The value of Nowak need be balanced against the value of the player he forces off the field. With Nicol's 4-4-2 either Hernandez or Cullen sit (or are traded). Hernandez has more attacking panache, Cullen is a more consistent defensive presence. Would Nicol use Nowak on the left? Would Nicol even consider a 5 man midfield? Would the Revs trade Hernandez or Cullen for left sided help? Answers please.
Wouldn't trade Hernandez or Cullen, although both are primarily d-mids. Rooney will go, but can they get anything in return? Don't see Nicol changing from the 4-4-2. If Kamler can play like he did in the second half a new wide left player isn't such a necessity, although there will still be an imbalance of attacking down the right flank with Ralston. Nowak adds more offense down the center of the park. Hernandez is likely to start behind Nowak, but I'd expect a lot of playing time for Cullen, as well. Hernandez can move up, and Cullen in, if Nowak can't go 90 or they are defending a lead. If Griffiths is still around, he could be an alternative (more speed and attack-minded) to Kamler. Nothing wrong with having more options.
If Nicol can get the Rev players to buy into the "squad" concept of forming a team, as opposed to the eleven best start, then the aquisition of Nowak is a real poisitive. 30 MLS matches, internationals, the Cups, etc. will take the total of games up to UK/Italy/Spain levels with much smaller playing staff. To suceed the Rev had better understand the concept that players get rotated, according to matchups, disciplinary status, injuries, whatever. This is part of maturing as individuals, as a team and as a league. Lets hope it works...... JIM DOW
From what I've noticed Novak drifts to the left a lot so he would add a lot of attacking on that side. If he stays healthy you have to be considered favorites to return to MLS Cup.
I agree with Jim. Our expanded schedule and small roster make it critical that every player be used in a mindful way depending on the circumstances. I don't think anyone can expect PN to play every match but he sure is one hell of an option to add to a young roster that has played very few big games. True, the Revs have a bit of stability going into this season but for the most part the roster has few big game experienced players. This year the Revs will be in a series of "Hardware" hunts and PN will be invaluable to SN in getting our young squad through. George
Makes you wonder how much more Rusty Pierce would have played last year. Was he really injured? Or, was he disciplined? Has he matured?
You can't have too many quality players. There's going to be injuries, suspensions, international callups etc. Also, we're in 3 competitions this season. MLS, Open Cup, Concacaf Cup. There's going to be plenty of playing time for everyone. It's not like you pick your 11 starters, and that's your team for the season.
Eric that is precisely the point. As the Rev get better the demands on the team become greater and the full roster gets used more. But we have players liker Rusty, etc, who are used to being the best on a starting 11 week after week. That doesn't work in high level footie. Injuries, suspensions and strategic concerns dictate lineup rotation as the matches pile up. You are spot on that a simple, week in, week out starting lineup doesn't work anymore but can Nicol get the players to understand that? Particularly when National Team callups and salary increases are attached to performance and statistics? If MLS had a better salary structure, where the middle of the road players made serious money and where performance incentives were tied to team success then players would be happier. I can understand Rusty being frustrated at not starting all the time. He is ambitious and fair enough. If he had come up as a pro player, as part of a development team, then reserves and finally senior squad he (and many others) would have an understanding of the system required for team success at the First Divison level. It isn't his fault (nor others) since the American sports system coddles the individual at the expense of the group. Wayne Rooney, etc. are examples of players who break through but even he is only part of a group of attackers tussling for places at Everton. If he falters or is injured, he sits and perhaps gets buried. Joe Max learned that painfully. It really is going to take a significant attitude adjustment to make a difference amongst the Rev players. Nowak may be able to communicate this. Nicol is certainly trying. If it works, we'll have a much better team than last year. It isn't a stretch to imagine Serna, Twellman AND Harris all getting significant playing time and actually pushing one another to do better. But, at the same time, it is a new way of thinking about the way the team is constructed. JIM DOW
Rusty doesn't have a lot options , does he? He's under contract, so if he wants to start, he can stop pulling his groin every other game, piling up yellow cards, and play better than Heaps. Then, he'll be a starter, not because he's used to it.
Would this alsigment make sense? 4-4-2 GK: Brown RB: Pierce/Heaps CB: Kante CB: Llamosa/Joseph LB: Franchino RM: Ralston DM: Cullen LM: Kamler/Griffiths AM: Nowak/Hernandez FW: Serna/Harris FW: Twellman The Magpie
12 days and counting With respect to the draft, we can expand this a little. GK: Brown/? RB: Pierce/Heaps/Downing CB: Kante CB: Llamosa/Joseph/Pierce LB: Franchino/Leonard?/? RM: Ralston/Cloutier/? DM: Hernandez/Cullen/Cloutier LM: Kamler/Griffiths/? AM: Nowak/Hernandez/? FW: Serna/Harris FW: Twellman/? ?'s represent possible areas for draft selection. Rooney and Chacon, of course, are gone. If I count correctly, this leaves 18 claimed roster spots (not counting DP Frias and P-40 Downing), if Leonard and Joseph are counted against the roster. Even if we assume that either Leonard or Joseph sign as DP's, this makes the likelihood of drafting a P-40 player in the first round seem likely. Mr. Gavin/Gonzalez meet your new team. We know that Nowak has a green card, but on the Rev roster from the intrepid MLS web site, Griffiths is neither listed as SI, TI, nor GC. I presume this is a mistake, and that WG is an SI.
Rusty Pierce, 14 games, 16 caution points. Jay Heaps, 27 games, 28 caution points, plus 1 idiotic ejection in the first half of a playoff game. I've also read lately that Heaps has better size (even though he's shorter and lighter) and that he'll improve more (even though he's 3 years older). I really don't understand all of these complaints about Rusty, who is the team's best defender, grittiest player, and works as hard as anyone on the pitch. People who think Heaps is a great defender should try and get a tape of the Dallas game near the end of last season, when the Burn's left mid left Jay in his wake almost every time he got the ball. There were a number of games when Llamosa was beaten easily (the 2-0 Fire game, the first SJ game, the opener all come to mind). The only reason I'd consider him as a starter is because someone suggested that he was injured most of the year. Joey, let's face it, is still Joey. Also, while Kante is easily the best of the four, he got a red card against the Crew trying to beat Jeff C. to a through ball, something that Rusty was able to do until they took him out late in the game (even with his injury). Since we acquired Nowak, we probably won't play 2 D-mids and 4 defenders next year, so we'll need better "defense" from our defenders. Also, if Adin is less successful in stopping 1v1 plays or gets injured, we'll have trouble keeping scores down the way that we did when we were successful. Benching or trading our best defender won't help in that department. Look at some of the games Pierce had when he was healthy: the SJ game when he held Landon without a shot, the home opener when he shut down many offensive thrusts with ease, or the Colorado game, the one we won 3-1 (when the Rapids scored when Rusty was getting medical attention). What do these games have in common? They were all better defensive games than Jay Heaps will ever be capable of.
Those were my comments. I went and checked the Revs website and you're right, they do list Pierce as taller and heavier. But, I've been close to Pierce and he's not 5'10. My impression from watching them is that Heaps is bigger and stronger - maybe that's a misperception, but no one doubts that Heaps gets higher. Pierce is a terrific player, and as I said, very much underrated IMO. But, he is limited. He is a man-marker who bugs the hell out of his man and keeps him off the scoreboard, but he is short, not particularly fast and has limited offensive skills. Heaps shows more potential, not because of his age, but because he improved SO much over the course of the season. He has great speed and jumping ability, and he needed to learn to mental side of the defender's game much better. After a season working with Nicol, he improved by leaps and bounds. He can still get much, much better. Regardless, he's already much better with the ball than Pierce is. He moves into the attack and pulls defenders off Ralston when he cuts inside with the ball - that's something that Pierce doesn't even attempt. In an ideal world, I'd move Franchino before either one if we could move Pierce or Heaps to left back. He's reached the limits of his ability and repeatedly gets himself trapped on the sideline with the ball, sends wild crosses, and is forced to resort to intentional fouls because he gets beaten off the dribble. Back to the topic of this thread: Cullen sits. He subs for Nowak in situations where we need more defense and want to rest/protect Nowak or Hernandez.
another thing to think about in the Rusty vs. Heaps - who would you rather have playing with you? Mr. " I Punch my Teamates Regularly" or Mr. Super Good Attitude?
"...who would you rather have playing with you? Mr. " I Punch my Teamates Regularly" or Mr. Super Good Attitude?" That's a pretty cheap shot. Both Rusty and Jay are highly competative players who've both been known to be combative on occasion, whether it's with opposing players or teammates. Why don't you come up with something a bit better, perhaps a tactical analysis of each player's strengths and weaknesses and how that could decide who Nicol goes with as his starter? The Magpie
I like Rusty very much but he is going to have to learn to ride the pine and wait his turn even when he is not hurt... injury is certainly a downside for him, but he is more versatile and provides good cover at several positions... I don't think they could get what he is worth in a trade and I don't think he is that big a drain on the treasury... I also agree with some others that Cullen would not be first choice in most situations with Nowak in the lineup, but there will be enough games for everyone and by mid-season we will all be wondering who is going to come in because one or another player is hurt or suspended... rand
I wouldn't characterize Pierce as "not particularly fast". I've seen him beat players like Wolff, Cunningham, Rasov, and Graziani to through balls when they started out in front of him, and I can't recall ever seeing him beat to a ball by any forward when they started out from nearly the same spot and in the same direction. I thought that he was faster than the other defenders in the playoffs, even at less than 100%. As for Heaps, he's better offensively than Pierce but nowhere near the defender. He's an adequate player, but strikes me more as a superior athlete than a natural soccer player. I think that same lack of instinct will slow his growth on the offensive end also. Too bad we can't put Cullen's brain in Heap's body. Also, while his play obviously improved this year, some of his improvement was due to switching to 2 D-mids and putting Kante next to him. I don't think he's that bad, and I don't have a big problem with his starting. I'd rather see Rusty start over Llamosa, who doesn't have the wheels anymore. Rusty prefers the right, but he really snuffed out a lot of threats from the other defenders getting beat in the middle. Fair enough. But who would you rather see play? Mr "gutted out playoffs while injured because the team needed me", or Mr "I got thrown out of a playoff game and put my team in a bad spot because I wanted to head-butt someone"?
I think Jay made very significant progress this season. I would even say that he has finally made the transition from superior athlete who plays soccer to superior soccer player who is also athletic. For my money he was every bit as good a defender as Pierce during the second half of the season, and at least twice the attacker. Rusty's game depends on his ability to read the play and find a way to impose himself physically on the man he's marking. He's good at those things, but not much else...yet. Both players will grow over the coming seasons, but right now, I think Heaps is the better of the two. As for who sits for Nowak, I think it's probably Leo, though I don't expect him to sit that much. I see the two of them splitting time pretty evenly as Novak needs a bit more rest than the younger players, and Leo deserves as much time on the pitch as the coaches can give him. Of course there's always the possibility that the second striker will sit and Nicol will opt for a 4-5-1, pushing Novak forward and using Taylor as the target for the old Pole to run off.
Don't mean it as a cheap shot, only that as far as a 'team' might be concerned, Jay is the kind of players player, that you'd want to have on your side, and well, Rusty is a nut. more of a lockerroom intangible, coaches tiebreaker kind of thing, all else being equal. I don't really have anything new to add to the tactical debate. As Rkupp has stated: "Pierce is a terrific player, and as I said, very much underrated IMO. But, he is limited. He is a man-marker who bugs the hell out of his man and keeps him off the scoreboard, but he is short, not particularly fast and has limited offensive skills. Heaps shows more potential, not because of his age, but because he improved SO much over the course of the season. He has great speed and jumping ability, and he needed to learn to mental side of the defender's game much better. After a season working with Nicol, he improved by leaps and bounds. He can still get much, much better. Regardless, he's already much better with the ball than Pierce is. He moves into the attack and pulls defenders off Ralston when he cuts inside with the ball - that's something that Pierce doesn't even attempt." Spot on assesment.
It's too bad he couldn't have done that last year (4-5-1). Until Wolde startede to play well, the Harris vs Fuller vs APC discussions were probably the most discouraging part of last season.
Are you comparing Heaps to Pierce before or after Rusty was injured? Both times Rusty came back from his injury he was far from game shape and basically played because of extreme need. Jay Heaps is a pretty good offensive player (last year, he spent much of his time at Ralston's spot). If you combine that skill with Rusty's defensive abilities (great man marker, played very well as a central defender) you'd have one of the best defensive players in the MLS. I think you'd have a hard time convincing people that Heaps is at that level.