The New England Revolution has made a number of player acquisitions both in the preseason and during the 2011 campaign. Between signing the likes of Ousmane Dabo, Didier Domi and Rajko Lekic and drafting A.J. Soares and Stephen McCarthy, manager Steve Nicol has an intriguing cast of players to choose from in trying to navigate his team back to the MLS playoffs.
With Dabo and Lekic just being integrated into the team and with Wednesday's acquisition of U.S. national team midfielder Benny Feilhaber, the Revolution seems poised to improve on its showing so far — six points and five goals scored through six games.
How do you think the Feilhaber signing will affect the outcome of the Revolution's season? Cast your vote after the jump:
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How did you vote? What kind of an impact do you see Feilhaber making? Where do you think he's best-served playing for Nicol, in a central role or out on the wings? Think the Revolution should trade him for more pieces?
Share your thoughts below.
His cousin works with me, So I suppose he will start supporting the Revs, so make that 3
Paaaahkkk the caaahhhhh att Haaavaaahhhd Yaaahhhdd.
They should play 1-2 games a season at Harvard, like the Celtics used to play 1-2x a year in Hartford?
As far as I know, it’s Harvard Stadium though, not Harvard Yard.
I hope Cochrane gets released. He has been perfectly awful. GOD AWFUL!!!! I originally thought he would be great pickup, mls veteran and always seem to start here and there. This year, he blasts the ball out of bounds when there is absolutely no preasure, missed easy clearances which have resulted in three goals and cant pass out of the back and def need to do that when you play 4-3-3. please burns send him packing.
I don’t see what the hype is all about. Yeh, the guy scored a goal in a Gold Cup, long ago and far away. Yes, he played on the USMNT but is really only a parapherial player at best. How many minutes did he get in SA? Does anyone remember the horrible gaff (horrible cross field “back pass”)and game vs. Turkey in the last game before the 2010 WC?
And let’s talk about his club expereinces – a D2 Denmark side and sitting the bench for possibly the worst EPL in a decade (Derby)?
I don’t get it. He has a name but that’s about it. At some point you gotta walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
Gotta disagree on BU’s field. That thing has only one stand, and I doubt it fits more than 5k.
Harvard’s stadium, Harvard Yard, would be perfect. Crappy surface (just like Gilette) but it’d be in a great spot and would make for an exponentially better experience for the fans, I think.
They have been OWNED by KC in their own stadium since they moved to Gillette. Probably won’t change this weekend since Feilhaber likely won’t play.
they’d be better off moving even into a college stadium in boston. bu’s field is a better option than gilette
Phelan? Seriously? what games have you been watching? Dude is useless
Focusing on attracting Brazilian immigrants and hispanic fans is a decent move, especially since lots of non-Brazilians like to wear Brazilian colors.
More samba in Foxboro could – rev – the crowd ; )
As to Benny’s level, he is what he is, high end MLS or low end Europe.
People don’t seem to like Phelan.
I’d argue he’s been a bigger addition to the Revs this year than Joseph. He’s been flying all over the feeled, and looks so much more comfortable over the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Revs kept Phelan in, slotted Dabo as a 3rd CM and let Perovic and Feilhaber play the roles that Donovan and Dempsey do as outside Mids, who are free to venture in and switch sides freely.
Even if is just a small 15K, it would make a huge difference. The fans they have are passionate.
And forget Dabo….This team is good and deep. If they had the home field advantage like some other MLS clubs, they would be a true force.
Bigger clubs in Europe aren’t always the best thing for your career…Nice payday for Benny F. and his talents fit well with this team. I see nice improvement from here…
The quality you are referring to comes from the top 3 or 4 teams in a just a few leagues. I’ll take New England against any lower table team in any Europan league anytime. This a team that tied the Galaxy in LA.
Perovic would make an excellent Left Mid. If Lekic and Schilawski score like they can, NE is going to be a force. Dont forget Stolijca.
Yes it is. He got worked 🙁
A legitimate home field advantage is what is lacking here. They have the defense and the physicality to keep every match close. The cheap ownership needs to get them a stadium.
*90 minutes
Benny Feilhaber has always been a bit of a mystery. US fans can’t seem to agree on how good he is. I rate him highly, he has turned games coming in as a sub for the USMNT, but why hasn’t he signed with a bigger club in Europe? I am very interested to watch him play more.
Soccer snob. Well-played or not, sometimes it is more exciting to watch than Barca playing possession-style passing for twenty minutes. I agree European leagues have far better quality, I dislike people who rag on the MLS. If you want it to be better, support it. If you don’t care for it, shut up and tune in to Europe.
They Revs were bitch slapper by RSL reserve team. They are hard to watch right now….
At least it takes the Rev’s from “completely unwatchable” to “I’ll watch them if they are playing a good team” on Direct Kick.
People underrate them because they don’t know how good Soares/Coria/Lekic/Domi are. HUGE additions to this team and don’t forget Perovic coming back from injury
yes… im sure the Brazilians just need Benny Feilhaber to rally around…
What Peter Nowak knows that y’all don’t:
“You think Benny Feilhaber is a big name? Really?”
http://www.csnphilly.com/04/20/11/Union-pass-on-Feilhaber-because-of-high-/landing_union.html?blockID=507910&feedID=4267#doop
I think Coria gets the nod ahead of Cochrane and Barnes
McCarthy – Lekic – Perovic
Feilhaber
Dabo – Josephs
Domi – Soars – Coria – Alston
Reis
Subs: Mensally, Nyassi, Barnes, Schilawlski, Tierney, Stolica, Phelan
Don’t forget Coria at CB. He’s impressed me so far.
451 now..? I would think thats there best option…
ST-Lekic
LW-Perovic RW-Nyassi
Attacking Mid-Feilhaber
Holding Mids-Joseph & Dabo
LB-Domi CB-Soares/Cochrane & Barnes RB-Alston
GK-Reis
I think alot of people are underrating them. I think if Nicol goes with 2 strikers when Lekic is the only ST capable, then they might not do much better but I think a 451 system with this sort of line-up would be quite good. Watch, im sure you will be surprised…
Revs fans are sort of stuck in a chicken and the egg situation. We don’t want to invest too heavily in the team because the Krafts don’t seem like they are fully invested. The Krafts won’t take the next step because the fans aren’t there. Something’s gotta break the cycle, maybe Feilhaber can be it. They should market his Brazilian background to the large Brazilian population in the suburban Boston area. Drum up a few more fans, hopefully the team comes together, the Krafts see the light (i.e. the Pacific Northwest) for what is possible, they choose to build a soccer specific stadium, the fans come in even greater numbers, Congress balances the budget, there is peace on Earth, and Freddy Adu becomes an all time great. OK, OK, I got carried away with the last piece.
isnt dabo the guy who got beat up by barton a couple years ago?
The Revs have achieved their pretty mediocre record with barely any contributions from Lekic, Dabo or Feilhaber – so they will essentially be adding all 3 into the mix.
Add to that the fact that Domi, Alston, Reis and Perovic have missed significant chunks of the early season and it’s clear the Revs have not even begun to reap the benefits of all the new acquisitions.
As a Revs season ticket holder, I’m cautiously thrilled…cautiously because of recent history, but thrilled because Benny may be the creative partner Shalrie needs in midfield. or, he could play wing…whatever, it’s the first time in years I remember us actually getting an allocation, so I think I’m also in shock.
The good and the bad of MLS. Even a team with no fans is given a good player to prevent them from falling too far behind. Every game is competitive, but very few games are well-played.
I would argue that the Revs look so poor because they have no one (other than Joseph) who can distribute and create offensive chances for the forwards. Their defense has been pretty solid. The ‘d’ has held it own even though the team just can’t maintain possession.
I am happy Benny is going to play in MLS I wish him all the best and hope the combo he has with Josephs is good.
Ouch!
As a long time Rev Fan, this is the first time anything has come from the league that could help. The Revs are way worse than their record shows and they have zero offense. Benny could only help and if they actually started to look like a team, people would come back to watch
However, if they trade him away for draft picks or two mediocre players, I think they’ll kill off the few fans they have left. The Revs management has tried to run a team with little to no investment and what you see today is the end result of years of that. If they blow this Benny deal… Im throwing in the towel
Mr and Mrs Feilhaber?
tell that to TFC.
lol
Benny fixes a major need the for the Revs. He’s a creative midfielder who can help lessen the load on Joseph and Perović. Dabo or Joseph would fall back into a defensive mid position and Perović (or Benny) would move up in the attack. It looks like over the off season the leaky back line problems have been remedied with Corea and and Soares. And now with Benny there will be better service for the strikers. Lekić looked promising in his first game as a Rev and Schilawski has never has the consistent chances created for him to score on. As much as I don’t rate Phelan, he and the rest of the former starters (from 2009) would make serviceable backup for the team.
I don’t really this changes things too much, especially since pretty much every team makes the playoffs.
Benny’s a great player but there are very few single players who can change a team. He’s not one of them and the Revs can’t get off cheap.
Now they will get two more fans