Has the actual guilty party come forward and offered to take Matt's place? I saw the banner last night and that was the first question that occurred to me.Originally Posted by Ricky_Portugal
Has the actual guilty party come forward and offered to take Matt's place? I saw the banner last night and that was the first question that occurred to me.
Here's what I saw:
In the first half we saw something that this team has never really had - wide play. Convey and O'Dea were dominating the left side with overlapping plays and were cuting into the middle of the park. It was amazing to watch how simple and effective an offense can. Lambe contributed nothing in that regard and Richter was admirable and provided more offense. Nelsen then pulled back the reigns on Convey and O'Dea in the second half and we went back to our normal offense, that is, the wingers play the ball back to our fullbacks and the guys with the worst touch on the team hoof it up the park. THIS IS THE PROBLEM. When you're trying to protect the lead it's imperative that you have possession. When you get the ball make 2-3 passes then launch it up the field the likelihood of you having to defend again is substantial. Did anyone else notice Camara took over the game or Nesta's patience? We need to swing it around the back more an be more patient otherwise these results will continue.
Agreed. Everyone around me was marveling at how much time we spent in Montreal's half in the 1st. Sometimes the best way to protect the lead is to keep doing what you're doing. Although, one could argue TFC doesn't have the horses to maintain a full 90. We basically invited them to score in the second half.
That was my question. It seems the feeling is its up to security to 'catch' the offender rather than admit to it.
Don't play with flares and you won't have an issue. Seems pretty simple to me.
Last edited by Phil; 07-04-2013 at 07:50 AM.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
He couldn't last year either. He was slow as molasses but still scored for fun. Regardless - he's tied up in a contract this year and then gone if he doesn't perform.
Another thing I saw:
O'Dea is exactly what Celtic fans said he was. Talented and error proned. He kept the guy onside on the third goal. That's two goals completely on him at $400K. Unacceptable. For this team to really move forward we need his salary reallocated.
Keeping an opponent onside is one thing (O' Dea's play on the first goal was a joke and straight up garbage) but you can thank Richter for goals two and three. I re-watched those goals a few times. Second came right to his feet and he didn't react fast enough in part because he wasn't watching the play and had his back towards the incoming cross and also because his reaction time seems slow pretty much always. The third one doesn't happen if he doesn't fuck around in the corner and hoofed it out of the pressure. He waited so long to try to clear it and then his clearance was pathetic. Also his positioning was back to the previous levels of poor that I grew to expect from him. Bring back Eckersley.
You're kidding....he gets $400K ?
For not knowing how to defend properly and his love for launching the ball as far as he can from left back to the right wing ?
He must think it's a good idea....he keeps doing it.
That's just wrong.
I think you're right about this. Almost looked like he was running with pain. He needs reserve minutes or something else. He'll ruin it again playing at game pace in MLS.
That was part of it. Watch the replay again. O'Dea trails Di Vaio 5 ft behind the back line. I can understand being caught 5 ft behind on a scramble but not sprinting back on a offside run.
It's easy to assign blame on goals, but pointing out Richter specifically on the two isn't quite accurate to me. As you said, O'Dea didn't track Di Vaio's run closely enough. Lambe also had the ball at his feet but didn't shield it. Richter obviously didn't clear it. On the second Richter may have reacted slowly but that was always going to be a hard ball for him to win. It dropped perfectly for Montreal on Caldwell's attempted header. Enough blame to go around on both goals.
I don't think it was necessarily that Nelson pulled anybody backwards. The start of the second half TFC were still trying to attack. But you also have to factor in that Montreal also changed their formation slightly, changed a midfielder, and then started getting more of the ball. Remember that there are two sides playing, two managers changing tactics, and two sides to the story.
The game changed swiftly after Montreal's first and second subs. Werner clearly got new instructions that Bernier didn't. I was surprised at subbing Bernier, who I rate, but it was clearly a tactical move and getting a new player on with new instructions. Could Nelson have made a switch himself immediately to counteract Montreal's move? Maybe, but it happened quickly and you can't get a sub on a ready after an opponents tactical switch within 3 minutes these days.
With the benefit of hindsight Nelson could have made an earlier sub, but then again, why do that when you are essentially coasting and in control of a game? Russell and Laba had full control of the game prior to Montreal's subs, I didn't see any reason to change at that point in time. We can all look back now and say that Nelson "should have done X", but really, I wouldn't have made a sub at that time either! I think Schallibaum is a twit, but he's also very good at tactically changing games and getting players to do certain things. His subs won the game, there is no doubt. I'd just put this down as a tactically lesson for Nelson, and something he can learn from.
No, I said that O'Dea tracked Di Viao's run to put him onside. If he literally stood still it would have been better.
Well he switched Convey to the other side in the second half. I personally would have subbed out Lambe to placed Koevermans up top and shifted Silva out wide. Maybe it was fatigue but the result is pretty much what I described.
Just watched the two Montreal goals again. I definitely don't point all the blame at Richter. The first Caldwell really should have done better with the initial cross. The ball flicked backwards behind Richter, who's momentum was carrying him past the ball. It was more unfortunately for Richter rather than "his fault". The second goal you can point a lot of fingers to Lambe who is totally asleep when the ball is cleared by Richter the second time. I thought Richter did well to get in front of the Montreal player to get the ball back again, then cleared directly to Lambe's feet, and Lambe was totally snoozing and let the Montreal player get in front of him and get the ball and gain possession. If Lambe is awake at that point, he gets possession of the ball and either turns with the ball, or clears to touch himself. If anybody is blaming Richter for the "poor clearance", you equally have to blame Lambe for not being awake in a position where he needs to be aware of his surroundings and quick enough to react when the ball is kicked straight at him.
Results aside the game was a great game to be at. The atmosphere isn't like it used to be, but last night the crowd was rockin and reasonable well attended. I love night games.
That was what the EX security originally wanted. In all honesty it wasn't one of our guys who had the flare. It was someone who joined the march along the way to BMO. So even if we had a name to give (and assuming we'd sell out another supporter), we don't even know who it was.
What is comes down to, if they had the right guy, fine. But they don't. They admitted they don't. And changed the reason for the ban from flare to trying to incite an incident with the Mtl supporters. Something that has been done numerous times.
There's more to the discussion going on in this thread. http://forums.redpatchboys.ca/showth...stice-for-Matt
Essentially this is allowing the EX security to pull anyone out of a crowd and ban them for no real reason.
My mistake. The point remains the same though.
I will start by saying Ecks > Richter
BUT
Montreal probably has the most dangerous offense in the league. We were short and I think Richter mostly handled Di Vaio quite well.
WE DID IT!
The Good
-3 goals from 3 different players breaking their goal scoring ducks
-South End rocking
-Laba bossing midfield
The Bad
-Giving up 3 goals
-Jeremy Hall singlehandedly trying to lose the game
-Reggie Lambe running around clueless
The Ugly
-O'Dea's giveaway leading to Mtl goal
-Bartholomew Toledo
-Comical TFC defending
Ratings
Bendik 6
-Again let down by his defence, and made a huge save to keep the game a draw.
Richter 5
-Partially at fault for 2 goals against. Still value for 34k/yr salary, but can't wait for Ecks to be back at RB.
Caldwell 6.5
-Turning out to be real threat on set pieces and plays with tenacity haven't seen from TFC CB in a long time.
Agbossoumonde 5.5
-Like most young defenders, suffers from occasional lapses in concentration.
O'Dea 6
-Would have gotten a worse rating if not for his well taken goal. Defending was poor. Di Vaio is class, but you either step up with rest of your team for offside trap or you stay goal side to at least put your body between di Vaio and goal for 3rd Mtl goal. O'Dea did neither. His attacking was good though, and his goal was class finish.
Lambe 5.5
-Not totally in sync with rest of the team and largely ineffective in stretches. Osorio was missed at RM
Russell 6.5
-Dude is a walking bomb and red card waiting to happen, but I think he surprised a lot of people with his play at CM. Assisted Laba in totally domination of mid by TFC for what, 2/3 of the game.
Laba 7
-Looks like he's got the league figured out. Was everywhere and his first touch and deft technique at keeping balls was a pleasure to watch. Doesn't complicate his game, and he is one of few players on the team that knows what he's going to next before the ball gets to him, instead of reacting like others.
Convey 6.5
-I thought one of Convey's better games. Clearly lost a lot of pace, but linked up well with O'Dea on left side on attacks. Won't be much of a goal scorer though.
Silva 7
-One of Silva's better games as he played the link up role between mid and striker well. When he has confidence, he can take on any defender in MLS and showed couple of nice moves. Has no left foot though.
Brockie 7.5
-Breakout game for Brockie who was rewarded with a goal and an assist. About average MLS striker in terms of quality, but has excellent work rate and a good cross. If he potted in one of his other quality chances he got, he'd have been an instant hero.
Nelsen 7
-Got the tactics right to start and exposed Mtl defence for 3 goals. He saw the weakness in Mtl's defending lately (Nesta is really slowing down) and used one twos and movements off the ball to really stretch Mtl defence. TFC goals given up were individual brainfarts and breakdown during transition after giveaway.
-After Mtl made adjustments, Nelsen hoped to ride out the game by keeping the players he started which up to 2nd Mtl goal were playing very well. Subbing in Braun was poor as Braun has poor touch and didn't do well with overall ground passing game TFC was playing. Hall was another poor sub as he gave the ball away too many times. And Koevermans for 5 mins really doesn't do much.
-Another lesson learned for Nelsen, but I really did liked the passing game for first 65 mins.
“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
Oh yeah. Fuck Toledo, Fuck Fuck Toledo
One of worst reffing displays even by Toledo's standards. He has to work very hard merely to disappoint me.
Missed a blatant tug by Nesta on Silva during his whiffed shot that should have been a PK. Which I suppose evens out with a di Vaio offside goal which was not. Players were being manhandled and bowled over (for both sides) and no calls from Toledo
“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 have posted a reply in that thread.
Cheers
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
To be fair to Lambe (who I'm not a fan of) yes he should be aware of his surroundings but does not have eyes in the back of his head. Richter should have been able to see clearly Brovsky was about 3 feet away from him and already making his run to close distance. It was a poor decision to pass to a teammate who was marked near the edge of the 18 yard box. Also poor to not recognize that, for example, it was Lambe, not Laba who he was passing to - who has the skill to retain possession but Lambe does not. Lambe certainly offered nothing on that play in terms of getting open and fighting to keep it, but IMO it was an extremely poor decision from Richter, who of late, has consistently turned over the ball on the first pass coming out of our end.
Massive thanks to tfc fan services who got my elderly parents seats in a seating section for 111 seats despite the game being a 'sell out'
To be fair to Richter, I don't think it was a "pass" to Lambe. It was just a clearance. It was near on a foul by the Montreal player tugging him back, and Richters clearance ended up flat, no height, and not a strong kick. I don't think he was intending to put it low at Lambe. But Lambe still needs to react quicker when the ball ends up coming towards him. The Montreal player completely robbed Lambe, picked his pocket, and then the ball was turned over.
...let me add Russel > Hall
I think Hall was a fine sub in theory. Hall has been playing well lately, and not giving many/any balls away in midfield. I think Nelson expected Hall to go on and play as he has been playing lately. Nelson could never have expected Hall to come on and play badly suddenly. Even the best coach in the world wouldn't expect a player who has been playing consistently well, to come on and have a stinker out of nowhere!
It might just be the case that Hall isn't a sub player - some guys are natural "super subs" and come on and change a game, while others sub in and find it difficult to get into the game, and pace of the game, half way through. Hall may just be the latter type of player. Seeing how Hall didn't adapt to the speed of the game as a sub, I would think twice about using Hall as a sub again, he's clearly a better starter than substitute.
Good summary Yohan. A bit generous rating for Silva, me thinks.
Something that seems to be ignored is the subtle truth that it appears that MLSE has the stones to pay for world-class players. I love Koevs as much as the next person, but if ownership wanted to bring a world-class, cup winning, National team playing superstar, it wouldn't be hard to argue with replacing him. Or if they kept him as a non-DP contract.
Koevs started slow like this last year as well and then went on a scoring run before injuring himself. I do think it's worth giving him a shot at getting up to fitness to see if he can do it again. He's under contract this year, so unless we can find someone to take him off our hands (unlikely) he's taking the cap space as it is, so we might as well use him. Of course, none of that means we can't/shouldn't be pursuing a replacement at the same time.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote