Well, we can't be worse off than we were up top. Hopefully he just slots in and sees what's going on. He's a veteran, he's a hold up guy. This can work.
I think Coelo has to be the natural sub for either MAK or Oso, because his pace is not his strength and on the right side we have more defensive fires to put out based on the wing being overloaded.
I'd probably sub it as
Insigne (JMR) Sapong (Dio) Bernie (Kerr)
MAK (Coelo) Oso (Coelo) Servania (Thompson)
RP (Guti) SR (O'Neill) Hedges (Mabike) Laryea (Franklin)
Then probably rotate the mids as required to get MB in.
Why don't we start with MAK on the bloody bench
For those watching at home, the Apple commentators are Tony Husband & Kyndra St. Aubin
Some will love the British voice but he does the BBC "hyperbola at any form of momentum" thing. Kyndra St. Aubin is a decent colour analyst who even when with the Loons did criticise both teams during the run of play.
This is hindsight. In 2016, in April, most of us would have said 1 (MB), maybe 2 in Will Johnson. People hated Delgado & thought Oso would never grow up. Cooper & Cheyrou hadn't shown up yet & VV was next season.
Next year, we were arguably the best MLS team ever. (I'm not saying 2023 = 2016 - I'm saying shield chasing is not what this team was going to be this season)
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My response was to somebody saying in essence, MAK has to be on the bench. That means a 3 person mid of Oso, Coello & ?
But then their reply was basically we'd have options if we didn't shit the bed in roster construction. And there's just no way to look at our central mid field and our alleged cap space and not agree with that sentiment. We can have a list of 6, 7, 10 central mid fielders if none are good enough for a club at the level we should be at that isn't a good thing
I mean 1 maybe 2 starters in a top mls team is a damn sight better than us now with 0, maaaaybe at a stretch 1, if his form turns around. Even a team looking to finish top 3 or 4 in a conference and take a run in the play offs, no team matching that description takes any of our central mid field right now
Basically I don't think 'look how many we have' means much if they aren't at the level we need them to be at
Last edited by JoesphNdo; 04-26-2023 at 03:57 PM.
Sorry man....its been a few dark days for me around this site. I'm not happy either....we've got, in theory, a good team.
I'm tired of MLS pundits saying we overspent and have no depth - our depth is decent enough for MLS.
I'm tired of people saying "X player is crap" and then somebody else saying "y player is crap" when I see so much dang potential if somebody could just unlock the whole thing with a coherent approach.
I'm tired of being let down by every single CF we've had except Dichio, Koevs, De Ro, Seba & Alitdore.
I'm tired of people saying "blow it up now" when blowing it up now means blowing it up until 2025.
I'm tired of watching our defence make the same mistakes every season but 2016-2017.
I'm tired of people saying "we trust Canadians too much" & others "we don't trust our youth" & I'm most tired of people seeing 1 freaking play (not one game, not one half...one freaking play) go "That guy is crap"
So I'm both tired of how the team I support is doing & tired of how the conversations are going.
We need an effin win.
I find it difficult to get up for TFC games - hurts to say it- I realized this- feeling excitement for team canada play- I used to have this feeling with TFC - but the flame is dying out.
A convincing win wont make up for the fact TFC has 1 win since last season- It is becoming very sad- not even laughably sad like Armas- this is hurting- we trusted manning twice has failed TFC
On top of this- I understand players were traded away like POZ to make him happy with his GF - but the guy isnt even in Miami- they shipped players out -looking out for them and their best interest ! what about TFC.
TFC could have held on to Poz for two games prior to the trade deadline to see the chemistry with LI and FB.
On a shield chasing team? None. How many have we had since 2017? None.
Even on 2017 we had Bradley who was good enough. Osorio & Delgado worked but were unremarkable. Vasquez was good too but not durable. Cheyrou the same.
Oso, MAK, & Servania (plus 2023 VV & Coello) can match up with the latter of that list. We just need another 2017 level DM to start and then plop MB into the old Cheyrou role. That group, with proper tactics & solid full team play, can work good enough to contend.
Every midfielder we have is a number 8 style player, balanced but not exceptional in any one area.
We could really use a couple who are exceptional specialists, a DM and an attacker who can come in late and both press high and cause late threats, to keep the other team's pressure as minimal as possible.
well it could be worse
https://proreferees.com/roster/refer...do-villarreal/Toronto FC vs New York City FC
BMO Field (7:30PM ET)
REF: Armando Villarreal
AR1: Andrew Bigelow
AR2: Meghan Mullen
4TH: Ben Pilgrim
VAR: Alejandro Mariscal
AVAR: Tom Supple