The boys finally get almost a week of rest, before we get to do this shit all over again, with four games in 12 days.
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
I feel in a game where both Altidore and Giovinco aren't up top you need one of Chapman or Vasquez in the midfield. Ricketts has proven useful but his holdup and combination play is basically nil. Someone from midfield has to find our forwards and it makes it easier when it's not just Edwards doing it or Cheyrou who has to venture really far forward.
Anyway, character win for sure. The gap in quality was obvious for stretches of the match. These guys badly need some rest and if we didn't have this deep team I'd be foaming at the mouth pissed with MLS for giving us this stupid schedule which has worn down a lot of players.
Well that was a bit of a rollercoaster...
You have to admire the team's dig to pull out a win there, but I think ive had it with experimentation with the line up and all this talk about our depth. Lets get back to fielding our strongest 11 every game. Defensively that was a bit of a disaster today and im sure a lot had to do with unfamiliarity. Having said that it doesnt look like were going to get the opportunity to go back our best 11 with Seba, Hagglund and Bono all picking up injuries. However, lets go with the best 11 available. For example, I thought we really missed Vazquez today. (Yes, Im finally a believer!!) He really has made the role of provider his own and we struggled today when he wasnt there. By all means pull him after the hour if you feel he needs a rest, but he has to be in the starting line up if we are to realize our potential.
Anyway, rant over. Im grateful for the three points, to keep the run going, and most importantly, stretch that lead atop the East and SS standings. Onwards and upwards!!!
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
Good this is over!
Deserved win for tFC for the maybe 35-40% of game they played focused and good.
The other remaining periods they were utter shit. Yeah, I know, there were those injuries, but that does not excuses anything.
The last 3 days all we heard from Vanney and the players is how ready they are for this play, how much they respect Minnesota, bla, bla, bla....
Really? The play have not reflected at all this readyness.
They played as expected only when with their back at the wall, in danger of losing 2 points.
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Until now I wasn't against Cooper, always because I considered him a colorful player with great technical quality.
From today though the anti-Cooper voices in here gained another member.
Damn, Vanney must be out of his mind if he'll start Cooper in the next 3 games.
This guy most of the time is a bottomless black hole, his decision making is incredibly bad.
Last edited by PizzaEatingYeti; 05-13-2017 at 04:51 PM.
Have to add, Mavinga was our best defender today. He's turning it around after a slow start.
I disagree on mavinga, I still think he's quite mediocre.
On cooper though... If we have homegrowns for a third the cost who consistently outplay someone considered a DG that's a problem.
Its time to bench him and trade him away later.
A player who can dribble through 3 opposing players in the attacking zone is dangerous. A player who tries to do that in central midfield, or worse, his own end line, is hazardous.
He can maybe be useful as a winger in a 4-3-3, but unfortunately the only wingers we play with need to be able to defend. His lack of situational awareness makes him a liability in his own half and I can't see how they fix that. I see his potential being limited to being a limited roll player that plugs in in games where space is limited
It has to be said that Minnesota beat themselves here. Holy shit, their attackers couldn't hit the side of a barn with a sawed-off from 5 feet away.
This is definitely a game that if it would've ended 2-2, I REALLY would've been disappointed. We seemed to have crazy amounts of possession in the first half but weren't doing anything with it.
Edwards was a real spark as usual down the left, and then once we had Jozy and Vasquez on if felt like we were really creating chances. Jozy was FULL ON BEAST MODE on that game winning goal, and Ricketts climbed to the heavens to get it in.
As others have mentioned, great teams find a way to win even when they might not deserve to. Today was another one of those days.
6 wins a row! woo hoo.
great result considering such a sloppy performance. Never witnessed Bradley giving the ball away so much, particularly in the first half. However, I agree with the anti Cooper sentiment. He waits too long, and usually loses the ball or makes a bad final pass. Edwards is already so much better.
Monday morning all I'm going to remember is that 3rd goal.
So many people talking before this one that is a trap game... even well before we had that lucky win at Columbus.
Guess what?
It WAS a trap game!
It's a sign of a good team that even when you have a subpar game you find a way to win. This is shaping up to be a special season.
If we hit 9 wins in a row we should fly in Danny K declare this the best team in the world.
deep team I'm wondering who our best 11 are
Just got up and watched the highlights – I was having fits throughout that only 4 minutes ... I can't imagine what it must've been like to watch this one live. Thank Zeus they pulled it off.
And now they still only get a week until the next game. Brutal scheduling. Is this because of the Gold Cup?
I disagree about the referee.
We complain about MLS refs constantly, and often don't notice when they do a good job.
Allen Chapman missed a few, but got a lot of calls right that most refs miss. He had a very good game overall.
He's not responsible for time keeping, that's the fourth official.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 05-13-2017 at 06:48 PM.
That penalty against us was pretty weak, though. I mean, yeah, Edwards had his arm slightly raised, but he wasn't even looking toward the play when it hit him. Pretty good case for ball-to-hand there.
And apparently Hernandez just had food poisoning, so that won't affect him for the next game.
The injuries are starting – hopefully nothing is too serious.
Last edited by James17930; 05-13-2017 at 06:48 PM.
Mavinga was very solid today. He marked his forward very well, always getting his foot in, and scored a deserved goal. Delgado is lightweight and Cooper is an embarrassment - no disrespect to girls, but he runs, plays and acts like a big one. We need to be better than that. Edwards is a star in the making.
i love that we had to find a way to grind it out for 3
and we did
Edwards continues to impress - Mavinga was solid & Jozy is a beast
subs due to injuries & we still make it work - but what subs we have...
so many games with major travel in such a short timeline and we still found maximum points
this IS a VERY good team
and best of all, they're MY team
love it...
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/RussellPhotos/status/863515412604096512
That first photo is...remarkable.
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I could talk about Cooper but its all been said already. I spent a good chunk of the day agreeing with the pregnant lady beside me about him.
The only thing I would add to all this is we require 1 of Vasquez, Chapman or Osorio to link between the mids and the forwards. 2 of them together doesn't work. But 1 and we are a very different team.
6 wins in a row, squad depth, Rahim on the rise. I don't think I've ever been more excited for TFC's future than right now.
Mavinga was improved but still had a few moments of bad positioning in dangerous areas. He has not yet won a starting spot but deserves some minutes. I would play him in Canadian Championship.
Cooper has a lot of ball skill. But is not applying it properly. If he could just get his head up and be capable of 1-3 touch passing he would be an asset. Top right in a 4-3-3 would probably be his most useful spot on the pitch, which we don't play. If he doesn't adjust by the trade deadline to our style of play I would think he would have good trade value. I am still hoping he can adjust to TFC's formation and work with our team.
I felt like this game was extra dirty. They added some extra time which was nice, but in general it was one of the best games I have ever seen. I thought Rickets (sp)? was by far the best, but they can work on passing patterns, and retaining midfield a bit. Great job to them all. Sincerely, Jay
We've played 5 games in 15 days. Anyone slagging off the team right now is being a tad unreasonable in my opinion. The last 2 games haven't been pretty but with the squad rotation and players being heavily taxed during this period, I think you have to look it as whole and applaud them for taking maximum points.
Altidore is a beast. I think he is the most dominant striker in club history.
Edwards. That guy is a potential superstar if he starts thinking more tactically and develop his mind for the game. He has so much of the physical game already down.
Last edited by Cashcleaner; 05-13-2017 at 07:48 PM.