.... Win
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Have At It People
Match Day 10 - NYC @ TFC - Sat April 29 7:39pm - NYC @ TFC - Maybe This Time
.... Win
*******
Have At It People
I think if we lose this in close fashion, maybe BB survives it.
I think if we lose like we did against Philadelphia, the jig is probably up.
It's one thing to get shaded by a tough team. But our payroll is the highest in the league by some margin, and Philly owned us like a branded steer.
If we lose this game big or both of the next two, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bob sticks around a bit longer and the board cans Manning first. Bob essentially dead man walking until they figure out who takes the big seat.Originally Posted by jloome
We better no lose to the team who just lost to Clubfoot Montreal. That's all I can say.
Yeh, I don't think somebody gets fired over a loss on this game as its there is too much invested in this group
but they lose this one then that group in the room are not good enough for the circumstances of this league.
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God I love this version of that song, BTW.
To be fair, Insigne just recently got back into the lineup.
If BB can't win the next 2 of 3 games with both Fede and Insigne starting, then he must go.
The next few games will paint a clear picture.
What are the odds of Bernardeschi starting? He was listed as questionable last week and only played 45 on Saturday. Do we know what's up?
All I want is a shutout for SJ vs his former side.
Was he taken off due to injury, or due to unwillingness to play defence?
I know everyone here loves him (and consequetly I anticipate a shitstorm of critical response) and I do not doubt his offensive talent.
But when I watch him play, I see a guy disinterested in the defensive half of the pitch, much of the time. Yes, he sometimes tracks back, and he sometimes does it when really needed.
But it masks somewhat the fact that much of the time, he does not track the wing, he does not occupy space. He does not play his role fully. And I think it's going to be very easy for people to be distracted from that by his "I love TFC" persona, his outward ebullience.
On the pitch, he creates some challenges. His passing is the lowest completion rate on the team, at 74%. He kills transitions by either taking on three guys alone or not passing accurately, or not moving into his open support space. On more than one occasion, one of the strikers has ended up dropping to cover for him because he hasn't tracked back..
I don't think he's really attempting to be a team player. I think he's looking at how bad some of our players are performing and thinking, "I have to carry this offense, period." But that wont' work, and it doesn't excuse not playing defense and not tracking back. I think his one-dimensional nature is a bit of an issue for them. He's not Seba; he's not going to repeatedly win games on his own. He needs to work as part of a unit.
Now granted, if we had a central midfield that could stop traffic, this would be much LESS of an issue. Most of the time, the only reason we need the front three to drop behind the half is because we've already been pinned back. So what I'm seeing is probably exacerbated by the other issues.
But I'll challenge anyone who disagrees with me to go back and watch him off the ball. Half the time, he doesn't even bother trying to get over the half line before the ball has reached our box. Defending isn't just tackling; it's closing lanes, narrowing passing opportunities, not leaving acres of space so the other team can easily switch field and escape pressure.
Last edited by jloome; 04-24-2023 at 12:17 PM.
I was at the Atlanta game, and he definitely looked to have picked up a knock. So I'm guessing his playing time is injury-related.
But I actually don't disagree with anything you said. I think it's accurate.
FWIW, asked directly at the presser, BB said he hadn't been practising most of the week so that was done precautionary given the state of the game.
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I suspect they are going to put out every stop to get everybody, including Hedges & Bradley, ready to play for this one.
I think Bradley must know by now he is running out of time. He was on the "who gets fired first" list from MLSsoccer.com today. When the official mouthpiece starts talking about a negative, it's an issue.
It's common knowledge that defenders and most certainly midfielders will always have higher pass completion rates then attacking players especially ones with two and three defenders constantly on their backs the way Bernadeschi does, you want him to track back? I want the back four defenders and midfielders to move the ball out of our end of which it was the entire first half of the Phila game.
Interesting. It isn’t a numbered list but here’s certainly there. “Bob Bradley, Peter Vermes, Oscar Pareja and Greg Vanney.” I think if this is LAFC, yeah, maybe but MLSE, no.
His rate, 74%, is low even for wingers in MLS. And yes, when they have two players attacking wide, I want both of our wide players actually playing defense. Being double-teamed in their zone doesn't stop him from facing in the other direction and running.
I am not the least bit concerned with 74% when I know that he has been playing here from Day 1 without a decent #9 and this season without Insigne. Midfielders that can actually string a few passes together might make things look a little brighter.
Not going to disagree with that.
Yeah, seconded. And other than the occasional ball, often forward, to Richie and the inevitable long and final-third switch to Insigne (I expect this to happen much too often until we have a useful nine) I don’t get much sense that he passes at all. It’s a bit in the realm of his defence. He feels he’s got to score or directly make the offence… or else we ain’t got none. Which is mostly true.
Will Sapong make a difference here? I kind of question it, but perhaps being stuck behind Mukhtar and battling with Bunbury hasn't been giving him very many shots and Nashville is one of the teams below us in goals so perhaps some other service will give him more chances. Despite playing less than half the available minutes he's tied with his contemporary in xG essentially.
Last edited by Yuushalinsky; 04-25-2023 at 08:11 AM.
He isn't a consistent scorer so I don't expect many goals but at least he can do the target forward thing and hold up the ball, good in the air, be physical.
Feels like a desperation move. Sapong is a perennially streaky striker and he's 34 years old now. Basically it feels like they're getting a platoon partner for Diomande.
My guess is they mostly want the presence, like you say.
McNaughton was never going to be a starter, too error prone.
The $200,000 GAM was a bit surprising and seems excessive.
He's very streaky. He'll score in two or three straight, then disappear for ten or 15 games without a goal. Age has almost certainly affected his play, as well. CJ Sapong at 29 is a dubious starter in this league. At 34, I have to believe he's a platoon/rotation player with Diomande, and all Bob really expects from them is to hold up and continue play, plus chip in with the odd goal.
Not worrying about this since they've been mentioning dropping it for intra league moves and such. Soon it probably won't matter. Might be smart to dump what you have before it's like owning a collection of pennies.
We had GAM to spare it seems.
This is a "we shall see" move.
More thinking what does this mean for the backline - we have 3 CB's now.
Oh, wait, we got a backup from Miami.
I believe we signed Adam Pearlman in the offseason as well? Maybe that's wrong and he's still at USL. Either way, scouts in USL II over the last two seasons have consistently noted that he looks almost MLS ready. I suspect it's why he had a cup of tea in France during the preseason, with teams there looking whether to buy him now that he's 18.
FWIW
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/status/1650905862620299279
I suspect Johnson is just having a day off after the pace of his week so far.
Yes lets hope that it was just due to a busy week Johnson had last week. I saw someone else posted in the TFCII that Romero went off injured during the game on the weekend.
Yeah he did. Anyone know any update on this? I heard nothing at all.
johnson ended up joining the team in training fwiw.
i'd go:
insigne sapong berna
MAK Oso Alonso
RP SR MH RL
SJ
this is ABSOLUTELY a must win.
we really need minimum 7 points from the next 4 games minimum or BB will be in trouble (and progression in the VC, ofc).
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