if we cant move jozy,i see a buyout at the end of the season.
We’re arguing about the teams good depth in the middle of park. Good problem to have. And when you have to play 40+ games next year, if we get into champions league, you will need 5/6 player rotating the DM/CM/AM roles.
Bradley, Osorio, Delgado, Fraser, Pozuelo, and Deleon, when needed, is as good depth as you will find in the MLS.
Mullins is really good at late game defensive forward work.
Like a lot of players on this team, he's got a role in certain situations.
You selectively misquoted my post. Who does that? The point I was making is that it is very difficult to find strikers of Jozy’s caliber. Who score goals. MLS and the premier league are full of examples. Including our own history as a club. For all the Jozy haters, be careful what you wish for is the point I was making.
If you disagree, think it’s easy to score goals, and can point to several available strikers of Jozy’s caliber I’d be quite interested to learn their names. But it’s not Cavallini.
Jozy occupies space in a way that Akinola does not. Think of it this way. Until a few weeks ago, nobody cared if Laryea went one on one with a FB because he wasn't so successful. Last night, Philly ALWAYS had a second guy nearby ready to jump in on that side. This cleared up the middle channel for Poz & Piatti. This is what good attackers do - they make teams adjust.
Altidore does the same thing. His ability to do something is well known so when playing as a lone striker or up top with a second, teams have to adjust. Even last night, with Jozy coming back deep and we in essence playing in a very narrow 4-2-3-1, a player always went with him when he came back deep to pass off.
Akinola does not do occupy that mental space yet. Nor does Piatti, truth be known. If bother or either of those players start banging them in regularly, space will open up for other players attacking and our ball movement will naturally get a lot quicker. This is also why wide speed who can cross is very important.
This is the difference between the strikers Philly has (decent but nobody is going to adjust their defence around them) & somebody like Altidore or Vela or Higuian down at Miami.
Deja Vu. We have a mediocre to decent first half, some magic voodoo sage burning ritual in the dressing room at halftime, then we come out looking like one of the best teams in the world in the second half.
If this is how we grind out wins, I don't mind. I wasn't sure if we were going to be this capable without Bradley, but here we are.
Poz & Piatti look like they've been playing together for a decade, so enjoyable to watch.
Cavallini has done his reputation a huge disservice by taking a fat paycheque from an awful team where he gets basically zero support.
What you really get with him is a traditional number nine with good holdup play and average goal scoring potential. He’ll probably get you more like 10-12 a year rather than 15-20. But he stays healthy and works his socks off. He’s realistically a borderline TAM DP worth $1 million - 1.5 million a year that Vancouver had to drastically overpay for.
I can see where you are coming from, if we look back at their careers or “best” play Altidore wins hands down. But I think the best of Altidore has since past and Today’s Cavalinni > Today’s Altidore to me seems like a fair judgment.
Another gutsy comeback win. Love the effort the last few games.
Sucks to lose Jozy (again), but Akinola is more than capable. Gallacher looked good too.
Yes 5 subs total, but you can only make them at 3 different opportunities. Since we already had two individual subs due to injuries, Vanney only had one more opportunity to make any changes. At that point, he could have subbed in 1, 2 or 3 players at the same time. In the 86th minute, Vanney chose to put in two players.
Much as love Bradley who does he replace? They’ve won 3 difficult games without him. I don’t see him making that great long pass Delgado made to Gallagher for the first goal. He’ll get back in when they rotate or get an injury.
The midfield is better without everyone forcing passes to Bradley to get the play started. Delgado is in very good form right now and Osorio has become the most consistent player in the squad and I would hate to see him shifted out to the left again.
Lol come on now really? Ya I’m sure Morrow has put in a lot of good crosses over the years like that one, especially in the 2017 season when Morrow was the best left back in the league it want even close . Moreover , Richie Laryea has has some amazing assists this season and even last season . I know Gallacher is from the Liverpool organization but let’s not exaggerate now on one nice cross because he comes from a very good EPL organization, and say that no TFC defender has very rarely or is not as capable to put in a good cross in like that , come on now lol!
Last edited by SoccMan2; 10-04-2020 at 04:53 PM.
This is my issue with Bradley coming back - he demands to be the focal point for the beginning of play. That is MLS circa 4 years ago. Teams can key on who he is trying to pass to. We are much better when less predictable. e.g. I counted 3 times when Mavinga carried it forward yesterday into their half.
Genuinely believe this team can go all the way if we cut out the silly errors. Our trajectory for next year also looks very good if we can capitalize on areas of severe deficiency (Jozy has not been anywhere near to DP quality this year, Piatti is also debatable though still a good player).
Bradley has definitely slowed down through the years. I wonder if it has anything to do with him trying to conserve energy? It it does, then it may make more sense playing him every other game at 100%. As opposed to every game at ~80%.
I still think the best I’ve seen him consistently play was aggressively in Nelsen’s 4-4-2 and as the 10 in Vanney’s 2015 diamond. Leaving Oso where he is and having him fit as a cog in the wheel as opposed to being the actual wheel might work better when comes back.
Front three of Poz, Ayo, Piatti. Midfield of Delgado, Bradley with Oso sitting behind them. Let Michael be a pitbull and attack more freely.
After watching Harry Maguire and Eric Bailey then Joe Gomez and Virgil VanDyke I feel less bad about Omar’s recent play.
Last edited by MightyDM; 10-05-2020 at 10:25 AM.
Been reflecting on our past 3 results. We've had 3 narrow victories against NYCFC, Columbus and Philly. All 3 have been playing consistently well, and in each game we found a way to win against them.
This team has found another gear, despite miscues and mistakes here and there. That's the sign of a solid team, not just individuals.
Trust the process