Let Fraser and Telfer play the rest of season. Let’s see what we have there. Play GVW at CB, see if that’s where he fills in next season. Everything else I couldn’t give one rats ass about.
Let Fraser and Telfer play the rest of season. Let’s see what we have there. Play GVW at CB, see if that’s where he fills in next season. Everything else I couldn’t give one rats ass about.
Done, dusted. Season is over. Not mathematically yet but it's over.Originally Posted by whositwhatnow
I think in practical terms it was over a long time ago, well before the math got too complicated.
The team has yet to play a single MLS game this year that reminds me of last year's championship side. We looked weak and flawed, start to finish, injuries or otherwise.
The only league in the world where you'll be made to pay for chasing glory.
Don't scapegoat this on the CCL this is on The Staff.
The Injuries were too many
The Tactics never could adjust
We didn't bring in good players in the off season in positions were there was weakness and too many good players were let go.
The CCL was a symptom of the problem it was a warning sign of the problem. We had the summer window to try to fix the problem and instead of bring in defensive help we brought in Jensen. This is on the staff not the CCL.
It's on the CCL.
Maybe not fully. Likely partly. But the injuries, the burnout all of that is the CCL.
I'm stuck between a nagging sense that if Seattle gets to the MLS final this year - they will be the best team over the last three years. We are on the verge of regressing to typical TFC levels.
or imagine an alternate outcome this season...
Delgado scores that goal to win Concacaf.
Akexte scores those first couple of left footed blasts and his confidence grows. We put some of those early wins on the board.
Then there are the injuries...Morrow, Moor, Mavinga, Vazquez, Altidore, Auro
a great team learns how to overcome obstacles and get through, i feel TFC have been using CL as an excuse and next year will be no different as we are going back to the CL
I think alot of this is not the champions league but going to the cup final 2 years in a row meant alot of games with short off seasons
That is BS. Other teams were able to avoid injury just fine. The Injury is on the staff for not preparing properly. Over working players not making sure they are healthy. Not having the depth in a position we didn't have nearly enough. Not adjust tactics to win games during the season. Not trying to win early season games. The CCL had an earlier start.
Red Bulls played just two game fewer than we did. They are top of the table. So the CCL is just an excuse.
Of note: we bought quite a few players with some history of injuries and reasoned that our staff could handle it and it wouldn’t be an issue going forward.
It appears that logic fell flat at some point. Wouldn’t just put the industries down to the training staff.
Yep. March 2016 - Apr 2018...2 MLS finals and a CCL run meant only 2 separate periods of less than a 1 month rest AND going...
No you are right that would be on Vanney for not asking for more defenders or not wanting more as we only had 4 really and 2 weren't ready for leadership roles and we need 3. Or it is on Bez and/or Manning for not getting them or not pushing hard enough for the signing of them. Or it is on all three not realizing how monumentally bad it is to have a need to play 3 Defenders and 2 that can do the leadership role who both have injury issues and 2 that can do ok when working with a more capable player. We really only had defenders to handle 1 injury.. maybe 2... so long as either Moor or Mavinga are healthy at any given time. But at one point we had 3 defenders including the two starters. We didn't have the players. We brought in Hernandez but there was so little confidence in him he sat on the bench.
But the Vanney Cult can't accept that he and Bez may have screwed up. We could have kept Edwards and developed him. Left Zavaleta open and brought in a proper third even a fourth defender on par with moor and mavinga instead of Auro who is on the bench a fair bit and didn't make any more of an impact than the good young Canadian.
Kaz, you've never given up on the Vanney hate, but calling any support for Vanney "a cult" is truly bizarre.
Let's just think that some people give a little credit to Vanney (and to Bez) for two excellent seasons, including the best season in MLS history. It's not just having star players. Some people don't believe in rotating coaches just because we didn't get a coach from a "big three" league. That doesn't mean we will blindly accept failure for years on end, but maybe just maybe they have earned a pass one year.
Now if you want something that is truly difficult to understand, it's Robbo not getting fired from the Whitecaps after years of failure. They have unbelievable patience.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 09-23-2018 at 08:46 PM.
Playing important games in bitterly cold temperatures, on a frozen tundra pitch, hurt this team more than the number of games they played. Too bad nobody had the good sense to convert the Dome and allow the team to play and practice there in the dead of winter. It was a huge mistake playing at BMO in -20 c temperatures, for the players, and for the fans.
Using tfc 2 players in MLS games throughout the spring was plain stupid. They got blown out, and merely added more pressure to an already burnt out starting lineup.
Bad trades. Losing Beitishour and Rahim. Too many injuries. Bad signings. Nothing went right for this team in 2018. Nothing.
I think it was just one of those things.
Make a change or two in the supporting cast, bring back most everyone, let's roll.
Next March we will have played in three finals in 28 months, and lost none.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
If he is still there next season I will be shocked.
i added up the salaries of the guys that started every game
gio, bradley, ozo, gvw,delgado,bono $12.5m
i added up the salaries of the starters that were away almost all year
joyy, mavinga, morrow, moor, vvm $8.2m
total starters salary is $20.70m
so we were missing 40% of the salary starters almost every game this year
so we were playing at 60% of what we could have been
this translates to 69points(lat years total x 0.60 =41 pts for this year
right around where we should end up. plus we threw away around 5 points at the beginning of the year houston, colorado, mtl games
This isn't a debate vs Stability and Fire Everyone. This season was a failure. The top will be on high alert with the missed playoff revenue and the low season tickets renewal. CCL wasnt the deadly arrow, NYRB played through it no problems.
Consistent MLS playoff teams have in common a steady pipeline of homegrown academy grads. TFC has ... Frasier, Telfer ??? Theres too many mediocre players on big wages. Zavaleta 260, Irwin 220, Aketxe 1.3 million, Akinola 140. Look at NYRB, Dallas, SLC, Seattle. They dont splash the max wages every season to compete.
Seriously 260k for Zavaleta. Beitashour is on 298. Could have kept him and Edwards the replaced Zav with a 900k Defender
NYRB have a total wage of 6 million which is 1/4 of TFC's wage bill. TFC have 30 pts so NYRB should be happy with 7.5 pts in 2018. Thats the math game right
Aketxe earns more than any NYRB player. Frei 280k Irwin 220k!!! TFC management is splashing is huge money hitting gold once but its not sustainable.
The only place comparing salaries is useful is when comparing positions filled by non DP's or non Tam's.
We are not likely to lose anyone in an expansion draft...whether we want to or not.
Cincy would take Hagglund in a heart beat - its his home.
Why does the chorus from the Doors song "The End" always play in my mind when reading this thread? Haha. Oh man. Back to year 1 ticket prices...
i agree but the one major addition i think we need is a big strong, confident, established CB or two
Other than that a very good rest and attention to getting healthy and a few supporting tweaks.
I would say to everyone, watch how good we are with all our starters starting. my bet is we are the best team in mls
however that has not happened this year (all our starters starting) and it may not happen (all our starters starting)
this is what irritates me, I paid good money for season seats and not once have I seen this team playing with it's full potential. No Mavinga, No Jozy, No Vazquez, No Moor and now maybe no Jozy and/or Seba
Last edited by stevep; 09-24-2018 at 09:39 AM.
and I would also argue, without Jozy Seba is half the player, without VV Osorio is half the player, without Mavinga, the defence is half the defenceNYRB have a total wage of 6 million which is 1/4 of TFC's wage bill. TFC have 30 pts so NYRB should be happy with 7.5 pts in 2018. Thats the math game right
Aketxe earns more than any NYRB player. Frei 280k Irwin 220k!!! TFC management is splashing is huge money hitting gold once but its not sustainable.
one thing leads to another and it just a further downward spiral. the team is all interconnected, interwoven together
also, the ridiculous travel games with improper rest period also greatly affected things, as well as deliberately giving away 5 expected points at the beginning of the season.
This team was built with it star player starters, without them the dropoff is huge. this is what we have learnt this year. go big or go bust model
personally I like this model because it gave us 2017, I would trade that model all day for the Whitecaps model, have a bunch of guys all kind of the same that will get you around 50pts conisistently but never the quality to ever win the championship
I didnt really follow any other teams schedules this year - how did travel schedules look for other teams this time around? Was it similar garbage to TFC?
Can we do that, to the best of our ability in a contract year for Gio though? You might be laying down a foundation for something that could disappear in twelve months time.
My other worry is that Bradley has hammered a few of these guys so hard he’s been tuned out in some quarters of the locker room. LAFC waiting in the background. They have quite a few enticing pieces to make that deal work but not having Bradley on this team scares me immensely. It completely changes how certain pieces of our midfield need to work.
I may be misinterpreting your 28 months thing but are you forgetting the CCL final?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote