Well, on the positive side, in past years this would have been about our first team rather than our depth players.
Well, on the positive side, in past years this would have been about our first team rather than our depth players.
It's a nice chance to get a look at what they're trying out and how new players look. But results don't mean anythingOriginally Posted by portu
#FreeQuilly
Based on last season at TFCII, I would be surprised if Bono doesn't stay down and the mighty Q is the backup. Larson seems to feel otherwise but then I think Bendik was his source on that info.
I wonder how much more development time Bono is going to get. I can easily see him getting moved out at the end of this season. There will be new sets of eyes on him (Irwin, new GK coach), that should provide enough info to make a decision.
Bono is interesting to me. This was a highly touted kid coming out of Syracuse, enough even to garner interest from Jurgen Klinsmann and get a look at last year's January camp. Last year he and Q shared the duties with TFC2 so it will be interesting to see if can step up. From understanding last season if the Reds had secured their playoff position earlier we would have seen Bono in one of the last few games to wrap up the regular season.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Bono is on a Generation Adidas contract - in essence he has 2 more seasons to prove himself worth an MLS salary.
That having been said, teams are starting to realise they need to keep 3 keepers around in case of injury and for cup runs. In theory, we could keep these 3 for the next 8 seasons. Not sure that will happen.
In terms of development (because both Bono and Q are still relatively young), wouldn't it be more beneficial for our "better" backup keeper to get regular apps with TFC2 rather than warming the bench for the first team? We don't have the luxury of playing in 3-4 different competitions to rotate our squad that much so barring injury or poor performance from Irwin, our backup will MAYBE get the Canadian Championship ties (depending on how seriously Vanney wants to take it) which could be as few as two matches.
I'm very curious to see what becomes of Bloom this season.
Last edited by DOMIN8R; 01-31-2016 at 01:15 PM. Reason: correction
"Failure simply isn't an option at this stage. TFC pushed its chips to the middle of the table when it splurged on Bradley and Defoe and reinforced its bet by making savvy acquisitions elsewhere. This collection of players is capable of delivering on the promises made during the close season. There are no more excuses available for TFC. Only success will continue the process of atoning for the past and establishing a higher standard for the future." FOX Sports
Me too. Very up and down couple of years for him... has a fantastic 2014 season, gets rewarded with a new contract, looks like the starting RB coming into 2015, gets displaced by Creavalle, surgery/out for the year and then TFC brings in a new RB for 2016. Unfortunately for him it's obviously Beitashour's job to lose and I haven't heard any indication that he can play anywhere else on the pitch so opportunities are going to be very limited for him.
What if Irwin goes down? Replacements are Bono and Roberts? I'm sure it is going to be a big year for both of them unless we get a solid MLS proven back up Goalie
That would make a lot of sense. Let the one with less potential sit on the bench and come on as a sub if needed, then call up the other one from TFC II to start if Irwin is out
The General to Jozy on a nice goal in today's match between the U.S. and Iceland.
https://vine.co/v/i52ZUvidAzu
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Consensus seems to be this:
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/MLSAnalyst/status/693908809899597824
& this:
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/SoccerByIves/status/693909196614402049
Hmmmm........
Better quality clip here: https://gfycat.com/RealComfortableGentoopenguin
Jozy is looking very lively, making darting runs, getting involved. Like he did early last year. That hamstring injury really slowed him down I think. This could be a big year for him.
Mentioned during the pregame commentary - Altidore worked with both a physical conditioning coach and a "mental conditioning" one too. I assume that means a sports psychologist. The prospect of a physically fit, mentally focused Jozy Altidore makes me happy. Looked good during the Iceland match today. Subbed out at 75'.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/SoccerByIves/status/693953930745610240
Jozy "Kyle Lowry" Altidore
How come the USMNT Bradley plays better than the TFC Bradley?
Comments on the game thread seem to agree that he played better because he had Nguyen/Nagbe playing in front/alongside him and he wasn't the sole chance creator. Which is why I don't think he should be our main link between the midfield and Seba/Jozy, he should play box to box with someone like Osorio up front.
First half he had Jones sitting as a nailed on DM.
Second half, not so much.
He got an injury before the year started and then another one just as he was about come back. His form dipped heavily towards then end of 2014, as did everyone else on that team. i think it was down to poor conditioning from Nelsen's staff, combined with the fact that his mind might have been elsewhere after the birth of his child that he couldn't be with a lot due to his wife living on some military base in the south. All understandable. I think given a shot he could regain that early 2014 form where I thought he was honestly one of the best RB's in the league.
He's very solid depth piece, probably playing in 12-16 games in total this season.
The problem I always see with the idea of having Osorio as an AM is that I literally don't think I've ever seen him play an incisive through ball. His off the ball movement is fantastic, as is his ability to work to retain possession. But I've never seen him play like the no.10 creative maestro that everyone seems to think he is. Bradley at least has that instinct, as well as a couple of other totally unique qualities he brings to that role.
Not this?...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ap3WNKMus
or this...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTT1yeH59ws
or this...
https://youtu.be/VcGKDErA9JU?t=2m17s
Last edited by PopePouri; 01-31-2016 at 09:32 PM.
Well, fair enough. I personally have just never seen him as that type of player. If we're speaking in templates, I think he's more of a Modric and less of an Ozil.
Agreed. I definitely don't think he has lost all of the quality he showed in 2014 and you really can't get much better than a guy like him as RB depth in the MLS.
I don't think anyone on the team sees the pitch better than Bradley other than maybe Seba or Cheyrou but I think the full range of his talents would be wasted in the attacking midfield role. I think he's best suited to a free central midfield role like the one he played today with Nguyen as the CAM where he can track back, ping long balls and join the attack when appropriate. Osorio's not perfect but he showed enough for me last season from the left side of the midfield to be trusted to not to completely fall apart from shifting into the middle. He can hold the ball, can beat men on the dribble, has creativity/flair and apparently he notched 7 assists last year which isn't too shabby (T-20 in the league).. Plus with Seba/Jozy playing off each other better this year he likely wouldn't be tasked to make many world class through balls, just your average short passes and layoffs, which he did well last year. Like you said, he's far from a typical maestro but slotting him as a CAM I think, is the most optimal use of the assets/players that we have at our disposal.
To be fair, Bradley doesn't really fit the no. 10 template as well.
Consensus is that Bradley does best when he has space to arrive late into the box and Oso has the one of the best passing percentages in the final third. If it's about putting the pieces together, logic means that you play Oso further forward than Bradley.
The only problem I have with Osorio in the final third is that he tends to just wait a second too long to make his play a lot of the time. Whether it's indecision or over-thinking, he does it a lot but it's something that could be corrected I think.
Bradley is the exact opposite. He runs like a nut and almost always overruns perfect passes that are laid
out at his feet. I don't see him changing his manic style until he loses a step. Until then let him do box to box and run amok like he likes to do.
But Osorio has a high passing percentage because he doesn't try a lot of difficult passes. He's very good at recycling possession, doing the off the ball running required to be an available passing option and making the right decision when things are settled and the play is in front of him. Moving him to the middle and asking him to be our primary playmaker is tasking him with a whole set of different obligations that I'm not sure totally match his skill set.
The consensus that Bradley plays best when he's arriving late into the box is I think kind of outdated, and slightly besides the point in the context of our team. He's excelled at the AM position for both us and the USMNT when he has a lot of guys making runs around him and he has free reign when his team is in possession to drop off into midfield and dictate play, or play higher closer to his forward(s) and make the requisite runs to open up space to either create room for them or put himself in the proper position to play the final ball through for a chance on goal. Playing Bradley in that spot can have its drawbacks occasionally, and they can pile up very quickly when things aren't going right. If the game isn't being played at his pace and the guys around him aren't doing the requisite running to create space for both him and and othesr to run into he can he can start to over-complicate things - showing for the ball too often, taking a touch too many or forcing a ball that isn't there because he doesn't want to continue to recycle possession.
Playing Bradley and Osorio at the positions they had last year in the diamond still gives us more out of those two than the reversal would offer.
Last edited by molenshtain; 01-31-2016 at 10:52 PM.
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