Thoughts based on reading t
his article from Kristian Jack.
At the end of last season, I said we needed to address the attacks coming from the side and every defensive position except Morrow. I think we fixed the attack by getting two forwards who drift out wide. Seba is the best striker in the league and Jozy is in the top 10. And Osorio has been good on the left. The right is still an issue though.
However, the two attackers we have don't track back consistently (in the case of Altidore) or at all (Seba). That leaves our midfield having to do a lot of work. Osorio is good there, and Delgado, in spurts if he isn't being manhandled (boy needs to bulk up a bit). But a guy like Findley needs to be surrounded by competency in front and behind him to succeed. As for the central mids, I agree with Jack - Cheyrou doesn't cover enough ground anymore and isn't really a defensive minded player. Bradley needs a Beckerman type (not Beckerman). Or a Laba type (Laba ain't going to happen).
If we can find a decent right mid shuttler who can provide some defensive cover and a real DM minded person to connect with Bradley in the middle, we'll do better.
And the defence remains an issue baring Morrow. Money spent on Moore, Findley and Gomez is money spent on 2 players we don't need. And that money spent means we were relying upon Caldwell and Hagglund and Perquis eventually after he settled in. Well, out of all that, we got 4 games of a settled in Perquis.
That's on Bez.
Vanney - he got out coached today. On other days, he's out coached others (see the home NYRB game and, although it was a loss, the Seattle game with half our team missing). Everybody's suggestions get out coached occasionally (Bruce Arena last night for example). My issue isn't his tactics. My issue is his inability to make our defence better. At some point, Vanney has to take responsibility for a defensive back 4 that is the poorest in the league and did not get noticeably better. We were relying upon players having good form, rather then players making their base defensive capabilities better. Hagglund regressed to the point where he's not even on the bench. Williams did not get better. Kantari got worse (he's this year's Bradley Orr). And the inability of both Bez and Vanney to find us a proper RB was exposed at the beginning of the season with Creavalle and at the end with Jackson.
Future - I think Vanney might be fired if a better coach with a proven ability to meld a team is available. There was something in how Vanney handled the press tonight that just doesn't sound right.
I know Saputo would be firing him right now (and don't for a moment think that Montreal is on the way to continued long term success as long as that interventionist owner is around).
That could happen in the next few weeks or in July (see Klopp following Rogers at Liverpool). Just as long as it doesn't happen in December/January. But, I would suggest its more likely that Vanney is kept around then let go, simply because the new President values stability.
Originally Posted by tfcfans
^^^^ it's easy to explain - the lower bowl seats are mostly owned by corporations who use them to entertain clients who still get impressed by having sushi at a Leafs game - they are used as a tax deductible business expense. The season seats owned by individuals in the upper bowl sell for $45-$50 per ticket for purples and less than double that for Greens --- they sell off 30+ games to "scalpers/friends" at "face value" which is usually close to 2X what they actually paid and they go to ten games for little money or free. Everyone I know with Leafs seasons seats that are "regular" families does this (they don't go to 40 games a year!) --- they arent out any real money so they keep them and hope for one magical Stanley Cup run to make it all worthwhile....crazy as that notion is.....it's like having $10 TFC tickets, you can always get your money back or make a bit of profit to pay for the games you go to....the ROI is still high as people who go to one Leafs game a year as a "special treat" will still spend $100-$150 a seat - the STH pay much less than that in the upper bowl so their investment is protected. It's the individual game purchaser that really pays through the nose --- there's a reason Yellow and Light Greys are in demand (like Purples and Greens are at the ACC), you can get your money back on the low end seats....although raising Light Greys a few more times like this year might eliminate that soon too!!
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