lmao, so trueOriginally Posted by ExiledRed
lmao, so true
Looking at the stats, it's hard to see how TFC could have possibly won that game. But watching the game at the stadium, it seemed to me that everything was under control, even when the team shifted to bunker ball in the second half.
http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/mat...ronto-fc/stats
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We went into another team's stadium - the Columbus Crew of all teams - with nearly half of our starters out of the lineup, including our key scoring threat, and missing The General for the final 20-25 minutes (after he played 90 minutes earlier this week), and we won. Not only that, we delivered Bill Archer's team their first loss of the season, in front of their own fans.
Go have a beer and enjoy it.
“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 went on BigSoccer and read the Crew's Pre-match thread then the Post-Match thread just for fun. They thought easy win for this match, except for one guy that called it dead on even down to the timing on the goals, then you read the post game....enjoyable reading. Man it is great to piss off the Crew fans. Excellent game result. I would love to see a little less panic ball at times kicking it away unnecessarily and turning over possession as a result. Bekker got into good positions but really has to work on weighting his balls properly. Hagglund looked comfortable out there and did really really well for his first game. I feel much better if he needs to step in at any point now. Would be great not to lose both CB's at once again though. Hope Oso can make it back for next game. He is missed in there with Bradley.
The first half was far from ugly. We were dominant. The second half was a different story...Bradley ran out of steam...we defended deep and counter attacked - fairly effectively. That has been a successfull formula for many a team over the years. The brightest point IMO is that it is becoming pretty clear that Nelsen knows how to organize a defence if he can turn some rookies and journeymen into a dependable back four we are wll on the way.
Whoscored stats for the game: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/788286/Live
Bradley Orr Man of the Match by the stats. He really was excellent today, along with Bradley and Jackson.
Why the fuck am I the only one not surprised????
I have always said that when we learn to defend we will start winning. We finaly have and have that extra leadership and skill that puts us over the top.
This game makes me a believer. After the loss, an with the absences this was a key win to show me that this team is the real deal. Listen they can go an tank now, footballis funny, but they have what it takes.
Last edited by trane; 04-06-2014 at 02:39 AM.
Just think about this. Have we ever won three games in a month before????? Never mind to do it when we opened the season.
Last comment, I really like what I see from Gilberto. He is a quality striker. He will score many goals for us.
Let me say this: yes the CBs played a decent game, but hold off on any bold statements about their quality. If anyone gets credit for that it should be Nelsen.
Orr and Hagglund are just slightly better versions of Attakora and Cann playing under Preki, sitting behind a system that gave them a ton of cover at most points of the match.
Any idea where I could find a full match replay on the internet.
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We are halfway to our total wins for last season, and already tied with DC United's total wins from last season.
“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
July 11, 2012: Beat Vancouver 3-2 at home.
July 14, 2012: Beat New England 1-0 away.
July 18, 2012: Beat Colorado 1-0 at home.
In the 2 months, from beating Philadelphia in Toronto on May 26 2012, to beating Colorado on July 18, we played 11 games. We won 5, drew 4 and lost 2.
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
I don't think you can say they lie. Just their ability to predict a single game result is more difficult.
There are warning signs though that may catch up with them over the long term.
A perfect example is the Leafs. Early this year they won a lot of games. But they were being horribly outshot in every game. Giving the other team more chances, logically speaking, increases your chances to lose. Fans didn't care though the results were coming. Anyone sounding warning bells was a negative nelly.
Last night in a game they had to win, they were miserably outshot again. And it happened too much all season. It caught up with them and they are now going to catch up on their tee times.
TFC's story with or without its stars is a team that will give you the ball over 60% of the time. It will give you more shots than it takes. It will make fewer passes (as a result of possession) and complete fewer of them (likely because of long balls sent over the midfield to forwards that typically miss their mark).
That, like the Leafs, is a recipe for potential trouble over the long term.
Points in the bank are great. They have a chance to beat the best start ever (2008 team had 9 points in 5 games and 17 in 10). Short term. Keep smiling.
The long term picture definitely shows work to do.
Last edited by Pookie; 04-06-2014 at 07:16 AM.
No game thread is really complete until trane wades in to distribute some f bombs, mangle some grammar, and say something really interesting.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
They lost quite a few when they did that stupid blackout policy. It also got their president terminated before his contract was up. If they have some success, they might come back. Its not a team that should be moved but they really need to get their act together. At least, ditch that concert venue hole that splits their supporter sections. What sort of a team has a gaping hole in the end where they attack in the second half?
Great win. The team is only going to get better as the season wears on, so getting these wins early is huge. They still haven't had enough time playing together to know each other. The possession numbers will improve once they have. The most important thing is this team has some steel. That's going to win games.
We haven't been outshot terribly this year. Currently we have 50 shots versus the opposition's total of 54. More importantly we have 16 shots on goal versus the opposition's total of only 14. I would think that the most important statistic would be shots on goal as these represent real opportunities to score versus holding onto the ball and not producing opportunities. As far as comparing TFC to the Leafs what can I say other than it is a beautiful sunny day outside today.
It's easy to be concerned about the end, but how about that start? That was the ball game.
To have that lineup come out there and own them for the first 20 minutes like that was incredible.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Lumpy, take out the DC game and what is the picture on the shots?
It helps our case when we don't have lose cannons on the field giving away penalties and picking up red cards.
The defence stood strong, every time Crew carried the ball into our penalty area some one was there to toe poke it away.
Yeah that was something. Short one touch passes that actually connected.
Lol. Seriously?
Take out the Columbus game and what is the picture ? Picking and choosing games to remove seems rather arbitrary. I stand by my original post.
100% yes.....Aggressive yet smart. Timing of his tackles, never out of position, never chasing an opponent towards his own net. Did you also notice how vocal Hagglund was? You make the most of your chances when they come and I think Hagglund deserves another game.
Ok then. Best team in MLS. Nothing to work on over the long term. Keep doing the same thing and all is well. Anything else you want to add?
Orr talks a lot. On the All for One 4th episode, there's a scouse accent talking up before the game. That's Orr the substitue. (which indicates to me the depth of the team feeling with this group).
One thing we also can forget about - seeing Ashtone Morgan much. Morrow's pass to Issy, including a stepover to freeze his marker, was superb. Morrow had a bad game in Utah but stepped it up this week. Its nice having a no drama LB.
I for one will reserve any judgement on our perception of the teams "style" until we've played a couple of home games on a decent pitch. What we saw tonight, and in Seattle, was textbook away football. Sit deep and make the other team try to break you down and punish them when you find them too far forward and strung out a bit. In Salt Lake, we had a bad game, it happens.
I fully expect us to take games in hand a bit more at home, when our pitch allows it. You can't really learn anything from the DC game, other than we have the character to dig in when the conditions are tough.
We saw TFC possess the ball much for effectively for spells in the first half and I expect we will continue to build on that going forward, especially at home.
For the record, watching Everton take Arsenal apart with a counter attacking game at home. So that plan isn't necessarily a bad one either.
I think we can all agree that for some reason, outside the elite teams playing in UEFA CL, many clubs approach away games differently from home games. We see this a lot in MLS, too. All three of our away games, we went in with the same passive approach yet we still were able to counter and create good chances.
Yes, we've played defensive and conceded possession on the road. I want to see more home games to see if we will be doing the same. The DC game isn't a good indicator since it was played on a horrible pitch. Even with TFC giving up so much possession, did DC even have an actual scoring chance? Would we take more charge of the game at home? I think teams will be coming into Toronto with a more defensive mentality, so they may just be "giving" us possession the way we did in Seattle, RSL and Columbus.
If we end up being out-possessed every game, yet limit scoring opportunities, I'll be ok with it. That style has won championships. If we get out-possessed and out-chanced at rates of 2-1 every game like the Leafs have all year, then I'll be worried.
Also, an additional observation, I'm not sure if Columbus is that bad at passing or if our players were just good at reading them, but how many times did Columbus' attacks just die because of a TFC defender/midfielder stepping into the passing lane? And we've been doing this consistently throughout the year with the exception of the RSL game. It must have been so frustrating for the Crew.
LOL, very well said.
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