Player Ratings vs LA Galaxy (CCL March 7th)

[Shway]

Stefan Frei - 6.5 - Once again Frei showed his strengths, but the downfall was that his weaknesses showed greater. He made 2 saves, and had 2 goals conceded on him. His aerial presence or lack thereof, was shown from a cross that should've been a routine punch or tip over the crossbar. He made me think of Milos, and if he would've done better.

Ashtone Morgan - 8.5 - Keeps on continuing to impress. He came ready to play, and literally shut down Donovan, the man who was in form in the EPL. His ability to get forward, and swing the near perfect ball in to the right spots.

Ty Harden - 5 - My good Lord, Harden played as if he was drafted in the last round, last pick of the supplemental draft, and he was put to start as if it was his first professional game ever. He was utterly horrible with the amount of balls he gave away, seems as if he lacks IQ.

Torsten Frings - 9.5 - Had a likely stellar performance. Showed why he is the captain of this team with his pin point passing, ball winning, and organizational leadership in the back. He set up both of the goals, one from a corner that caused havoc in the box, and was finished. The other was a 35 yard pin pointed pass to Luis' head.

Miguel Aceval - 8 - Solid game for his 1st as a red. Hes quickly adjusting to the style of play, and i didnt really see him do anything wrong.

Richard Eckerley - 7 - He played well, not his best game in reds shirt. But still a good performance in getting forward a few times. I felt he should've marked Mcgee on the cross.

Terry Dunfield -8- He always had the will to win the ball back, and break up plays and didn't do many mistakes. He took Juninho literally out of the game, but shutting him down. The simplicity of his game last night saw him complete many passes, and put up a solid performance.

Luis Silva -8.5- The rookie showed no signs of being a rookie in this game with completing 92% of his passes, filling spaces, a few shots on goal, and his sublime header from the top of the 18 into the right side netting. Good luck to avila getting that spot from Silva if he continues in this form.

Joao Plata - 7 - Early in the game he was causing problems, but as the game wore on looked as if he was still in preseason fit, didnt show enough of what hes known for in taking on the wingbacks, and get passed them.

Ryan Johnson - 8 -He played fantastic in getting forward, making all the right runs and his will to take on the wingbacks. He showed great skill and poise in his volleyed goal.

Danny Koevermans - 7.5- Same ol' DK, he was winning majority of the balls that were hoofed to him outside of the box, but he didn't latch on to any of the headers inside the box. Felt he could've been more of a nuisance on some of the Ashtone Morgan crosses. But still a solid effort from the big man.

Reggie Lambe - 5.5 - Again, looked a little bit lost when he was on. He was more chasing balls than anything, and failed to show any glimpse of the promised speed against the former TFC man and LA's LB Todd Dunivant.

Matt Stinson N/A - Barely received any minutes.

Aaron Maund - N/A - Barely received any minutes, and was substituted in at time of the corner kick that Donavan scored on. Not saying it was his fault, but I dont believe he should've been subbed in at that time (managers never make defensive changes on corners) especially for a rookie.

[Oblio2]

I have a new level of appreciation for Frings.
He is a distributor, calming, level headed and plays the smart ball....One of the best, if not the best player we have ever had

[Yohan]

Frei: 6
-Made couple of really great saves (incl a finger tip on Buddle blast) but not so good commanding the box requiring Frings to save his bacon. Should have done better to punch away that Franklin cross that Magee converted

Harden: 6
-Did his best and battled hard. Was ok defensively, considering LA really took a run at him esp early in the game but stood firm. Really terrible dribbler and passer. Decent depth at CB

Frings: 9
-MOM. Did his bit to organize the defence. Long passes were great. Aside from couple of touches that might have ended up as own goals, great performances from the captain (why is there a no chant for him still?) Decision making is far superior to everyone on the team

Aceval: 6.5
-Ok defensively. Comfortable on ball. Made couple of bad giveaways. Will be happy with him at CB

Eckersley: 6
-I thought he was decent defensively, and made good attacking runs, but his decision making on making that final pass or cross was terrible.

Dunfield: 6.5
-Did well taking on the DM role. I thought his short passing was actually decent for once.

Silva: 8
-What a debut. Clearly has finishing ability. Has good passing ability too, but I thought he could have made better decisions with his passes but this will come once he gets used to the speed of MLS game.

Morgan: 8.5
-Not only he shackled Donovan for most of the game (though helped that LD was clearly not 100%), he made a lot of good attacking runs. Keep this up and he'll be rated one of better LBs in MLS soon

Johnson: 8
-Another great match for Johnson. I think his positioning and off the ball runs have gotten better. Clinical finish. Flourishing under Winter's system

Plata: 6
-Seems like only player still in preseason fitness wise. Made couple of decent runs in 1st half, but got marked out of the game by Franklin too easily.

Koevermans: 6
-Didn't impose himself in first half, though TFC didn't try to feed him too much, opting to use the flanks more often. Did better in 2nd half, but I expected more from him this game.

Subs
Lambe: 6
-Was ok. Not too flashy, but nothing really erroreous that I noticed.

Maund/Stinson: n/a
-Not enough time on the pitch

[starter]

Harden might win a few balls defending, but he certainly gives away more with his distribution. Defying all the probability laws, he unmistakably directed all his long pass attempts to opposition feet. And sucking at it never stopped him from trying again and again. We badly need any of Cann/Caceido/Williams back to give Ty more quality bench time, and let Frings back to his MF role.

[Carefree]

You guys are generous toward Koeverman. For 90% of the game he was absolutely invisible, and he was dismal the handful of times he actually touched the ball. Off the ball he barely moved at all, and the one good chance he had he completely flubbed. I expect better from the big guy.

Pretty much bang on for everyone else IMHO.

[Shway]

^ 90% of the time, the balls were being hoofed to him
but i will agree with i expected better

[Whoop]

Frings was fantastic last night, even saved one goal last night in the 2nd half.

Love Koevermans but I thought his performance, overall, wasn't one of his best. Having said that felt his 2nd half was better than his first. Don't think he's match fit yet.

[JonO]

Surprised at the love for Dunfield. He did an okay job in that he didn't make any major screwups (at least that I recall), but he got a bit predictable. Also, he didn't move into space on what seemed to be Eckersley's pass to nobody. Was very clear from where I was sitting that it was on Dunfield.

[cochrdoc]

Dunfield and Harden may not be pretty but they give you 100%.I think that they had a good game.I agree with Whoop that Koev. did not have much of a game.His fitness wasn`t there last year and doesn`t appear to be there this year.Both Buddle and Keane outplayed him.We also need a back-up for him when he goes down or need to be taken out.

[starter]

Dunfield and Harden may not be pretty but they give you 100%.I think that they had a good game...

Both appear to be 1-dimensional players, stop-gaps, not a solution for TFC moving forward.

[gmacpheetfc]

Frei 7.0 - needs to be stronger on set pieces and balls coming in from the wide positions.

Harden 7.0 - Solid in defense stopper role with frings on the cover benefited him

Frings 8.5 - MOTM

Aceval 7.0 - first pass from the back lacking needs to be smarter on the ball beast in the air.

Morgan 8.0 - great performance

Ecks 8.0 - solid again going forward and tracking back lungs of a marathoner

dunfield 4 - Awful looked clueless gave the ball away so cheaply

Silva 7.0 - bits of brilliance (finish) strong sequences on the ball going to be really good player rookie of the year candidate

Johnson 7.5 - athletic finish and solid play needs to be smarter off the ball and move into space for silva

Plata 6 - can't be the creator every night especially in this formation needs to move for silva as well

Kovermans 5 - invisible lacked service but seemed put off by the surface run in with saunders woke him up

de guzman will be key in the return leg bossing the midfield and give silva the opportunity to drift into the channels and create.

[ArmenJBX]

Yeah, de Guzman's gotta be hearing it from Winter, about how important marking Beckham will be.

LA Galaxy plays a 5-man rush; Keane, Buddle, Donovan, Magee and Barrett killed us in the end, and with Beckham finding whatever blade of grass he likes with his passing, it's tough.

So, you stop the supply route. de Guzman doesn't have a fixed position for this next game - wherever Beckham is, de Guzman has to be.

[burlington Red]

in both games Kovermans has been below average, he actually doesn't look fit at the minute. I appreciate it is early days but you would expect players to be fitter than he is after a decent pre-season.Looking at him right now, could be 4-5 games before he gets his full fitness and sharpness back. The only issue with that is, he could well find himself dropped.
I think Silva could be the best find we have had ever