P/I/P Match 30: Revs vs NSH, Sat 9/28/24 7:30p [R]

And renewals are through the roof.

Somehow this club seems to draw better when things are worse.

Actually, more likely is that many ticket-buyers aren’t even concerned with results.

 

My family is fully in the "let's go to a game regardless of standings/form" mode. Come a long way from individual season ticket in the fort pre-marriage days. This is one of my town league's Night at the Revs events and we'll be there hoping for a good result and Carles Gil's autograph for my 7 year old.

Will be good to see Teal again!

 

Yup. The kids are into it, the parents could care less, zero pressure on the team to perform. Hopefully the number of folks in the stands will at least coax a decent effort out of these guys.

The extent to which this team has fallen off the rails is truly remarkable.

 

The Revs seem to be kind of an anomaly in the world of professional sports, in that they're drawing a minor-league style crowd but in major-league numbers. Having been to a decent number of stadiums around the world, including 3 others in MLS, the only game-day experience that compares to Gillette has been the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, where the vast majority of people in the stands are clearly there to have a fun night out and know next-to-nothing about the team.

My theory is that there are about 10-15K true Revs fans in the world, about half of whom make it to any given game. And the crowd size just reflects how many families and night-outers happen to show up as well.

I guess you gotta credit the marketing folks. They've managed to sell a Revs game as a fun activity, which along with the Messi effect has put butts in the seats. And I guess the hope is that some of these kids will turn into real fans (that's what happened to me!) But in the meantime, it creates a weird, less-than-ideal dynamic - one in which, as people noted above, the ownership has little incentive to care about on-field performance, and one in which the gameday experience involves people doing the wave while a star player is injured or blocking your view to go get a hot dog during a pivotal free kick.

 

Would you look at that...a critical call went our way.

 

Me in the first half: It doesn't look like either team can score, but if one does it'll be Nashville.
Me in the second half: It still doesn't like either team can score, but at least it's more even.
Me at the final whistle: What a pleasant surprise!
Agree on Yusuf being a clear upgrade over Kaye. Langoni looked frustrated much of the night but that cross for the goal was quality. Miller continues to impress. My favorite moment came in the 1st half when he stole the ball, slipped and fell and managed to get up so quickly that he retained possession.

 

I think Esmir not starting was due to a midweek game coming up. He probably starts and goes at least 60. Langoni went about 75 minutes so he probably comes off the bench. That said, they were a lot better with Esmir on the pitch vs Boateng last night.

Observations- Yusuf was MOTM for me. I thought he was terrifiic. Him vs Kaye is like day vs night.
I don't think Yusuf put a foot wrong all night and he's going to make huge difference moving forward. Langoni's talent is obvious. It's up to Porter and the players around him, to integrate him into whatever they're trying to do. I think that, so far, they've struggled to get on the same page. However we saw some signs of improvement in the 2nd half. Langoni and Carles combined on some nice interchanges and Langoni of course hit a great cross to set up the goal.

I agree with the comment about the offense being anemic. Part of the problem is our striker. I counted one positive play from Vrioni all night - and it was a hold up. Absolutely nothing from him in the final third - yet again. At this point, play Wood.

My wife is a casual soccer fan. But even she was complaining about the lack of Revs with the ability to advance the ball forward. So much side to side and backwards passing, only to result in giving the ball away cheaply. Also to me, there was too much of Carles trying to dribble through the Nashville defense, which was all bunched to the center to prevent him from doing just that. Esmir helps with this, but ugh... we are so easy to defend against too much of the time.

When they won the match, the bench was legitimately excited for Moreira. They were all hugging him. Finally, 42,000 fans - probably 60 to 70% of which were kids...the Red Sox, I'm sure, are envious of the Revs and soccer's appeal to them. It may be a bit annoying at times sitting in the stands with all the running around and focus on everything but the match, however this bodes really well not only for the Revs but the future of the sport in this country.

 

I agree that we lack scoring punch.

We won the game but honestly I would still say Nashville had the better chances. The Revs just can't seem to 'create shots' in the final third.

I love Carles Gil (so I feel really bad saying this) but this was NOT his best game. Particularly in the first half he had at least FOUR bad give-aways. Of course it didn't result in goals of the opposition so we were able to live with them, but that was certainly out of character for him.

I think our issue is that we are still having trouble beating players one on one so instead we have to revert to trying to string togetehr 10 passes before we get a clean shot....which is why clean shots are extinct with this offense.

Glad they won.....keeping home ALIVE....for now!

 

Vrioni is perpetually one beat too slow to react to things. I feel like he’s a little late getting to every through ball and every cross that comes his way. I don’t think it’s a physical issue, either. I think the guy is just a little light between the ears and stinks at anticipating the play.

That said, I’m not sure Wood is any better. He seems like slightly less of a steakhead, but physically he’s toast. If only it had been possible to recognize that we had a giant deficiency at striker and address this issue before the season started

 

That must spin some heads around the league.