Can't go back and forth on everything bc we'll clog this board but I respectfully disagree with your opinions, though I get where you're coming from.Originally Posted by Oldtimer
On your question, I believe I did answer it when I took issue with the premise which was that results matter most in this case. If you really want to dig into it we'd be going through so many hypotheticals we'd be here for days, it's a useless exercise really.
For me, if TFC don’t win their next 2 games (@San Jose, vs Montreal), they are done. I do think we can win both, but losing Altidore and Mavinga for the 1st one could be the dagger. Minimum need 7 wins and a draw to get in, in the final 11.
I believe I said this earlier this year but I believe in this quote "Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results" I hope I'm wrong but it just hasn't been good enough this year and everyone from top to bottom needs to be evaluated to see their uses to help our team or get rid of dead weight
Cheers.
It ain't over till that person sings! But what I love/hate is the hope on the what-ifs and the emotional rollercoaster every game at BMO Field. Ignoring the idiot behind us chirping "Hey you losers, you were Champs last year... what are you doing?" while wearing a red TFC Giovinco jersey. I also cannot understand the sheer lack of discipline from experienced players like Altidore and Mavinga. It is SO FRUSTRATING. They know that the stakes are high and that opponents play a mind game.That is a constant of professional football.
A rush to the head after just 11 minutes in inexcusable.
Vanney and Bradley have to kick it into them that discipline is a top priority and we need every single man on the pitch.
There is still time to claw back the six points to be level with the bluepacts and the Revs... but time is running out. At this rate I (and probably the players) would settle for the Voyageurs Cup guaranteeing CCL entry and a nice long holiday after the end of the MLS regular season.
We're playing the last place team San Jose next weekend, then Montreal at home. 6 Points are 100% needed from these 2 games. It will decide if we have a chance for playoffs or not.
Play-by-Play Commentator for League 1 Ontario.
Twitter (@MartinOmes)
Road Trips: LA Galaxy, FC Cincinnati, Montreal (x2), Columbus (x3), NYCFC, NY Red Bulls, DC United, Atlanta, and Seattle!
NYCFC was a must win game; but with Montreal only getting a point and New England losing it wasn't a horrible weekend. Knowing we have Mavinga, Altidore, Moor, Vazquez and Janson coming back; we have life.
I would consider these next 2 games must win. If you can't get a win vs last place San Jose; and you lose the swing game with Montreal; i'd call it a season.
It was a horrible weekend though, losing that one point at the end was big as it puts us 7 behind philly which means it takes three games to catch them for 5th-- tough since we are level on games played. It will take 2 games to catch NE but maybe worst of all we have now been caught and passed by D.C. who have games in hand and are rolling. We can still do it be we need other results to go our way
It ain't going to be easy for anybody playing us. We are an underdog to make the playoffs. But everybody is going to hate playing this team.
That is going to make me smile the rest of the season. Enjoy getting your playoff hopes dimmed and dashed by the Reds.
Well, we have to peel off a streak of 5 wins out of 6 games, or something like that, in the next 8 or 9 games. They sure are leaving it late.
Last edited by ensco; 08-17-2018 at 02:51 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
One positive thing is about the next 11 games is that four of the games are against East teams chasing the playoffs: Impact (twice), NE, and DC. It would be great to go on a hot streak now and not have to wait until the last game against Atlanta and have our destiny in the hands of other teams on Decision Day.
Its now or never.
Successful season.
The rest is gravy.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
I'm honestly completely baffled by Vanneys decision making this season. From coach of the year to worst coach of the year. This game Vs san Jose sums it up. Plays a weak line up to start. And instead of killing off the game by adding ricketts to run and create space for teammates. He puts another defender on and hopes for a 1-0 win. I am so angry and frustrated at the glaring mistake by everyone all season long.
Philly's won 4 of their last 6 and are now out of reach; D.C. is undefeated in their last 4 and have a ton of home games left (and games in hand on us), and the Revs and Impact are both comfortably ahead as well.
Never mind the fact that we need to win like 8 out of our last 10 or something, we also need 3 teams above us to implode.
Season's done. At least we qualified for CCL again.
Looking forward to Montreal...should be a good one.
For those who only consider a season worth watching when your team has a solid hope of making the playoffs, see you in February for CCL.
I for one am not pissed because we might not make the playoffs. I am horrible pissed off at the amount of amateur mistakes by players and the complete implosion of the team. It's like they don't care at all.
The seasons Done, Why did we bunker for a 1-0 away win against the worst team in the league?
I am bummed at how this season has gone, and it definitely may cast a bit of a backward shadow, unfortunately.
The roster selection last night, which seemed bizarre, got me thinking... why did Vanney do that? I think because he had no choice:
- Last night was our 10th game in 35 days.
- This was the 11th time in the last 5 months, and the 4th time in 10 days!, that TFC played a game where the previous game was (i) only 3 or 4 days earlier, and (ii) more than a 4 hour flight away.
Those are incredible statistics.
I will probably do some analysis on this, maybe a separate thread on scheduling.
Every team has challenges, and bad travel stretches, but this seems unreal - is our schedule burden unique or unfair?
Last edited by ensco; 08-19-2018 at 08:01 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
our Schedule is the result of MLS wanting TFC to win the CCL which they couldn't do because of the Defensive failures that have been occurring consistently since February. Then the attacking Failures that have limited the team.
Look at the goal. The team played quick they moved. Didn't give San Jose a chance to shape up and everyone that needed to want to score was there. It was a quick play. The rest of the game was slow build up, send the ball to the wing cross it in, defender intercept it and possession changes. That is all the team has done for almost three years. In the past two years the flashes of attack though have happened regularly several times a game. Gio could score in the run of play, curl the ball, do free kicks and assist. He doesn't do that any more.
So we have major defensive issues that our coach seems oblivious or inept to fix and the guys that are paid millions aren't really doing their jobs really well either due to poor form from either bad training or bad service. On top of that there seems to be a issue with attitude of the whole team.
It this looks much more like the 2013 TFC then even the 2015 team let alone the 2017 team. The main team seems to have disappeared after the Home game against Chivas. The Defenders that were deep last year are shallow this year.
This team failed to beat the worse team in the league this year. Which is yet another Vanneyism. He doesn't respect "weak" opponents. He sees the point total says he doesn't need to start his best. Then makes a tactical change that results in a goal. It is the same as getting a Red Card.
We say it last season too. Montreal game and won 5-3 at BMO because they were seen as a week team.. just stick Cooper and Ricketts in... it is an easy game.. Montreal game out fighting. It happened against Colorado at home (without biting us) in CCL it happened against Chivas at home and it cost us silverware. Hit happened last night and cost faith in the rest of the season.
Redbulls must have had similar schedule issues, nowhere near the injury problems though.
still season on the line and Gio on the bench with a week til the next game? That has to be the biggest WTF moment of the year.
Nope. Look it up.
NYRB have had 5 games in 4 days or less after long flights, none since CCL in March/April (they have a sixth this Wednesday, playing midweek after being in Vancouver yesterday)
They have played only 8 games in last 35 days, as they got knocked out of Open Cup in June.
Last edited by ensco; 08-19-2018 at 08:56 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I think on its day this is a team that can compete with any other in MLS. However, given where we stand right now, a lot of things have to right for that to happen. Most notably: all of Vasquez, Moor, Altidore, and Mavinga have to be healthy. The odds of that happening look increasingly less likely.
I'd also say there has been drop off in the play of our best players. Not saying they aren't of any use anymore or aren't still great but Giovinco can no longer be a 1v1 force like he used to, Bradley covers slightly less ground, and Vasquez has the odd good game rather a good game every night. This has contributed to exposing our role players as worse than we might have initially perceived them to be. The only improvement has been with Osorio and he looks certainly to be gone in the off season.
I'm not sure if the word "rebuild" is appropriate but look... there are a lot of adjustments that need to be made if we're going to complete every game. It goes beyond getting a new CB and hoping that Janson continues to play well.
Is this the worst title defense in MLS ever?
But is that all reality, or a function of exhaustion?
No soccer team on earth can do well in a stretch of 10 games in 35 days. Layer onto that the last 4 all requiring 5 hour flights....
It's I suspect beyond what any other team in the league has had to do ever. It's not reasonable.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
We played 10 games in 36 days last season Between April 28th and June 3rd. We won 7 Lost 2 and tied 1. Everyone started calling TFC the Deepest Team in the league. Only 1 of those were on the West Coast and most were at home Granted.
10 games in that time frame isn't unheard of but it comes with the territory. I'm certain if I really looked other teams have done similar... Don't know if the results were different... however last season Deepest team in the league with the "coach of the year" TFC pulled off 19 points in the league in 10 days.
I now better understand why so few MLS clubs seriously try to win the CCL.
The question is what will our philosophy be towards it in 2019 after this years MLS results.....I understood (whether I agreed with it is another issue) "going for it" last year at the expense of the MLS season as that was an all-time "legacy" type of season that TFC was trying to achieve --- but now after seeing how it affected this MLS season --- do we really want to ratchet it all up again from February-April at the expense of throwing away games in MLS and risking injuries/exhaustion as well for the 2019 season --- it's an interesting debate which will tell us a lot about how TFC views CCL vs MLS ---
I don’t understand how TFC was okay with this scheduling. Beyond all the other stuff....
Why bundle an Ex game (which is always a draw anyway) with Montreal? Why the daytime matches in the heat of summer? Why are we playing home games to open the season when its odds on the weather will be crap? How can you justify having very little home fixtures scheduled during the summer which should be prime time for good attendance?
Are they asleep at the wheel? This is crucial stuff for their business.
If this league is going to grow they need to have consistent scheduling. I can recite the NFL’s practically by heart and I don’t even care to follow. It looks like we are bending over to TV networks to fill 2nd rate time slots. They need to cut this crap out. Stop being so scared of going head-to-head with other sports and show the people who attend in person more respect.
Last edited by ag futbol; 08-19-2018 at 11:47 AM.
Clubs like Juve play 10-11 games in 35 Days. This is the difference, and what holding the MLS back a bit. After your starting 11, plus maybe 2-3 bench guys, the talent level drops dramatically. TFC had injury problems, which allowed guys from 14 through 18 to play regularly. I’m telling you, if Bez would have addressed the CB issue in January, even with Vanney mistakes, we would be in or next to a playoff spot.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote