I know that this may sound crazy, but I think that TFC will REALLY surprise people at how well we do without Giovinco.
I think that we still get the bye.
I know that this may sound crazy, but I think that TFC will REALLY surprise people at how well we do without Giovinco.
I think that we still get the bye.
The likely targets of the expansion draft are Lovitz and Bloom.
As int players, Morgan and Simonin are less likely to go.
can we put tfc2 players like roberts and babs on the expansion list
also, whens Irwin back
I'll look for the thinnest silver lining - this fairly disrupts opponent's plans for the next couple games. Without SG, not that clear how the TFC attack will set up. Obviously JA a big part but after than, they don't have much to go on.
No one can replace the set piece goal production but maybe defenders will be left guessing who other than JA to mark and that will open some chances in the run of play.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Management rates Delgado really highly, I think. I think they put out feelers to Atlanta and Minnesota and tell them they'll trade back for Delgado if he's selected. I really doubt they'd be okay with losing him.
I think Lovitz is a goner though.
We'll lose Endoh before Delgado, D is an excellent role player. Endoh's too specialized.
Must admit...its kinda nice to be in the position of losing somebody useful in an expansion draft. Gotta trust the pipeline to bring in others but that's what teams have been doing in MLS for years.
I made a list a while back on one of these threads. I gaurentee we lose two of Bloom, Lovitz, Hagglund or Williams. Everyone else will be protected or be an unsavory choice to to their being international spots.
Well in Lovitz's case, Edwards is already a better version of him. The only loss there would be that Lovitz can fill in as a backup LB (which also might keep Lovitz an MLS job).
Even if Lovitz doesn't get picked in the expansion draft, we picked up his option at the start of this year and those are typically 1-year extensions, so he's out of a contract at the end of this year anyways. I'm hopeful that Edwards gets a shot with the first team next season since he's a pretty natural replacement for the role Lovitz currently occupies. I also suspect he'd be a more threatening version of Endoh offensively, as a guy that can play out wide, and use his pace both with and without the ball. Seeing Endoh do not much with all those balls Bradley played into him down the right vs. Montreal was disheartening.
I haven't looked to see if the schedule lined up, but were we going to have him miss a game because of NT duty? if he is now not going to play that NT game and just be sitting on the their bench anyways - have him get a yellow in the lst MLS game before and ask that he not be called up until after the first game. My understanding is that you can't overlap NT duty and suspensions. Basially a suspension doesn't count for a game youwere going to miss anyways.
But based on your question, I'm thinking that it won't work out
People said bloom was going to be a target last time too. Regardless of where he's from, the guy hasn't seen the field much in the last two years.
I don't think he's that compelling of a pickup for a team in the expansion draft.
Looking at the below list, there are 2 MLS starting quality players drafted in 2014, MacNamara & Mullins
The rest were traded away or faded away.
If we give anybody up, they are unlikely to be a huge loss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_MLS_Expansion_Draft
Jason Hernandez, Tony Taylor and Ned Grabavoy are all quality players. Chris Wingert and Sal Zizzo are decent, Neal was a good player he's just basically retired to player-coaching due to age. You're underrating that list a little. The bench depth is good too, with Ribeiro, Mehdi Ballouchy...seriously. Not a weak draft that year at all.
I hope I'm wrong but I think we might struggle to pick up a point without him.
Its a a good job we went on that recent good run which hopefully has given us enough points to secure us a playoff spot, however Seba's injury has all but scuppered any hope we had of a bye or home field advantage. It's only a week later and down in third place already
Last edited by General Woolfe; 09-03-2016 at 09:44 PM.
Game in hand on everybody around us and a lot of home games.
More importantly, that defence is the best in the East and 3rd best in the league.
People who think we are nothing without Giovinco have not been watching.
As boring as international weekends are - I would like to make a point of saluting the TFC management who opted not to play during international windows this year (Copa aside obviously). We should have more than enough to get 7-9 points out of the next three games. A rested Johnson...2/3 DP's...a chance for Ricketts to play alongside Altidore. I'd say this little rest for Gio will be good for him in the run-in & it will give the team a chance to gain confidence and to lose the "a one player team" tag.
This is not the time to do the traditional TFC panic and collapse.
Altidore will break the double digit goals again, getting close this month. I would also like to see moor of Hamilton to let him build upon his best season so far.
I want to see Cooper play, and I really hope he'll turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
Cooper played the full game Friday night as Panama made it to the Hex.
Just reviewed the match stats on the Concacaf website.
Cooper made the most passes of all players - 44 successful out of 48
He was tied for 2nd with most steals
Tied for 2nd with most shots (3) but first place with 2 on target
So the very least we could conclude from that is that he was very involved in the game :-)
That's good to hear!
Here are the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDj7jX7XTz8