Post Game Thread: FC Dallas vs. TFC

[Section 117]

I am pissed at the refs, but IMO the bigger problem is we lack a true attacking midfider. Tonight I think with someone pulling the strings in the middle three points could have been taken. But as per usual the ref made the biggest play of the game

Good on Winter to call out the refs they need to be told their shit one week the linesman calls back a PK and then does nothing when there is no foul it is just ridiculous.

If I remeber correctly doesn't Don Garber have twitter or something I want to ask him a question if someone could post his twitter address or email I would like to ask him what they are doing to fix this shit show. Also the league should mandate unless it clear cut hand ball and or someone blatantly pulling another player down in the box not to call a bloody penalty

[Alonso]

I am pissed at the refs, but IMO the bigger problem is we lack a true attacking midfider. Tonight I think with someone pulling the strings in the middle three points could have been taken. But as per usual the ref made the biggest play of the game

Good on Winter to call out the refs they need to be told their shit one week the linesman calls back a PK and then does nothing when there is no foul it is just ridiculous.

If I remeber correctly doesn't Don Garber have twitter or something I want to ask him a question if someone could post his twitter address or email I would like to ask him what they are doing to fix this shit show. Also the league should mandate unless it clear cut hand ball and or someone blatantly pulling another player down in the box not to call a bloody penalty

I agree, we are sorely missing someone who can take set pieces as well. Hopefully this gets taken care of, two birds with one stone style asap.

I hate blaming the ref for match results but its getting harder and harder for me not to.

I would've like to have seen more fight from the team to level it up, we played better in the first half, but maybe it was because we weren't down a goal to Dallas and they were a bit more opened up.

[denime]

I feel for Winter, I really do. He has come into a Mickey Mouse league with players whose talent levels are a fraction of what he was dealing with in Europe. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into.

That being said...the score was 1-0 at the half. While I do agree the ref gave the 3 points to Dallas, someone needs to ask the question why TFC didn't at least gut out a draw? Because we didn't play well enough and in the end, our team bears some responsibility over lost opportunities.

Agree,our team does bear some responsibilities,we were pushing Dallas in the second half up to their penalty box and that was it,we did not have a finishing touch again.

At the end of the day ref decided the game with his bad calls,penalty for Dallas,but no penalty on Martina were game deciding moments in my opinion.

[CretanBull]

^ Martina dove, probably thinking that he was giving the ref a chance to make up for the earlier blown call.

(Yes, there was contact on Martina, but he went down after the fact - not because of it).

The game should have been a 0-0 draw, and had it been a nil-nil draw we should have been upset that our team didn't come out better vs. a flat and vulnerable looking Dallas team.

[Chevy]

^ Yeah, can't blame Martina for giving it the old college try.

[Detroit_TFC]

MLS refs fuck up constantly. Guess what, you have to work around that.

This was not the worst game ever, people need to get a drink of water and have a lay down if they think that. We moved the ball around with a fair amount of accuracy and held tons of possession. But the possession didn't lead to a decent attack. That was a combination of us not having a decent striker and adequate defense from Dallas.

Plata getting subbed out was about Saturday but the other substitutions were puzzling.

I've seen enough of Borman to not want to see Borman anymore, at least on the first squad. He needs to spend a year in the reserves.

Santos is still in a funk. Not sure if he's going to be the kind of player he looked to be previously.

[Suds]

I am pissed at the refs, but IMO the bigger problem is we lack a true attacking midfider. Tonight I think with someone pulling the strings in the middle three points could have been taken. But as per usual the ref made the biggest play of the game

Good on Winter to call out the refs they need to be told their shit one week the linesman calls back a PK and then does nothing when there is no foul it is just ridiculous.

If I remeber correctly doesn't Don Garber have twitter or something I want to ask him a question if someone could post his twitter address or email I would like to ask him what they are doing to fix this shit show. Also the league should mandate unless it clear cut hand ball and or someone blatantly pulling another player down in the box not to call a bloody penalty

Yep, the ref was shit but that does not excuse the poor effort put forward by the majority of players last night. And by effort I'm referring to very poor basic skills being displayed.

The passing by TFC was abysmal. While it is hard to pick out aplayer that did well last night, Caan, Tchani, Soolsma, JDG, were all bad in their passing. They constantly gave the ball away and made poor decisions resulting in just about every chance to move into an attacking role breaking down. Peterson, JDG, Tchani never took control of the midfield at any point.

This has nothing to do with the system, the formation, or with the coaching. When the collective just can't make a few passes you can't put forth an argument that says we deserved a win - (a tie at best).

[zeelaw]

Ref ruined it, I had just txt'd a friend saying that that may of been TFC's best first half on the road then that BS fk and BS pk call...

[Fort York Redcoat]

The match was a borefest. The penalty was sold to the referee and I understand the managers' frustration but why on earth did the referee even talk to Winter/De Clerk? Obviously they're not going to be calm about it. The ejection was bush league as was Martina's dive. He was in a very good position but with no help. Oh, and the ref and Shea did a great job of keeping Eckers busy. Shea flopping and the ref lapping it up.

[Maltese Falcon]

http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/con...atid=2&id=3108

Winter's interview for those who have yet to see it

[TFC Cityboy]

Decent first half from TFC and we should have been ahead. It all goes to shit when Cann sneezed within 2 feet of a Dallas player and that knocked the stuffing out of the team.
I understand taking the roadrunner off - he is only 19 and a good coach uses the youngsters sparingly- especially in a struggling side- but we never looked like scoring in the 2nd half and the pleyers' body language told the story.

Re the ref...well, my friend who does the Offside cartoon in the matchday programme and I have a theory that if the ref is hispanic with hair gell/slicked back hair, you're fucked.

[jabbronies]

Last night felt like watching a bunch of 5 year olds running around the field.

Seemed like the only players who could take a pass were JDG, Plata and Eckersley. Everyone else had no clue how to stop a pass without it bouncing 5 feet away from them.

Also - why did we keep passing the ball to the Dallas players (Especially Boreman)? Again, aside from those 3 players, no one seemed to know how to pass a ball.

And what was with Cann and his fucking long ball passes out the side of the pitch? or the Defence inability to move the ball past 3 steps? They seemed quiet happy getting the ball and then just standing there with it trying to figure out who to launch it to?

Anyways the ref was just the icing on the cake for me. The team didn't deserve any points at all - not when they can't even execute the basics of the game.

[TFCDP]

Last night felt like watching a bunch of 5 year olds running around the field.

Seemed like the only players who could take a pass were JDG, Plata and Eckersley. Everyone else had no clue how to stop a pass without it bouncing 5 feet away from them.

Also - why did we keep passing the ball to the Dallas players (Especially Boreman)? Again, aside from those 3 players, no one seemed to know how to pass a ball.

And what was with Cann and his fucking long ball passes out the side of the pitch? or the Defence inability to move the ball past 3 steps? They seemed quiet happy getting the ball and then just standing there with it trying to figure out who to launch it to?

Anyways the ref was just the icing on the cake for me. The team didn't deserve any points at all - not when they can't even execute the basics of the game.

Is was so frustrating watching him with the ball... Floating those long lazy passes.. He's decent defensively but when he gets the ball, god help us.. I don't remember him being that bad last year at distributing the ball.

[Jack]

It's so hilarious that the commentators on the MLS highlight of that penalty say:

"a good call"

and that John was "ripped down" buy Cann...

I think that the people running the league at the highest level just plain DON'T GET THE GAME.

They don't get it. They think their refs are fine. They think they are doing everything right with the 8k attending per night unless Beckham is in town. Sure, there are a few teams filling the stadium, but TFC is seeing up to 8-9k below capacity as the soul is sucked out of the support by the combination of a shitty team and the horrid management of the league by Don Garber and his cronies.

MLS will always be bush league with Garber at the helm. He doesn't understand the game and he doesn't understand the culture. The carrot on the stick needs to go up his smug ass.

I am on the verge of throwing in the towel on MLS. When they won't even recognize a glaring issue like the refereeing in their games, there's nowhere to go but down.

[Section 117]

It was by far the best first half road display. Could they have played better sure, but in this league you need to get points at home and any points on the road are a bonus. So a draw would have been more than acceptable result last night, with the exception of the referee

[Pachuco]

I decided to watch the game on Match Day live as opposed to GolTV as I'm done with watching horrendous productions with grainy video for TFC games.

Anyway, the point is the Dallas commentators were commending the ref for his good calls.

Just goes to show you that people have a really hard time of not being biased when a call goes against them. That goes for alot of people in this thread as well. Anyway, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. He made some questionable calls that could have gone either way. Unfortunately they went against us but that doesn't make him Toledo.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

I dont think it was that bad a game played by us, yes we were lacking a certain 1-2 punch up front (a result of no attacking mid) but overall it was a good effort, unfortunately the subs didnt make much of a dent as they were supposed to. The reffing was truly awful and i think we prob woulda walked away with a point, one we would have earned by scraping by rather. Dallas looked good too but was also lacking a certain je ne sais quoi in the final 3rd, outside of that penalty there really werent that many close calls in their favor.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

Reffing was so so up until that penalty then it all went ot shit for whatever reason, it was more or less mediocre calls on both sides but really that penalty...tsk tsk tsk

[Jack]

I decided to watch the game on Match Day live as opposed to GolTV as I'm done with watching horrendous productions with grainy video for TFC games.

Anyway, the point is the Dallas commentators were commending the ref for his good calls.

Just goes to show you that people have a really hard time of not being biased when a call goes against them. That goes for alot of people in this thread as well. Anyway, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. He made some questionable calls that could have gone either way. Unfortunately they went against us but that doesn't make him Toledo.

I dunno, man, that was a pretty brutal phantom penalty.

[TFCRegina]

Last night felt like watching a bunch of 5 year olds running around the field.

Seemed like the only players who could take a pass were JDG, Plata and Eckersley. Everyone else had no clue how to stop a pass without it bouncing 5 feet away from them.

Also - why did we keep passing the ball to the Dallas players (Especially Boreman)? Again, aside from those 3 players, no one seemed to know how to pass a ball.

And what was with Cann and his fucking long ball passes out the side of the pitch? or the Defence inability to move the ball past 3 steps? They seemed quiet happy getting the ball and then just standing there with it trying to figure out who to launch it to?

Anyways the ref was just the icing on the cake for me. The team didn't deserve any points at all - not when they can't even execute the basics of the game.

Been like that for years, ain't gonna change now.

[Walnut]

I dont think it was that bad a game played by us

Hmmmmm -- I agree. All loses are not bad games, especially when we show such complete lack of attacking intent and poor ball control.

[DangerRed]

Bad officiating or not, we should've played better. Plain and simple. It was a dead stadium with no intimidation factor, a middling opponent and decent weather.

Even with the penalty, this was a drawable if not winnable game for us.

Almost a third of the way through the season, we have 2 wins. Yikes.

Edit: and the two teams below us in our conference have 2 and 4 games in hand on us.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

Hmmmmm -- I agree. All loses are not bad games, especially when we show such complete lack of attacking intent and poor ball control.

i guess we can agree to disagree, ive seen us play worse games lately. dallas screwed up their passes almost as much as we did and dont forget they were in the finals last year. Overall dallas wasnt that great either. stats dont really show that much of the flow of the game but they are an indication and they were pretty close.

[Couchy81]

I think all of our woes can be summed up in two distinct categories:

1. Lack of quality players - evidenced by the poor ball control in the attacking end every game this season. We have some skill but, when you string together 3 passes from skill and the 4th guy to touch the ball gives it to the other team then you are getting nowhere regardless. Let's hope Mariner is busy on the phones this summer.

2. Officiating that costs us games. We seem to be plagued by it. Forget how the team plays for a minute - we should/could have come out of Dallas with ONE point. For all we know it changed the flow of the game completely and cost us 3. I did see some bright spots in the first half and thought we could have continued well in the 2nd half. The call messed with our coaches head/gameplan, and the players heads/gameplan.

[TFC USA]

I can kinda see an argument for Cann getting called for a penalty but it looked really soft and embellished if you ask me.

Borman is awful and needs reserve action. Attakora's contract is frozen and we're left with Cann('t Pass), Gargan, Harden, and Borman as some of our prized defenders.

[Couchy81]

I can kinda see an argument for Cann getting called for a penalty but it looked really soft and embellished if you ask me.

Even if, and thats IF Cann deserved the call, the free kick that led to that scenario shouldn't have taken place whatsoever.

[united88]

Carver ran for cover a couple of years ago. Now Winter has discovered how easy it is to fix a game. The challenge is not that this game was fixed but what about the future games?

[Ossington Mental Youth]

I. Forget how the team plays for a minute - we should/could have come out of Dallas with ONE point.

this is what im saying.
not the best playing in the world by anymeans (not that bad either we've definitely played worse away, especially this season) that being said i think outside of the penalty we would have walked away with a point (always room for improvement)

[bman27]

when the market opens up, we have two positions that desperately need to be filled, An attacking mid who can actually distribute the ball in the final third with some set piece experience and another dm. Tchani has the size and strength to be effective but he needs to take off the concrete boots, what's the point in winning the ball just to give it away in the next play? he needs more time to still develop past this season, if he focuses on developing he could be great in a few years, i say let him grow in the reserves, develop a better pass and grow his positional sense.

What we need is an engine to run that midfield, someone who's going to do the dirty work to get as much of the ball as possible. one of the things that this team seems to be direly missing is a player with heart and a winning attitude. when you break it down, This is a competitive roster

---Frei---
Eckersley-------Cann--------------Williams---------Yourassowsky
----------De Guz----------------------------New DM ---------------
------------------------- New AM------------------------------------
-Martina/ Plata------Gordon/ Santos---------------Stevanovic---

[Ossington Mental Youth]

i beg to differ although at times Tchani has lead feet overall hes great and links up well with DeGuzman, we'd be foolish to give up on him this young and this early. I do agree about the AM tho