Today, we continue our series by launching an inquest into our first playoff team, the Revs. How they managed to make the postseason, I'll Nicol know... erm... never know, but luckily we have someone here to make sense of all things Beantown ball. For this one, I pass it over to former American Soccer Daily colleague (and Holy Cross midfielder) Ryan O'Hanlon.NSC: What went wrong?
RO'H: The Revs couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. The only team with less goals in MLS was the Red Bulls. Injuries exposed the team for it's lack of depth, especially going forward. Having Shalrie Joseph as your leading scorer is not a good thing.
NSC: What went right?
RO'H: Shalrie Joseph carried this team on his back into the playoffs. If it wasn't obvious before, Steve Nicol proved that he is arguably the league's best coach by getting the Revs into the playoffs with the limited group of players at his disposal. Darrius Barnes and Kevin Alston had good rookie years and they could be staples in the back line for years to come. Emmanuel Osei did a respectable job filling in for an injured Chris Albright, as well.
NSC: What, if not who, does the team need to acquire?
RO'H: Even with the possibility of players like Ralston, Twellman, and Castro coming back, the team isn't all that scary going forward. Hopefully, this is the offseason Revs fans have been waiting for and the club splashes some cash on a big money attacking midfielder of striker. If not, they need to try to find the next Fredy Montero.
- Greg Seltzer
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1 comments:
Nicol is quite the manager. But I'll be interested to see how the team manages without Paul Mariner alongside Stevie.
Also, I think it's time for replacements to be brought in for Twellman and Ralston. I know Taylor is still relatively young (okay, soon to be 30, but not ancient in this league), but both seem to be on their last legs with injuries.
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