Am I just living in the space between
The beauty and the pain?
********
Have at It People
Am I just living in the space between
The beauty and the pain?
********
Have at It People
close game but i can see Philly to win sadly
I think we can pull a rabbit out of the hat; 2-1 TFC.
When you play the lineup we did last night it really makes this home match a must win if you want to stay near the top of the table. Especially with games in hand, can't lose those. Add in not doing anything at the deadline and it'll look pretty bad if you drop the first two games after.
Important game given where Philly sits on the table and that we rested our starters for it. Wonder if Altidore can play a part at all.
I want to see our first eleven for this one, minus Jozy. Keep Jozy for the final 30, I guess. Hamilton to start over Akinola. I think this should be a good one.
I should mention Drew Moor as well, though I don't really know what's going on with him now. A Moor-Mavinga pairing would be nice to see.
Westberg not Bono please.
I've been thinking about that decision, which I initially thought was sort of a bold gamble, and what might logically have happened.
I think maybe Vanney doesn't have faith in our bench players. So he only plays them in bunches together, rather than platooning or rotating them properly, and in damn near hopeless situations.
I think maybe he's making a serious mistake with how he handles our depth.
Ashtone Morgan is not a shit fullback, and he is not old. He just never plays.
At one point, when he was younger, he might've had a shot at being starting quality. Now, he has no delivery any more and is not fast enough to beat guys offensively... and we play with wingbacks more than half the time.
I don't think Boyd or Hamilton are complete shit, either. Boyd was a competitive player until he was bumped to the Bundesliga and it was out of his depth. He was a U.S. national team player. Even if someone loses some speed to age and injuries, their technique and intelligence doesn't disintegrate completely.
But they never play.
Chapman has real potential to be a starter in MLS. But the tiny amount of activity he's seeing relative to what's required to break through means that it won't happen here.
I watch how top managers handle a roster, and there are simply a lot more individual subs based on performance in a match, and not on long-term planning or projection -- or worse, a lack of faith in certain players.
I don't think a team can win this league anymore without faith in at least most of its roster.
We had four wins coming into this game and yet every time we're ahead, he leaves it until the post 70th minute to make a change. And he never spot starts someone just to give one player a rest or another a reward for good training. It's just "did the guy ahead of you screw up last game?"
It all seems maybe too simplistic, like we are limiting what our squad can be. Certainly, in retrospect, I don't see the point in that many changes without even resting our two top healthy players. It made a tough game harder and it made players who rarely play look bad, and less confident.
Perhaps he has a core mentality issue, where if a player isn't behaviourally the way he likes, he just won't let them play. Again, I'm not sure MLS is the kind of league where a manager inflexible to personality differences will keep winning.
I look at the other guys who at this level produce over and over as coaches -- Tata Martinez, Bradley, Berhalter -- and they all handle different personalities exceptionally well, and they all give younger players more time to show what they have and adapt.
Just for reference on this discussion: back in 2016, both Osorio & Delgado were not starting.
I don't think this is the case because VDW started all last year and the guy is, was, and always will be a supreme loafer with a shit attitude.
For sure Vanney is too late on subs and doesn't cycle in much of the bench as a rule but I think it has to be based on him over-intellectualizing his tactics and trying to get advantages with his selection choices. Either that or the non-Dutch/TAM training loafers get excluded.
The rotation match against Atlanta away means pressure to show for the home fans this time. Will the first team be fresh and gelling and lucky? That's what we need to see.
I would've rather had the 3 points already.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Not sure about the betting markets, but I would call us a slight favourite - only because its at our place.
Their defence is not great either & their midfield can be had.
But if we do the ponderous across the midfield stuff & people refuse to feed Poz & refuse to try to get the ball into the forward attackers & Bradley gets stuck way at the back again, they will find a way to score on us.
Time to put up a good performance.
I really don't think a single striker works consistently with the personnel we have at the moment. And single forward, with only one forward on the bench, is even more dangerous. Why can't Vanney see that? All of Hamilton, Akinola and Boyd would do better with one of the other as a strike partner. With one of these guys as a single striker, sometimes you see Pozuelo drift into a real forward position as a result, where he's up against some 6 ft + MLS brute defender. And if he then tries to dribble past a couple of those guys because there's just not enough of a dangerous target to pass to, it's really sad. Also during buildup, often Pozuelo ends up too far away from the play to really influence it as a result.
Even Jozy isn't an ideal single striker, but can do it OK depending on the opponent. Drop the stupid idea at least until Jozy is 100% fit; better wait until we finally get that magical winger.
Last edited by Auzzy; 05-09-2019 at 10:10 PM.
I want to see Akiniloa and Hamilton full time starting now to prove they have what it takes, none of this Boyd(American reclamation project) nonsense.
We have to win this game to save any shred of credibility and/or dignity that the ...let’s throw the Atlanta game so we can win the next game....crowd has.
Just for the record...you play your best players in the toughest games. You play the ones that you are developing and nurturing in the easier home games or bring them on when you are a few goals ahead. You never throw a league game.
Jozy should be back right? What about Moor?
If TFC has a full lineup they win 3-1. Without Jozy maybe they win 2-1 or a 1-1 draw.
We beat Philly 3-1 away without Poz & Altidore....... we couldn’t score on Atlanta with Poz. We are playing at home with a substantial advantage. Atlanta are the reigning MLS Champions and are showing signs of getting going again. So ...no..Atlanta are still the team to beat.
Just for reference, you might want to check your references.
Osorio has been regularly starting -- if not every week -- since 2013. He made 30 appearances in 2016 and started 26 games.
He made 26 starts in 2015, 24 in 2014, 18 in 2013.
Delgado started 23 in 2016, and started 19 games out of 20 appearances when he joined us in 2015.
So, no, you're not even close.
Plus it's just as likely he was told he had to start Van Der Wiel by the guy who brought him in. Bez isn't going to let his manager make him look like an ass after he lands a former PSG player.
If I'm wrong, can perhaps someone point to anyone Vanney has legitimately brought through? Or even dramatically improved? Chapman I might argue, but it would be more convincing if he played more often.
Or are they just not good enough? Because we don't have a whole lot of history of success before him, either, and it would be nice not to keep losing the Marc Anthony Kayes of the world. But he sure likes his own projects, like Ben Spenser.
Last edited by jloome; 05-09-2019 at 11:50 PM. Reason: Checking someone's argument for the whiff of bullshit
Hmmm......my IRC was not RC. Point taken jloome.
Osorio was 18 sub appearances in 2017 but forced his way back onto the team later in the year. That was about it for his non involvement. Delgado has been 20 or so appearances most seasons (so not always a starter but as often as not)
I stand corrected.
The only young players who have seemingly come along & gained minutes are Akinola & Bono & Chapman & now Fraser. Speaks to both an inability to bring along but also not very good at finding youth either. They are putting a lot of emphasis on the U14 and lower academy - this group started when Vanney was hired.
I'm not sure the phrasing is "playing his favourites" as much as preferring to work with an 18.
I would say that Boyd isn't currently the first choice off the bench so at least there is some hierarchy based on merit.
I think you’ve hit on a number of good points here and an interesting topic overall.
Something about our idea of development at this club and squad management is terribly wrong. I hear way too much about “playing the same style as the first team” for easy integration of players. While that is an oft-used phrase by many clubs, we seem to live by it more than most.
We play a certain system during a game. Player A subs out, player B goes in. When player B is less established, the change is almost always plug-and-play, with no change in formation on account of their attributes. Everyone less established is thought of as needing to fit a system as opposed to the system fitting (or even slightly adjusting) for the player. It’s tough to succeed under those circumstances and it also explains some of up-and-down performances of our substitutes. Sometimes Chapman will get a role he’s suited for and look fantastic. Sometimes he gets a dog-shit assignment and everyone groans he can’t do the job.
There needs to be more consideration of the tools we have at our disposal and getting the potential out of certain guys and less formational rigidity. We re-jig our entire lineup so Zavs can come on as a CB in a back three FFS. But can we not play Hamilton with a second striker? Find ways where Osorio and Chapman don’t have to play as wingers? These things help the team and the players.