Revolution face two weeks missing three players

By: Sabin | June 4th, 2007

Rather than dwell on just a plain embarassing draw with Real Salt Lake today, I thought I’d take a look at what life might be like without Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston and Michael Parkhurst. Here’s Ives Galarcep’s write-up from ESPN (linked above):

In what seems like a Gold Cup tradition, no team is losing more talent than the Revs. That said, a closer look at the MLS schedule suggests that league officials sought to help New England out. The Revs have a bye week during the tournament and the three matches they will play are against weaker opponents (Real Salt Lake, Columbus, Toronto FC). Twellman’s absence will hurt but the Revs have Pat Noonan and Adam Cristman to try and make up for the league’s leading scorer. Parkhurst’s absence could be the toughest to make up for, but the Revs do have veteran defender Avery John who can slide in. The biggest impact made by Gold Cup replacements could be rookie midfielder Wells Thompson, who should step in for Ralston and will get his chance to show why the Revs traded up to make him the No. 5 overall pick in the 2007 MLS Draft.

It’s nice to see Galarcep recognize that the Revs have been contributing often and heavily to the national team. I also agree that Twellman — while missed — heading to the US Men’s Team will not have as heavy an impact as first thought. The primary reason is that he’s been so covered by defenders in the last three games that he barely has room to breathe, let alone score a goal. We haven’t really been playing with him anyhow.

Ralston’s effectiveness is always noticed on the pitch, and not having his crosses from the right wing are going to be something the Revs will need to figure out how to adjust for. Hopefully Steve Nicol won’t decide that Khano Smith will become the playmaker. His performance in Saturday’s game was just short of annoying. Will we — as Galarcep mentions above — see a greater influence from Wells Thompson?

His game is definitely on the ground, but let’s face it, the aerial crosses haven’t really been working for the guys lately.

The biggest hit will be the loss of Michael Parkhurst. The back line is not the same without him, period. James Riley may be able to fill in the central defense position, but he just doesn’t have the accuracy or tenacity Parkhurst has. Also, he tends to let players turn on him. Not so good.

So what might the lineup look like? Up front, we’re likely to see Pat Noonan and Adam Cristman start, but we haven’t seen much of the forward depth yet, so whoever subs in for either of them is a mystery to me. Smith has done some time as a forward, though, and Willie Sims was mentioned in the latest communique from Revs Central, so perhaps he’ll move over from the reserves side?

The midfield roles are much better filled out for the Revs, with Joey Franchino, Thompson, Bryan Byrne all able to slot in nicely. It was good to see Byrne get some pitch time this past weekend. He’s quick and his crosses are good. I was also surprised by his speed: nearly matching that of Smith, he and Thompson were nearly enough to launch the Revs towards a goal.

The back line is a little more obvious, with Riley probably sliding into the central position and Avery John taking up the left side.

You know, I just thought of something. What if Nicol surpises and goes to, say, a 4-5-1 formation to make up for the lack of depth — I’m not sold on Sims — in the forward position? That would be interesting.

For my money, though, and without knowing anything terribly deep about personalities on the pitch and such, I think we’re best served with the following:
F – Adam Cristman (Khano Smith 60′)
F – Pat Noonan (Sims 70′)
M – Bryan Byrne
M – Jeff Larentowicz (Franchino 65′)
M – Shalrie Joseph
M – Andy Dorman
M – Wells Thompson
D – Avery John
D – James Riley
D – Jay Heaps
G – Matt Reis

Thoughts? More tomorrow.