Welp, that fucking sucked. Wish I could be more eloquent in my summary of the game but what’s the point? Pissed away chances, subs pissed themselves, and ultimately we pissed away a point—or even three—to a direct rival in the playoff race.
But please, Curt, explain to us again how our roster was set despite a window still being open and our starting right back going down with an ACL injury.
Speaking of Onalfo, if we force ourselves to remember that trainwreck of a press conference, I’ll point to the one thing Curt said that was 100-percent, certified fact: “No one asked to be in this position.”
I sure as heck didn’t. Doubt the players did, either. Or Clint Peay, who, God bless him, has tried to actually get on with COACHING during this disastrous end to the season. And he wants to implement a new system entirely!
It’s a shame that the new system puts our only healthy left back at right back, puts our best DM at left back, and leaves us with no depth options. Wonderful plan. HOWEVER, I don’t think I’m against it per se, I just think we don’t have enough depth on the team to pull this off.
And that’s ultimately why this sucks the most. In the constant back-and-forth over how good this team is, I feel like everyone’s forgotten that we’ve rarely seen the actual New England Revolution team this year. Henry Kessler’s injury, Dylan Borrero’s injury, Brandon Bye’s injury, DeJuan being in and out of the lineup, having Latif Blessing then swapping to MAK, Bou’s constant niggles, Bobby Woo and Giacomo Vrioni being unable to score at home or on the road, respectively, Petrovic leaving to ride the bench at Chelsea, the list just goes on and on. Oh, and as I write this, Caleb Pongratz reports that Ian Harkes fractured his Adam’s apple. You literally cannot make this shit up.
Excuses, though, aren’t going to cut it. The boys left simply have to perform—and they didn’t last night. I think it was particularly frustrating because Columbus doesn’t look like some unbeatable team. The game was right there for the taking, and at a minimum, Ben Sweat should have at least attempted to put a foot in and put off Amundsen. C’est la vie. Enough complaining by me, BULLET POINTS.
- I truly, truly appreciate how all three of our forwards and 1 1/2 midfielders (maybe give Buck a half-break) busted a lung to get back on Columbus’ first goal. Truly exceptional. I said it last week and I’ve seen others make note of it: Carles’ attitude is shit lately. I can’t always blame him, but he’s supposed to be the captain. He can’t do it on his own, but he can’t be visibly over it.
- In a completely non-sarcastic way, I did appreciate how Tomas Chancalay decided he was going to make an impact on this game, including the goal. I guess I have to start eating my words from last week because Tomi is playing himself into a DP contract. But in my defense, I tend to equate him with Bou’s DP spot, and I do think that Bou’s DP spot needs to go elsewhere. It’s just, after last night, we could fire Vrioni to fucking Mars for all I care, and give his DP spot to Chancalay. That, or hopefully he is just a max TAM player. Imagine if we could replace Bou and Vrioni with a real 9/6 combo…
- Yes, Vrioni can be fired into the sun. His little hissy fit when he came off makes sense, he’s definitely frustrated right now. But he’s as much to blame as anyone else. And I am so sick of the “we have to play with two strikers!!!!” take with him, because that doesn’t address how WE CAN’T WITH CARLES PLAYING. The diamond formation is shit. We can’t play with only two midfielders where one of them is a No. 10. So, get rid of Vrioni. Get us a real target No. 9 that is comfortable playing by himself and working with wingers. That striker will feast when Dylan is back next year, assuming Chancalay stays.
- Ben Sweat, I salute you for getting that bag. Any one of us would have picked up the phone when Bruce called offering a roster spot. But my man, it’s time to get rooted to the bench. That whole cameo last night was just bad. I think the most laughable part, was asking someone with Ben’s athletic abilities (read, better than mine, but not exactly great) to still be an inverted fullback. It also fills me with confidence when Peay says Ryan Spaulding was kept out for team reasons and not health ones.
- We’re going to have to ride with EEJ through the playoffs, aren’t we? All I ask, Earl: Move in your box more. It’s OK to come out and meet the ball, you don’t have to wait for it to come to you.
Short and sweet, still easing back into this again. The Revs now sit fifth in the East at 14-7-10, 52 points, but have a game in hand on all four teams above them. If all things are equal and the Revs can pick up the win in that extra game, they’d go third in the East. That’d be sweet. Top 5: Cincy (65), Orlando City (57), Philly (54), Columbus (53), New England. Next up? Orlando, and a chance to cut the deficit with them, also. This is going to be a big one. I think the boys get it done.
A Whately Devil 