Post Game: Toronto Destroys Seattle

[jloome]

I'm tired of all the Saric bashing. He's a hard tackling defensive mid. The Arsene Wegner, 'beautiful game' snobs, on here, claiming hard tackling has no place in the game need to think about the reality of this league's salary cap.

Saric is a decent ball winner, who is lacks passing touch. He is what he is. He's not a terrible player, he just plays an ugly role for us. I'm not advocating dangerous tackles intended to injure, nobody should accept that. Fair, hard slide tackles are part of the game. Saric is trying to play that game for us. Guys go down on fair tackles, some easier than others.

His timing is off occasionally, and he should get whistled. Claims that he is intentionally going in cleats up and two legging guys are garbage. Watch the game footage again. I agree that he is headed for a red card if he doesn’t get his timing down better. Most teams in this league start a player like Saric, and these guys usually do collect a red card over the course of the year.

Why isn’t Cronin starting over Saric? Cronin plays a prettier game but he can’t clog up the midfield and win the ball like Saric.

No, I think you should go back and watch the game footage again. It's like the guy can't tackle cleanly. If you can't see that his second foot is raised and his studs are up on that first tackle, you're not watching. That's illegal, even if you get the ball first, and will sometimes get you a red, let alone a yellow.

And he absolutely mugged that guy on the touchline.

Hard-tackling is fine, but he's a goon.

[sashavukelich]

I'm tired of all the Saric bashing. He's a hard tackling defensive mid. The Arsene Wegner, 'beautiful game' snobs, on here, claiming hard tackling has no place in the game need to think about the reality of this league's salary cap.

Saric is a decent ball winner, who is lacks passing touch. He is what he is. He's not a terrible player, he just plays an ugly role for us. I'm not advocating dangerous tackles intended to injure, nobody should accept that. Fair, hard slide tackles are part of the game. Saric is trying to play that game for us. Guys go down on fair tackles, some easier than others.

His timing is off occasionally, and he should get whistled. Claims that he is intentionally going in cleats up and two legging guys are garbage. Watch the game footage again. I agree that he is headed for a red card if he doesn’t get his timing down better. Most teams in this league start a player like Saric, and these guys usually do collect a red card over the course of the year.

Why isn’t Cronin starting over Saric? Cronin plays a prettier game but he can’t clog up the midfield and win the ball like Saric.

I think you make an interesting point, and anyone who has looked at Preki's former team (chivas) could easily spot that Paulo Nagamura and our M. Saric are of the same mould of character. Tough Tackling, ball distributing engines. They are 'destroyers' and ball winners.

look at....(this guys are obviously in another class)

1) D. Fletcher
2) Roy Keane
3) Viera
4) Gattuso
5) N. Kovac (Croatian captain for years).


I was surprised Cronin didn't replace Saric today after the yellow, i'm glad he cooled down and didn't get sent off. Cronin did really well when he came on though, i'd like to see him start once in the middle, it'll be interesting.

[Whoop]

That was the best Seattle played? Then I'm a little happier with the result.

Freddie Ljungberg – Sounders FC Forward/Midfielder
(On the match . . .) “I think this was the best we played all year. We played amazing, especially the first half. Like we said in here, we all played very, very well. Sometimes unfortunately you make mistakes and we did two personal mistakes. It happens to everybody but it killed the game for us and that’s how they won the game. When you give up mistakes like that you get punished.”

(On rotating line . . .) “It’s of course strange and a new experience for my career but I can talk about today and I think we played amazingly well. We played a good passing game and we got criticized a little bit by fans at home and in general that we weren’t playing that well. But today I was impressed by the guys and how we played and all the credit for that and that’s why it’s so hard to take why we didn’t get all the points.”

[canadian_bhoy]

I know we had a win and all today - but jeez .......... hold the phone

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

[Roogsy]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

Succinct and accurate.

[Pachuco]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

I completely agree. What's crazy is we score 2 goals in a half and all of a sudden it's the best game TFC have played in it's history. How quickly people forget. 4-0 thumping of Dallas on Father's day was one great game. Heck I remember a 0-0 tie against LA Galaxy where we played better then today. Not saying that we didn't play well, we did, but come on guys, we didn't destory Seattle, we capitalized when we needed to and they didn't. That's the kind of game it was.

[Whoop]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

I think Gabe was commenting on the guy saying Frei is a Premiership keeper...

[nascarguy]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

yeah frei was the best player on the field , dero was good

[dupont]

To me the most important thing was that TFC finished those chances. In MLS you have to make sure to finish any chance you get.

[scooterTFC]

No, I think you should go back and watch the game footage again. It's like the guy can't tackle cleanly. If you can't see that his second foot is raised and his studs are up on that first tackle, you're not watching. That's illegal, even if you get the ball first, and will sometimes get you a red, let alone a yellow.

And he absolutely mugged that guy on the touchline.

Hard-tackling is fine, but he's a goon.

Your a great writer, you make your points well and have tremendous influence with many people on here. I agree with you on many topics, but in this case you're opinion is not supported by the facts. I think your over reacting to the contact vs than the tackling technique. He's a defensive midfielder not a goon. I agree Saric is probably headed for a red card, but that's kinda like predicting rain in Vancouver.

We've had Serioux and Marshall on this team in the past... they were both red card risks and effective contributors. No reason Saric can't be the same. I'd argue that Saric is a cleaner tackler then both of those guys.

[ag futbol]

It's like the guy can't tackle cleanly.

I agree... he's way over the top out there.

We've had plenty of guys here who can play d-mid physically without making these rash challenges. Robinson would be a prime example, guy could commit to a challenge hard without it being dirty.

Great game today by our guys, but he was without a doubt a liability. We're lucky as shit we didn't finish the game with ten men. The first challenge on flopper Freddie could easily have been straight red. Then when he was on a yellow he barges Nyassi on the touch line with no play on the ball whatsoever.

He's cutting down guys left and right in dangerous areas. Last week it lead to a free kick goal. It's one thing to be physical and boss the park, it's another to just play out of control. I can rarely think of a time today where he won the ball and we sustained possession, that's what he should be doing if he's earning his money.

[Hooligan69]

TFC's second goal was a thing of beauty.

[Whoop]

I'm pretty sure that was Estrada, no?

But i think they got tangled up running down the field. You can clearly see him charge into the box and take down Hscanovics. Then later Hiscanovic sliced him on a tackle as payback.

How a ref and a linesman can miss something so clear is beyond me. This officiating crew was a joke, even by MLS standards.

Yeah, it was Estrada @ 5:33.

http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/con...atid=3&id=1829

[Serb_Star]

Saric a goon but Toronto loves it's goons.

I don't expect the guy to stick around but hes decent.

[ballerz]

What's wrong if Saric is dirty as long as he is on our team and he inflicts pain and injury on the opposition? He's a red card risk but Harmse, Velez, and Marshall were probably more prone to get red carded.

I still think Sam Cronin is a better player than Saric, but that's because I see Cronin as someone who can play on the right side, and JDG can move back into the middle. But Preki put JDG on the right and Saric in the middle and it worked.

[Toronto_Bhoy]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Perspective!

Without 4 real top quality saves, we could have easily lost 4-2.

The only thing Keller did today was pick the ball out of the net…other than that there was no danger for him.

And our two full backs are absolute mince!

Destroy wasn't the first word that came to mind…

[Northern Soul]

So...both of our goals were on Seattle giveaways? Yes. But if we didn't score on them, people here would be screaming that we can't capitalize on our chances. Now we play very well (second half) and capitalize, and were 'lucky' that we won?

I'm not saying we should win the league now or anything, but don't be gloom and doom on a good day. Now we just have to play like that consistently.

[GabrielHurl]

I think you make an interesting point, and anyone who has looked at Preki's former team (chivas) could easily spot that Paulo Nagamura and our M. Saric are of the same mould of character. Tough Tackling, ball distributing engines. They are 'destroyers' and ball winners.

Are you talking about the same Paulo Nagamura that played with us in season 1????? If so, the last two sentences of yours don't make any sense

Dude was worse than Andy Welsh

[JuliquE]

Hey Roogsy,
I'm just going to savour the 3 points today.
Great 2nd half, the boys played well.
No Comment today, just happy for the 3

Pssh.. delusional -- you're all delusional.

[S_D]

still can't believe we won 2-0......

We are a TOUGH team to play against, we'll lead the league in fouls and cards for sure.....but teams won't like playing against us.

Well I would go so far as we have been tough to play against this one game. I don't think we were so tough to play against in the previous ones.

I do hope this wasn't a flash in the pan, and honestly I don't think it will be. That 10 minutes of constant passing reminded me of Chivas under Preki. I hope they can build on that, so we can start seeing full halves of passing.

And I really enjoyed watching JDG play with confidence today.

[jloome]

Your a great writer, you make your points well and have tremendous influence with many people on here. I agree with you on many topics, but in this case you're opinion is not supported by the facts. I think your over reacting to the contact vs than the tackling technique. He's a defensive midfielder not a goon. I agree Saric is probably headed for a red card, but that's kinda like predicting rain in Vancouver.

We've had Serioux and Marshall on this team in the past... they were both red card risks and effective contributors. No reason Saric can't be the same. I'd argue that Saric is a cleaner tackler then both of those guys.

Ok, I'll give you this one. In slo-mo replay, it's clear Saric gets the ball first.

But I can also see why the Ref blew the call; Saris misses the ball with his foot, studs up (illegal) and actually catches the ball with his trailing thigh as Ljunberg tries to his it.

That's probably the only reason, however, why he didn't get a card for the second incident, because that, my friend, was a mugging. That one in slo-mo looks very bad indeed.

[S_D]

What's wrong if Saric is dirty as long as he is on our team and he inflicts pain and injury on the opposition? He's a red card risk but Harmse, Velez, and Marshall were probably more prone to get red carded.

Harmse? No way LOL. Go look at his history with TFC. He was nowhere near the goon that Saric seems to be. I just hope Preki can contain him a bit so he doesn't cost this team some red cards. I'd say he was a bit lucky tonight not getting sent off.

I don't mind goons... a little spice in the midfield is a good thing as long as they don't cross the line

[JuliquE]

I think we're getting glimpses of what Preki is trying to do with the team, and I like it.

When Preki dumped most of the squad, it seemed insane. I'm still not sure it was the best idea. And a big double-zero to MoJo for failing to bring in replacements until after the season had started, as usual. However, Preki is getting the squad to play his style, they are playing better, and I agree with those who say that the second half had the best football that TFC has ever played. The whole chain of passes leading up to that second goal was nothing but beautiful, and of a quality that you very rarely see in MLS.

Preki did indeed of some tactics in this match in having the defense play high un to catch Ljuneberg offside.

Those who say that the goals were due to "defensive errors," well defensive errors are common enough in MLS. It's not like any team has a Serie A backline. It's a good offense that takes advantage of those errors when they come.

SO Preki gets a "wait and see." And MoJo gets a big fat zero. And the boys in Red/White live to play another day. And the fans now have some hope.

Does everyone forget the ridiculous cap situation that Mo had us in going into this season? We're not rebuilding solely because of Preki. We had no choice! The absurd salaries paid down with allocation and guaranteed pay hikes left us way over the cap for this year. We shed several large salaries (Guevara, Vitti...) and still had no cap space!

Gerba just had to go, and no one was going to take his over $300k salary.

Blaming Preki for the state of the team at this point is VERY premature. Even if we won the cup last year we would have had to rebuild this year. Mo was banking on the idea that if we got into the playoffs last season, he'd get a pass for the next few.....

Hey.. this is easy. Thanks Jeffro!

/generic infomercial acting

[JohnWalter]

There was a point in the game where toronto made more than 10 passes without losing the ball. Ive never seen that before by toronto. good work.

That was awesome eh? We were Ole'ing!

[JohnWalter]

Definitely need to keep things in perspective.

Both TFC goals were the result of brutal Seattle give-aways and they were assured a goal had it not been for the stellar performance by Frei.

Having said that, our passing, team work and tackling were better than they've been all season and were very positive. Great effort and result.

give-aways happen when you are organized, when you press the opponent, you force those types of mistakes, I think that's definitely a change in how the team is playing since last year, we are definitely becoming hard to play against, combine that with a bit of skill and finishing ability and hopefully we'll win more often then we lose...

[twistedchinaman]

Let's also make this crystal clear: this does not save Mo Johnston's job (only gives him one more fibre in the rope, that's it), nor does it make him look any better. He still needs to go.

With that said, roll on to Wednesday!!!

[Jeffro]

Let's also make this crystal clear: this does not save Mo Johnston's job (only gives him one more fibre in the rope, that's it), nor does it make him look any better. He still needs to go.

With that said, roll on to Wednesday!!!

I don't care if we win the next 10 straight games. Mo needs to be fired.

[DoubleUp]

Team played well!!!. I still think we need a speedy/skillful ...........striker/Am.
Someone to exploit through ball and 1v1 opportunities.

[twistedchinaman]

I don't care if we win the next 10 straight games. Mo needs to be fired.

Exactly. Even if we win the fucking Northern Americas triple (NCC, MLS Cup, CCL) I WANT HIM GONE.

Anselmi if you're reading this -- don't even think about giving that SOB any more rope.

[Lennon]

Football is a funny game. I thought that we defended better against Colorado then we did today despite the clean sheet.

We're still struggling moving the ball forward and creating chances ... besides the two goals and White's shot early on I can't remember us giving Seattle much trouble. Tbh for most of the game Seattle looked like the home team ... and nearly half their lineup consisted of subs! We're lucky that they didn't have any strikers on the field to finish off some pretty good chances.

Not too thrilled with playing De Guzman on the wing and Saric in the middle ... sub Cronin for Saric and play De Guzman in his natural position if Preki chooses to play the diamond.

I'm suddenly feeling nervous about Wednesday and not looking forward to playing in altitude on short rest again on Saturday.

btw, was that Gargen with the nice one touch pass to Dero on the 2nd goal? If it was then he deserves to start on Wednesday.