Match Day 6 - Time to Mop Up Those Pee Stains - TFC @ Columbus Sat April 15th 8pm

[SoccMan2]

Ok I'll give Vasquez a little more time to adapt to the MLS, he has not been bad but nothing special so far, I mean soccer is a team game I know, however, with him in the lineup so far our record sucks, hopefully he gets better and this helps the team get better. He needs to be able to have the same effect that Higuaín has on Columbus Crew, if you look at the two player's careers before coming to the MLS they are pretty similar in terms of where they played at the success they achieved so there is no reason that Vasquez can't be a Higuaín for TFC.

[SoccMan2]

They announced a crowd of what just over 12000 in Columbus looked a lot less on TV sad, however , just a bit over an hour and a half just south of Columbus in Cincinnati in the USL the same league TFC11 play in Cincinnati was playing at the same time and had over 23000 at their home game, I how much more really can Columbus tickets be than Cincinnati USL tickets, come on this is a joke that a USL team an hour a half down the road outdraws an MLS team like that embarrassing!

[ag futbol]

Something has to give with both Vasquez and Giovinco not exactly being workhorses on the defensive end. Admirable of Altidore to frequently track back but as our best attacking threat right now and primary holdup man I question if that's where we want his energy spent.

Time for these other guys to put in a shift. I'd heavily consider reverting to a 4-2-3-1 as well with Moor injured.

[PizzaEatingYeti]

If we look at our points as of right now, the maximum we could have achieved is 21 PTS, and we received 7 Points which totals an average of 33% of the total points, we have to receive probably close to 50% in order to get to the playoffs; right now something has to change or we can think of the season as a rebuilding season, cause there will be no playoffs

This.
We had a piss poor start for 2017. Things need to change a lot in the next 5-6 games for this team to be at least something close to what has been at the final of the last season.
The scary thing though is that not only the finishing needs to be 2 classes better, but the defense needs to be a lot more solid too.

We blamed almost always just individual players the first 5 games of the season for finishing errors, defense mind-farts, but after this 6 th game isn't time to seriously analyze Vanney too?
Isn't about that he reached his technical limits, plus he cannot motivate any more enough the dressing room?

[MightyDM]

Well, that was a downer. I thought the first thirty minutes were the best we have played all year. And then we were crap.

I think the comments about formation are correct: the coaching staff aren't getting the best out of our talent at the moment. 4-2-3-1 will not work because we must have two up front, Jozy plus Seba. 4-1-3-2 is possible, as is 4-4-2 diamond. But if it's 4-1-3-2 who plays wide in the midfield?

With our players, if Moor isn't available, we have to go with a back four and I think the 4-4-2 narrow diamond fits best, with Morrow and Beits creating the width. The Manchester City coach was today talking about attacking the narrow spaces. We have the talent to do that.

[DinamoTFC]

Well, that was a downer. I thought the first thirty minutes were the best we have played all year. And then we were crap.

I think the comments about formation are correct: the coaching staff aren't getting the best out of our talent at the moment. 4-2-3-1 will not work because we must have two up front, Jozy plus Seba. 4-1-3-2 is possible, as is 4-4-2 diamond. But if it's 4-1-3-2 who plays wide in the midfield?

With our players, if Moor isn't available, we have to go with a back four and I think the 4-4-2 narrow diamond fits best, with Morrow and Beits creating the width. The Manchester City coach was today talking about attacking the narrow spaces. We have the talent to do that.

Why exactly can't 4231 work for us? Seba is almost useless now because every team is defending him well. The only time he's actually doing something with the ball is when he has to come to midfield to get it.

Altidore up front with Seba left vazquez and one of osorio or Cooper or whoever on the right could technically work. Bradley also needs help. Too much is focused on going thru him in the middle and teams are also learning to defend him. The only issue is if Seba doesn't defend much but morrow has been doing an excellent job covering the left side all on his own as wing back.

I want to see more of Seba with the ball again running into space and taking defenders on. He's often getting double teamed and easily pushed off the ball lately.

[ag futbol]

Put Seba in one of the wide spots of the 4-2-3-1... that's often the second most attacking role in the formation. And that player sometimes drops into the middle to play as almost a 4-4-2 diamond.

The current role as playing behind the target man (or directly on top) isn't working. He's blanketed out or forced to drop back really deep to get the ball. Force the other team to unbalance the field if they want to drop extra defenders on him. That is most effective in a wide area.

[reggie]

they better change something,im tired of the all the excuses.bottom line is they drop too many points at home.

[Initial B]

Does anyone know what the expected goals were for that game? I find that gives a better idea if a team is under/over performing their expectations.

[PizzaEatingYeti]

Does anyone know what the expected goals were for that game? I find that gives a better idea if a team is under/over performing their expectations.

http://www.oddsportal.com/soccer/usa...under;2;2.75;0
http://www.oddsportal.com/soccer/usa...under;2;3.00;0

[C.Ronaldo]

Yes.



Now that's just silly.

i mean at the 60/70th min, as a sub

[Areathrasher]

Does anyone know what the expected goals were for that game? I find that gives a better idea if a team is under/over performing their expectations.

[MightyDM]

Why exactly can't 4231 work for us? Seba is almost useless now because every team is defending him well. The only time he's actually doing something with the ball is when he has to come to midfield to get it.

Altidore up front with Seba left vazquez and one of osorio or Cooper or whoever on the right could technically work. Bradley also needs help. Too much is focused on going thru him in the middle and teams are also learning to defend him. The only issue is if Seba doesn't defend much but morrow has been doing an excellent job covering the left side all on his own as wing back.

I want to see more of Seba with the ball again running into space and taking defenders on. He's often getting double teamed and easily pushed off the ball lately.

The left of a 3 in a 4-2-3-1 has defensive responsibilities. That makes Seba unsuitable, unless he completely changes his style of play.

[SarniaTFC]

Was so devastated when my plans to travel didn't work out but after watching that shower of shit I'm glad I didn't spend my hard earned money to travel that distance for a really horrible and disappointing performance!

[OgtheDim]

The xG map is very telling. Wish somebody would do that each week. The xG is available but, apparently, only teams get the maps.

[Areathrasher]

The xG map is very telling. Wish somebody would do that each week. The xG is available but, apparently, only teams get the maps.

Follow the twitter account in the bottom corner of the map. That account produces them every week.

[todortonchev]

I really hope to more effective in finishing the attacks against Chicago. Fire looks in a decent shape to make our life tougher.

[OgtheDim]

Follow the twitter account in the bottom corner of the map. That account produces them every week.

COOL - thanks for the find


Here are the maps from the tweet for this game.

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/853524106091913216

The passing map is very interesting - Beitashour didn't make that many passes (less then 4) into the forwards.

[woolly]

I'm no strategy expert, but with Vasquez playing so high (more of a 3-4-3 than a 3-5-2) we are missing out on the transition between the back and front. Cooper, who we rate pretty highly, is not a passing player and can't fill that role, and Edwards has the same issue. Last year we had a stable of player filling the transition role with Beitashour and Morrow banging down the wings (Morrow was tied to the back on D last game to make room for Edwards). This year we got a great player but not someone who seems to be comfortable filling the role that we need.

If Moor is going to be out for an extended time, we need to find another LB to free up Morrow, and establish a decent AM partnership.

[C.Ronaldo]

vasquez being that high had to be a coaches call. you would see all 3 lined up at the top often, Vasquez often doing the pressing. then you have crosses coming into the smallest guy on the team with jozy dropping
not sure what vanney expected from it

[OgtheDim]

In general I think they are trying to play Seba in for the final ball with Jozy doing hold up flicks and turns.

[C.Ronaldo]

In general I think they are trying to play Seba in for the final ball with Jozy doing hold up flicks and turns.

and it works when it works, but too often jozy is playing deep to come get the ball or defend

[molenshtain]

Ohhh I love early season freak out mode. It's my favorite part of every season. If I could mainline it and hook it in to my veins I totally would.

Seriously. We've had a tough schedule and we've looked little rusty. Do we need to bring up the same examples every year of teams in this league who start very, very slowly only to challenge for the SS and the cup? because it literally happens every year. The red Bulls lost 7 of their first 8 last year before they would go on to finish within a point or two of Dallas. The year Portland won their cup they won just 3 of their first 12 games of the season. When SKC won their supporters shield they went winless in their first 10 games. Arena's Galaxy teams were notorious for using the first half of the season as an extended pre-season before getting everyone healthy and ready to go for the stretch run.


Baseball fans have learned not to look at the standings before June because it's a long season and form is temporary and guys are still getting healthy. I really think it's time for MLS fans to adopt a similiar attitude towards the first third of our season. What is true in march and April is almost never true in December in this league.

Let's take a deep breath and remember that this is still a team who's only lost 4 of their last 27 games.

We're fine. This is normal. we're still who we thought we were.

[Hamilton_Red]

Ohhh I love early season freak out mode. It's my favorite part of every season. If I could mainline it and hook it in to my veins I totally would.

Seriously. We've had a tough schedule and we've looked little rusty. Do we need to bring up the same examples every year of teams in this league who start very, very slowly only to challenge for the SS and the cup? because it literally happens every year. The red Bulls lost 7 of their first 8 last year before they would go on to finish within a point or two of Dallas. The year Portland won their cup they won just 3 of their first 12 games of the season. When SKC won their supporters shield they went winless in their first 10 games. Arena's Galaxy teams were notorious for using the first half of the season as an extended pre-season before getting everyone healthy and ready to go for the stretch run.


Baseball fans have learned not to look at the standings before June because it's a long season and form is temporary and guys are still getting healthy. I really think it's time for MLS fans to adopt a similiar attitude towards the first third of our season. What is true in march and April is almost never true in December in this league.

Let's take a deep breath and remember that this is still a team who's only lost 4 of their last 27 games.

We're fine. This is normal. we're still who we thought we were.

It's been pretty appropriate for 9/10 seasons so far. You are pointing to MLS winners who had a bad start like 95 year old smokers..saying see I told you smoking wasn't bad. The 50 dead smokers are no where to be seen. They need to show some signs of life.

[Areathrasher]

It's been pretty appropriate for 9/10 seasons so far. You are pointing to MLS winners who had a bad start like 95 year old smokers..saying see I told you smoking wasn't bad. The 50 dead smokers are no where to be seen. They need to show some signs of life.

Yes, cos the current iteration of TFC is exactly the same as previous versions...

I get it, nothing wrong with demanding better and I'm not exactly happy with how they are playing or the results so far but until they have shown they can't turn it around it shouldn't be panic stations.

[Canary10]

It's really not panic time. We have only played two home games, and those have been against two of the better early performers. We've had a road heavy schedule and we've done fairly well. If we play a bunch more home games and still no results, then let's get worried. Six teams make the damn playoffs we should remember.

[OgtheDim]

When we lose or tie, everything eventually turns into a Vanney thread.

[molenshtain]

It's been pretty appropriate for 9/10 seasons so far. You are pointing to MLS winners who had a bad start like 95 year old smokers..saying see I told you smoking wasn't bad. The 50 dead smokers are no where to be seen. They need to show some signs of life.

No you have the correlation backwards. I'm not saying that because other good teams had shitty starts we're definitely going to get back to what we were in December. I do think that to an extent, but that's not the point I was making. The point I was making is that these games are not ever a good indicator either way, so we should stop reaching for the panic button every time we go through a rough patch near the beginning of the season. I'm fairly sure there are players on the team who read this board every now and then, or at least read what Kurt writes in the Sun - which is increasingly becoming a summary/response column towards sentiments aired on this bored. It puts ludicrous amounts of pressure on the team that isn't really warranted.

There's a reason why Osorio, for better or worse, plays like he's carrying around every demon this club has had since year one on his back in every single game. The expectations for every game are ridiculously high here in a way that's different than every other team in the league. I just think that now that we know what this team is capable of, we should afford them some space to work their shit out like everyone else does.


Besides, I remember our problem always being the opposite - we always started well and then shat the bed in the summer.