Morgan will be an allstar in this league at some time.He is still very young.Leftback is the least of our problems right now.We need to add more attack minded players.Justin Braun is noy scaring to many teams .
Morgan will be an allstar in this league at some time.He is still very young.Leftback is the least of our problems right now.We need to add more attack minded players.Justin Braun is noy scaring to many teams .
Just for the hell of it I re-watched this game. Really wasn't a bad effort at all by TFC.
I don't want to re-hash what everyone has said again and again, but I'll make two notes. 1) We forced them into a lot of turnovers in the first 20 minutes or so of the game. We created a lot of opportunities off those turnovers. 2) The team actually created a very good number of chances. The final shot / header / free kick was usually disappointing but we were getting the ball to the right places.
^ I totally agree with the above. TFC really had Columbus pinned back for a while; the Crew were looking a bit desperate even. Eventually TFC couldn't keep up the pressure due to fitness; and Columbus figured out where they could play the ball to get some space back. But (as so often), if TFC could have put away a couple of their golden chances, it really would have changed the game. And TFC had more real dangerous chances throughout the game than Columbus did.
I think I could recognize what Nelsen means when he says "defend to attack." TFC forced some very high turnovers, often in Columbus' half. And then TFC often had 1 or 2 other players in position for an immediate pass & attack on their goal. Different from a classic "counter-attacking team" because the counter-attacks you normally see are due to absorbing some pressure in your own half, getting the opposing defense and MF to pull far forward, and then your counter attack covers more than half of the field length.
BTW, I also remember how good TFC's subs, trialists, reserves, and Academy kids looked, last year in the last game of the Mickey Mouse cup... so I'm not reading too much into these games, positive or negative. We shall see!
another thing I have to mention, I think we signed califf to be a strong leader in the back line, but after thinking and watching this first pre season. I think we have all the help ie advice we need. if we're looking at getting rid of old age players, hes the first i'd get rid of. we didnt sign him to offer advice, we signed him to lead by action and I dont believe he can. he cant even defend his starting position from the likes of other defenders like bossamounde or morgan hell even henry. first off he shows up to camp at how old? and 30 pounds overweight. he didnt want to come here and everybody knows it. whats left to say. by the way I watched the game for the second time and silva looked great playing up front. seriously though with julio cesar, frings, koevermans, and ryan nelson being at every training day. I dont know how much I'd pay califf to offer advice on how a back line should be run. just my 2 cents. I dont want this to be our komisarek signing lol
How old should he have showed up to camp at?...LOL He can't help his age. If you are going to blame a guy for his age blame the team that signed him and not the guy himself. Also, how do know he is 30 pounds overweight? He didn't look like that to me. Why don't we wait until he actually steps on the field in a competitive game before we judge him.
Coaches have praised Califf's commitment and fitness in interviews. He didn't play in the 1st game because of an inflammation in the knee which has been treated & needs a bit more time to heal. He wasn't held out due to fitness; although he will take a bit to get fully game-fit once his knee is 100%.
We've been so thin at CB for so long. It will be nice to have a capable group of four CBs, with 2 subs available that don't scare the hell out of us. Remember how screwed we were when Cann & Williams were both injured? So you dump Califf, what happens if O'Dea gets injured for a while? Do you really want to be totally dependent on Agboss & Henry for an extended period? Or to have to pull mid-fielders into CB again?
So let me get this straight, the coachs praise his fitness and say he's ready to go, but he's had this issue since the last year and he can't play until it's dealt with? Doesn't sound ready to go to me.. He also looks out of shape.. I just hope that this isn't the second coming of Nick Garcia! Slow, Old, and is to guide the youth.. Way to set that bar coming to camp heavy... LOL...
With that said I hope he does well, but no way in hell will he be even close to ready in three weeks.
He's had some discomfort in his knee since early fall. He could obviously play through it. It was thought he just needed some rest during the off-season. When that didn't help quickly enough, an additional MRI found some imflammation/cyst on his ACL. That has been dealt with recently via injections. He's already been training; it was just felt he shouldn't rush it with games as he recovers.
I have no idea how Califf will do. I just feel the situation with his knee is being mis-characterized a bit. Could be the second coming of Nick Garcia, or of Jay DeMerit, who the hell knows, likely somewhere in between. We shall see. At least there's competition for the CB spot. Other injuries & ailments will come up for sure, the team just has to deal with that.
http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2013/0...ebruary-8-2013
About 20 seconds in. Back right of the video. If thats your definition of 30 lbs overweight then I'm not sure where it comes off. Maybe you were expexting him to only have 1 arm.
I feel as if many people haven't seen Danny Califf before.
He just looks overweight because of the shape of his face. He's always looked like that.
of course he has no control over his age. my point is he's too old to make much of a difference or fit in. we will see in time, I for one hope Im wrong but I call them as I see them and I think he dosent have the gas to be starting 11 this season. and saying he genetically has a chubby face or the chest up videos make him look bad, I disagree. you dont show up to camp like that, if payne wasnt talking about him than who was he talking about?
preseason interview with kevin payne
:Reporter: Kevin you mentioned the fitness level of some of the players, was Danny Califf one of them because he looks like he ate all the pies
:Kevin Payne: No not at all, Califf just has a fat face. seriously this comment was about another player
:Report: but all the other players look to be in great shape
:Califf: Fuck off!! its not me!, its just my knee
:Reporter: uh ok.
My assessment of him being overweight comes from the media day interviews: http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2013/0...y-danny-califf
Check out at 00:30 and have a look at his mid section, he's clearly got a bit of a spare tire going on.
I will admit that the video KGH pointed out with his shirt off shows him as not really in that bad of shape.
But people saying that Nelsen is praising his fitness isn't true either @ 03:15: http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2013/0...ebruary-9-2013 , Nelsen says that if he keeps improving his fitness he hopes to bring him in.
I won't bring it up any more, but as far as I'm concerned he didn't show up in his best possible shape and that's not professional, and I hope he redeems himself by kicking some ass out there, having a great year, and showing up next year as the leanest guy on the team to make me eat shit.
This is it right here. We have four guys who hypothetically should be pretty sturdy back there. Not in a hurry to mess with that. I wouldn't describe any of them as world beaters, but all four are serviceable in a way that we've never had from a group of CBs in the past. I don't get too concerned when I see the age of a CB, especially when he can be paired with a younger player who can potentially make up for a lack of pace.
“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
Holy crap... how about watching Califf play a few matches in red before judging him?
Well, Califf, or Ashton Morgan perhaps...
Indeed! Yesterday I watched a bunch of videos about Califf, from last season etc. Good MLS player, very decent character. The tats & his red card clothesline at BMO are misleading.
Ah, now I found the emoticon I was looking for. I recommend some folks take 2 or 3 of these per day:
If we're paying O'Dea and Ecks $800,000 then they must mix and blend with Ashton, Henry and aBoss,....Califf should ONLY be in emergency or coming off the bench. Maybe he will change and learn from Nelson . Who knows? I remember him from Philly . nuff said. I favour my hometown boys anyday. Enjoy your lov-in fellas. He isn't our future.
ALL HELL'S BROKEN LOOSEhttp://gfycat.com/SharpKindArrowana