Saturday, May 28, 2016

Revs Win 2-1 Over Seattle, Take 2 Of 3 On The Homestead, Head Into Copa Break On A High Note

Win 2 out of 3 on the home stand before the Copa break. 6 of 9 points (nice). This Revs team is on the up and up my friends. What a win against a perennial power, albeit missing some pieces. Won't let that take away form the moment though, you play the team presented to you. Slow start but once the engines were revving (see what I did there?) it was full steam ahead.

-Lineup Notes: Birthday boy London Woodberry got the start at center back (minus the Pogba-esque hair) while Andrew Farrell started at right back. Very interesting move by Jay Heaps switching those two, especially given Woodberry's inconsistent play (even that might be generous) out on the right. Pairing him with a returning JoGo (streaky in his own right) shows Heaps may be mental, but we don't know if its the good type or bad type yet. No Gershon Koffie (sprained knee) or Je-Vaughn Watson (Jamaican national team duties), so Heaps pulled another rabbit out of the hat and SWITCHED FORMATION! Never thought we'd see the day. 4-1-4-1 with Scott Caldwell as the lone DM, middle four full of firepower (Juan, Diego, Lee and Kelyn) and Kei Kamara the lone man up top. Another interesting note that Lee Nguyen keeps the captains armband even though JoGo is back. Same as when Jermaine Jones was still on the team and would wear it while on the field with Jose. Personally, I  like the move. I want my captain to be involved and healthy. As an Arsenal fan I've seen too many captains on the bench, injured or playing poorly.

-Speaking of the captain:
View post on imgur.com

Silver Surfer. I dig the look.

-No Clint Dempsey for the Sounders as he's on US national team duties, but they do have Jordan Morris still. Torn between not wanting him to do well because of tonights game and wanting him to do well because I care about our national team's future No Chad Marshall for Seattle either.

-7th minute: Seattle goal. Got too excited by the formation change and forgot they're still the 2016 Revs.

Piss poor clearance from Bobby Shuttleworth. Kovar grabs the loose ball, pulls the string on Chris Tierney and puts the shot by Bobby.  Just so bad.

-23rd Minute: Bad call on a handball (or lack thereof) that gave the Revs a PK:

Knew we were due for some ref karma from our early season struggles. Lee Nguyen steps up and slots it home to set the Revolution franchise record for PKs with 13 according to PBP man Brad Feldman:

Calm, cool, collected. Beauty of a finish, sneaking it past Frei on the dive and tucking it on the inside of the post. And someone was angry on the internet about it:

Must have gone to the Jesse Marsch School of Class.

-37th Minute: Kei goes for an ambitious kick and Brad Evans takes the brunt of it. Blow to the head that required a sub off. A shot off that foot is no joke.

-43rd Minute: Amazing hustle by Kei Kamara, racing down the field collect a long ball, getting around the keeper and saving it fro going out of bounds, earning a corner kick in the process.

-Revs started to surge as the half went on, and Heaps was more animated than I have ever seen him during the halftime interview, especially expressing how they needed to carry that play into the second half right away and play without any mistakes. You can tell he's really on the brink of explosion, which I guess isn't saying much considering he always looks like that.

- 54th minute: Juan Agudelo off, Teal Bunbury on. Paul Mariner made an interesting point. Teal was warming up during halftime, which makes you think Juan might have picked up a slight knock and told Heaps "I can give you 10 or so minutes but I'll need to come off soon".

-76th Minute: Time for the Femergizer Bunny...



77th Minute: GOAL FEMI! YOU CANNOT STOP THIS KID!

What a goal. Outside the box and skips it in from a tough angle. I've said it before and I'll say it again, what a revelation this guy has been. He's going to a be a key contributor, either as a starter or super sub, for years to come.

A few post-game thoughts:

-I think Scotty proved his worth as the  lone DM. T's a tough position to play and a tough one to employ as a manger unless you have full confidence in your DM and backline, and especially when you're playing such an attacking midfield infant of him. You see teams like Barcelona employ a single DM because of Sergio Busquets, who's world class with a world class center back pairing behind him. There's less cover for a shaky middle two,and Scotty showed he can play that role. I will say that the JoGo-London pairing did a lot better than I expected. Scotty excelling in that role gives more options for midfield combinations on the attacking side of things. Scotty was always available to relieve pressure tonight. Top showing from him. Quiet, just like it should be.

-Farrell was great at right back. More on that lower down that page...

-Might be time to seriously consider starting Brad Knighton. I am no longer at ease with Bobby Shuttleworth in net, he instills zero confidence in me. There were e a few chances that were incredibly nervy at the end, and that I thought he was lucky to come away from unscathed. And the goal, he probably should have had that. Not an easy save, but he's good enough in theory to make a save like that. He's lucky the other 10 guys on his team responded well and fought back.

-Kamara just cant quite get over the hump. He scored 5 goals in nine games for Columbus, but not here. Only had 13 shots on goal for Columbus as well, compared to 6 in New England in two games. Not to say he's not contributing, because drawing two or three defenders and opening things up for your team is certainly playing a positive role. They just can't force too many balls in for him to try and miracle strike to the back of the net. Play the normal game and his goals will come. I am loving his enthusiasm and fan interaction though. Early on he was pumping up the crowd and bringing an intensity to the team. No signs of the headache he was at the end of his time in Columbus.

-Partially part of the Farrell thoughts, the fullbacks looked great bombing up the field on the flanks nd crossing balls into the box. We even saw Tierney and Farrell make some good runs into the box on their own, with and without the ball. Good aggressive play that creates chaos among opposing defenders, especially when you have two guys on the outsides who can do it all, and very well. Something we miss with Farrell primary playing in the middle now.

-Good showing from The Fort tonight. Loud all game and nicely filled out stadium. That lighthouse end was rabid for a goal and exploded when Femi put it home. Summer attendance is finally here for good, and it a beautiful thing to see.

Man of the Match
A lot of good efforts form the boys, and Femi is certainly in the conversation, but I'm going with...

Second straight week for 2 Fast 2 Farrell. Playing right back for the first time this season and he excelled. Great movement up the pitch, had nice control in the attacking third and was able to muscle his way into possession on multiple occasions. He also used his patented slide tackle to snuff out a good chance late in the game. A real solid display in all facets from Andrew tonight. Played a full 90 as well, giving him an edge over Femi for me. 

Revs are off until June 18 in MLS action when they start a three-game road trip in Vancouver to take on the Whitecaps, but they will be in US Open Cup action on June 15 down in North Carolina playing either the Charlotte Independence or Carolina Railhawks FC. Copa America break means no Revs content, barring some major news, but I'll hopefully be going to a Copa game at Gillette and might do post about that experience, and then July 6 starts some primetime Tailgate SZN action.



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