All 5 of the current CD's have passing range - the issue is the 3 in Friday chose not to use it.
All 5 of the current CD's have passing range - the issue is the 3 in Friday chose not to use it.
The problem is most sides will come to BMO and play like Kansas this season. Sitting deep and forcing the ball in to a predicable phase of play. There was hardly any movement between their lines, forcing Bradley to receive the ball 10 yards deeper than for example, against Vancover.Originally Posted by OgtheDim
Far too often Bradley received the ball at the tip of a triangle, with his only option to move the ball backwards or sideways.
KC played our shape really well, sending two forwards to pressure Bradley and force quicker outlet passes. It was smart. They also triple-teamed Seba whenever he was near the edge of the box. KC won't score a ton this year but Vermes has them playing good defense that's for sure.
Fuck I hope not. He's not a wingback; he wasn't one at TFC II, he's never played there except now with the first team, and both his crossing and defending are suspect. And he wasn't playing LM, so he was definitely out of position (even if that's their continued intent).
But he's a great winger, potentially. Fucking waste if we move him to fullback/wb. His defense will doubtless improve, but he should be spending his time with the first team beating FBs and CBs on the run, which is what he's great at.
EDIT: As for his performance, I would call it mixed. He had some great moments because he has great talent, but he had some positional brain farts and he skied two crosses.
100% the way I saw it. Except he had more than two bad crosses.
Like I said, the breadth of comments about Edwards post game is weird. It's like 25 people watched 25 different games. (except you and I watched the same game I guess!)
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
I'd say Moore has some, the other two it's a function of having time on the ball. If put under pressure they aim straight up the field often. Nobody has the passing range perquis had, of course that never made up for his brain farts defensively but I digress.
I think the wet weather hurt our usual game plan at home a bit. I think we'd be moving the ball faster otherwise and be a little more effective. Also think we've been getting some bum luck from officials. We're getting kicked off the park in midfield and that's hurting the buildup. By the point they fouled Seba for the fourth time in the second half the ref should have gone to his pocket for persistent infringement. And some of the counter attacks that were snuffed out by synical fouls should have been called as well. Swallowing your whistle to "let the game flow" doesn't work when you have teams that are always going to test limits in terms of the amount of physical play involved.
Last edited by ag futbol; 04-02-2017 at 10:53 AM.
Drew Moor's passing was awful on Friday, at least anytime he tried to pass a bit farther. KC noticed that and left him even more room & time to make a long pass, while closing other avenues off. I don't know if it was the weather, or just Moor having an off day. Also KC is really good at sitting just a bit behind the attacker, waiting for a pass, and then rushing in to cut it off. Long passes have to be 100% perfect against them, and most TFC players couldn't do that on Friday. KC still plays lots of the 90-minute track meet style.
I agree they pressed Bradley hard on Friday, but there's another issue: Bradley rarely has a forward pass in mind before he receives a pass. He's used to being given plenty of space, looking around, and often hitting an excellent long pass if he has the time. KC didn't allow that time. Other teams will take note.
Alan Kelley was good when he arrived. For a while though, he seems to be calling based on reputation and not on what's happening on the field. Giovinco and Altidore are badgered too often, but I guess Kelley has decided that they're fakers. On the flip side, he calls some weak fouls against them.
FWIW, he played LWB in Phoenix with TFCII a week ago. Team doesn't use FB's right now (although I think a 4-3-3 is going to happen eventually, just to give other teams pause). Team doesn't use straight wingers in a flat 4-4-2.
His best position (I think) would be as a winger/wide forward, or a secondary striker behind the target guy. He's really good with the ball at his feet and could create havoc running at back lines. Certainly, he'd create a ton of space. None of this fits our current style, so they're pigeonholing him as a a wingback.
This game went just as I expected unfortunately. KC are a pretty decent defensive side. I'm glad we can play that kind of game and not fold as we used to - that shows our improvement at the back over the past two years. But we still aren't making BMO a fortress.
When I was picking my fantasy team I passed over Giovinco on the theory he can't play in bad weather. Which he showed again on Friday. When we hit playoffs, let's hope we come third or higher and play southern opponents.
It's unfortunate that Giovinco is suffering from Pablo Vitti-itis. Gets into great scoring chances but just can't put it away. He needs to score. That saved PK hurt his confidence a bit. Hopefully he'll get an easy goal vs Atlanta defence and get back on the goal streak.
At least I no longer worry about late game collapses we're so used to seeing with previous TFC teams. Teams fear TFC and bunker and give TFC a lot of respect. Still getting used to that.
“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
^ His visible anger out there tells me something is wrong. That is not just a guy working through a slump. (Altidore the first ten games last year, that was a guy working through a slump.)
I am getting a bit suspicious that Gio's injury from last summer isn't OK. He hasn't been remotely the same since he came back from that late last year.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
5 goals and 4 assists in the playofffs. Seba had a similiar run of poor form last summer and he turned around pretty spectacularly before his injury.
Some guys have slumps. the season is early. let's see how he's doing in june when we're in mid-season form.
I'm telling you he can't play in the cold.
I actually thought he was very dangerous on Friday for the first time since game 2 against New York. He was buzzing, made a couple of beautiful passes, and stuck his free kick well for the time in a long time. If you guys are focusing on one play where he couldn't get a foot on it, I would go rewatch the game and focus on him.
To be honest I think we played ok. We kept shape, we kept the ball for the most part, and we kept it in their end for the most part, we were just not crisp enough in the final third.
Had Jozy and Seba played the entire 90, I am confident we would have scored 1 or 2.
As others commented KC played good organized football. In some ways it is a sign of the league getting better, were clubs can play organized footy to get points on the road, even if they have the inferior talent. We have to learn to deal with it.
More effective attacking play from the wings could have also made the difference. Not that it was terrible. But last year's Morrow could have created more for us.
going to add my stadium and armchair notes to this.
we started like we left half the team in the tunnel. luckily we weathered the onfield storm.
The pitch was obviously wet from the crap conditions (sunday game would have been awesome this week) so the ball was just zinging along. But from what I've read the pitch had a bit of sand in it to keep it in one piece this early (haven't confirmed this with the Grounds crew yet). wet - ball moves faster. sand - feet move slower. I'm using this as an excuse for Oso who was so unlucky and for Drew who just couldn't find a good touch all game. Both teams were missing easy passes/touches all over the pitch.
Edwards had an excellent debut-start for a rookie with some definite room for improvement. The way he got goal side on some of the runners to cut off 6 yard box passes was unexpected and good. The goal line clearance was amazing but there were a number of other opportunities he cut off after coming back from way too far downfield. Near the end of the game he was just bagged and I would have liked to see Jozy for him to run a 4-3-3 for 10 minutes and then cooper for Ricketts to close out the winning position (yes....optimistic) in 442. but what the funk do I know
there were a couple of Seba-vazquez interchanges that were sublime. Two players that are both so gifted and know where the other will go. that relationship will result in some goals this year without a doubt.
frustrating game but with the conditions and the lineup issues it turned out okay.
see ya'll saturday.
This has the ring of truth. And it's a concern.
i agree with this. Edwards is having a great start, but that masks mistakes- like taking a touch before crossing which lets the defenders back rather than an immediate touch which gives his teammates the edge.
Last edited by MightyDM; 04-04-2017 at 09:28 AM.
^ To be clear I did not mind Edwards performance.
I agree, I thought he showed great promise. But some of the comments here are blind to the areas he needs to improve.
Further to the comments on Edwards performance, there was a lot of great things he did positionally and defensively. That being said he needs to work at getting a cross in as he had a handful opportunities to whip in a cross and they were terrible attempts and he needs to work on his finishing. It seems that most of the team has an issue with finishing.
I feel that if Morrow was healthy, he would have buried at least one of the chances that Edwards had. But that being said it nice to see a kid come through the academy and have such potential to be an influential player going forward for TFC and eventually Canada
You know, I had the same thought after the first game and a half this season and I said so on here, but my honest look at his performance this game was that he was back to his usual self. Against RSL and the first half he played in Philly, I thought he lacked agility the same way I remember him vs. Montreal and Seattle in the playoffs. Just lacking that quickness, his ability to be shifty with the ball, he was getting closed down and didn't seem to have an answer.
I didn't see that this game though. KC played smothering defensive football so the biggest problem with him was just getting him the ball in an area where he could do damage - there were similarly "quiet" games from him last year where the issue was the same. But when he dropped deep for the ball, he wasn't just passing off, he was turning on his man and playing the ball into good areas. A few times pulled multiple defenders with him before getting it wide to Edwards. I didn't see him lose possession very often, even in tough spots, as opposed to his first game and a half. And that free kick was classic Seba, nearly perfect, to my recollection the first one he's even gotten over the wall since the playoffs last year. I thought he looked good, we just gave him barely a look offensively (like how Altidore came off the bench basically to just get a yellow card - we couldn't get him on the ball at all, and we know he's in good form).
Even in the warm-up last Friday Seba was blasting most shots wide and never looked himself during the game.
Sometimes, when talented dribblers change leagues, they flourish at first and eventually stagnate.
In time, they may get 'found out' by defenders or just adapt their play to their surroundings.
When Diego Costa first joined Bayern Munich, his moves made defenders question their profession, now he's on the bench.
Closer to home, early TFC J. Plata was an unpredictable menace turning folks inside and out. Not so much anymore.
Gio has shown that he is special and I hope to see it again soon.
I don't see the separation, the little tiny burst that Gio has shown, that is the key to his game. With it, he's lethal. Without it, just another guy.
The weather really could be part of it, too.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
he had a bit of a slump last season at one stage too then came round. I thought this was the first game where I could see glimpses of him, still not 100% but better.I'll give it another couple of games before I get too worried. I don't think the whole team has really clicked yet, I think once Vasquez finds his feet, I think he and Giovinco could be very good together. Seen a couple of little interactions between them that suggests they will click.
Re Bayern I think you mean Douglas Costa, Diego plays for Chelsea.
Right, I meant Douglas. Diego is an unlikable streaky thug.
Although, Vasquez has the experience, patience and quality to dictate play (I hope Bradley is taking notes), in the past Seba did not have to rely on others to shine.
Vasquez won't fix Gio. Seba has to figure it out himself.
Not to get in a debate about something that has nothing to do with the thread, but Diego Costa has probably been the most consistent striker in the EPL this season. I'd say he's been the opposite of streaky. Unlikable? Yeah for sure.
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