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View Full Version : Year Two ---> Year Three: Revelations & Disappointments



Shakes McQueen
08-10-2009, 03:09 PM
Hello all,

Decided to ask everyone the following question:

Now that we are getting late into this, the third season of our clubs existence - who are your picks for players that have emerged as potential "stars" this season compared to last, and who are your picks for players whose quality has regressed noticeably from last season?

Revelations:

Nana Attakora
Emerged as a much improved defender, in the wake of Wynne leaving for international duty. Aside from Serioux, he has probably been our most consistent, and valuable asset on defense. He seemed promising last season, but I never would have guessed he'd step up so quickly. I hope Mo is working to sign him to a longer term contract, because he will surely be valuable to us, as either an expensive transfer to Europe, or as a player, in the coming years.

Stefan Frei
I don't think anyone could have expected Frei to stop up like he has this season. Most of us expected him to be our backup keeper, maybe getting the odd start, behind Greg Sutton. Instead, he pushed Sutton out of the team completely, and absolutely took charge of his role. Has kept us in more than one game, and no doubt will be in Europe at some point.

Dwayne DeRosario
We knew he was good, and we knew he was happy to be home. But I never expected him to carry this team on his back so many nights. His hat-trick in Montreal will probably go down as the stuff of club legend, as it helped bring us our first official silverware.

Honourable Mentions: Adrian Serioux, Sam Cronin, Gomez (not enough time played)

Disappointments:

Carl Robinson
I don't like to use the word "disappointment" in summing up Robbo's season, but of all the players on our team, I think he is one who belongs in this category. Perhaps it has more to do with the quality of the team around him improving, but Robbo's distribution has been way off for the majority of the season, even by his standards. Still performs his defensive duties solidly, but is somewhat of a liability moving forward. However, I know many of you disagree with this.

Jim Brennan
It pains me to say it, but Jimmy B should be a bench player next season, if this team's defense is to get any better. Performs more solidly as a winger, but I suspect we could also find a better option there too. He has lost a step, which makes him a liability as a fullback.

Marvell Wynne
Still provides a good spark on the attack, due to his frightening pace, but seems to have regressed as a defender. His lack of football IQ has been exposed in virtually every game we have played against tough opposition, to the point where even his speed hasn't been able to bail him out as often as last season. Played incredibly well against Madrid, though.

Honourable Mentions: Nick Garcia (too new), Marco Velez (not enough minutes to be worth mentioning).

Well, have at it boys. I'd love to know your selections. And please, the point of this thread is analytical discussion, not to slag our own players. Even the best players in the world can have disappointing seasons.

- Scott

mighty_torontofc_2008
08-10-2009, 03:17 PM
Revelations...

Stephen Frei...the only reason were are still in playoff contention and
should be the TFC player of the Year.

Attakora........the players shows a lot of promise for the future if we
can keep him

Serioux..........best deal MO did this year bring Serioux in...great at the
back


Disapoinments
Management...in letting Carver go,we im sure would have been better
off if he had stayed on..

CCL...............No effort against Puerto Rico in either Leg :{

905shmick
08-10-2009, 03:23 PM
Disapoinments
Management...


Fixed.

Lucky Strike
08-10-2009, 03:34 PM
Attakora had seen action here and there in 2008, enough for me to see he had something going there. In 2009, his play not only confirmed what I knew last year but he also surpassed my expectations a bit.

That being said, my revelation of the year definitely has to go to Gomez. It's true he hasn't seen much action but I have a very good vibe about him, much like I had about Attakora last year. I wrote in another thread that I just assumed that Gomez and his fellow Gambian Sanyang were "merely" projects who would develop into good MLS players in 3-4 years, but I have been blown away by Gomez so far: he's becoming my favourite player behind Dichio.

Disappointment: Although Velez is absolute garbage and a useless player, I knew this already, dating back to the beginning of 2008. He is easily the worst player TFC has. But it's not disappointing, because it's not a surprise. I'd have to go with Robinson for the reasons you mentionned Shakes. But I'll go further in saying that defensively, he doesn't seem to be as good as he was last year and it makes me uncomfortable.

My biggest concern going forward is the veteran/leader status that Robinson and Brennan have. In addition, they are also model players in their professionalism. Because of this, I fear they will remain glued to the starting XI sheet even if there are better players on the bench; like the club owes them something. It's not that I have anything against them whatsoever, I just want TFC to be as good as possible. I'm not convinced they can do that anymore as starters.

Pookie
08-10-2009, 03:34 PM
^ I'd go with that analysis Shakes. I'd add:

Disappointments:

Amado Guevara
For a key player, his contribution has been fairly invisible most nights.

Chad Barrett
I'm not sure what it is going to take for this guy. His confidence seems shot which is an ironic choice of words because he generally won't shoot. His lack of movement off the ball and outward displays of frustration are wearing thin with me.

In a new category, Perplexing, I'd put:

Pablo Vitti
I had expected him to step in and score and he hasn't. So, in theory, that should be a disappointment. For me though, his movement off the ball has been welcomed and something that I enjoy watching and hope catches on. In my books, he has contributed but in an unexpected way.

John Carver
Never saw that coming. I don't yet know if we are better off with his decision.

Lucky Strike
08-10-2009, 03:41 PM
Chad Barrett
I'm not sure what it is going to take for this guy. His confidence seems shot which is an ironic choice of words because he generally won't shoot. His lack of movement off the ball and outward displays of frustration are wearing thin with me.

Pablo Vitti
I had expected him to step in and score and he hasn't. So, in theory, that should be a disappointment. For me though, his movement off the ball has been welcomed and something that I enjoy watching and hope catches on. In my books, he has contributed but in an unexpected way.

Those are good too. Barrett played very well when TFC got him last year. He's not the same player as then.

I didn't expect the moon from Vitti but I thought he could get 8 goals in the league this year. Though much more technically skilled, he does seem to suffer from Barrettitis. Maybe we just had the wrong impression of him in our minds. I remember him being billed as a striker when he first arrived, but he seems much more suited to the midfield. That being said, I'd gladly have him back next year for a salary of no more than 100K.

Section 117
08-10-2009, 03:45 PM
For me the biggest disappointment is the lack of management in game and squad selection by both John Carver and Chris Cummins.

How does our best striker sit on the bench whenthe likes of Vitti, Barret and Gerba (IMO has gotten progressively worse since he came to the squad)?

This is by far the most unexplainable and disappionting thing for year 3

Shakes McQueen
08-10-2009, 03:50 PM
I considered adding Vitti to my list of "disappointments", just because he was billed as a goal scorer when he came to Toronto, and that hasn't materialized at all. He also has a tendency to lallygag a lot with the ball, making him a bit of a "black hole" going forward sometimes.

However, he has some good moves, and has performed much better as a midfielder, so that was what saved him from the list.

Barrett is the same for me - considered throwing him on the list, but he has also redefined himself better as a wing player, not a goal scorer. He is also probably the hardest working player on our team. Those two things saved him.

- Scott

Shakes McQueen
08-10-2009, 03:51 PM
For me the biggest disappointment is the lack of management in game and squad selection by both John Carver and Chris Cummins.

How does our best striker sit on the bench whenthe likes of Vitti, Barret and Gerba (IMO has gotten progressively worse since he came to the squad)?

This is by far the most unexplainable and disappionting thing for year 3

This thread was created more to talk about players that have progressed or regressed this season, not just what has been disappointing this season in general.

- Scott

Damien
08-10-2009, 03:54 PM
Vitti was a serious dissappointment. Yeh, he can put together a few plays but he wasnt brought in for that.

Brennan is just getting older and his career is waning. I hope he's gone by next season.

I think Robbo's play could have been affected by JDG talk and trade rumours involving shipping him out.

Oh, and I hope Barrett's work ethic doesnt save him anymore. Unless he explodes these last 10 games then cancel his contract or trade him for something.

Shakes McQueen
08-10-2009, 03:54 PM
My biggest concern going forward is the veteran/leader status that Robinson and Brennan have. In addition, they are also model players in their professionalism. Because of this, I fear they will remain glued to the starting XI sheet even if there are better players on the bench; like the club owes them something. It's not that I have anything against them whatsoever, I just want TFC to be as good as possible. I'm not convinced they can do that anymore as starters.

This concerns me a lot too. Robbo and Brennan are superb guys, but as players, they are starting to drop off precipitously. Or defense needs to be better as a unit, and I feel that will probably entail replacing one or both of them. Kids like Attakora and Gomez have been tremendous in their time on the pitch, but the organization at the back is as poor as ever.

- Scott

Section 117
08-10-2009, 04:02 PM
This thread was created more to talk about players that have progressed or regressed this season, not just what has been disappointing this season in general.

- Scott

Sorry

Then the biggest disappointment is overall decline by Robinson more than any other palyer. Some one another thread stated something very interesting about Robinson it was that maybe Robinson is what he is and because in year 1 and 2 the squad was horrible he looked better and now he is showing his colours.

Also, the horrible play by both the LB and RB with the execption of a few games has been absolutley horrendous.

nimamalek
08-10-2009, 04:53 PM
The good:
Nana, Gomez, Dero, our conditioning (very few serious injuries)
The bad:
Velez, Robinson, Garcia, No Grass still
The Ugly:
Carver leaving, Dichio on the bench, still dropping points late in games, our performance against USL teams

kodiakTFC
08-10-2009, 05:10 PM
The Good:
=Players
-Serioux
-DeRosario
-Frei
-Cronin
=Overall
-Winning the NCC

The Bad:
=Players
-Garcia
-Barrett (would be ugly but he works so damn hard)
-Wynne (hasn't stepped up)
-Brennan (slowing down?)
=Overall
-Poor showing in CL
-Lack of any real movement towards grass
-Stadium expansion not being considered (other than the temp seats in the north)

The Ugly:
=Players
-All of them playing together
=Overall
-Playoff hopes are dim
-Corner Kicks

TFC The Hague
08-11-2009, 02:50 AM
It's funny to see some of you express dissapointment in Vitti. However, if you took a proper look at his game stats before he came in (his wiki for example), you'd have seen he's not a typical goal scorer. Just like Chad Barrett (could have seen that coming too)... But with so many goal scoring midfielders/forwards (DeRo, Amado etc.) you might sometimes need a man to hold up the ball op front to create opportunities...

Besides that, it's a typical English style of play. A lot of English (below Premiership) manager like to play a big man up front to hold the ball. You don't see a lot of Huntelaars in the Championship, League 1 & 2 etc. So with taking an English manager, you could have seen that coming...

Any one interested in a Dutch manager? I think Amado en DeRo would be even better in the Dutch style of play.