Game 24 - Lets Go to the Ex, Orlando!! TFC host OCSC Saturday Aug 22 4:00 pm TSN

[ManUtd4ever]

We can go with Giovinco, Bradley, Osorio, and Altidore up top.

[Yohan]

I don't want to read too much into this game except scoring 5 and keeping a clean sheet will do wonders for the confidence.

I'm not sure if I like 4-2-3-1 with Giovinco up top, because Giovinco drifts too much esp to left and it essentially turns into 4-2-4-0 and allow opposition to pinch up on a high line and compress space for TFC midfield to operate. It worked today because Orlando is so terrible and they didn't apply high press. The amount of space Jackson had available because Orlando focused so much on Giovinco was nuts. The game was pretty much a foregone conclusion when Ramos got sent off. And Giovinco had an 'off' game too.

the 1 in 4-2-3-1 needs to be an outlet for TFC midfield and be able to hold the ball. Other teams in MLS will not let TFC ping the ball around like this today.

Having said that, I quite enjoyed the game and 3 pts is still 3 pts. And couple of players esp Bradley stepped up and hopefully we will crush those IMFC punks next week.

[OgtheDim]

That formation worked against a non pressing 4-4-2.

Not sure it will work against Montreal.

[ensco]

I went back and counted. 48.

OK mostly this game told us nothing.

But that third goal was our all time Barcelona-esque moment, even if Orlando had given up.

A 48 pass move!

I would like to see that whole sequence again in it's entirety, if someone has the clip.

[Cuppy]

What a goal. Now get 4 more. Perfect start!
U Sir R A HERO

[notthesun]

Wasn't able to catch this one live, but sounds like we really took it to them in the 2nd half. Watched the condensed game on MLS Live, Bradley was fantastic.

Collin is not at this level anymore. There's too much attacking quality in the league and he's too old. Giovinco burned him last game, and today Bradley made him look foolish on the first goal. It was a fantastic run from him but the better CBs in the league block the cross on Bradley's last move. He went to ground for no reason and looked slow as hell doing it.

Delgado was an awesome pickup.

I think Vanney put Findley on instead of Gomez because the game was won and Findley won't be getting much more playing time this year.

[ronzilla]

The formation did not work good in the 1st half with 11 vs 11. Giovinco was heavily marked by 2-3 defenders for most of the game.

The only reason why it seemed to work in the 2nd half was because Orlando were down 2 players.



That formation worked against a non pressing 4-4-2.

Not sure it will work against Montreal.

[OgtheDim]

The formation did not work good in the 1st half with 11 vs 11. Giovinco was heavily marked by 2-3 defenders for most of the game.

The only reason why it seemed to work in the 2nd half was because Orlando were down 2 players.


Disagree. The whole "Delgado misses a sitter" thing then that happened at 18 minutes? Or the nice interplay that led to a few free kicks? Or the ball being swung from side to side and then penetration happening? Or Kaka pulling back really deep to get the ball?

We were in control of that game in that first half but for a couple of bone headed plays by our defence that gave them chances on the counter.


We were comfortable in that formation. Again, I'm not sure we stay that way against a 4-2-3-1 liking Impact (who will have a tired Drogba possibly starting)

[James17930]

Agreed that probably this game isn't that telling the long term, but is excellent in the short term for getting everybody back into a positive frame of mind.

[tfcocd]

What a goal. Now get 4 more. Perfect start!

This was prescient! Why not 5?

:scarf::scarf:

[Lennon]

OK mostly this game told us nothing.

I would like to see that whole sequence again in it's entirety, if someone has the clip.

Somebody, please !

[Lennon]

TSN shows highlights of the Limpact game first (doesn't show only goal), and then only shows 2 of TFC's goals. What a joke.

[Redcoe15]

Toronto FC 5, Shithole City nil.

Can anybody who is a supporter of TFC look at today's game and results and not go away with a very satisfactory smile on their faces? g:D

[Ultra & Proud]

Toronto FC 5, Shithole City nil.

Can anybody who is a supporter of TFC look at today's game and results and not go away with a very satisfactory smile on their faces? g:D
Apparently Ronzilla would be one and I bet TorontoFc636 or whatever his name was would probably be the other. Today for sure was nothing to go by but if we lost instead of won, it would have been a lot to go by.

[molenshtain]

first thoughts:

- great game to be at. After so many years of futility it feels nice to be able to finally have a team and a club that can give us a day like that.

- Ref was a little card happy but it was a rough first half. Just glad things broke our way.

- Vanney got the formation and selections right - That's including the subs. I think he put on Findley on in a game like that because A) He wanted to run up the score and he knw putting on Gomez or Findley wouldn't make a difference and B) that it's important to get a guy with Findley's skill set and experience in high confidence than it is Altidore's back up. In the long run Findley offers more of a plan B than Gomez does, since Gomez will probably get what was Delgado's spot in today's 4-2-3-1. He was justified in the end.

- Not a bad performance today against an admittedly shit and in the end undermanned Orlando team. Again, Vanney got his tactics right from the start. Two very defensive midfielders at the base of the 4-2-3-1 denying Kaka any space, Plus Bradley, Osorio, Delgado and often the fullbacks harrying the Orlando players. I'd like to see this formation more regularly with Seba at Osorio's spot, Altidore at Seba's spot and Gomez at Delgado spot. Nothing on Osorio and Delgado, who've both had very good seasons so far, but it's just about putting our best players out there in their best spots.

- I bet Vanney saw the first half playing out the way it did (minus the red). We'd dominate possesion and tire the opposition out while essentially always keeping four guys back, and really not try a whole lot of penetration with the 4-6-0. We had three strikers on the bench. Vanney would definitely have thrown strikers on to force it in the second half should the game had remained scoreless until later on.

- the pressure and general defense was awful, but 48 fucking passes for the third goal is insane. Has to be an MLS record.

- Fuck the EX for blasting their music right outside the south stand and killing the atmosphere. Probably should have been some coordination between FO and the EX about that kind of stuff but what are you gonna do.

- Konopka is better than Bendik.

- Williams and Kantari were both very good.

[Derko]

Exactly. Beating up on a 9 man Orlando team is nothing to be proud of.

Next week should be a good test, especially if Drogba makes his debut.

Drogba was no hell in his debut yesterday

[Derko]

Toronto FC 5, Shithole City nil.

Can anybody who is a supporter of TFC look at today's game and results and not go away with a very satisfactory smile on their faces? g:D

:hump: :drum: :drinking: :scarf:

[OgtheDim]

I went back and counted. 48.

It won't count as that for the purists as Colin got a touch at one point with his head but Osorio got the ball back right away.

Just watched it on MLS Live.

The sequence starts at 68:18 with a ball shepherded out by Williams for a goal kick.

Goal scored at 70:40

It's fun to watch. Every player touches the ball.

[Detroit_TFC]

Not sure how much that game tells us specifically due to OCSC being terribly out of whack but generally there are some positives. Sometimes the formation and line up needs to be changed and the players need to be able to function when that happens. Seems like they did last night, not always the case in the past. It was great having attacking options off the bench.

The road ahead could be streaky. The game next week is huge, then away-home-away where results might be lacking. Then three home games vs teams struggling for results, then three tough games.

[ensco]

Orlando really reminded me of us when the wheels fell off in July/Aug 2007. What did we go, 8 games without scoring?

Not sure we saw teammates almost getting into fistfights though.

[anto7]

Well each to their own, but I for one thoroughly enjoyed watching my team win a game 5-0. When was the last time we got to experience such a result?......correct....never.
I think we did everything we could have hoped for and more and it was a much needed moral boosting victory for everyone, players, coaching staff and fans.
Lets try to enjoy it everyone ��

[Canary10]

Don't wanna jinx it, but today's result pretty much set in stone the six playoff teams from the east.

Holy crap why would you say this?

[Richard]

Holy crap why would you say this?

We're not making the playoffs this year, our team sucks and can only beat crappy opposition.














There, its balanced now.

[Still Kicking]

Orlando really reminded me of us when the wheels fell off in July/Aug 2007. What did we go, 8 games without scoring?

Not sure we saw teammates almost getting into fistfights though.
I am with you on the Orlando turmoil.
I felt it starts with Kaka. It is the easiest sport in the world to second guess...sometimes. Get a pass to your left? If to your right it would have been better. Get a pass to your feet? If instead sent into space it would have been better... I did not have a mic on Kaka, but from body language he was telling off every purple shirt in his vicinity. If you tell everyone around you that they are messing up, what is their incentive to do the small things to make you look good?
I even wondered if he was subbed off to simmer down the situation in a losing cause (but then I thought Collin took over on the turmoil amongst the team)...

[Canary10]

We're not making the playoffs this year, our team sucks and can only beat crappy opposition.














There, its balanced now.

Whew. Thank you! Has he learned nothing about TFC all these years?!!!

[Still Kicking]

We're not making the playoffs this year, our team sucks and can only beat crappy opposition.














There, its balanced now. OR
TFC do the same to Montreal. Get a draw on the road in Seattle (hell, Bradley and Altidore have some pride and a Bradley/Defoe TFC team grabbed a victory in Seattle 2014. You don't think that the trip to Seattle has Vanney thinking what Nelsen could do, I can do?). Then first home game in September is New England. Away to NYCFC and then home to Colorado and Chicago. That seems like a great late August/September schedule for a true run at the top two playoff spots.
Then October is home to Philly (who may play a spoiler role), meaningful home games against NYRB and Crew and hopefully the last game on the road in Montreal will be when the playoff spot is locked and TFC can rest starters.

I am not fooling myself about TFC's outburst vs Orlando. But if you are so cranky about the team's prospects, could you not be guilty of being over pessimistic to protect yourself from the feared tumble? A classic case of history vs hope.

[Richard]

OR
TFC do the same to Montreal. Get a draw on the road in Seattle (hell, Bradley and Altidore have some pride and a Bradley/Defoe TFC team grabbed a victory in Seattle 2014. You don't think that the trip to Seattle has Vanney thinking what Nelsen could do, I can do?). Then first home game in September is New England. Away to NYCFC and then home to Colorado and Chicago. That seems like a great late August/September schedule for a true run at the top two playoff spots.
Then October is home to Philly (who may play a spoiler role), meaningful home games against NYRB and Crew and hopefully the last game on the road in Montreal will be when the playoff spot is locked and TFC can rest starters.

I am not fooling myself about TFC's outburst vs Orlando. But if you are so cranky about the team's prospects, could you not be guilty of being over pessimistic to protect yourself from the feared tumble? A classic case of history vs hope.

I'm sorry you took my comment seriously. :(

It was a joke regarding the jinx post above.

[Yohan]

Holy crap why would you say this?

Everyone 7th to 10th basically has to avg 2 pts/game for the rest of the season.

[Fort York Redcoat]

Exactly. Beating up on a 9 man Orlando team is nothing to be proud of.

There is a difference between pride and joy. I haven't seen anyone going overboard on what that game meant to the season. Not in earnest.

[Still Kicking]

Sorry for trampling on your joke with a barrage of information.... I know that online contributes to misunderstanding. I did try to be both informative and gentle when thinking I was dealing with somebody very doom and gloom...:D

[OgtheDim]

I can see why Kaka is upset. Been watching them over the season and obvious passes that are attempted by every other team in this league are not happening when the team is in purple

Heath is just a bad judge of talent at this level. And he`s building a team that fits his mentality as against one that can support Kaka. They should ditch him at the end of the season but there are a lot of people down there who think he`s wonderful - reminds me of Harry Redknapp.

[Soccerpro]

I can see why Kaka is upset. Been watching them over the season and obvious passes that are attempted by every other team in this league are not happening when the team is in purple

Heath is just a bad judge of talent at this level. And he`s building a team that fits his mentality as against one that can support Kaka. They should ditch him at the end of the season but there are a lot of people down there who think he`s wonderful - reminds me of Harry Redknapp.

Heath built a team of youngsters. Aside from Kaka, look at the ages of the DP's. Was always going to be impossible to get too far in year 1.

[Canary10]

I'm sorry you took my comment seriously. :(

It was a joke regarding the jinx post above.

There seems to be a lot of taking it too seriously around here. That said, I'm not saying a word until we're mathematically in the playoffs!

[zeelaw]

There is a difference between pride and joy. I haven't seen anyone going overboard on what that game meant to the season. Not in earnest. I'd say the Front Office did with the whole Jozy comic book BS lol. Guy scores 2 goals against 9 men and one is PK. This FO has no shame at all.

[molenshtain]

From here on out our schedule is:

Montreal, home
Seattle, away
Revs, home
UAE slave owners FC, away
Rapids, home
Chicago, home
Philly, home
Energy drinks, home
Krew, home
Montreal, away

Does anyone think we can come away from that with worse than 5W - 3L - 2D? That would put us at 51 points, very solidly in a playoff position. I think we'll probably go 7W -2L -1D, giving us 56 points and ending up either 2nd or third in the conference.

[OgtheDim]

Only 10 games left.


MY GAWD WHERE'D THE SEASON GO???????


Please tell me its still the 90's...

[ensco]

From here on out our schedule is:

Montreal, home
Seattle, away
Revs, home
UAE slave owners FC, away
Rapids, home
Chicago, home
Philly, home
Energy drinks, home
Krew, home
Montreal, away

Does anyone think we can come away from that with worse than 5W - 3L - 2D? That would put us at 51 points, very solidly in a playoff position.

I know what you are saying, but we have a pretty poor record against teams that aren't Philly or Orlando or Canadian. 5 wins would thrill me.

[MightyDM]

From here on out our schedule is:

Montreal, home
Seattle, away
Revs, home
UAE slave owners FC, away
Rapids, home
Chicago, home
Philly, home
Energy drinks, home
Krew, home
Montreal, away

Does anyone think we can come away from that with worse than 5W - 3L - 2D? That would put us at 51 points, very solidly in a playoff position. I think we'll probably go 7W -2L -1D, giving us 56 points and ending up either 2nd or third in the conference.

Our record would suggest 4-4-2 or 48 points. But hopefully we get on a roll.

[MightyDM]

It won't count as that for the purists as Colin got a touch at one point with his head but Osorio got the ball back right away.

Just watched it on MLS Live.

The sequence starts at 68:18 with a ball shepherded out by Williams for a goal kick.

Goal scored at 70:40

It's fun to watch. Every player touches the ball.

i can only get the condensed match there which does not show the build up. What is your magic to see the whole thing?

[molenshtain]

Our record would suggest 4-4-2 or 48 points. But hopefully we get on a roll.


My prediction is very much based on the assumption that we get on a roll, yes. Montreal, Chicago, Colorado and Philly at home are all games we should win easily. That leaves us with three home games against NE, CLB and New Jersey, where I don't think it's unreasonable to come away with at least 4 points. We Probably lose in Seattle, could easily get points in New York, and then the outcome of the last game away at MTL is entirely dependent on our standings situations come game day and whether or not both teams will rest starters for the playoff game 4 days later.

[Oldtimer]

Our record would suggest 4-4-2 or 48 points. But hopefully we get on a roll.

48 points is enough to pretty well guarantee TFC a playoff spot (99%+ odds), though 53 would mathematically guarantee it no matter how the remaining games play out.

[OgtheDim]

i can only get the condensed match there which does not show the build up. What is your magic to see the whole thing?

IP address change thingie

[QBall]

I think Orlando fans are coming to the realization that the emperor has no clothes. It was great to see the buzz and excitement in Orlando at the beginning of the season but I'm wondering now that OSC is finally revealing the team that they really are (an expansion team) if interest is going to wain? I think NYCFC fans are going to reach that same come to Jesus moment very soon. May not be the best thing for the league, but when you build a team to get bums in seats as opposed to ticks in the win column that's what you get. As for us let's take this momentum and bury the No Impact and put some space between us and the pretenders in the standings.

[TFC Tifoso]

Unreal - I can't believe they didn't let this guy take them more often in Europe.


Giovinco has a nice free kick but in his time with Juve they had some guys named Del Piero then Pirlo taking them.......I hear they're pretty good too lol.......

Great result, and hopefully the 2 goals have made Altidore snap out of it, because Giovinco is not the player you want up top all alone......I think it's just a bad set up generally for TFC because when he does have the ball there's no natural goal scorers on the field. I like the 4-2-3-1 but ideally Giovinco should be in the middle of the "3" with Altidore/Gomez as the "1"......

but 3 points is 3 points.....on to Montreal....

[PopePouri]

Giovinco has a nice free kick but in his time with Juve they had some guys named Del Piero then Pirlo taking them.......I hear they're pretty good too lol.......

Great result, and hopefully the 2 goals have made Altidore snap out of it, because Giovinco is not the player you want up top all alone......I think it's just a bad set up generally for TFC because when he does have the ball there's no natural goal scorers on the field. I like the 4-2-3-1 but ideally Giovinco should be in the middle of the "3" with Altidore/Gomez as the "1"......

but 3 points is 3 points.....on to Montreal....

He should be in the middle of the "3" but he doesn't consistently drop into midfield.

[TFC Tifoso]

He should be in the middle of the "3" but he doesn't consistently drop into midfield.

fair point, very true......I like the formation because the 2 DM's will provide support for the defense, and that's probably why they played it anyways, but we don't have the proper bodies to play that hole spot and leave Giovinco alone up top at the same time....I fear that against better opposition that formation could leave Giovinco on an island and basically rendering him useless.

a way around it would be to play it more like a 4-4-1-1 with 2 wide mids and 2 DM supporting the defense......but then that leaves a giant hole in the midfield......

[MightyDM]

One question for me arising out of this game: how far down the pecking order has Ashtone Morgan fallen? He was playing very well earlier in the year.

[Ajax TFC]

I think if Orlando was full strength, Morgan may have been put in instead of Lovitz. I think the choice was made to take advantage of the man advantage

[Yohan]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q_2Wp0JdLFQ