(I know some of you feel the way this song feels about TFC right now & that should be acknowledged)
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Have At It People
Match Day 14 - TFC @ Austin - Sat May 20 8:39pm - I Have Nothing But Pride
(I know some of you feel the way this song feels about TFC right now & that should be acknowledged)
***********
Have At It People
When an epilogue is eventually considered for TFC’s season, it likely may be titled for this stretch… Crisis of the Feriti (injured/wounded)!
I’m thinking this is Bob’s last game because I’m seeing a 5-0 drubbing hopefully I’m wrong but let’s be realistic here this team is just useless right now . Moreover, hopefully it’s Manning’s last game too.
I suppose one good thing about having half your team injured is that it keeps the legs fresh, haha. Two or three leave injured every match and are replaced by guys who barely have played at all, or not lately.
It’s a road trip - usually that means a loss in MLS. But I hope we put up a good fight and look engaged on all fronts.
Austin is also below the playoff line, are about the same points per game average as us, are as bad as us at scoring (20th and 21st and both @ 1 goal per game) and are several places worse than us at conceding (6th worse to our 12th). 5th highest payroll in the league. Driussi should be out for them but not much more than that.
A 1-1 draw is in line with both teams points per game average and goals scored per game average.
Well, I thought that was a really good effort with more than half the team missing, so I'm going to err on the side of optimism here.
I thought Richie's comments after the last game were probably needed.
“Teams go through stretches like this. We have a good team. We're missing a lot of people. We have young guys playing that haven't had a ton of experience. Everyone's growing right now,” he continued. “It's better to go through stretches like this now versus summer or later in the season.”
“So I understand, but I feel, honestly, proud of the guys. Guys are still trucking along, going, fighting, we come to training every day, we put in the work,” Laryea explained. “[There are] things you guys don't see. You guys just see the results after the games and it might look bad to you, but within the group everyone's working really hard, which is a very positive thing for me.”
“Keeps me going, keeps guys going. It's going to click soon,” he anticipated. “Hopefully this weekend we can go and get a big three points and then start getting a few of the guys back and start going from there.”
Toronto will hit the road this weekend, Texas-bound for a clash with Austin FC. A week later another flurry of matches sees the visits of D.C. United and the Chicago Fire before moving into June with an away date at Minnesota United.
What’s visible above the water line, from the outside, on the match days and in the results is only a small part of the bigger picture. The club feels they are getting closer to where they want to be.
“The conversations that are being had, the meetings that we have, the club wants to win, that's the ambition of the club,” said Laryea, peeling back the curtain a touch. “Everyday we're reminded of that and guys on the team remind guys of that. I'm constantly reminding people of that, it's a big [point of emphasis] of a lot of the veteran guys. It's good that we have many different voices saying the exact same thing and everyone wants to win.”
“Sometimes you hear people say that and they don't really mean it. This group means it,” he closed. “You see it when we come to train, the mood in the group. Yeah, could obviously be a better season, but it’s football. You see people hang their head, probably see me hang my head a few times in games as well, but we keep trucking along. You don't really get to see within our walls, our discussions, arguments amongst ourselves. It shows that everyone cares.”
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/MichaelSingh94/status/1659557799532134400?s=20
What's MAK's injury? I missed that.
He felt something in his hip before the last game.Originally Posted by Canary10
I guess if we’re to make this sort of speculation… Hedges is the most obviously needed “questionable”. Allows Richie to get back to RB. It would also be very helpful, most probably, to have MAK back in the midfield (though Kosi did very well last match). i’m hoping for those two but if it’s only MAK i suppose he goes to centre half alongside Mabike and Richie would also be back to playing wide.
And please wake up you strikers! Maybe, unlike NYRB, some hold up play is needed against Austin which would favour Sapong. And it would be more than nice to see something out of Diomande. He looked like he still had the legs and an eye for goal in preseason…..
If he stays on maybe he should be the next captain. I know he is hot headed on the pitch but I never saw anybody give a speech like this since old days Bradley and we needed that. Neither of the Italians are doing it and Osorio talks but is pretty boring and doesn't really have the personality for it. Since our whole team is fairly boring and dull in all aspects, maybe adding some fire in the form of Richie will shake some of the cobwebs off the rest of our floaters.
More Antonoglou in midfield please. I liked what I saw last game. He was able to get his teammates to trust him with the fall fairly quickly which is a good sign (defensively untested, I admit).
Would want to know if he can do it against better opposition. My hot take from a small sample size is he looks more capable than pretty much all our youth prospects at the moment with the exception of Kerr (not including Coello in that list as he’s a bit older / experienced).
But please, please don’t turn this kid into a fullback. He looks way better in midfield.
No Richie at RB!!!
Franklin is capable.
Richie goes to right mid and Berna moves center with Sapong. We need goals.... defensively we are honestly ok this year, but we can't score.
Hah, well, RB is preferable to CB for Richie. Otherwise I agree, but we haven’t seen any of that from Bob. Even Vanney was reluctant to play Richie there but he always rocked at right mid (his natural position it might be said).
MLS,com preview:
Austin FC won their first match in over two months with Wednesday's road upset over the Sounders. Arguably more encouraging for the Verde & Black, though, is the consistent production they're now getting from Designated Player Emiliano Rigoni (three goal contributions in his last four matches). A home match against a brutally-injured Toronto FC side gives ATX a major chance to gain momentum.
I think that’s too much change, it’s important to have some consistency. I would move Insigne back to LW, and add Richie to the midfield. As someone noted, midfield is where Richie played before Vanney move him to RB. Even better would be a 4-4-2, with Insigne as the LM, Richie as the RM, and Berna as the second striker.
Would much rather see Antonoglou in Insigne spot. Insigne and Bernadeschi need to ride the bench. Not team players at all.
4-4-2
--Insigne--Sapong--
Lareya-Kaye-Servania-Berna
Insigne needs to stop being so wide on the wing. Was just watching Giovinco highlights, most of his goals were because he was always played in the middle. This is where insigne has to be, and forget about his defensive responsibilities. Such a waste of goal finishing talent when used so wide on the pitch.
Last edited by nick.mastro; 05-19-2023 at 03:58 PM.
Giovinco was much more at home living in the middle than Insigne is. And Insigne has a terrible shooting percentage, he’s not clinical at all. If one of the two DPs are played up front it should be Bernie in behind Sapong.
Edit: and then, yes, Richie wide in the midfield with Franklin as RB. Insigne can continue doing his thing wide and cutting in.
And too, in time I think we all hope for real interplay between every player on the field. We have plenty of talent and experience (although maybe not any time soon due to injury). Insigne doing his thing alone is not going to be enough. Unlike most folks posting here I’m giving it all more time (and I’m writing off last season), but in the end it’s not acceptable to not fully use the talents of players like our two DPs. That was one of the great pleasures of Giovinco and Jozy. It was maybe the first and probably last time they were deployed in a way that got the most out of them as footballers. (For sure, part of that was what they did for each other.)
Last edited by los sonadores; 05-20-2023 at 01:22 AM.
Later start time...chance to watch some earlier games for a bit.
I really hope we see Richie used higher up the pitch today. If he does as good of a job as he did as CB, then I think a real case could be made for him as the third DP. Petretta and Franklin seem good enough in the fullback roles and hopefully it would lead to a reshuffle resulting in two more under-22 signings. It would alleviate some midfield woes and allow for more depth signings. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
As much as I like Richie it doesn't make sense to have him as a DP as we desperately need a premium striker. Overall the budget has been tremendously mismanaged,
I understand, but in the current setup, even a great striker would probably be starved of service. Richie in the mid could possibly alleviate that issue. I agree with the mismanagement, doesn’t leave many good choices. Would probably only work if a truly promising young striker could be acquired using a U-22 spot.
Same here. Richie on the right wing Berna moved more center. All I want to see. Guess it depends on if Hedges is available or MAK.
We don't even need a DP striker. Move Berna to CF, put Richie on the right and get a new DP CAM to play in the middle between Insigne and Richie. Osorio could also do this but he's frequently injured now.
DP striker would do nothing right now. Honestly if we can clear Akinola and Diomande get one quality striker for TAM money.
Last edited by SenorDingDong; 05-20-2023 at 08:45 AM.
Some of the doubtuls must be out, Toronto FC announced today that the club has signed Markus Cimermancic, Antony Curic and Jordan Faria to short-term loan agreements from Toronto FC II, the club’s MLS NEXT Pro side.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Two mids & a defender
Kaye & Hedges not making it, likely.
Do we even know if any of Kaye, Hedges or Perruzza even made the flight to Austin.
I respectfully disagree. A DP striker would have won us games at this point in the season. The amount of chances blown by our so-called strikers makes you want to cry. If TFC blows more money on players that do not score goals then we deserve to finish last.
Think we might get thumped here. I just have a bad feeling about this one.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
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