{"id":5662,"date":"2011-07-29T08:53:47","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T12:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5662"},"modified":"2011-07-29T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T19:09:10","slug":"smoke-and-mirrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5662","title":{"rendered":"Smoke and Mirrors"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s still hard to\u00a0grasp how the Revs didn’t get absolutely obliterated in their last two games.<\/p>\n

Despite being outshot, outplayed, and generally outclassed on the whole by a mediocre D.C. United, the Revs\u00a0miraculously clinched their first road victory of the 2011 season last Wednesday thanks to an opportunistic Stephen McCarthy header. But wait. There’s more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ranked 63rd, rookie center back A.J. Soares is the highest placed Revs player in the MLS Castrol Index. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Later that week, the Revs improbably dodged a Chris Tierney red card, a 70-yard Kosuke Kimura goal, and a stealth Rapids attack led by Sainey Nyassi’s twin brother\u00a0to salvage a 2-2 draw in Commerce City. Seriously, watch the highlights. You could not\u00a0have made up how that game played out.<\/p>\n

Four days. Four points. And\u00a0goodbye to the bottom of the conference table. Is it actually possible that…the Revs are\u00a0turning their season around?<\/p>\n

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s acknowledge the results. Yes, a win is a win, and the Revs finally won on the road (their first since a 2-1 win over Houston on October 10, 2010)\u00a0in D.C., even if it was uglier than the world’s ugliest dog. And yes, their draw in the Rockies was exciting, even if\u00a0Benny Feilhaber\u00a0admitted that the attack’s chances were lacking throughout.\u00a0But, props to the players for gutting\u00a0out both results, especially in the 90+ degree temperatures.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0let’s look at the cold hard\u00a0facts. Actually, you may want to look away.\u00a0That’s because in\u00a0both matches, the Revs possession percentages fell below 40% – with an abysmal rate of 31.5% against Colorado. How the Revs escaped both venues without a loss can only be attributed to either 1) pure luck, or 2) dumb luck.<\/p>\n

Here’s another sobering stat: the Revs last nine goals – not to mention 12 of their\u00a019 total goals on the season – have all come via the set piece.\u00a0That leaves\u00a0only seven goals from the run of play. Seven. In 21 games. To put it lightly: that’s\u00a0a\u00a0worrying amount\u00a0of goal creation between the whistles.<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that\u00a0New England’s\u00a0zombie-like offense has been their most troubling concern.\u00a0Twenty-one games into the season, the offense still ranks last in goal production (19), \u00a0last in shots on goal (70), and next to last in total shots (227). If these numbers aren’t\u00a0enough to convince you that the Revs aren’t\u00a0built for a playoff run, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.<\/p>\n

There’s still a lot of work to do to\u00a0turn\u00a0the Revs\u00a0into a legitimate\u00a0contender rather than an occasionally competitive team.\u00a0And in the coming weeks, Mike Burns and Steve Nicol will have to do a lot\u00a0more than hint or tease about\u00a0unidentified transfer targets\u00a0–\u00a0one of whom Nicol recently\u00a0confirmed had already walked away from the table.<\/p>\n

For starters, they still need at least another quality\u00a0outside midfielder\u00a0to shock the attack out of its slumber. Five\u00a0assists from the wings is an indication of how unreliable the flank play has been this year.<\/p>\n

Next, they need another veteran on the back line. Didier Domi was obviously signed with that in mind, but now that he’s gone, the talented, but the young defending corps\u00a0needs\u00a0an anchor to help fortify\u00a0a rear guard that’s given up multiple goals in four of its last five games.<\/p>\n

Oh, and then there’s the issue of the striker. It’s been three months since Rajko Lekic was signed. In those three months, he’s scored exactly\u00a0three goals – one of which was from the penalty spot.\u00a0He’s six-figure striker with a 0.2 goal\/game strike rate. Think about that for a second.<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, let’s talk about the MLS Castrol Index\u00a0and see where the Revs’ players\u00a0rank on the latest list. Caution: It’s not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

You won’t find a single New England player in the top 50. In fact, the highest rated Revs’ player\u00a0can be\u00a0 found\u00a0at number 63. And if you can believe it,\u00a0that player is not Shalrie Joseph.\u00a0It’s not Benny Feilhaber, either. It’s\u00a0actually A.J. Soares.<\/p>\n

This may sound crazy: when\u00a0your rookie center back is\u00a0its highest performing player, and\u00a0you only have three total players in the top 100 (Soares, Joseph at #69, and\u00a0Kevin Alston\u00a0at #80), well, you may\u00a0be\u00a0in for a rude awakening\u00a0if you’re harboring any\u00a0fantasies\u00a0of reaching the postseason.<\/p>\n

It’s obvious that the\u00a0Revs are in\u00a0dire need of new players.\u00a0And\u00a0the gaffer has acknowledged this on many occasions, both in words and actions. How else do you explain the ongoing deployment of the ultra conservative (not to mention\u00a0loss preventative) 4-5-1 this season?<\/p>\n

Unless the Revs make a\u00a0series of rapid roster improvements, it won’t be long before their true colors – the colors of a below-average team with an\u00a0snooze-inducing attack – reveal themselves again.<\/p>\n

The Revs may indeed be putting together a mild run as the final third of the regular season approaches. But it won’t last. Why? Because the numbers don’t lie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Revs picked up four points on the road. But don’t let that success fool you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/schilawskifeature3.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5662"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5766,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5662\/revisions\/5766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}