The Revs Kick Off The 2018 Season This Weekend

Shhhhhh buddy, its about that time. The renewed hope, a fresh sense of direction and restored confidence that may be baseless. The Revs are back in action this weekend at Philly to kick off the 2018 MLS season. 

The Brad Friedel Era is ready to officially begin after an interesting off season and preseason. His side went 2-3-1 in the preseason, with that one loss coming in the first game against Malmo FF. We've seen a glimpse of what to expect this season, but nothing is set in stone in terms of roster, depth chart or formation. 

So lets look at a few things ahead of Saturdays matchup.

The Lineup (Likely Starters in Bold)

GK (3): Cody Cropper, Brad Knighton, Matt Turner

This position remains unchanged from last season. Cropper stays the likely starter with Knighton as a very good backup, and Matt Turner at 23 does another season as the younger project. 

Defenders (9): Gabriel Somi, Antonio Delamea, Claude Dielna, Andrew Farrell, Chris Tierney, Mark Segbers, Brandon Bye, Jalil Anibaba, Nicolas Samayoa

The biggest storyline out of this group is probably newcomer Gabriel Somi taking the starting left back spot from Revs legend Chris Tierney. CT is 32 and has seen his play decline rather rapidly. I could see Friedel using him as a left side center back in a 3 or 5 man backline though. Dielna and Delamea showed promise at the tail end of last season, so a full preseason to build chemistry and get Dielna fully in the program should pay huge dividends. Brandon Bye also impressed a number of people in preseason. Bye and Somi can also play in the midfield, while Segbers and Tierney are listed as also being midfielders.

Midfielders (8): Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez, Cristian Penilla, Wilfried Zahibo, Scott Caldwell, Lee Nguyen, Isaac Angking, Zach Heriveaux

The Nguyen situation is one we will get to in a bit. Rowe and Fagundez looked real good in preseason and will be deployed in their natural midfield positions under Firedel (no more Left Back Kelyn!!!!). Penilla has blazing speed that will come in handy on the outside. Zahibo has shown he is a solid option at CDM but has a knack for playing a little reckless at times. Honestly, we don't know if he will be used with Caldwell in a two-CDM system or what. Time will tell. 

Forwards (5): Juan Agudelo, Krisztian Nemeth, Brian Wright, Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Teal Bunbury

Agudelo is ready for a huge season in my opinion. He's gotten USMNT call-ups very recently that show he's in good form and as the likely #1 target now that Kei Kamara is gone he should see plenty of action. I'm intrigued by what Nemeth will do as a sort of 2nd Striker or what his role will be. Wright and Femi are the young projects while Teal is your veteran experience. 

The Captain Situation

We saw a very weird situation with he captains armband last season. It started with Lee, we saw Tierney wear it at times, but it never felt like there was any actual captain. We haven't had that feeling really since Jose Goncalves left. Friedel said at the start of preseason he had a captain in mind but wouldn't reveal it until the start of the regular season, but with Claude Dielna wearing the armband in every preseason match, I think we have a good idea as to who will don it on gamedays this season. 

What's Up With Lee Nguyen?

I have previously written about the Lee Nguyen Saga, but he basically has demanded a trade and no-showed most of preseason. The front office has denied his trade request as Friedel wants to use him as an important piece this season while also giving off a vibe that the inmates will not run the asylum under his watch. Lee has a contract and the Revs are going to make him see it out until it expires or a favorable trade comes along. Lee did report to camp in Florida for the last two or so weeks, but was kept in what was essentially solitary confinement, working solo with trainers to get his fitness back up after his lengthy holdout. This is why I do not have him pegged as a starter; he won't be one, at least not to start, given his delay. I still think he is one of the best attacking midfielders in the league and the US player pool. He has vision, good touch, and finishing ability. He may never again replicate his MVP Finalist season of 2014, but he's still pretty damn good in "down years". Being able to use Nguyen, Penilla, Rowe and Fagundez in the midfield all at once will give opposing teams fits. It would mean one of Agudelo or Nemeth starts on the bench and that either Zahibo or Caldwell is alone at CDM, but that is a ton of attacking firepower for other defenses to worry about. 

Lee was spotted in an Instagram story playing cornhole (I think) with Juan, so I'm hoping the fact he's good friends with guys like Juan and his fishing buddy Diego, along with the managerial change and a likely promise to be a center piece of the attack is enough to get him back at the negotiating table to sort things out with the Revs. 

More Signings To Come

From Brad Freiedel: The #NERevs are "very close" on one signing, "close" on another.

Friedel added it's a matter of negotiation now, wouldn't disclose positions or further details. #MLS

— Jonathan Sigal (@JonathanSigal) February 28, 2018

Big Baller Brad saying two signings are close, with 21 year old Luis Caicedo and 26 year old Didier Moreno the rumored targets. Both are DM's, so going back to Lee, they are not his replacements. Obviously you'd probably want to have the younger guy if you can only have one, but I'm also not going to pretend I watch enough, or any, Colombian soccer to give an actual opinion on the guy. It's just good to see Brad getting after it with these signings.

What To Expect
It'd be foolish to expect Brad to win the Cup in his first professional coaching season with this revamped of a roster. But they have a contender over at 1 Patriot Place. This team should reach the playoffs and probably even make it past the first round. I don't think its unreasonable to look for 15 or 16 wins and north of 50 points after the 13-win, 45-point season in 2017.

I was very, very skeptical of the Friedel hiring when it first happened, but he's put the right foot forward at every turn thus far and has instilled a new confidence in the fanbase. It obviously means nothing if the results do not follow, but as of now, things are looking up for once.

So that's it. This Saturday it all begins. Only two things to take care of now.

1) I need to pick a victory song for this season. Past songs have been "Thughearted" and "Old Thing Back". I'll spend most of Friday contemplating the various possibilities in a meditative state.

2) I need a new GIF to replace Kei twerking and then getting booked for twerking. Thats an all-time GIF that I hat has to be retired.

I Am Mad Online About This Newest "Gisele Controversy"

We've all heard by this point the infamous Gisele Bundchen (paraphrasing) "My husband cannot throw the ball and catch it" sound bite from Pats-Giants II. My thoughts regarding that have not changed: not great to say it out loud but that was a supportive spouse caught up in the heat of the moment and emotion of the game. 

Well the latest controversy is....

Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady’s wife, turned New England’s 41-33 loss into a teaching moment for their children — two of whom were crying after the game. https://t.co/wKatPcqRZV #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/zQuKtdGH69

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 5, 2018

Nobody “ let” anybody win anything. One team made more plays than the other. Period. https://t.co/D1Fv04zwx8

— trey wingo (@wingoz) February 5, 2018

Oh. Come. ON. Am I losing my mind?

We're really gonna get mad about that? Really? Well, fine. That means I can be irate on the web. 

Everyone needs to chill. The Fuck. Out. A mother tells her crying kids, in her second language, something to get them to calm down for like five minutes. And people are upset about it. People tell kids shit all the time to get some peace and quiet for just a few moments. I guarantee that when those kids talked to their dad, he told them that the better team won. 

My biggest gripes come down to two groups. 

First, all the fucking holier-than-thou people in the cesspool known as Twitter replies. "Why didn't she just tell two young, crying kids that sometimes the team you want to win just doesn't have it, meh meh meh, this is actually poor sportsmanship". To which many people answered, "Well, those crying kids might not, at the time, really understand whats being said like an adult would." And I shit you not, one woman in particular in those replies decided to say, "Well, mine did." 

OH GO FUCK YOURSELF. LITERALLY GO FUCK YOUR OWN FACE. Look! We got a perfect parent with perfect kids over here! I bet she has numerous bumper stickers on her stupid fucking mini van declaring her children are all on the middle school honor roll. How nice for you that your kids are in such a right state of mind to understand all sorts of concepts, probably because their parents will never be on the kind of stage that the Brady children saw their dad on. Fucking loser. I am a god damn pro when it comes to lying to kids to get them to calm down. I've had 20 10-year-olds all pissy and just told them a lie to get them to shut up for 10 minutes. It's just something that happens. 

And then she had the audacity to be correcting other people on twitter in regards to their parenting. I'm not a father. I don't actually know how it feels to be a parent. But if that was me getting lectured by some self-righteous douchebag about parenting because of something Gisele Bundchen said to calm her kids down, I'd very much want to punch that person square in the throat. 

Just without the last fading or gone. 

And now we move onto Trey Wingo. HARDOOOOOOOO. What a dickhead response. He really took this one to heart. Who hurt you, Trey? We get it man, the Eagles played a better game. Again, Gisele is trying to calm down crying kids. You don't need to take everything so literally. This was not Tom Brady saying it to the media after the game. Chill out. 

Trey has a son. I bet he told his son all about Santa Claus. I bet that self righteous mother also told her kids about Santa (I'm assuming their religions, no offense but also all the offense). So to get your kids to behave you told them if they do not act accordingly then a big fat guy won't break into their house to leave gifts? So these people all lied to their kids in order to calm them down? Instead of just explaining to them that they need to behave just so they aren't assholes in general? They did this in order to potentially calm down crying children? Well then by their logic they are bad parents and not teaching the children the right things. 

So you know what? Don't chill out. Rather, kindly lick a subway pole you uncouth swine. 

via GIPHY

Where The Patriots Go From Here

That was crushing, no other way to say it. Not on the level of 18-1, but crushing nonetheless. A lot of questions coming out of this one, mainly surrounding Malcolm Butler being benched and Eric Rowe not being told about it until right before kickoff. Now there's also talk that Gronk could be retiring.

It's tough to say but its the truth.

The window is finally closing. The dynasty is on its last legs.

It's obviously very early and a lot could happen between know and Opening Weekend in 7 months, but the Patriots need to go into a a true "win-now" mode. You have to push all your chips into the middle and get #6 next year. Tom Brady will be 41. Bill Belichick will be 66. We're losing two coordinators. Gronk apparently may retire. Who knows if Edelman will be back to what he was before his injury.

You have to win next year because after that, nothing would be certain. The rest of the NFL is catching up. Get this final ring with the Brady-Belichick duo and then let go. They could not make the playoffs for another 5-10 years but if they have #6 its fine. Do what you have to do to win it all next season.

You still have young talent in Brandin Cooks, Trey Flowers, Malcolm Brown, Derek Rivers, etc. to help with a rebuild. But the window is not as open as we once thought. It's finally starting to shut. Cherish it and hope the right moves are made to get one final win in the big one before we close out this amazing chapter in sports history.