I think Twellman might not be liking ownership even more after this.

"Thoughts on the Revs' predicament?"

Yeah...HA HA.

Steve Nicol will find next season's Fulham exports during this coming 6 weeks or so.

No April Fool's joke for the Revs - just real bad news. They should have won an MLS Cup when they had the chance. I predict several fallow years to come.

The Revs looked pretty damn good without Twellman. The Gambian dudes can seriously fly. Only one game in, but have Revs amped it up that much, or is Dynamo defense really as bad as it looked (albeit without Weibel)?

The Revs won't be slowed much. Besides, as we've learned, winning in the regular season doesn't carry much water in the MLS Cup playoffs. TT and Ralston will surely be fit come September, barring further injury. We at DCU will still have to deal with them.

@ WNT:

I missed it, I'm guessing Bobby interwebs played as his 2007 self instead of his 2006?

"I predict several fallow years to come."

Did you watch them on Saturday? Granted, it's one game, but I predicted the same thing as you prior to the Houston game, and what I saw is a very intelligent and athletic team who will not be a pushover.

Try to look at actual evidence before making assertions like that.

TNT needs to take it real easy this year, he gets paid either way and it's not like if he plays well the club will allow him to do his Euro dream. Chill and collect the old paycheck baby and have the last laugh Taylor.

a weakened revs team is good for the state of the league. down with Nicol and his "classic" brit tactics.

Yeah the Gambians were fast and impressive. Everyone looks fast in cold/cool of spring. The real test is grinding it out during the Dog Days - that's were the early leaders tend to fade away. But I still give kudos to Nicol - He has to be the Arsen Wenger of MLS.

Ouch, baby. Very ouch.

Great! Now he can practice NOT reading from a teleprompter.
http://www.kickmedic.com/index.html

I hate that commercial.

New kickmedic commercial has Leslie Osbourne. Unfortunately, it also has Taylor Toothman.

I figure at 7 years old, Twellman's recovery should be fast and strong. I don't think they'll miss him too much though. And with Toronto in the same division, they're not going to fall all the way to last place in the worst case scenario.

Good news...Twellman won't score as many goals now, and will seem to not be in top-MLS-goal-scoring shape...meaning maybe we won't see Bradley waste more time with him.

I hate seeing players go down to injury, even the 4 time MLS Cup losing Twellman. Hope he heals quickly, although it does look like the Revs didn't miss him at all.

Need info on streaming the Pachuca match tonight as I'll b e working. Anyone have a link . . . .

Check previous thread.

Too bad about Twellman's injury. Hopefully he will be fully recovered and fit by the time Super Liga and the Champions League begin play. New England does appear to possess some depth this year to help them while Twellman recovers. Mansally and Cristman appear to be good players. Regular playing time for Cristman may also improve his chances of making the Olympic team. New England also paid a transfer fee for Costa Rican international striker Argenis Fernandez. Hopeully he is as good as advertised. If Castro continues to play well as a left mid, Khano Smith could also see time at striker, his position on Bermuda's national team. Recent draft picks Dube and Germanese also looked good in stretches in preseason at striker. Finally, once Thompson recovers, I suppose he or Nyassi could also be options at striker if one wanted to play both in the same lineup. This post is a long way of saying the Revs have good options for the next six weeks until Twellman recovers.

Yeah the Gambians were fast and impressive. Everyone looks fast in cold/cool of spring. The real test is grinding it out during the Dog Days - that's were the early leaders tend to fade away. But I still give kudos to Nicol - He has to be the Arsen Wenger of MLS.

Posted by: Kosh | April 1, 2008 02:01 PM
====================================

I guess it does remain to be seen if players from Gambia can adjust to the stifling heat of Massachusetts.

I'm really wondering if the Twellman part is bad news . . . I'm thinking we're gonna get to the summer transfer window wishing we sold him, but we'll see. In regards to Ralston, it's a big blow I think. Hopefully it's only for 3 weeks like he said, but we'll see. Right now, the front five combined for something like 5 goals last year (Khano - 2, Cristman - 3?), but Sainey and Kenny look good. It at least forces the team to grow.

I guess it does remain to be seen if players from Gambia can adjust to the stifling heat of Massachusetts.

Posted by: WNT fan | April 1, 2008 02:59 PM
-------------------------------

That may seem a fair assessment, but trust me. It's not the heat that gets you in MLS, it's the humidity. I'm from Sierra Leone and it took me a few years to cope with the humidity in the US.

Plus one should consider things like...they won't be playing all their games in NE. I mean a three game week with a mid week in Texas could be quite the experience for a rook. Then you have the rookie wall thing. Oh and teams wising up to them thing.

I'm not saying they aren't quality. What I'm saying is that there are other factors to consider in an MLS season. Kids looked great in game 1 and NE is an Esatern Conf bigboy, but eh...I love our chances.

Twellman and Ralston going down isn't good news, but it will give any number of newer players (Mansally, Nyassi, Castro, Cristman) a real opportunity to contribute straight away, perhaps having a solid, immediate impact.

Michael Parkhurst, and Clint Dempsey were thrust into the starting line-up due to injuries of other players, and suffice it to say it was a tremendous learning experience for them.

Suffice it to say, Steve Nicol, no matter what is thrown his way always seems to find an answer.

This will be no different. The man seems to be touched by the soccer Gods, outside of an MLS Cup final of course.

The Revs will still be a tough out.

Interesting perspective, A Rickey. I always thought he had something with the Devil and that is why he couldn't win the Cup that matters. Last years US Open Cup was just a teaser.

Houston's defense still looks pretty bad. They haven't gotten any better since getting thrashed by Gamba Osaka, on Saturday's evidence. Granted, that shouldn't take away from NE's play against them. Nyassi adds a dimension on the flank they wish Khano Smith would: speed combined with skill. Mansally looks like a tricky player, and Cristman is going to get poacher's goals with the overall talent level around him.

However, this team without Ralston is going to be forced to alter their style. Their options are to either pull Castro (who looks like an easily disliked player, with his constant writhing on the ground whenever he was so much as breathed upon) inside and bring in Smith at left midfield, or play Gary Flood as a defensive midfielder and let Joseph pull the strings. In either case, they will not be as sharp without Ralston as their playmaker. Twellman can be replaced to a certain degree by Cristman, but they don't have anyone that can step in for Ralston.

since this topic is on injuries...
i just saw Ruiz had to get surgery! He'll be out 4 to 6 weeks. i could've sworn he was faking!

Two words: Ewing Theory! (aka, Tiki Barber Theory!)