lol. wasn't saric suppose to be guevara's replacement in creatively department? instead, we end up with another DM
lol. wasn't saric suppose to be guevara's replacement in creatively department? instead, we end up with another DM
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
LaBrocca needs to step it up. After watching both goals on MLSsoccer.com, Frei had a terrible game, both goals were partly his fault.
we still need that speedy/skillfull attacking mid
I'd agree with this. Many are professing that we can't play a defensive style of game and while we did go down 2-0, the players we've got this year aren't the ones that blew leads over and over. It was worth a try and if anything will be something to learn from when we need this style again.
Despite the result, the gamble almost paid off. Nane's header in the first half was beautiful. If we convert there, it's a new game. Combine that with OBW's crossbar in the 2nd, and surprisingly, the match was closer than it looked.
Attakora was turned more times than a rotisserie chicken - I have never seen a professional defender turn his back to the ball more than he did.
If JDG's job was to come on - give away the ball, commit silly challenges, and look disinterested until the DeRo goal - then mission accomplished.
LaBrocca was outstanding, Saric had some of his nicest touches of the season, he's starting to look like a real find.
OBW had a good game, DeRo was awesome as always
Barrett did OK, can't really complain about Usanov or Hscanovics either
Frei was culpable on second goal
Cann is slowly being betrayed by his real lack of pace
I didn't think they were that bad - in all
Preki's gamble could have paid off for at least a draw if we had decent depth in the Midfield to stabilize things, however we don't have the salary cap space to pay for one.
Or do we? We're paying for Robbo to help NY be in first place, while we could have used him on Saturday. Thank-you Mr. Mo.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
http://viewfromthesouthstands.com/
Preki got it wrong. It would be worth trying this approach if we had a better club. At this point we cannot afford to leave our best two players on the bench.
Video Blog up on the site. Comments always welcome.
Last edited by bgnewf; 05-02-2010 at 08:32 AM.
What a snooze fest. The game played out like it was in slow motion - no wonder there was nobody there.
Do you think anyone in Salt Lake City realizes that their fan base sucks partially to having the stupidest name in the world?
I can only think of one real scoring chance we had - other than that, we were predictable, slow and not very exciting.
TFC? More like TFzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I am an avid TFC supporter. HAven't missed a home game since inception. But we are the shittiest MLS team to watch. This is the worst TFC team in 4 years. We look like a bunch of beer league players. Give away the ball cheaply. Can't string 3 passes together. Stand on our heels. No movement away from the ball to create space. Etc. We cut our best quality midfielder in Guevera, because Preki didn't like him. Robbo had a bad season last year, filled with injuries. Again Preki cut him because he didn't like him. Now we have an overpriced DP, which we could have paid 3 quality players with that money which would have been better served. Mo has figured out in 4 years that we have a poor back line.
Right now, I really want Dejan Jakovic, Will Johnson and Raul. That would just make this team!
The resting is bullshit. We are a few games into the season. Let them sit out a practice then. But the season is very, very early. They gotta be fit. I don't think Lampard or Malouda have missed a game for Chelsea this season. If they are not fir enough, then there is a problem there.
Its week 6 and everything is all over, maybe 6 more points we take together and thats all
SHAME SHAME
Not sure that I agree, other than the result was pretty much as expected.
As a manager, your job is to put the best team on the pitch to give you the opportunity of a result. That did not happen tonight. I believe it fair to say that Preki expected to bring in DeRo and JDG for the second half, on the presumption (and it is a big one) that the game would be scoreless at the half.
DeRo and JDG are both players that have an impact on a game. They can, indivudally or together, control the flow of a game. It becomes much tougher for them to accomplish that if the game already has a flow before they step on the pitch.
Add to that the consideration above - it is reasonable to expect that they would play unless lightning struck and we jumped ahead early. Sound time management of playing time, especially for attackers, is to have them play about 60 minutes and then take them off in favour of fresh legs. That opportunity has generally been available to the team this year and it has been done. So resting them for the first half seems a little strange to me.
Take one more thing into consideration. Preki is a disciplinarian coach. JDG and DeRo do not seem like the type of players that would respond well to that type of coaching style (just my opinion there). While Preki may not sit either for the fun of it, it is a Mike Kennan-esque move to sit them to make a point. See JDG in New England. The problem is, when does making a point cross the line into hurting your team.
With one week off already in the early part of the season and a schedule that is no less gruelling than anyone elses, the time to "rest" players may be with lighter off day workouts than to sit two top caliber players and hand the game to an opponent.
Just my 2 cents.
^ The point may have been to show JDG and DeRo that the team can function without them (I sure as hell hope this is not the case). Prekis viewpoint seems to be that every player is roughly equal on the pitch - I think he'd like 20 guys on the roster with similar skills and at the same salary. But maybe Preki learned something from this. We can only hope.
I have one word:
Cronin?
Actually I have more. So why not start Cronin in the midfield as well, instead of 3 fairly new players to the MLS (Nane, Saric, and Sanyang - less than a year). Do you think Cronin needs rest, he has barely played this year.
We'll see just what TFzzzz is actually made of next saturday at home to Chicago. The Seattle win was huge but they were coming off a Thursday night game and didn't play their top scorer until late in the game - plus 3 or 4 big saves from Frei were the difference between winning and losing.
Chicago could be our first home loss of the season.
Yeah I was thinking that as well. Haven't watched the replays but the first goal if Hscranovic wasn't just standing there like an idiot, Frei probably would have been able to get to that ball. The second one, I'm not sure what you expect him to do - IMO it was on Attakora who got completely turned around - and the guy has a clear shot at the entire net from within the 18 yard box - any good forward will bury that 9/10 times.
That was one of the worst games to watch this year. I am wondering if Preki even has a clue on how to coach a team. You sit our leading goal soccer and franchise player for the first half. Brutal idea
For players to say that this month is tiring due to almost two games a week that is your full time job. I am going to say that most of us on this forum go to work full time and also play in some soccer league some where in this country. I myself work 40 hrs a week and play in two soccer leagues
Anyways i said my peace
Hope we do better against the fire at home cause we need the home wins
Part of the issue of the opening lineup may have also been that one of the newspapers printed last Sunday's lineup (speculation, not inside knowledge) before the game against Seattle. Apparently there was a verbal joust betweeen Preki and the reporter in the Monday media session (I'm sure one of our media friends can confirm). Perhaps Preki was making a point about this too.
If so, it just points to an ego the same size as many players.
That was a seriously royal fuckup by Preki. Didn't take a genious to know that the horrendous tactics deployed in the first half weren't going to work. This isn't Inter Milan playing Barcelona Preki. You've been watching too much champions league. I can't tell you how furrious I was when I saw the lineup he put out and when I saw us sitting back waiting for RSL to come to us. What's worse if we got ball possession it seemed like Preki said clear it long, that's all that matters. Fucking house league tactics. Pathetic.
^ Dude - if you don't think that typo is funny given what happened on this forum then you seriously need to invest in a sense of humour...
Of course I can't find the thread now - but the site was "hacked" and the DNS was redirecting anyone typing redpatchboys.ca to a furry porn website... Remember: don't type angry
Edit: one of the many threads http://www.redpatchboys.ca/forums/sh...ad.php?t=22219
Last edited by JonO; 05-02-2010 at 10:21 AM.
Or maybe he was trying to show that the team can't function at a high enough level without them. Is his viewpoint really that every player is equal on the pich, or every player has to buy into the system? Maybe everybody has to get the message about what their job is.
And while, as you say, the manager's job is to put the best team on the pitch to give your team an opportunity of a result, the goal this season is to make the playoffs, and maybe even to win a couple of playoff games.
We all know the league is going to be tight, by the last few games of the season there wll be a whole bunch of teams on the bubble of making the playoffs and TFC will be one of them. Maybe the lessons learned now will pay off then.
I'm not really surprised with this loss.... Losing on the road, at altitude, after playing on Sunday + Wednesday is not surprising. Even with De Ro + De Guz starting, the team would have been in tough to win the game at all. At least the two toughest road sites are finished now: Colorado + Salt Lake.
Maybe you could have started De ro + De Guz and took them off in the second half, but then you'd have 2009 all over again: perhaps a lead turning into a loss in the last 15 minutes. But my guess is that the team would have still been down 1-0 at the half anyways.
And any comments about Robbo + Guevara are pointless -- TFC sucked on the road with them too.