Nobody is saying it (yet) but was the second half turnaround the result of DH entering the game or did it just happen? While he didn't do anything that stood out, the game DID change and I think he may have been the reason. Start him next week and lets see if we can get two good halfs.
The Revs had several good chances in the first half, so I don't think DH was the difference. As an example, Kamler had a great chance before DH came in and missed wide right. After DH came on, he got the same opportunity in almost the exact same spot, and this time he burried it, with Heaps and Ralston doing the work to set him up. DH wasn't the reason he missed the first but not the 2nd.
it was not DH. If Leo had stayed in the game we would have scored eventually. I like Leo and Shalrie playing together in the middle.
If not for Leo's positioning, we would have been down by one. Even if the results aren't always there, he is tireless when it comes to trying to disrupt the other team's game.
I am sorry but DH was a big part of the difference. He does not panic when he gets the ball and has a very soft and confident touch on the ball. Leo looks like he has a hot potato at his feet and I am sorry, but I have not been impressed by that big troll Sharlie - he just looks lost half of the time - I have not been impressed - in fact in the first game, I was embarassed that he was out on the field - he reminded me of an U-12 player in a rec league that grew too fast and didn't know how to control himself yet.
If you remember, the entire team looked like a bunch of U-12 rec league players in our first game at home. No, DH did not meaningfully influence the game from what I could see. We were much more active in the second half before he came in, we had our chances in the first half too, just not as many quality ones. We just finally finished what was available to us.
People who won't admit DH had a positive impact effect on the game are just looking the wrong way. Cullen played over 60 minutes and barely touched the ball. DH came in and had many positive touches, a few shots (although not great ones), and an assist. No DH was not the only reason, or even the most important reason the Revs turned it around. They defeinitely played better attacking soccer after he came in though.
I agree. Aside from the obvious doghouse issue, do you think he's got DH and Cullen backwards, i.e. DH should start to get the offense pumping, with Cullen as the sub with fresh legs to protect a lead (assuming the revs can generate a lead) or do you like DH coming in to help generate offense against tired legs after Cullens done the destroying?
Well I must admit, option "B" looked pretty good on Saturday. The obvious two-edged sword is: he who scores the first goal usually wins - while he that surrenders the first goal usually loses. So do you try to grab the first goal or sit back and avoid giving up the first goal. I think Nicol is more inclined the option "B" here as well. Just my opinion.
You've got to remember that Shalrie still isn't a natural central midfielder, and you can certainly tell that at times. I get to watch the game from the press box, and from that vantage point, you can sometime see Joseph make a run... stop... and then sort of realize that he's in the wrong place. There was a sequence against LA where he won a ball from Elliott in the midfield and immediately had space in front of him, so he ran at the defense. As he approached the top of the area, he sort of slowed down and was like, "Uh-oh... now what do I do with it." He's clearly a work in progress as a central midfielder... but he's also an undeniable talent. You should hear his teammates and the coaching staff talk about how good he is, how good he could be, and what a difference he's made already.
The thing is Joseph is that he is raw talent. You can tell just watching him play. He has the skill to do what he wants, and hes learning. Im guessing Nicol told him to dish it to Kamler and Ralston if you have the option before u take on the defense. I remember countless times where Joseph sent a nice curvin pass into the run of Kamler, which opened up the field (opened up space for Ralston). He also has a nice touch in the midfield, and is great for 50/50 balls. Joseph allows the revs to take the ball through the midfield instead of always goin over the top. On that note, i also believe that with a creative center mid, Nicol's over-the-top style will diminish. Its more of a temp solution until he has the lineup he wants.
Ok, I was wondering about this issue myself...so I've started charting the game. I've got the first 30 minutes done for the two central mids - SJ and LC. Keep in mind, this is probably the worst 30 minutes of the game for the Revs. Here are the numbers so far: Code: -Tackles- -Blocks- Dribbles -Headers- -----------Passes----------- ----Touches---- --Shots-- Player Pos Won Lost Shts Pass Pos Neg Won Lost B + B - S + S - F + F - Lost 1-T M-T On Off G A Joseph CM 4 0 0 3 7 0 1 4 1 0 7 0 4 2 1 9 0 0 0 0 0 Cullen CM 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 7 3 0 10 2 0 0 0 0 The numbers are open to interpretation, of course, but here's what I saw, watching the game in detail. Positioning: Cullen has been slightly more advanced most of the time then Joseph, but not alot. However, Joseph was much more likely to get the ball in the attacking third then Cullen. Both guys switched the advanced role a lot as conditions and play warranted. Defense: Joseph was much more active defensively, with 4 tackles and 3 blocked passes. Cullen had just the two tackles. Skills: Both players showed much better touch then I would have thought. Joseph lost one ball on touch, with 9 successful one-touches. Cullen did not lose a ball on touch at all, controlling all 12 times. Joseph was much more willing to dribble the ball(7 times), and never lost the ball on the dribble. Cullen had only 3 dribbles, and lost the dribble one of those times. Passing: Cullen was much more offensive minded with his passing. 10 of his 11 passes were forward, with a 73% completion rate. Joseph was more likely to pass square, usually to Ralston, with an 86% completion rate. Notes: Neither player was especially active in getting touches, compared to Ralston and Heaps, who were involved in much of the offense. Joseph showed much more skill then I gave him credit for on initial viewing. He dribbled well into the attacking 3rd on several occasions, and probably should have shot, if he has any kind of 30yd shot(I've never seen him try). Ralston showed for the ball real well, giving Joseph passes that Kamler didn't give to Cullen as much. Other Players: Probably not the thread for it, but while it's fresh in my mind... Heaps and Ralston were very effective. Pierce did suprisingly well distributing out of the back. Llamosa was very good defensively. Franchino was real bad passing and on set pieces. Kamler was even more invisible then the 2 central mids. Twellman barely got a touch. Moore played an a-mid/withdrawn fwd role and was much more active then TnT, but was not very good at all, with lots of poor passes and set pieces. Brown wasn't tested with shots, was mostly in correct position and average with his distribution. I will post more tommorrow as I get the chance to chart the game further. It will be interesting to see how DH matches up numbers-wise with SJ and LC. Lee
Be careful not to over read statistical aspects of play. Although very useful and informative, they overlook a player's positioning and movement on the field without the ball which is by far the most critical factor in a team's success. Hernandez is far ahead of Cullen and Joseph in seeing the play develop. His passes, therefore, are often much more effective. Even when a player does not touch the ball, his movement is often critical to team success. For example who here would credit Hernandez with creating the first goal? At first view it looks to be the indirect result of a strong attacking run by Heaps. On review of the tape, however, one sees that as the run begins Hernandez, who is square to Heaps, both holds his forward run and indicates to Heaps to play into the space ahead of him instead of continuing down the flank or dropping the ball square. Likewise, it is Hernandez's positioning that regains possession and delivers a perfectly weighted ball to Twellman's inside foot allowing the turn for the second goal. Finally, no one on the team is better than Hernandez at slowing play in a controlled manner. When the other Revs try to play fast and direct their skills fail them and they concede possession repeatedly. Indeed, it was the change to more patient play (and a lack of long balls) that resulted in the better second half play, even before DH entered the game. I don't think much of Hernandez's maturity, but his skills are something this team needs critically. Joseph may well develop similar instincts, but is an unfinished product at present. Cullen plays a more steady, dependable defensive role in midfield than Hernandez. Cullen's play allows the other midfielder more latitude in positioning. Joseph's play is still too similar to Cullen's for the pair to be very effective together except in a defend at all cost strategy. Presumably Nicol sees all this. If he continues to sit Hernandez something is wrong.
I think Schmid played a "balanced" defensive strategy and didn't really force the Revs to use their left (weaker) flank. I think this is a mistake that probably won't happen much more - give Ralston/Heaps some space and time and they can open up the defense (Kamler may have scored the 1st goal on a great shot, but Heaps did all the work to create the free shot in range against the keeper). I agree with just about all your points, great analysis. I particularly agree with the point that Twellman and Moore had pretty atrocious games. Twellman finally scored when he was given a pass that he couldn't possibly fail to convert.
Socdoc's right on about numbers not telling the whole tale. They do, however, provide a quantitative method of showing some trends in an objective way. I will try to provide some subjective analysis as I do this as well, as I find I pick up on a lot of things in reviewing the tape that I missed on the first and second viewing. I will post some more tonight, hopefully including DH's stuff. As rkupp pointed out, much of the advantage that Ralston and Heaps had was do to the Galaxy's tactical choices. Not only did the Galaxy not overload Ralston's side - as most teams do - by playing with only 3 midfielders, they gave Ralston and Heaps a lot of space to exploit. Kamler and Franchino had similar space on the left, but the Revs approach on the left side relies more on Franchino dribbling up to midfield and sending longish balls into the box. This isn't effective against a Galaxy team with some very large defenders. Lee
75 minutes of stats... Code: -Tackles- -Blocks- Dribbles -Headers- -----------Passes----------- ----Touches---- --Shots-- Player Pos Won Lost Shts Pass Pos Neg Won Lost B + B - S + S - F + F - Lost 1-T M-T On Off G A Joseph CM 5 0 0 8 9 0 4 7 3 0 10 0 12 4 1 23 1 0 0 0 0 Cullen CM 2 0 1 0 4 1 2 1 5 0 1 1 11 5 0 21 4 0 0 0 0 Hern'dezCM 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 4 2 0 9 0 0 0 0 1 Some miscellaneous notes: Notes: 43 Cullen with a great 40 yard ball into Ralston in the box. Ralston kicks back to Twellman at top of the box, and he blows it. 52 Cullen with a great clearance off the line. 57 Cullen with two good balls into the box, but noone gets on the end of them. 59 DH opens up space for himself with the dribble, send through ball to Heaps, a little to strong. 61 Joseph gets a ball just outside the 18, tips it ahead to Ralston, who has it poked away by Victorine at the edge of the 6. 63 DH with a great ball over the top to TnT in the 18, shot saved. 63 Joseph with great hustle to beat Hartman to a parried ball, sends a square ball to JMM 10 yards out, who fails to 1-time it. 70 DH does a poor job of staying with Glinton as he runs into the box and collects a pass. Brown saves.
It was most definetely not DH, and you should trade him to Dallas for Bobby Rhine immediately. Btw, Sharlie Joseph is awesome.
Who are you, Jeff Bradley? I don't understand this fascination with Rhine. He would be fighting with Wolde and Noonan for whatever scrap minutes he can get behind Twellman and Moore. As it is, Wolde prolly isn't all that happy, but bringing in another guy for a position we are fairly deep makes no sense. No way we take Rhine unless any deal involves Wolde Harris. And if you want us to give up Hernandez and Harris, we better get a hell of a lot more than Bobby Rhine. Vaca is considered untouchable, but we'll see... Let's hold tight and let the cRapids and Burnt keep losing until they get panicky and then if they want Hernandez, let them make us an offer that makes sense for us. We don't do favors for anyone. DH is a quality player and we'd be foolish to give him away for nothing. Tom
Actually, I think stopper4 was being a bit facetious. But Bradley (who was not) never ceases to amaze.
I don't know, most of this board probably would have done DH-Rhine if you asked after the Columbus game. Now that he's gotten closer to his '02 form, the deal does seem a bit ridiculous.
Good, I'm glad that he's probably not that happy. But what he should be upset about isn't the lack of playing time he getting, but the absolute junk he puts on display when he does enter the pitch. He flopped around worse than Ruiz did in the L.A. match and he was only on for 10-15 minutes! I don't know where I stand on the whole Hernandez/Rhine trade right now (I too was calling for it after Daniel's little snit in the papers), but if the trade involves sending Wolde packing, then I say "Welcome to New England, Bobby Rhine!"