... rand
The fact that there weren't many shots reveals nothing - that is a symptom of a successful strategy for "taking the air out of the ball." KC did nothing but drop and clog the middle for the entire second half. They didn't try to do anything offensively, put nine guys beind the ball, and were content to simply frustrate the Revolution. They had little possesion, showed no offensive initiative, fouled frequently, and played the ball out of bounds often. That is the very definition of negative soccer. It was very a very successful strategy against with little speed that is having trouble scoring - but let's not kid ourselves. I will not even try to deny the fact that the Revolution played like warmed over doodoo. But it's fairly pathetic that a team with two forwards like Wolff and Johnson would subject its home fans to that style of soccer. But it was a 1- 0 final - there it is - there's your three points Bob.
Always amusing to me when we played 'negative soccer' it was thought of as smart (see last years EC final), but when someone else does it, it's 'negative soccer.' We played like crap and we deserved to lose. Unlike last week when both teams had really good chances, KC was the one with almost all of them this time. We did nothing, Dorman couldn't find a wide open guy 5 feet in front of him. Pathetic. Two things ... I said before this game in the pre-game thread that if we play without Pepe in the middle and Dempsey as the attacking mid, we'd be playing Route 1 ball. That's exactly what we did. The only time it seemed like we didn't do that was when Dempsey was given the ball and decided he was DJ fiddlin and diddlin, diddlin and fiddlin. He doesn't distribute, that's not his game, so putting him as your attacking mid just doesn't work in that regard. Second, is Noonan really hurt? I couldn't figure out why take him out (like Mike says, that sounds familiar). Dempsey doesn't play well up top, haven't we figured this out. 2 goals in the last 7 games. Ouch. Oh one other thing ... if we still don't have the depth, whose fault is that? We're missing two guys who've played at the MLS level IIRC. That's it. So where's the depth? It's obvoius that the rookies aren't ready for this level. It's obvious that Lockhead isn't ready for this level (at least according to Nicol). BTW, what happened to all those that were saying that Lockhead would be solid starting from game 1 at the LM spot? This team has issues. And we're about to lose at least a couple of players in the next few weeks.
I was very dissapointed to see Marshall Leonard return. Could Lockhead be any worse? Dorman started getting some crosses in later in the game, but his passing (mostly to KC players) was awful. Can't Noonan go back to left mid and leave Cancela as the central midfielder, with Twellman and Dempsey on top?
Leonard was clearly a weak link last year and to see him back on the field brought home to me how poor the team's depth is. You can't rely on finding good draft picks every year and other moves should have been taken to shore up the team.
I guess my question is this - if we can't score from the 3-4-3 then what is it's purpose?? Scoring off a corner kick doesn't count. The team played terribly last night, we could not move the ball effectively enough to get out of pressure situations, our defense was bypassing the midfield over and over (is there some long-ball-accuracy envy contest going on or something??) and as a result we lost possession after possession. There was virtually no flow last night at all. And for as much as I like Cancela, he wasn't as fantastic as Brad and Greg were talking about when he came in. He did good, I agree and he had two great balls, one of which Dempsey converted to a corner the other one of which he didn't weight quite properly (or Dempsey was just a touch slow to respond). They were a step in the right direction from the 'overcooked', floated or just plain bad crosses we were doing over and over again. Reis was a standout - Parkhurst looked solid again and Joseph and Hernandez in front of him are true destroyers. However, neither had a good distribution night last night and Dorman was uncharacteristically erratic too. Leonard was just characteristically erractic. Hmmmm....maybe we found the reason we were bypassing the midfield. Not quite ready to throw the team and the coaches under the bus right now. However, the rosy shades are off. This is a team that needs to right itself. OTOH...I watched both ESPN2 games yesterday too and neither of them were works of art. All three games seemed to be played frenetically with little flow and 'beauty'. Disappointing for the third week of the season.
The question is, where does the team go from here? My other question would be, how does a team like LA manage to pick up Cornell Glenn, while a team like NE who has a just-as-pressing need (and much more salary cap space) once again goes without? Yet again....
This one will be lost while a huge chunk of the team is away on WC duty. I can't be bothered to go see 1/2 a team.
Exactly. Are you a fan of the "team", or fan of certain "players"? If those players were traded to other teams, where would your loyalties lie.
It's the third game and people are ready to hit the panic button. Has the last 4 years taught you anything? Sharlie had a bad game. Is it any mystery that when he plays bad, the team does as well. The Revs will be fine.
Yup. Which really cuts to the heart of the matter. Right now we are playing very, very slowly. Our passing accurracy (the best measure of a team's skill level, I think) is very poor, even at an almost comically slow speed of play (for a professional game). Yet Nicol's whole system of play is predicated on quick ball movement. In England, they have the requisite team skill level to play this way, and do it well. In the MLS we don't, so things break down more often than not. Even though we can still win doing it, it makes for fragmented disjointed soccer and is not very appealing to watch, particularly when the team is "off". So it goes.
Ugly game on both sides, but the result was a fair reflection of the play. They were better last night. I hope Pepe played himself into some decent minutes. He seemed to be the only Rev who was able to put the ball where he wanted it. Is it a coincidence that all the players in the NT pool (except Reis) were pretty useless? I don't know if it's fatigue, heads not in the MLS games or lack of playing time with their teammates, but none of the field players on either team showed much.
The Ref was bad, the wind was knocking everything down (i think it was a large part of our accuracy problems), KC packed it in (undeniable, IMHO), Conrad's goal was l-u-c-k-y LUCKY, and nearly everyone in a Revs shirt played poorly. These things are all true. (particularly about conrad's goal--the ref overrules his linesman to wrongly give a corner, a blooping corner by Jewsbury winds up on Conrad's head, Conrad tries to pass across the goal but winds up popping the ball straight up, I'm convinced that the wind took the ball, then Joey can't jump high enough with his stumpy frame & injured hamstring and winds up putting it in our own net. spectacularly unlucky). But I am terribly disappointed that we were not able to adjust to these things like the team last year seemed to be able to do. If the wind was that bad, why weren't we playing more to feet? If everyone was playing poorly, why did we end the game with a sub left? And if KC was all but abandoning the attack after the half, why did we have 4 primarily-defensive midfielders on the field (Leonard, Hernandez, Shalrie & Dorman)? And like I said in the in-game thread, if you sub out Noonan to get Cancela on the field, you defeat the purpose. You then have a distributor who has very few attackers to distribute TO. Noonan was playing poorly, but no worse than Dorman, who had an awful game. It looked way too much like a 3-6-1 to me. We're looking positively anemic right now. When you're pining for the days of Khano Smith, you're in trouble, friends. Bright spots: Parkhurst, Heaps, Riley, and REIS. That's about it. Oh, and that Eddie Johnson really didn't get a sniff all game. Doesn't bode well for the USMNT.
Agreed but both of those issues affected both teams. Because Route 1 Ball works so well for us of course. This is nothing new. Spot on on both counts.
Yup. The last four years have taught me that outside of the first half of 2005, the Revs are a slightly above-average MLS team who aren't really serious title contenders.
All true, but you left out the fact that Reis (as well as he played later) was badly out of position on the goal. I'm not a goalkeeper coach, but my understanding is that a keeper doesn't leave his line on a corner kick unless he can get to the ball. Reis wandered 3-5 yards forward and to his left with NO CHANCE of catching the ball, then compounded his error by standing there and waiting to see what happened. If he had stayed where he was supposed to have been, that ball is probably saved. That our announcers failed to point this out is inexcusable.
OK Twellman really pisses me off. Every time he gets the ball he's in a half stumble stutter step and falls with one last wild touch. EVERY TIME he touches the damn ball he falls. This happens in every game and it's really annoying the hell out of me. Maybe he needs new cleats or to learn how to stay on his feet. Maybe he's just clumsy as hell?
As an aside yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy. I took the opportunity to shake Steve Nicol's hand last night and wished him all the best. He was playing that day and I was there as a fan and we shared a quiet moment of reflection together 17 years on.
Re: Revs - Biz Post Game Thread 4/15/06 Best post so far.This could have changed the complexion of the game.Our announcers are totally inept especially LALAS.He talks a lot but says nothing.Gets more annoying with each game.Sounds like he's talking to some 6year olds and the 6 year olds being us .This alone can make the game unwatchable.It's like adding insult to injury.
Re: Revs - Biz Post Game Thread 4/15/06 I agree with you comments on Lalas. It must run in the family. So annoying, he just needs to shut up. I can put up with Feldman, he at least knows what he's talking about. Lalas preaches winning at any cost, including diving and cheap fouls. I wonder why his MLS career was so short? To say Cancela is the most skilled dribbler on the team is hypocritical when he's singing the praises of Dempsey's new moves and how effective they are.