Match Day CCL Rnd of 8 Leg 2 - TFC@Cruz Azul - Tue May 4 10:15pm - Something I can't

[Red CB Toronto]

Endoh would be fine if he was a domestic at the end of the bench. No way he is worth an international spot.

Thats only matters if they have someone to bring in. Heck the Reds have traded away two spots for the rest of the season.

[MightyDM]

I don't see what our tactical point or objective was tonight. We needed three goals, but we played half-field pressure in the first half and the defensive counter in the second.

This does not bode well. We've had plenty of managers who made baffling tactical choices. Vanney's were never baffling; conservative, sometimes doomed. But never utterly baffling.

I thought he would use DeLeon as a high wrecker and press. WE needed at least one first half goal. Instead...

Just weird.

That’s what I felt.

Some players seemed to play well - Oso, DeLeon and to some extent Bradley, Ayo and Shaff, one or two badly -Richie leaps to mind - but most, including the subs like Endoh, fine. But to what collective purpose? We are a club that has the resources and commitment to win every game, and should be set up and tactically instructed to do that. Although they played well pre goal and now and then after, it never felt like we were going for it.

We have very good players that have proved themselves and youth who are knocking on the door. But the good players are used to a deliberate style that controls the game. No evidence yet that a system change is going to work. Early days, but there was no evidence of a high press tonight.

[OgtheDim]

One soccer people before the game

"Well of course you have to go for it with your best players"

After the game

"Going to be tough for the next couple of games having gone with the best players"

[JoesphNdo]

How many slip passes can Michael Bradley put into touch in his career. Every game there’s at least five.

It’s like a chip shot and he always takes out the sledgehammer and puts it into the advertising boards.

This has always been the case. I've always thought there were two Michael Bradley modes. When he has discipline and plays as a proper DM and focuses on short passes and just keeping possession he's a very good mid fielder

But for some reason, more often than not his ego kicks in and he thinks he's Andrea Pirlo spraying passes all over the field. He's categorically not capable of doing that, and he becomes a possession black hole. Sadly, he's this player more often than not. Also, why does he take every single indirect set piece? Our success rate with him taking them is shocking. Somebody needs to take him off them

I think if he had the discipline to know who he was as a player he'd have stayed in Europe his whole career but a good manager needs to 1) tell him his role and 2) not he afraid to sub him off. He's not above the team

[ensco]

I don’t blame Armas or anybody really, much as I question some things.

We were missing the pieces that might have made a difference ...

but I am not sure.

That is an extremely good team, better than us. A top, in form Liga MX team is better, and especially deeper, than any MLS team.

I mean, we only saw 30 minutes of Rodriguez... what substitute striker in MLS looks anything like Angulo? Those would both be in the top 20 goals of the year in MLS, and they were the story. Pineda sits and they don’t look any different... they were also just extremely tough at the back over both legs, never lost their shape, never caught out.

When we get these chances, we need some luck (which we had in 2018, and at Leon). Didn’t happen this time, they just stifled us.

In the end, it wasn't a competitive tie. All this did in the end is cause me to relive the Chivas final. Chivas was the chance of a lifetime. How did we beat Tigres and America and lose to those guys? I don't think we will ever see the 17th place team in the CCL final again.

[Rust]

They are better than us and we were missing some of the best players in the squad. Honestly, I can't even get too upset about it. Our focus is get all our players fit and make a good season in MLS.

[ag futbol]

I don’t blame Armas or anybody really, much as I question some things.

This is the boat I’m in. It’s an odd-ball season with a only somewhat healthy squad and some recent additions. So hard to really be critical when it’s all still coming together.

What I get a little worried about, is certain themes that have bubbled up in the last few games. Bad set piece defending and some shaky defending in general, occasionally erratic play from Bradley while leaving him out there unchecked, etc... hope we can solve these issues.

And big picture, can Ali improve the team faster than cracks form in the existing roster? This is the 2nd last season in Pozuelo’s contract. Doubt he plays it out the last year, more likely it’s extension or transfer. Can we give him a team he feels he can win with? He’ll have plenty of suitors at similar money if he wanted to leave.

[JoesphNdo]

I'd be patient on the defence side, especially set plays. It takes time and practice to implement a coaches vision if it differs considerably from what came before. I still think we badly need a CB, but I'd give the coach time to figure out basics like set piece defending

[Joe Kool]

Still showing lots of rust with the heavy touches and mistimed passes and miscommunication. To me we were sharper in the Leon games then got a little worse from there on. Second half was pretty boring stuff. We couldn't keep possession to save our life and probably the first time ever during a TFC game I fell asleep for a bit. Oh well...onward and upward.