She took me on a rollercoaster
I have never gone down
Have At It People
She took me on a rollercoaster
I have never gone down
Have At It People
I hope that dressing room considers itself very lucky and very fortunate.
IMO, regardless of whether it was the wrong painted lines, crappy turf or 60k, we just shouldn't have gone down 3-0 in the first place, as easy as we did.
I can't wait for some gritty outside late november weather conditions to come into play on the 30th.
Well we know exactly how Montreal is going to play this. Bunker in tight around the box and only go forward on counter attacks. Vanney should be analyzing every second of the tape from our 1-0 loss to them at home earlier this year.
Scoring first is just huge here. It's almost the only thing we need to do. Score first, and Montreal has no choice but to come out of their shell, which means they'll have to leave themselves more exposed. If they score first it could be a nightmare trying to get 2 past them.
The big question is whether Vanney sticks with the 3-5-2... I would guess that he does.
Win. Everything else is just noise
Not a huge sample, but seven times in MLS history the lower seeded team took the lead in game one for the conference final. In all seven cases that team went on to play in the MLS Cup final.
TFC can still win, but the odds favour Montreal TBH. TFC have the grit and the goal-scoring ability to win, however in doing so TFC will be vulnerable to the counter so they will have to be smart. Two away goals make it a lot closer than it otherwise would be.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
We just need to win the game. Score two goals more than them and just win. We can do that at home. Just get it fucking done.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
That field in Montreal assisted Montreal's speedsters because the turf never slowed the ball down like real grass (or even good turf). I don't think Montreal can pull off the same speed feats at BMO.
Even 1-nil will work.
If we play the way we have been in 300 out of the 360 minutes of these playoffs, then we should win. Other than 60 minutes or so in Montreal, we've been very good for the whole run.
I was saying this same thing last night at Joe's. The bunker and counter game they play works better on that pile of crap rug than our build-up controlled game. I saw many times where the bouncing ball and the bobbles helped them pressure and turn it over (not an excuse for what happened to us as we were shit on all three goals). I saw several occasions where Osorio or Giovinco slipped when trying to do their typical feinting and faking on defenders and lost possession. That won't happen on our field. I'm glad we got out of there with away goals and no key injuries. I was hoping for a win, expecting maybe a slim loss or a draw and we got a slim loss with a huge pair of away goals. Not ideal, but I'll take it.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
The turf at Montreal didn't help last night but TFC need a MUCH better performance than what they showed last night. They were second to every ball and the 3 at the back couldn't handle Montreal's speed at all.
Can TFC do it? Of course they can but I'm still very wary of Montreal's counter attacking game, like they showed at BMO in August, we can have most of the possession but they can hit you on the break easily.
As someone already said, the key to this tie is who scores first.
Momentum.
We have it.
You think Montreal feel good right now? Doubtful. Those 2 away goals are daggers hanging over their heads.
We need to win at home, at the fortress, at The. Best. Home. Field. In. MLS. I like our chances...............
I feel that TFC's greatest weapon is Giovinco bouncing back from his worst playoff performance of 2016 in Montreal.
First goal for TFC is critical, I agree. I will be cheering for a hungry and top form Giovinco to score that goal.
No one is mentioning how we broke their defensive strategy. Guys, we broke their bunker... twice! Our control inside the 18 was paramount in those two goals. Sure Ricketts should have buried that first try but even with the bounce off of the post, we recovered, made a touch, a cross and headed it in. Their defense did their best Hagglund/Zavaleta impression on that goal!
In regards to Oldtimer's stat about the lower seeded team taking a lead in the first leg and going on each time to the final...with all due respect, we don't need to know that!!!! "Git' that garbage outta here!!" but I honestly believe that this will be a special game and will not conform to norms or stats...much like last night's didn't.
2016 is the year of the comebacks so that should make up for that lower seed stat.
It might be slop after the Grey Cup game. That could be to our advantage.
Nope. Our buildup game, Osorio and Giovinco's touches and our close control around the box all benefit from a nice pitch. I'm hoping the Grey Cup is a tame affair that doesn't tear things up too much at all. Football tends to tear up the middle of the field, which is where we operate, not the wings, where they run their counter.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
It was ridiculously easy for them to generate quality chances on the counter attack last night. We can't give them that much time and space in the second leg. If we buckle down defensively, the offense can take care of itself.
To some extent, but I don't totally agree with that. If it's truly slop it won't be to our advantage. But if it's running slow from rain, etc, it will hamper a speedy team to some degree. Certainly a slower pitch will make that first ball out that they play harder, and we got killed by that quite a few times.
Well the nice thing is the fact that a 1-0 or 2-1 win by TFC and we go through even at 3-2 overtime will be played and even a shootout might decide the series, so everything still to play for which would not have been the case if the game had ended 3-0 for Montreal last night.
Last edited by SoccMan2; 11-23-2016 at 11:27 AM.
Bad pitches also tend to produce lower scoring games, which is what we need.
Prior to the game I had been thinking that TFC might do well to start Johnson ahead of Cooper to help fill the space and prevent counters. After seeing last night's turn of events, I'm convinced that it's now the right decision to make. Cooper would be a valuable option off the bench if they are getting desperate later on.