Balde Toledo hates Altidore.
Balde Toledo hates Altidore.
Extremely bad half by TFC.
Dude that was infuriating by Cooper. Rather than take an easy layoff he dives for a foul then concedes a free kick.
Alright boys, time to shut the doors!
*holds up capital letter D cardboard cutout, and white picket fence cutout*
HELL YES 3 pts
Sloppy second half, but another win. Great performances by Edwards, Gio and Vasquez
I'm thinking we need some squad rotation on Saturday. Guys were getting a little tired toward the end.
Also, fuck Toledo.
Did Bradley just get red carded after the game? I saw him get a yellow and he kept yapping at Toledo pretty heatedly
Toledo is a dickbag. YC for Bradley after the whistle.
Big win
Moderator
Rough second half, but a really good first half. Wonder if Orlando out-adjusted Vanney at the half - I'll leave that analysis to someone else.
Three points against the current East leaders. I'll take it. Still only one actual loss on the season, and Seba seems to be heating up.
Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt. ~Christopher Hitchens
Good thing this is over.
Let's be honest here, we've stolen 2 points today from Orlando (thanks Bono!), based on a game of 100% different halfs.
Disgraceful performance from TFC in the 2nd half.
Last edited by PizzaEatingYeti; 05-03-2017 at 08:46 PM.
Rode our luck for sure in the 2nd half, Bono with some huge saves. Had an especially tough first 20 or so minutes of the second, after that it was more bearable but still tilted a bit in Orlando's favor. Their goal right before half time really energized them, I think we might have went on to rout them if it was 2-0 at half because we were absolutely all over them in the first 45.
Anyways, good to grab another home win against what I think is actually a pretty good side. This game changed my opinion of Orlando a bit, I thought they were sort of pretenders but maybe they actually can challenge for the top of the conference.
Another two great performances from Vazquez and Giovinco. And my god Altidore just cannot get a call.
Kreis knew how to adjust to thoroughly challenge TFC in the 2nd half, high press and don't allow TFC to establish any rhythm. 2 SOTW saves from Bono, incredible.
What the hell was that second half? We went from absolutely strolling that game to clinging on for dear life by the end. I don't know where to start with that. Terrible in possession, terrible passing, maybe it was just an off night, but how so many players can switch off like that is beyond me. Not the best of evenings from our skipper and maybe the root of our problems in the second half lie there. Bradley got caught on the ball too often and he didn't seem to have his passing game going tonight, which more often than not saw us overrun in midfield with subsequent pressure on our defence. Jozy also had one of his lazier nights where he seemed content to amble about not really making himself available for the forward pass. I thought Vanney's substitutions were again suspect, the first in particular bordered on insanity. Why on earth would you pull your most creative player on the night, in an area of the field you are struggling, and replace him with a player who is poor in retaining possession? That just put more pressure on a midfield that was already struggling. To make it worse he then subs off the one player who always gave us an outlet going forward in Edwards. Perhaps the switch to a 4-4-2 make this move a little more understandable but nevertheless we never really threatened down the flank from that point on.
At the end of the day I'm grateful for the three points, and the way we handled one of the league's most in form teams in that first half was encoyraging. However were it not for two brain farts by Larin we could well be empty handed tonight. Thank God for Giovinco...
Onwards and upwards !!
I would hardly call it a disgraceful performance from TFC. Sometimes you just got to give credit to the other team for coming out and playing really well and that sometimes means you have to grind out a result. Maybe we got a little lucky in walking away with the 3pts based on the 2nd half however remember we also completely dominated Orlando for 45 of the first 46 minutes.Originally Posted by PizzaEatingYeti
And Orlando completely dominated us the 2nd half.
So we did not got a "little" lucky, but we got lucky.
I can't stop watching that save from 59'. SOTW? SOTY as far as I'm concerned. That's why you play to the whistle. That's why you never give up on a play you're in. Bono may not be the best keeper in the league by any stretch, but that's a save that shows his character and the character I want in every player on the pitch. Larin could have and should have buried that in the back of the netting. Bono could have watched him walk it in and I don't think anyone would really have called him on it. One guy played to the whistle. The other didn't.
Well done Bono. Well done.
Last edited by Stencils; 05-03-2017 at 09:13 PM.
Moor would have calmed that all down in the second half. Hagglund was spotty. Might need a break. Moor supposedly back for Minnesota.
I enjoy Edwards but he was getting owned by stronger players in the second half. And his boneheaded clearance near the end of the first half led to their goal.
I thought it was an entertaining, evenly played match. Bono was the difference.
It really worries me that Vanney would take off Vasquez when he did, that is absolutely handing the game to Orlando and only blind luck kept them out. Overall he's done a great job but I think his substitutions are boardering on awful and he needs to figure that out
You know you're officiating poorly when an entire stadium chants 'ref you suck' on numerous occasions throughout the match.
That was Bono's ball. And who was covering Kaka? Should have had two on him in that situation. Not zero.
shoring up our defence when we are up a goal isn't risky. Having three forwards on who don't defend is.
ThTs why he is behind Delgado and Oso. And if he is, should he be here?
Boy I saw this differently than you did. Vasquez is an entirely offensive player who, with Gio and Jozy, barely defends. Fantastic, but when you are defending a lead someone like Oso who is tenacious and always in the right position is a good substitution. I am not a fan of Cooper - he dives too much - but if it are trying to lock down a game, bringing him on for Edwards makes lots of sense. Bradley didn't look nearly as bad from my seat, and Jozy was a fantastic target man all night. But that's just what I saw.What the hell was that second half? We went from absolutely strolling that game to clinging on for dear life by the end. I don't know where to start with that. Terrible in possession, terrible passing, maybe it was just an off night, but how so many players can switch off like that is beyond me. Not the best of evenings from our skipper and maybe the root of our problems in the second half lie there. Bradley got caught on the ball too often and he didn't seem to have his passing game going tonight, which more often than not saw us overrun in midfield with subsequent pressure on our defence. Jozy also had one of his lazier nights where he seemed content to amble about not really making himself available for the forward pass. I thought Vanney's substitutions were again suspect, the first in particular bordered on insanity. Why on earth would you pull your most creative player on the night, in an area of the field you are struggling, and replace him with a player who is poor in retaining possession? That just put more pressure on a midfield that was already struggling. To make it worse he then subs off the one player who always gave us an outlet going forward in Edwards. Perhaps the switch to a 4-4-2 make this move a little more understandable but nevertheless we never really threatened down the flank from that point on.
At the end of the day I'm grateful for the three points, and the way we handled one of the league's most in form teams in that first half was encoyraging. However were it not for two brain farts by Larin we could well be empty handed tonight. Thank God for Giovinco...
Onwards and upwards !!
Bravo indeed. Que est ce que pense, Canada?
Bono was great. So were Vazquez & Giovinco. Zavaleta & Co. did pretty well most of the time against Larin. Edwards really good until he faded in the 2nd half. Delgado as per usual lately: some really great play, interspersed with some real bone-headed stuff, overall positive though. At least he's willing to plan ahead, try some one-touch passing and moving into space, more than many others, and he's defensively decent.
Toledo sucks. What a fucking dick. You can just see how happy he was to give Bradley a yellow after the game. So many straight-up bad calls, plus nothing 50/50 plays called in Orlando's favour. At least he doesn't give as many reds as he used to. (Old Toledo would have given Bono a red.)
Lots of problems from TFC, starting even before the half when most of the team shut off completely & allowed a goal. Orlando easily could have walked away with undeserved 3 points. TFC had already fallen asleep before Orlando got the corner which led to the goal. And it continued the same way in the second half.
Sometimes Vanney seems way too predictable, like he has his three subs decided regardless of how everyone plays and how the game is going. Osorio for Vazquez was a ridiculous sub at the time. (They needed Vazquez to help maintain possession, and not hand the game to Orlando. Plus Osorio isn't really good defensively either.) And frankly, if Orlando can sub off Kaka, then Vanney should be able to take off Bradley when he fades like he did in the 2nd half. Give him a rest for Saturday. Only problem, who do you put in his place? If you look at the full roster, we're pretty weak in defensive midfield.
Alot of the time TFC is playing better than they ever have. A good part of the first half today; most of last weekend's game; etc. Really nice to see, and obviously a credit to Vanney and all the players. Lots of great passing and possession sequences. But sometimes I feel there's a bit of leadership and toughness missing. You could see TFC fading at the end of the first half, but nobody calls them to order on the field, and they come out of the halftime almost the same way, which tells me nobody turned it around in the locker room either. Maybe Bradley is too much of an introvert, and Vanney too much of a nice guy. Often that's a good thing, but not always.
I think the opposite is true. Playing the way you played to dominate a team is not risky, playing a strategy of putting everyone behind the ball and handing the game to the opposition - that's risky. Blind luck kept us in a game that after 40 minutes we could have been winning by four. Good teams don't do that. When good teams are winning they keep pressing the advantage. Don't get me wrong this team is for sure a contender but Vanneys subs terrify me. There's a reason we can't beat ten men and I suspect it's the same reason we nearly blew that game tonight and why we've dropped points we didn't deserve too all season
Last edited by JoesphNdo; 05-03-2017 at 10:00 PM.
The adjustment and subs worked. We won. Orlando were really pressing and pressuring us and we couldn't get a sniff of the ball. After the subs and moving to the 4-4-2, we had more possession again and even created a little bit of danger (albeit sporadically). But we definitely seemed to me to have more control over things after that tactical switch.
Yes, Cooper made that one dumb play, but he also made several good plays to keep us in possession and keep Orlando from threatening our goal. I thought the late tactical switch was a sharp move by Vanney and helped us grind out the result. You can't always win pretty, but the three points are still ours. That's how you get to the top of the table. Sure, maybe they missed some chances and we got lucky in our end, but we had a few close plays where a better bounce would have had us up 4-0, rather than 2.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
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