I'm willing to bet that we see 5 man midfield at the start of the game with JDG, Saric and Sanyang all on the field.
Sanyang and Saric's ankle breaking tackling will force Donovan and Buddle to choose between
a) Phyical comittment to this game
b) Risk avoidance to preserve their health for the world cup
This is their last league game before the US pre-world cup training camp... they will drift out of the game if its really physical from the start.
I'm not hopeful. Lots of travel, not much rest, Donovan and Buddle won't hold back because of the world cup -- quite the opposite. THey want to leave on a high.
We're gonna need some really hard work. I'd try something a bit different, so that we can try and exploit their fullbacks but still be solid wide and in the back ourselves. It puts a lot of men behind the ball but it's probably realistic:
-----------------------Frei------------------------
---------Attakora--Cann--Hscanovic-------------
Cronin----------------------------------Gala-------
--------------Sanyang--DeGuzman----------------
-----DeRosario-----------------------White-------
-------------------Barrett-------------------------
That's an aggressive road formation - but you make some very good points about how it would set up against the LA squad...Originally Posted by jloome
I'd swap Barrett & White in this formation... Chad has show he's going on the ball out wide & his work ethic will ensure he's back to support when LA attacks...
I'm fearfull that Preki will play a '9-1' with 9-defenders and 1-strikerok, I'm joking at that - but I think he'll play a very conservation, go for a 0-0 draw formation and style of play considering fixtures, travel, and bumps...
However, I think we need 4 at the back... With Donovan & Buddle I think Nana & Cann need to be 'centre-stage' all night to deal with these two... My fear is an early yellow to either, which will stop them from being aggressive and closing those two down every second of the 90...
Gonna be a tough one...
Carts...
"...Money wasn't tight, but it like, it wasn't right..."
2-1 TFC
OBW gets a cross by barret and kicks it in!
donavon scores an ugly goal while usanov trys fly kicking him
then dero scores a late goal T-OR-ONT-00000 TFC
We come away with 1 point. History is on our side at Home Depot and we are starting to show tactical proficiency.
USMNT call ups will weigh on Donovan and Buddle. This might play in our favour.
"Failure simply isn't an option at this stage. TFC pushed its chips to the middle of the table when it splurged on Bradley and Defoe and reinforced its bet by making savvy acquisitions elsewhere. This collection of players is capable of delivering on the promises made during the close season. There are no more excuses available for TFC. Only success will continue the process of atoning for the past and establishing a higher standard for the future." FOX Sports
^ I was just about to mention that, they are missing their best two.
Give me a point and I will be burning a streetcar on Saturday
rr
I like the formation. Not sure if Gala is ready to compete against size and speed of athletes fielded by top of the table MLS teams. If we had more roster depth, he would benefit from a loan to a USL side that could give him regular starts and minutes for 3 months.
We can probably agree to disagree on the mental approach of Landycakes and Buddle to this game. Both arguements have some validity. The game will decide the debate. I think Preki will send out Saric to test thier committment, ala his play vs Ljunberg.
Random thought - Anybody know why Dero isn't taking attacking zone free kicks? He has to be our best bet to get the ball over/around wall and on target.
I get the idea that Preki might want him around the net because he's a dangerous poacher in scramble situations.
White needs space to run, because his initial first step isn't quick, but his overall pace and strength are. So even though his first touch probably isn't as good as Barrett's, he'd benefit more from playing wide in a three-man front, I think.That's an aggressive road formation - but you make some very good points about how it would set up against the LA squad...
I'd swap Barrett & White in this formation... Chad has show he's going on the ball out wide & his work ethic will ensure he's back to support when LA attacks...
I'm fearfull that Preki will play a '9-1' with 9-defenders and 1-striker
However, I think we need 4 at the back... With Donovan & Buddle I think Nana & Cann need to be 'centre-stage' all night to deal with these two... My fear is an early yellow to either, which will stop them from being aggressive and closing those two down every second of the 90...
Gonna be a tough one...
Carts...
Plus, Barrett has suddenly decided to actually shoot on target with regularity.
This
"Failure simply isn't an option at this stage. TFC pushed its chips to the middle of the table when it splurged on Bradley and Defoe and reinforced its bet by making savvy acquisitions elsewhere. This collection of players is capable of delivering on the promises made during the close season. There are no more excuses available for TFC. Only success will continue the process of atoning for the past and establishing a higher standard for the future." FOX Sports
6-0 TFC, we're on fire lately...(Particularly if you disregard that awful game on wednesday night - that might have been the worst game I have ever watched)
If we can play even half an iota like we did against Chicago -- we've got a draw.
Key is to not let Landycakes and Buddle run amok; and find holes in that backline and exploit it -- this is why Cann and Attakora will HAVE to play a helluva game. And Saric MUST play.
Still possibly the only known RPB to appear on Masterchef Canada.
(I think?)
Makes sense. Might also be a facet of what they get to work on between matches. I'm surprised he doesn't take them, to be honest -- but the only logical explanation is he's the best guy at being in the right place at the right time, like you say.
When they are close enough to the net then he does. (He hit the wall on a Montreal free kick). But even then, I don't think that's one of his strengths personally. We seriously miss Guevara when it comes to that.
That's a loser's mentality. Fuck that. I'm ok with a loss, but only if I know my side went in it looking to get 3 points with 100% effort. Anything less then that is unacceptable IMO.
Agreed. Unfortunately that's been Preki's mentality on the road so far. Let's hope he's learned his lesson. This game is very telling for me. If we go back in there playing the way we've played against RSL and NE then this team really hasn't improved from any other season. Same old, play like shit on the road, play good at home.
I don't care of we lose tommorrow, as long as we go out there and show some interest in the game.
THE GOOD: better form lately, confidence, success there before, an overconfident opponent?
THE BAD: road woes, reliable but slow back four, LA goal differential?
THE UGLY: Preki tries another "defensive formation" on the road, tired legs, bad tfc fouls turning into penalty kicks, Garcia starting?
PREDICTION: 2-1 LA ...a hard fought loss.... ;(
Playing for a draw will result in a massacre.
We might as well play for the win and see what happens.
What style of play gives us the best chance of earning a win, on the road, with limited rest between games, against an undefeated opponent, with the league's best offensive player over the past 5 years(Donovan) and the league's hottest scorer at the moment(Buddle).
Does playing for a win mean that we line-up in an attacking formation, try to play a wide open game, and hope we out chance these guys? That doesn't seem like the best way to earn a win in the situaiton.
Its a semantic argument but in my opinion, attacking football and 'playing to win aren't' the same thing.
Yah, agreed. We need men back , but we also need men pushing forward attacking,a balanced approach that can allow us to control the ball for longer periods and slow the game down without playing in our own end all night. Lots of short, quick passes coupled with field switching, good shape. It's possible to negate LA's speed and width to some extent.
I disagree. We should continue to work on the full defensive shell that Preki seems to be trying to achieve on the road. Pick our chances on counter attack and hope to grab a lucky goal.
I don't think it's a loser mentality. I think it's the only logical shot at a draw or a sneaky win. We try and full on attack LA they are going to pick us to pieces.
Compleletly agree.
We need to concentrate on defense first. I think they way the D has played latley we might have a chance of limiting there chances.
Clog the midfield and play defensively.
Either LA 2-1 or a 1-1 draw.
I was thinking along the lines of crowding the midfield, breaking down their attacks and nicking one on the counter. Anything but sitting back and letting them press or opening ourselves up so they can play their game.
Interesting idea - but with more men at the back, setting up the offside trap becomes a little more difficult, especially with the speed the Galaxy has up front, I'm not sure that's a good idea. It'll be better to have 4 at the back and drill it into their heads that they should smart about whichever tactic is to be used.Let us not compare our defense with Inter's defense
If our back 4 (maybe use 5 D?) doesn't have a huge game I don't think we can expect more than a two goal defeat.
Today is a long travel day, then only one day to practice tomorrow and only 1.5 days to get used to the time zone change. We've shown defensive holes even in the good games we had against Seattle and Chicago and LA has a lot better finishing than those teams imo.
But stranger things have happened. We can only hope!
Agreed. It might be worth considering having someone up front with a lot of stamina to press the LA backline starting just inside their own half. It could help in making LA "feel rushed" so that they won't be as clinical trying to set up shop in the TFC half.
On another note, whatever we do on the attack, you have to think that high balls into the box are not an option due to the aerial presence of the two LA central defenders. For some reason, this wasn't apparent to Cummins last year.
I'll take a 5-1 loss but take out Landycakes.
Oh wait he has to save us during the World Cup.
Fuck.
One of the Hascanovic, Ursanov or Saric need to start with a strong tackle to the LA ballerina to set the tune of the match, that if they want 3 points, they have to die for it
On the other hand... please, for the love of God and respect to US constitution...do not start Garcia... 10 out of 11 players on the LA squad can turn Garcia into a 2 feet tall pylon...
How many bodies do we have on three or four yellows? There used to be a list on the MLS website but with the changes I can't seem to find it.
JDG suspended with next yellow. (sitting at 4, up to 5 = 1 game)
If JDG does not get a yellow in LA game, then his yellow count will be reduced by 1 (sitting at 4, down to 3)
I think JDG is going to miss the next game vs New England anyway (CMNT in Argentina), so perhaps this wouldn't be such a big deal...(You're not counting NCC cards, right?) It's unfortunate though, because I think some of the yellows to JDG were garbage (either from Julian, or from the ref).
Saric must be close as well on the yellow card count, no? Has anybody been able to find some useful info about this on MajorLeagueSoccerSoccer.com?
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