You are right about Gonzalez, I take back my comment earlier he has helped us. He has slow feet and we have no speed at centre back. Again another crap acquisition.
You are right about Gonzalez, I take back my comment earlier he has helped us. He has slow feet and we have no speed at centre back. Again another crap acquisition.
Huge goal by Minnesota...and just like that....PK to Orlando....VAR, overturns it — how lucky have they been tonight with those three ties...
Last edited by tfcfans; 08-17-2019 at 09:09 PM.
He's actually faster then the 2 CB's we faced tonight. With better positioning and the ability to pass. People gotta give their heads a shake here. When we lose or draw, the whole team is awful except our favourites. When we win, a few more are less awful.
In the scheme of this league, we are an underperforming, defensively unsound, unbalanced midfield with a couple of beyond this league class players that can make the difference - in some ways, like every other near or in the playoffs team in this league this season not named LAFC - they all have something not right with them. And just like Dallas tonight, we stared at the Abyss of a lost season and somehow came back from that brink. That's MLS.
We live to fight another day.
*********
I still think we don't do this but the pieces we have are better then the results.
I railed against Gonzalez but if you think he's the problem then Og is right, give your head a shake. Gonzalez has turned into a good signing imo.
The players are not the problem.
So we dont sign janson because the shaff? Who they send down to tfc2 and to sign two lower level tam wingers who dont even play in a near must win game. Moor cant play anymore. Auro was really good today, he deserves praise. Vanney needs to stop fucking around with pozuelo and play him high up the middle.
It’s tough to say. On the one hand, certainly we’ve seen more motivation and drive from this group. Maybe the coach isn’t getting the most out of them?
On the other, we see a lot of mistakes. Honestly whether or not Ali Curtis is worth anything to me hinges on how Gonzalez plays. It was a signing of a player every GM in MLS should be familiar with. If we don’t get that right, good night.
The main thing that bothers me is how boring and unmotivated the players are playing. They've accepted status quo and that is all on Vanney. Listen to him speak. He puts me to sleep. His halftime videos are sleepers too. We are always playing flat.
TFC in two words: Uninspired Football.
How do you know Gonzalez is faster then the other 2 CB? Did you time them in 1/4 mile runs? Also I did not talk about how fast he is I said he has slow feet. Soccer is about your first 2 steps and how quick your feet are. Gonzalez was getting beat behind and in the box when players dribbled past him, slow feet.
Also to say that TFC is just playing like any other MLS team would be valid except our payroll is one of the largest in the league so you cannot compare them. We have made poor investments. The team is way underperforming compared to dollars spent.
TFC told us they would not go back to the old days that would build the team every year they had learned their lessons. It appears they have not. The problem they have now is that they have some overpaid players that limit their ability to reload because they are up against the cap. Extending Altidore was a good move. I love Bradley but you cannot pay that kind of money for someone who does not score many goals or assists. They have way overpaid for Osorio. Poor management of the team has gotten us in this kind of trouble. They season is done, they are not making the playoffs. There are too many things to fix and the team has no plan.
Saw Vanney interview post game and he said that the team played well in the first half. Are you kidding me. I have been backer of Vanney but based on that comment he has to go!
Reporter asked Vanney why he did not put any of they new players on the field and he indicated both are not good defensively and largely attack minded players. He thought they would be a liability on the field against Columbus. I would not call Columbus a juggernaut scoring machine. So clearly Vanney does not like the players brought in and they were not his choice. Or he has zero faith in the back line and holding mid player (Bradley). Vanney wants boring control based football not fast paced attacking football.
Posession-wise, it looked like we were playing at home. I actually agree with him there. The second half the pitch completely tilted and we couldn't adjust.
But my impression after the game was the old cliche, looks like he's lost them and they look confused.
We were being bombarded and Vanney just sat on his ass.It was a blitzkrieg against KKKolumbus! Why even bother with the playoffs at that rate?
I'm pretty neutral right now because if we fire him, who do we replace Vanney with?
Last edited by Brooker; 08-18-2019 at 05:54 AM.
Glad a reporter asked the question. People have been crapping on Vanney saying "look, Curtis got Vanney what he asked for. Why isn't he using them? Vanney's answer says it all, Curtis brought in the wrong players. Fire Curtis, not Vanney.
It's untrue that Vanney doesn't want fast attacking football, all season he's been pushing his players to move quickly and attack.
Something I've noticed is that both TFC and Columbus conceded goals on poor defense, with players not being properly marked. Since they have different coaches, but Bez played a role in constructing both defenses, it could be a feature of Bez teams that they focus more on offensive roles and do not put as much emphasis on getting quality defense.
There is something off, and it will come out in time. Not sure. The players do seem to be listening to the coach and I don’t agree with those who say they are not trying, but whether it’s arrogance or missing Seba or Vanneys style, coming out at half time with a one goal lead in an almost must win game and shipping a goal three minutes later speaks to mentality.
Last edited by MightyDM; 08-18-2019 at 07:45 AM.
Knowing what the problem is and actually being able to implement changes to solve it are two different things.
I find it extremely tough to understand whether it’s the GM or coach that have failed here. But that said, Vanney does live in the theoretical too often and I think that bubbles up on occasion when shit happens. He will say exactly what the problem was in the post game presser and indemnify what needs to improve but seems to fall down at implementing the changes to change the play of the team.
This is a common problem you see in business with people who are overly academic.
Some random thoughts:
Insipid play. That’s the word I have been looking for. Insipid
Vanney is quite smart and observant - in the 2016 Montréal game second leg he correctly identified a Montréal weakness in defending set pieces that led to Hagglunds goal (and Jozy’s, although Seba changed the play).
Vanney is so analytical that perhaps it’s a weakness in the dressing room in that the team doesn’t come out motivated emotionally, only stimulated analytically
His teams have always shipped goals, from the moment he was hired. That weakness was obscured when we had the best player in the history of MLS
Bradley’s contract isn’t bad and I do not know why people keep saying that. He has been instrumental in all of our success and was worth every penny. He is still playing at an incredibly high level but that’s not the point - we got credibility, playoffs, MLS cup final, MLS Cup, CCL success ultimately because of the credibility and drive for success that he brought and that he represented
I am starting to like Mullins
On the plus side, how does the Nordecke feel giving up that late goal to what looked like the rotting corpse of TFC? A bit of revenge for one of my top nightmare moments of TFC fandom during the days when people bothered to hate the Crew
https://youtu.be/pP71O_gYErg
Vanney would reinvent the wheel as a square to show people how forward-thinking he is. I'd be fine with his excessively analytical style if he was actually outcoaching opposing managers.
As for Bradley, we aren't in 2017 anymore. His quality has dipped considerably over the past two seasons. He's still a good MLS holding midfielder, but as far as bang-for-the-buck goes, it's not very good. The contract, as it stands in 2019, is bad, but he's still a low-end DP so exactly how much he earns isn't hugely impactful.
Last edited by Bobo; 08-18-2019 at 09:43 AM.
A road draw is OK.
Three high quality goals (especially Santos, I don’t get why people are complaining about “allowing a goal in the first three minutes” when it's a sublime pass and first time volley of that caliber).
Only one to complain about. Bad luck on the second Columbus goal (it nicked Moor, which fooled Q) but Accam getting space like that on the counter is horrendous.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Main thing for me is that when we introduced Endoh & Schaff earlier this summer and Vanney made a choice to play fast & wide, we showed some success and looked much better. It even took some pressure off our defense as when we committed dumb turnovers they were further up field than when do our pointless possession game. Neither Endoh or Schaff are defenders of the year but we were okay. Now you have two TAM players who may have a little more touch in front of goal and we don't use them. Worse, looks a bit like Schaff & Endoh are back into the wilderness too and we're right back to what didn't work in 2018 and early this season. I don't really want Vanney out because I worry Fraser will be the easy answer but it takes a certain kind of manager to stare into failure without blinking for this long due to stubbornness and single mindedness.