“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
Probably a fair result, but FFS, learn to close out a game already!
Nelsen can't manage to get a sub on late.
Ecks gets cold feet instead of pushing forward.
Late collapses are so last year.
Last edited by boozilla; 03-31-2013 at 12:38 AM.
This x100.
As of right now we're just not able to play through our midfield, which needless to say is a huge problem. Getting a quality mid should be Payne's #1 priority. I don't care if we have to overpay a little bit, it's time to put the allocation reserve to use.
Having Silva back should be a big boost, but I would start Osorio instead of Hall next week. Give the kid a chance to show what he can do. And I know Russell's being hated on, but I would give him one more game to see if he learned anything. We can always go back to Morgan after that.
Russell was bad all game, not only on the 2 mistakes that led to goals. He gave the ball away countless times and didn't bother hustling back to recover. He is a 31 yo supposedly seasoned vet, doesn't get a chance to learn from his mistakes. There was something about his careless low effort play that had me Unhappy with him way before the tying goal. it felt inevitable that he would bring on some disaster.
I'd rather go back with Morgan to see if the lesson was learned by him. Ecks get the right side back and Russell can go back to Florida.
“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
Probably a fair result in the end, LA could have been up 2-0 except for a great save. Also Donovan missed on a break away. Overall, a very exciting and entertaining game. Good signs Osorio out of the academy looks like a great talent with a good scoring touch. Silva looked strong and linked with Osorio well. Earnshaw continues to impress. I thought O'Dea had a very strong game on the back line. A number of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. We have a problem with Dunfield and Hall in the midfield but that was known from day 1. While the tendancy would be to bring in Oro and Bekker they are rookies and they need to brought on slowly ensuring their confidence is strong. I think Nelson has done a good job handling Oro.
Russell did not have a good game for sure, but he does have good skill in the ball. What I did like is that after the game he stood up and took responsibility. But let's be realistic, goals are never the result of one mistake, there were 3 mistakes. Hall did not push up and pressure the ball and LA had all the time to hit the cross into the box. Califf was playing too far off the player who scored. He was guarding grass rather then marking the player. Also Russell got his head on the ball despite fighting off 2 LA players. Some player on TFC did not drop back to support. So let's give Russell a few more games and then evaluate.
We still need more strength in the midfield. We need to add another strong holding midfielder and left midfielder. These two would be added to Bostock, Silva and Orosio. We need another strong striker which hopefully is the Argentinian player rumoured. Payne knows this and is working on this.
Our team defense needs to get stronger but I feel it is more related to our holding midfielder combination then the back four. Are we a better team that last year. Yes. Do we have more to improve. Yes.
Had a great time at the game today and the supporter section was in great form today.
Last edited by SKB; 03-30-2013 at 11:09 PM.
Plenty of blame to go around on that second LA goal.
Few things to note at this point:
1) Bostock was chasing around two players by himself. As a result, when Gonazalez gets the ball back he has ample time and space. Osorio or Earnshaw need to step up and help with the pressure.
2) Eckersley went too far wide and high up the pitch and has to fall back in line.
2) Lambe has failed to track Colin Clark's run down the left side. Prior to this image he did point and call out Clark's position, but didn't actually run back, leaving Russell to deal with two attackers.
3) The midfield as a whole has given up too much space in their own half. Either press high or fall back. Galaxy players have gotten in behind and there is about to be a 4 on 3 in the box.
1) At the time of Russell's header Califf is in no-man's-land, making an undermanned situation even worse.
2) The rest of the team was so far away that they're barely in the picture.
3) O'Dea appears to be marking Villareal but doesn't actually stay with him as you'll see in the next picture.
1) O'Dea completely fails to react to the header and continues walking toward the goal. Look at how far away he is from Villareal when they were next to each other at the time of the header.
Very poor play by TFC, be it fatigue or personnel or tactics.
The reason is we don't want to create another Oscar Cordon. A kid with decent ability who was thrown into the fire way too early, lost confidence and got cut (effectively ruining his chances at a decent career).
Now, clearly Osorio and Bekker have more skill than Cordon ever did. But we would be wise to exercise caution with them. Like I said, give Osorio a start next week because he earned it and (especially) because we're so weak in central midfield. But we should be bringing someone in who is a proven professional to start every week (ideally two so that we can also bench Hall/Dunfield), and continue easing Osorio and Bekker into the first team. If Osorio puts in a similar performance for the next two or three games running, then we can talk about starting him full time.
You have to be smart with rookies. Most aren't ready to play 90 minutes every week. If Osorio is ready it'll become clear after the next few games.
I actually think they are happy with yesterday's turnout. March 30th and L.A. without Beckham/Keane the casual fans tend to stay home. Weather is always hit or miss this time of year (turned out perfect) so people may have made other plans. Let's see how the turnout is next week against FC Dallas. Hopefully we can maintain the 18k and start building with some positive results on the field.
As much as I hate it the result was fair in the end and it was good to see them not fall flat after being down one and fight back for it. The thing is LA was winning balls non-stop anytime the ball was 50/50 it likely wouldn't be ours after it. Either way nice not to leave BMO gutted.
Also Yohan I just shaved. For you
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Probably a fair result in the end. I find Ephraim and Bostock a little lightweight, they're both knocked off the ball way too easily for my liking. Nice to see Osorio score that goal
“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
Looking from the south, right from kickoff, 222 and 224 (dark grey and red) along with the top of 219 (light grey) looked surprisingly empty compared to the rest of the stadium. Pink and red in 122 to 124 looked quite good, and even red and dark grey in 104 to 107 in comparison.
I think we are seeing the effects of an over-supply of expensive season tickets in the 200s. I'd think making much of the upper stands medium-grey and dark-grey rather than dark-grey and red would fix that.
At the same time, I'm not sure what was going on in 219. Presumably these weren't sold as seasons given light-grey was sold out, and they were holding them back for single sales. Which then didn't materialize with the $50 price for this game ...
I thought the 18,000 number seemed a bit low actually, especially compared to what we could see in the stadium when 18,000 was announced late last season. I'm wondering if they were having ticket scan problems ... my ticket (a STH that they had replaced earlier this week, because they'd messed up a seat transfer) wouldn't scan, so they simply ripped the ticket in half instead. I'm wondering if there were others who had scan problems.
Last edited by nfitz; 03-31-2013 at 09:38 AM.
^I was a day one SSH with 4 seats in 222. Went to 2 seats there in 2012. Now I'm totally out.
I didn't want to move, I wanted those seats at a more reasonable price.
So I'm gone.
I know others like me.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Some positives from the game.
Earnshaw's 4 in 4 is fantastic. If memory serves it's the best start for an attacking player in our history. Also the way he's scored the goals, two disrupted back passes and two penalties. In short he has never received a pass that resulted in a goal. So with some better service he could continue this form.
I was really looking forward to seeing Osorio and Silva play together. It seemed to me that they could have a natural chemistry and we saw bits of that yesterday. They could, hopefully, be an important part of the team for some time and could both be very good players in this league.
The ending sucked but we've all seen more disappointing last minute goals scored at BMO so I wont lose any sleep
I'm satisfied with the result. It hurts giving up the late goal, but the fact is, whether its the 1st, 30th, or 90th minute, the objective of the game is to avoid letting in goals while trying to net some yourself. If Toronto was the team tying the game late then we'd likely all be celebrating. TFC has had some decent results against two top teams, while giving the other two a good fight. Things look far more promising right now then they have in a long time.
I'm really liking O'Dea. Probably worth the salary due to his age and potential.
Disappointing result. When will this team stop finding ways to concede in stoppage time at home?
I've come to expect it after the last few seasons.
Would I have taken a draw against LA pior to the game? Sure, but I just can't look at it that way.
I hope Nelsen learned from his error in judgement yesterday regarding leaving Russell in there for that long despite the brutal game he was having.
Decent result overall, but clearly a loss that should have been avoided. There is obviously some skill on our club, and we shoudn't be content with moral victories on home soil.
I was very thankful that it was a rusty Donovan, not Robbie Keane on that LA breakaway
“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
I know this is OT but I've felt since the start there are too many price points at BMO Field. Supporters, standard, premium and club, that's enough.
I don't know if this has been said, I know people are giving Russell crap for the late goal.. but he also let McGee get in front of him for the early goal...
I think two defensive issues like that are not a good sign... I mean when the same player loses his man both time there is a goal that is an issue and Russell needs to sit a bit, and another option down the road is going to be needed.
He may get there though. But LA beat Russell when it comes down to it.
In fact the header that Bendik saved from McGee was also Russell standing still as McGee raced past him.
Russell didn't make a single mistake he made a highlight reel of mistakes.
Which is sad...
The good news is... this team is getting better and better and will continue to do so... and our season will with luck get easier as we get to play teams that aren't living at the top of the table. (I mean seriously we don't have our first mid table game until May) Vancouver is honestly the weakest side we've play til May 4th.
Last edited by Kaz; 03-31-2013 at 12:04 PM.
I dont like how were playing with one striker, we have Braun who I would like to see what hes got otherwise Earnshaw plays every game. Perhaps using a diamond formation since Silva is back, then have Dunfiled, Hall, Becker and Osario play DM.
We need a solid left back and a Centre mid someone who can create.
I'm interested to see the next game, if you slot Ephriam and bostock on the wings, and Sliva in the centre with the ability to flip him and Ephriam depending on the play, leaving lamb and osario as subs with the normal back four, I think you may have enough play making to make it work.
Just leave Russell as a Sub let him working with the staff a bit longer
I am going to sound like a complainer but watching that game it reminded me of old TFC ways. Was a very boring game even tho the score was 2-2 it sounds better then it really was (LA goal was pretty dam nice tho) and TFC didn't really do a whole lot. Bostock was a standout player but needs a player to pass to and play with if he is going to be effective with TFC. There is a lot of work to be done if this team wants to win more games then they lose for a change.
Also the atmosphere was pretty bad, not to many people were singing (maybe a more entertaining game or a winning team would liven the place up). But ya support can be better.
Weather was awesome tho.
Last edited by james; 03-31-2013 at 05:45 PM.
same old james........
As for the team.... After 4 games I believe we are on the right track moving forward..Earnshaw and Bostock have been great pick ups.. We were much better when Silva was on the field.
RN will have these guys believing they are winners..and when that happens this team start to rise!
No doubt we get 3 on SAT!
Last edited by RPB_RED_NATION_RPB; 03-31-2013 at 05:48 PM.