Match Day 30 - TFC @ NYC Wed Sept 11 7pm - Here in New York

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Originally Posted by MightyDM

thank f’cking god. I travel for work if we stay in 4Th when is that game?

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Here’s all the dates:
Round 1 - October 19-20
Conf semis - Oct 23-24
Conf finals - Oct 29-30
MLS Cup - Nov 10

Reference at the bottom of this page: https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/scenarios

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Originally Posted by OgtheDim

Benezet not happy with himself about his misses.

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/NicolasBenezet/status/1171962172420894722

Guy is playing for a contract and wants to score - I like him a lot and I think he will make a difference the next few weeks.

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really really sorry for people that bet on poz tonight

Pool reporter asked the ref about the Mavinga thing.

Pretty clear his thinking here - can't see this becoming a suspension.

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Dylan_Butler/status/1171964834688229377

I really don’t know what to say. We just shoot ourselves in the foot continuously. We played a great second half, ripped their left flank to shreds, but couldn’t hit a barn door with a howitzer from 10 yards. Two vital points squandered through abysmal finishing. Every time this team gets my hopes up they prove that ultimately there are just too many average players in the squad. Pozeulo is no Giovinco or Vazquez. I don’t see it with Auro at all (can’t defend, is scared to take on the last defender and put over a cross) Give me Layrea and Morgan anyday. Gallardo and Benezet might be slight upgrades but they are far from game changers. Benezet’s shooting tonight was woeful at best. One bright spot was I though young Endoh had a very good second half, he found himself acres of space on the right, but he needs more confidence to take on the full back and whip over a cross, instead of the cautious maintains of possession playing back to Bradley in midfield. He has two good feet and can put over a decent cross, but strikes me as a little fearful at times. I don’t expect him to beat the fullback every time, but reckon he has the ability to do so more often than not, if the belief was there. Better he try to hit the byline and only put over a telling cross 50% of the time, than take the crab pass 9 times out of 10. However he looks far better in this formation than he did first time in the side after the draft

i want to believe in this team, and we are showing slow signs of improvement. Vanney seems to have found a shape that works. However, realistically Curtis has weakened us to the point we are so far from the champions of 2017, were not contenders no matter how much I want us to be. We blew a great side by making a determined run for a competition that was always stacked in favour of Mexican sides. Forget the CCL, forget the Canadian championship, MLS Cup is the only trophy that matters and should be our priority every year. Besides winning a three team tournament is hardly anything to write home about.

Oh and for the record I wouldn’t let the same player take two penalties in the same game. It gives the goalie a psychological edge imo. Pozeulo looked tired. He had a poor effort on goal just before the kick was awarded. In hindsight (a great thing) maybe Jozy should have hit the 2nd, although to be fair, he looked out of gas as well. Even Delgado, who also had a great 2nd half on the left wing, would have been a better option.

Still we are now in the top four. We need to stay there. I know the Energy Drinks and NER now have a game in hand, but there are realistically 9 pts left for us. We need to take them all and try to stay in the top four to have any chance of a decent run in the playoffs

p.s. That Micky Mouse 7-a-side pitch in the Bronx simply has to go. Garber simply has to tell NYCFC relocate within a set period or you’re out the league. It makes a mockery of the game playing on such a narrow pitch. The advantage City-lite must get from training and playing there has to be substantial.

Good result, but we should have won. Easily.

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Originally Posted by pfk

Here’s all the dates:
Round 1 - October 19-20
Conf semis - Oct 23-24
Conf finals - Oct 29-30
MLS Cup - Nov 10

Reference at the bottom of this page: https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/scenarios

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thx appreciated

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Originally Posted by Defoe

Pozuelo has played back to back seasons in the most travel intensive league in the world. He's physically done. He will be a new player next year.

Ratings for this game

Benezet - 8.0
Gonzalez - 8.0
Westberg - 7.5
Endoh - 7.5
Bradley - 7.5
Mavinga - 6.0
Altidore - 6.0
Morgan - 6.0
Pozuelo - 5.5
Delgado - 5.0
Auro - 4.0

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Wtf? Auro and delgado were good. Benezet should have scored. Endoh way too high. Gallardo was the worst tfc player today.

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Originally Posted by OgtheDim

Pool reporter asked the ref about the Mavinga thing.

Pretty clear his thinking here - can't see this becoming a suspension.

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Dylan_Butler/status/1171964834688229377

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Spot on by-the referee.

We are currently the 4th best team for goals scored. Offence has not been our issue.

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Originally Posted by General Woolfe

I really don’t know what to say. We just shoot ourselves in the foot continuously. We played a great second half, ripped their left flank to shreds, but couldn’t hit a barn door with a howitzer from 10 yards. Two vital points squandered through abysmal finishing. Every time this team gets my hopes up they prove that ultimately there are just too many average players in the squad. Pozeulo is no Giovinco or Vazquez. I don’t see it with Auro at all (can’t defend, is scared to take on the last defender and put over a cross) Give me Layrea and Morgan anyday. Gallardo and Benezet might be slight upgrades but they are far from game changers. Benezet’s shooting tonight was woeful at best. One bright spot was I though young Endoh had a very good second half, he found himself acres of space on the right, but he needs more confidence to take on the full back and whip over a cross, instead of the cautious maintains of possession playing back to Bradley in midfield. He has two good feet and can put over a decent cross, but strikes me as a little fearful at times. I don’t expect him to beat the fullback every time, but reckon he has the ability to do so more often than not, if the belief was there. Better he try to hit the byline and only put over a telling cross 50% of the time, than take the crab pass 9 times out of 10. However he looks far better in this formation than he did first time in the side after the draft

i want to believe in this team, and we are showing slow signs of improvement. Vanney seems to have found a shape that works. However, realistically Curtis has weakened us to the point we are so far from the champions of 2017, were not contenders no matter how much I want us to be. We blew a great side by making a determined run for a competition that was always stacked in favour of Mexican sides. Forget the CCL, forget the Canadian championship, MLS Cup is the only trophy that matters and should be our priority every year. Besides winning a three team tournament is hardly anything to write home about.

Oh and for the record I wouldn’t let the same player take two penalties in the same game. It gives the goalie a psychological edge imo. Pozeulo looked tired. He had a poor effort on goal just before the kick was awarded. In hindsight (a great thing) maybe Jozy should have hit the 2nd, although to be fair, he looked out of gas as well. Even Delgado, who also had a great 2nd half on the left wing, would have been a better option.

Still we are now in the top four. We need to stay there. I know the Energy Drinks and NER now have a game in hand, but there are realistically 9 pts left for us. We need to take them all and try to stay in the top four to have any chance of a decent run in the playoffs

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You are right about Endoh

love terry dunfield, way way better than caldwell

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I thought that was Bradley’s best game of the season. MOTM for me. Vintage performance. Was all over the place winning the ball back, and gave the pass of the match.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Defoe

Pozuelo has played back to back seasons in the most travel intensive league in the world. He's physically done. He will be a new player next year.

Ratings for this game

Benezet - 8.0
Gonzalez - 8.0
Westberg - 7.5
Endoh - 7.5
Bradley - 7.5
Mavinga - 6.0
Altidore - 6.0
Morgan - 6.0
Pozuelo - 5.5
Delgado - 5.0
Auro - 4.0

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I’ll have what you’re smoking if you thought Benezet was our best player. His shooting was simply awful. He had two great chances to seal three points and blew them both, and that’s before we get to misplaced passes. Delgado and Endoh were far better shouts for MOTM along with the captain who again was quietly effective. I agree however Auro stunk tonight and it’s time he was dropped and shipped out. Layrea and Morrow are our best options s FB. Still not convinced by Gonzalez. He was decent enough tonight, but for me looks like he just picking up a pay check.

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Originally Posted by stevep

love terry dunfield, way way better than caldwell

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Comparing us to Man City was a bit OTT

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Originally Posted by OgtheDim

We are currently the 4th best team for goals scored. Offence has not been our issue.

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It sure was tonight

I’m pretty happy with that performance from Benezet notwithstanding the shooting (which I think is pretty forgivable)

He broke NYC’s defensive shape on multiple occasions running through midfield. That was key to starting a lot of our offence.

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Originally Posted by General Woolfe

I really don’t know what to say. We just shoot ourselves in the foot continuously. We played a great second half, ripped their left flank to shreds, but couldn’t hit a barn door with a howitzer from 10 yards. Two vital points squandered through abysmal finishing. Every time this team gets my hopes up they prove that ultimately there are just too many average players in the squad. Pozeulo is no Giovinco or Vazquez. I don’t see it with Auro at all (can’t defend, is scared to take on the last defender and put over a cross) Give me Layrea and Morgan anyday. Gallardo and Benezet might be slight upgrades but they are far from game changers. Benezet’s shooting tonight was woeful at best. One bright spot was I though young Endoh had a very good second half, he found himself acres of space on the right, but he needs more confidence to take on the full back and whip over a cross, instead of the cautious maintains of possession playing back to Bradley in midfield. He has two good feet and can put over a decent cross, but strikes me as a little fearful at times. I don’t expect him to beat the fullback every time, but reckon he has the ability to do so more often than not, if the belief was there. Better he try to hit the byline and only put over a telling cross 50% of the time, than take the crab pass 9 times out of 10. However he looks far better in this formation than he did first time in the side after the draft

i want to believe in this team, and we are showing slow signs of improvement. Vanney seems to have found a shape that works. However, realistically Curtis has weakened us to the point we are so far from the champions of 2017, were not contenders no matter how much I want us to be. We blew a great side by making a determined run for a competition that was always stacked in favour of Mexican sides. Forget the CCL, forget the Canadian championship, MLS Cup is the only trophy that matters and should be our priority every year. Besides winning a three team tournament is hardly anything to write home about.

Oh and for the record I wouldn’t let the same player take two penalties in the same game. It gives the goalie a psychological edge imo. Pozeulo looked tired. He had a poor effort on goal just before the kick was awarded. In hindsight (a great thing) maybe Jozy should have hit the 2nd, although to be fair, he looked out of gas as well. Even Delgado, who also had a great 2nd half on the left wing, would have been a better option.

Still we are now in the top four. We need to stay there. I know the Energy Drinks and NER now have a game in hand, but there are realistically 9 pts left for us. We need to take them all and try to stay in the top four to have any chance of a decent run in the playoffs

p.s. That Micky Mouse 7-a-side pitch in the Bronx simply has to go. Garber simply has to tell NYCFC relocate within a set period or you’re out the league. It makes a mockery of the game playing on such a narrow pitch. The advantage City-lite must get from training and playing there has to be substantial.

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Ok, I'll bite... Curtis weakened the team from it's 2017 form to now?

In 2017, everything for us clicked, everyone was working together and injuries did not kill us. In 2018, while Bez was in charge we lost key locker room guys like Beita, and brought in potential talent (Van Der Veil and Aketxe), neither of which worked. Than we got rocked by injuries, and that was the end of 2018.

Curtis came in for 2019 and had a 32 year old seeking an increase to his already top end salary in the league and could not, nor should he have matched a reported increase from a Saudi club. That's not on Curtis, that is the player making what they believe is the best decision for themselves. Vazquez only featured in 21 games due to ongoing injury problems. He then left to Qatar, where he was subsequently traded to another team within the same year. Vazquez, as great as he was for us is going in the opposite direction and one could easily argue he would not be a major influence to this team. Especially not anywhere near what we had in 2017. Curtis came in and had to deal with a bunch of scenarios that are quite challenging. In no way has he weakened this team.

Though I agree with you that these last two years have been difficult to watch, I see a ton of positives right now from this group. We're starting to get that desire back that seems to have been lacking. There's urgency and positive movement on the field.

Even with all of our struggles this year, we've beaten Atlanta, NYFC, NYRB and Philly. It's a very tight race in the east, but we're right there even if we're not at the top of the standings. If we get in the playoffs any one of these teams has a chance at making it to the final.

Agree about Curtis. Time to stop blaming him for every bad goal against, every poor half, and every player who gets rested or injured. We were trash last season and almost every move was garbage. Our team today is much better than what we had at the end of Bez's tenure. That's Curtis' job and he has done his part.

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Originally Posted by Ultra & Proud

Agree about Curtis. Time to stop blaming him for every bad goal against, every poor half, and every player who gets rested or injured. We were trash last season and almost every move was garbage. Our team today is much better than what we had at the end of Bez's tenure. That's Curtis' job and he has done his part.

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Exactly and bez brought in ciman the worst signing this offseason before he bolted. Curtis has been good so far maybe the only bad signing do far has been gallardo.

So let me get this straight...we're on a 6 game league unbeaten streak, in 4th place just a handful of points behind ATL, and we draw the top team in the conference on the road, and some are choosing to "bring up the past" and point fingers and blame all over the damn place. Really?!?

Give your heads a shake, and smell the coffee. We deserve to be right where we are right now, for better or for worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by General Woolfe

I really don’t know what to say. We just shoot ourselves in the foot continuously. We played a great second half, ripped their left flank to shreds, but couldn’t hit a barn door with a howitzer from 10 yards. Two vital points squandered through abysmal finishing. Every time this team gets my hopes up they prove that ultimately there are just too many average players in the squad. Pozeulo is no Giovinco or Vazquez. I don’t see it with Auro at all (can’t defend, is scared to take on the last defender and put over a cross) Give me Layrea and Morgan anyday. Gallardo and Benezet might be slight upgrades but they are far from game changers. Benezet’s shooting tonight was woeful at best. One bright spot was I though young Endoh had a very good second half, he found himself acres of space on the right, but he needs more confidence to take on the full back and whip over a cross, instead of the cautious maintains of possession playing back to Bradley in midfield. He has two good feet and can put over a decent cross, but strikes me as a little fearful at times. I don’t expect him to beat the fullback every time, but reckon he has the ability to do so more often than not, if the belief was there. Better he try to hit the byline and only put over a telling cross 50% of the time, than take the crab pass 9 times out of 10. However he looks far better in this formation than he did first time in the side after the draft

i want to believe in this team, and we are showing slow signs of improvement. Vanney seems to have found a shape that works. However, realistically Curtis has weakened us to the point we are so far from the champions of 2017, were not contenders no matter how much I want us to be. We blew a great side by making a determined run for a competition that was always stacked in favour of Mexican sides. Forget the CCL, forget the Canadian championship, MLS Cup is the only trophy that matters and should be our priority every year. Besides winning a three team tournament is hardly anything to write home about.

Oh and for the record I wouldn’t let the same player take two penalties in the same game. It gives the goalie a psychological edge imo. Pozeulo looked tired. He had a poor effort on goal just before the kick was awarded. In hindsight (a great thing) maybe Jozy should have hit the 2nd, although to be fair, he looked out of gas as well. Even Delgado, who also had a great 2nd half on the left wing, would have been a better option.

Still we are now in the top four. We need to stay there. I know the Energy Drinks and NER now have a game in hand, but there are realistically 9 pts left for us. We need to take them all and try to stay in the top four to have any chance of a decent run in the playoffs

p.s. That Micky Mouse 7-a-side pitch in the Bronx simply has to go. Garber simply has to tell NYCFC relocate within a set period or you’re out the league. It makes a mockery of the game playing on such a narrow pitch. The advantage City-lite must get from training and playing there has to be substantial.

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I think we can stop calling Endoh young now, he's 26 now lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ultra & Proud

Agree about Curtis. Time to stop blaming him for every bad goal against, every poor half, and every player who gets rested or injured. We were trash last season and almost every move was garbage. Our team today is much better than what we had at the end of Bez's tenure. That's Curtis' job and he has done his part.

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It often gets overlooked, but I think the Omar Gonzalez signing was very good. His presence has really stabilized the defence. Anyone remember how bad our D was last year?

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Originally Posted by CBTFC

So let me get this straight...we're on a 6 game league unbeaten streak, in 4th place just a handful of points behind ATL, and we draw the top team in the conference on the road, and some are choosing to "bring up the past" and point fingers and blame all over the damn place. Really?!?

Give your heads a shake, and smell the coffee. We deserve to be right where we are right now, for better or for worse.

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I agree lets stay positive but they also didn’t have a few of their best players and TFC had a million chances to score but couldn’t hit the net.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CBTFC

So let me get this straight...we're on a 6 game league unbeaten streak, in 4th place just a handful of points behind ATL, and we draw the top team in the conference on the road, and some are choosing to "bring up the past" and point fingers and blame all over the damn place. Really?!?

Give your heads a shake, and smell the coffee. We deserve to be right where we are right now, for better or for worse.

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It was interesting to see two coaches with almost identical philosophies face off, the only significant differences were the experience on the small pitch, the roster qualities, and the effort by the players. Not surprising to see a tie, and honestly the real difference between NYFC and us is that we lost Giovinco for the whole season, and they've only lost Haber for a few games.

endoh > gllardo

Layrea > auro

thats a lot of potential cap space to save on some back up Full back/ wingers and CBs next year

between pozuelo and benezet they took a total of 11 shots
only 2 were on target by pozuelo
and i believe those two on target by pozuelo were the penalty shots

so we should not see that again, (i hope)

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Originally Posted by C.Ronaldo

endoh > gllardo

Layrea > auro

thats a lot of potential cap space to save on some back up Full back/ wingers and CBs next year

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Telfer has the pace of gallardo and can find the back of the net these days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OgtheDim

Pool reporter asked the ref about the Mavinga thing.

Pretty clear his thinking here - can't see this becoming a suspension.

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Dylan_Butler/status/1171964834688229377

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Perfect rationale .. thanks for sharing this.

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Originally Posted by C.Ronaldo

endoh > gllardo

Layrea > auro

thats a lot of potential cap space to save on some back up Full back/ wingers and CBs next year

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Anybody else here yelling at the tv last night for endoh to shoot

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Originally Posted by stevep

Anybody else here yelling at the tv last night for endoh to shoot

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Yes :facepalm: