First 11 Games Comparison
I went through Wikipedia and took data from the first 11 MLS games from every TFC season. This is by no means meant to be scientific. I just thought it would be interesting to see them compared. Here's the results:
First 11 - Year by Year:
First 11 - 3 Top Goal Scorers:
First 11 - Cards:
Statistical proof that we suck. Some good work though, good job.
Moderator
The thing I find most interesting, is how after the first 11 games the last few years we have been around a GD of 0, with a winning record - and by the end of every season, we've had a losing record with a GD of between -8 and -9.
Makes it interesting to watch how our season trends this year, considering how dramatic of a break it has been from that cycle so far.
- Scott
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
I was looking to compare possession stats to previous seasons, but I don't believe MLS has a record of them previous to this season. Since there was such a buzz about possession football this year, I thought i'd include it either way. Anyways, here's this years possession stats:
Cards are already beyond crisis point.....
ya it 's not lookin good but i expected this so i'm not surprised..
I appreciate the effort, but all this tells me is that an almost annual turnover in coaching staff yields poor results. There's no trend here other than instability.
a ha ha heh he hoo.. ha
Any idea how this compares to the rest of the league?Originally Posted by Nestease
I was looking to compare possession stats to previous seasons, but I don't believe MLS has a record of them previous to this season. Since there was such a buzz about possession football this year, I thought i'd include it either way. Anyways, here's this years possession stats:
Every Year has been a re- start year.... 7 skippers in 5 years... Its time we let someone take hold of this team for more then a season... and not hang the man after a bad year... i believe giving the proper time Winter will have a proper team in the not to long future...sad to say for a team who has been in the league for 5 years....but
If winter had been here since day 1 .....I beleive we would all be heading to LA in November!
we've always had hot starts. A few times by mid May we've sat at the top of the east table. After fathers day, we have always crashed.
this time it's a slow start, but maybe a better summer and fall?
Regardless of anything else, the football has at least been entertaining this year. The first 60 minutes Saturday was very very good, as was pretty much the whole game against Houston. There have only been a couple of games that have been unwatchable this year (Dallas for one) and I've seen nothing as boring as the "neutral zone" trap style of play under Preki.
The only eye opener for me is that our worst games seem to be the ones with the highest possession figures. Not a major surprise because teams playing catch up often have stats like that, but interesting nonetheless.
Soft start this year, yes, but the "prediction" thread I did before the start of the season suggested that most people expected that - only 50% of people that responded in that area expected us to win the Voyageurs Cup this year.
i didn't see the chicago game, but despite the win, the houston game was tough to watch. why do they keep doing longballs? I thought we were moving away from that. i remember earlier games in the season they were keeping the ball on the ground... lots of passing whether or not they could do a decent pass. man I hate longball at all levels of play.
Or it's a slow start AND we crash again after fathers' day, finishing worse than ever before...
In years past, TFC has been in a comfortable playoff position in the standings at this point of the schedule. Perhaps this season we will finally see the trend reverse and the club will actually have a stronger record in the second half.
The number of dropped points at home early in the season are definitely disconcerting though. The upcoming schedule is congested with fixtures on the road, and JDG will likely be lost for a significant period of time during the Gold Cup. It is going to be an uphill battle the rest of the way.
Yikes! I had a feeling but never bothered to look at the stats. I'm not shocked that so far this team is worst then our first year team from all stats that matter. This is why I'll never understand the love fest for how this team plays. This is a team that didn't have to rebuild from scratch the way Mo Johnston had to rebuild. A team that already had a superstar and a DP with a pretty darn good resume. And somehow we've managed to be the worst team of all time to this point.
Winter deserves time, yes he does. But there's a difference between giving him time and praising him for doing a pretty shitty job up to this point. All this talk about this being the best team we've ever seen play at BMO is a bunch of exagerations. Too many people buying what MLSE is selling without looking at the product their getting.
Anyway, I do feel like this team is underachieving and they could be better. Time will tell I guess.
Please, don't ever say this. Don't ever say, "Regardless of anything else." Don't ever give this ownership an easy out like this.
Whatever happened to, "Winning isn't everything... it's the only thing."
Okay, I'm mostly kidding, but it does seem like for some reason we all decided that winning was impossible and we'd settle for "entertainment" instead.
To be honest, after the sequence of events that invariably led to DeRo's departure, I lowered my expectations for this club in the short term. I am still holding management accountable in the sense that I expect an adequate replacement at AM to be signed during the summer transfer window, which will hopefully bolster the lineup for the second half of the schedule.
Signs you are in a rebuilding year:
1) you fire your coach
2) you fire your GM
3) you trade your best player for young players and picks
4) you have a young roster, with salary space available
I want to win too but for christsake can we hold off for a little bit on this "The sky is falling" junk? We've known all year this was going to be a building year. We've known all year that this team was going to be changing it's style of play and most of the current players may not be able to adapt to it. We've known all year that Winter and Mariner only had 4 weeks after being hired to be active in the winter market, and at that time were mostly trying to assess what was here. You can either choose to look at the positives of the build- seeing young players playing well, seeing some players stand out in the new system, seeing entertaining matches. Or you can choose to look at the negative, that a young team that doesn't have a real talisman isn't going to win a lot of games. It's entirely up to you, but the course has been set, the die has been cast etc etc. This team is in a rebuilding year, either deal with it or stop watching.
I don't think comparing the stats of previous years is screaming the sky is falling - its interesting to read for people who like stats...
If anything, it might actually make the case that we are in fact rebuilding - fully rebuilding properly...
You could interpret the numbers that Winter isn't going for the quick fix, grab a few extra wins here and there, not get fired, some fake optimism that would do nothing for the future...
He's implementing his style, system, will bring in his players - and in the meantime unfortunately lose more than we win - instead of the quick fix so we're not dead last...
Carts...
And that's where MLSE has won.
My conversations with MLSE management have not given me any place in this whole organization. Without twisting words, or any chance of getting their viewpoint wrong, I can quite confidently say that MLSE's senior management have quite directly and clearly told me that their principal goal is to entertain first, then win. No word of a lie.
I will never forget that conversation. Ever. It is the day my confidence in MLSE completely died.
When I read words like "at least it's more entertaining", I shiver at the thought of TFC fans allowing MLSE to determine success. Because success to them is not the kind of success we want.
Good points. Didn't think of it that way at all
Just stating an opinion. This year it is watchable. I watched Portland/Philly a couple of weeks ago and wanted to poke my eyes out. It was beyond awful!
Winning? YES! Winning ugly? YES! Winning beautiful? YES! YES! YES! Well played draws? YES! Losing ugly? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
Well it is more entertaining, but the team still sucks.
I"m not going to say fire Winter after this season though.
For some reason the "entertaining but sucks" comparison reminds me of wrestling... Sort of like Bret Hart vs. Yokuzuna... Bret would be more entertaining, but would lose to Yokozuna often...
We have 2 less points than Mo's first squad, and that particular squad went the first 4 games without scoring.
Watching the players ping pong the ball backwards and forwards, and lose confidence in the final third before zinging it back to Frei is not any more wachable than Sutton kicking it to the other team and watching our players attempt to stop them bringing it back.
What is the criteria for systematic failure here?
That's the scariest thing I've ever heard. Toronto's sports teams summed up in a sentence. Hopefully the Jays make a run for the wild-card spot and draw 50k+ in the post season so MLSE see's what winning in this city really brings to the table.
How much salary space is available? And roster spots? Should we be expecting any new players to be coming in this year?
i think we have a lot of decent players, who are not putting a whole game together as a team.
we suck, but we suck with an unfamiliar potential that quickly comes and goes, comes and goes...
if we had got a point from dallas and 3 from chicago, i think everyone would be feeling better to a decent degree.
i would.
If I want entertainment I will watch a movie. On the pitch I want quality and winning. Again I have not given up on winter and the system, BUT I have very little belive in the MLSE.
I will buy seasons next year, or at least try, BUT only if they proof that they can win.
How exactly are you going to be able to see "proof" they can win before the season starts?
Did anyone actually expect playoffs?
At the end of the day, each season has ended in a failure to qualify. If we miss by 1 point or 10 points, it is still a failure.
To measure this season we should be looking at our system depth vs previous seasons. Worrying about point totals or goal differential is really pointless at this stage. Holding Winter "accountable" is fine. But not 4 months into a 3 Year deal. Questions of that sort are just plain dumb at this point
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