SJ. man of the match. He won us a point.
SJ. man of the match. He won us a point.
I know it is a decent result, but the whole Ayo thing is perplexing to me. You gave him a u-22 spot and he has played alright. Why are you subbing him on for 30 minutes and replacing him with a 18 year old? If you think that little of him, why are we spending an important roster spot on him?
I'll take that. Some positives, Sean Johnson was outstanding (he would be man of the match but I have to give it to VAR) and it's a weird feeling to have absolute confidence in a Toronto fc goalkeeper! Berna continues to be a one man wrecking crew, and the talk about body language? I didn't see it today
The worry is we were one absolute MLS refereeing catastrophe from losing, our lack of depth killed us (roster and cap management may absolutely kill us this season) and our mid field simply isn't good enough, especially for 90 minutes. We need somebody in there, a guaranteed starter level player and I suspect our manager is willfully blind to that need
But honestly, overall the team is starting to gel and we have such attacking talent and a good enough goalkeeper that we will rob points in games we don't deserve them in and that's a huge huge ability to have
0 wins -2 losses would have been bad
Last edited by alex andrew; 03-04-2023 at 09:39 PM.
Johnson and Hedges (unlucky on deflection) providing exactly what we needed. Johnson communicating with Rosted is good to see
Only worry is Fede starting to look really pissed at some players and dejected at end of game
My BIGGEST problem is the giveaways. We are probably one of the worst teams at hold-up and even basic backward passing and Mark-Anthony Kaye is a big part of that.
I really worry about the constant scrambly defending. It’s one thing to set up a low block and invite the pressure and defend. Looks more like we’re getting cup up and it’s up to SJ and the back line to bail us. Just doesn’t look like we’re defending with a plan.
Happy with the point though.
Also, if you are gonna have Victor on the bench, why not play him?
We stole a point that we didn't deserve. The match metrics were heavily one sided in Atlanta's favor.
We are better than that. I am starting to lose faith in Bradley Sr.
Not the prettiest, but hard fought road point.
Unlucky goal, but lucky in getting that 2nd goal called offside.
I'll take the result, but those turnovers need to be worked on during training.
Bernie doesn't look too happy though. And why not subbing any defenders?
Team looked much better than last week though.
I think he knew we would be bunkering for the last 15 and Mbongue is bigger, perhaps a little more able to hold up the ball until the rest of the team got up into other end.
Bernie was frustrated a few times tonight. But mostly, they did what they were asked, which was play a defensive 4-2-3-1/433 counter.
When Atlanta pressed late and pushed high, we had trouble getting the ball out. They looked leggy.
Ratings
SeanJo - 9
Laryea - 7
Hedges - 7 (can't really fault the deflection)
Rosted - 6.5 (he had two or three great moments, a clanger or two)
Petretta - 4 Very poor tonight, gave up on his runner twice, cleared poorly, was manhandled for strength for the second straight week.
MAK - 7 - A couple of short passes aside, very good and came into the game, excellent 2nd half defense.
Bradley - 6.5 excellent until about minute 70 then struggled to cover a little
Osorio - 6 - Meh. A few good moments but also barged off the ball easily several times.
Bernadeschi - 7.5 Generally excellent, defensive effort lagged in the second half
Servania - 6 - Covered a lot fo ground, blocked a few things. Nothing special, not awful.
Diomande - 3 - He was just out of step. Everything that could go wrong with his holdup and linkup did.
Akinola - 6 - I think he lost out late for defensive reasons, due to Mbongue's height and fresh legs.
Mbongue - n/a wasn't on long enough to make much impression. had a few decent looks but had that Okello sort of nervousness to his off-the-ball movement.
Tactics: 6.5 we needed a point and we're still not cohesive. Atlanta was coming in on a high and we basically shut Almada down. Good road point. Felt we need to adjust and push up in the second half, force them to beat our fullbacks and cut off some of their passing space, but maybe conservatively staying in the narrow defensive block was smarter.
I think VV gets left for dust by every single player on Atlanta but Guzan & we are way out of balance. Kosi takes up space & runs.
BUT...there is problem with a team that HAS to play 4 at the back & can't introduce a 3rd CB. Good teams figure out a way to adjust their defensive line.
FWIW
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/LeachCityNewsTO/status/1632211704355475456
I honestly think Ayo would be a better player for bunkering. Hugo didn't show too much today, but Ayo is a guy who we have invested an important roster spot and decent money. It just shows a lack of faith in the player and makes whoever signed him to that contract look bad.
strong team effort and a good point away from home...big game johnson...bradley again and again with those passes that you dont see from kaye osorio servania and assists bernardeschi...kaye gives the ball away way too easily and in bad positions...strong sub to bring mbongue as a bigger stronger presence was needed up front for the end and it worked...now gotta start integrating vazquez and rutty...give minutes to rutty in the midfield and bring vazquez in the second half...kaye will have to go to the bench if he keeps playing like this...theres a solid group here that is slowly building...keeper and defenders strong and just gotta find the right three in the midfield and three up front