John Kennedy? D.O.A.! Soteldo Redux.
John Kennedy? D.O.A.! Soteldo Redux.
Why would we want a centre forward 1/2 way in height between our two Italians?
Gomis injured. Out for a month. Here we go… Lower Body FC; wrist?
Wrist is very specific - not used to that.
BB would have not said he was out for a couple of weeks until asked by a journo & then reluctantly say "yeh, he ...picked up something. Unfortunately, we looked at it and couldn't figure it out for awhile but finally...he went in for surgery and he's out for a bit....will be back soon.
There are a number of midfield roster questions that this last game raised.
Won't speculate too much based on a game in a baseball diamond
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There are some trends we might know more about in about 6 weeks.
A lot of roster questions everywhere… and that’s to be expected.
We have a lot of midfield players who probably are not much suited to playing anywhere else (Oso and Longstaff come to mind based on the last two matches). And a lot of strikers who shouldn’t be playing anywhere (based on last season and this one). Just to point out a couple of obvious things.
A bright spot after a loss - Ayo is in the last year of his deal. We will regain a u-22 spot in January.
Perruzza and Pearlman in TFC2 lineup today
perruzza missed a good chance to score ugh. tfc striker curse is real.
I have to admit, after a weekend of watching every other MLS team again, I think we'll be quite lucky to make the playoffs. Our first team is barely competitive and our depth is USL level.
oso is out for canada,so he is prob out for another 2 wks at least and patretta is out 2 to 3 wks.tfc like to pay big money for injury prone players
Our xGA being the 3rd worst in the league indicates something isn't right defensively either. We've been getting away with stuff. I did note that even a couple of weeks ago Herdman was still saying we needed another CB. I see the issue being beyond the CB's.
Like, its been better to watch & they care & work hard for each other - but we have yet to meet a team who are "on that day" and when we do, with this roster, it won't be pretty.
They defend hard. The last ditch tackles and effort to track back on defence have been palatable. It is very fair to say we’ve outperformed but I still stand by the fact the xG worship in soccer is overdone as it doesn’t statistically control for the quality of the player who gets the chance or other very practical things.
I think we can look at our lineup and not much further analysis is needed beyond that. We’re still toothless on the counter with a lack of team speed and lacking a goal scoring threat up top. Without those, teams will continue to feel comfortable hammering away at us and throwing guys forward without much fear of consequences.
We’ve also started O’Neill every game (as much as he’s done okay, not a starter in this league), given extended burn to Rosted, and had JMR as his (hopeless) partner on the left side.
That’s a lot for the team to digest.
The eye test told me we've been giving up a lot of good chances and getting bailed out by good goalkeeping and shots right at our keepers and near misses - the xGa just proved it data wise.
That’s fair, especially last game. But my point would be look at the amount of time this team is defending over 90 minutes. I bet if we controlled for that (essentially turning the stat into xG given up per minute spent defending) we are probably below average to average as opposed to rock bottom.
To use a comparison, if this were a boxing match, TFC is like the guy who gets shepherded into the corner and gets whaled on repeatedly. The other guy doesn’t even keep his guard up he’s so unconcerned about what TFC will do to him. If we could punch the other team in the face on occasion and proverbially “get out of the corner” it might keep ‘em more honest and make the job of defending a lot easier.
Last edited by ag futbol; 03-17-2024 at 08:16 PM.
On second thought, thinking Michy Batshuayi might just fit in with Bad Boy TFC…
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/badboy_jerry/status/1769466661046796354[/URL]
Luke Singh nearing loan back to Atletico Ottawa in the CanPL
https://wanderersnotebook.ca/2024/03...an-deal-close/
Maybe I'm desperate but I just had a look back at that Marshall-Rutty goal on the weekend and the way he took that ball and finished around the keeper ... I'd give that boy a run up front (even if it's just in practice) to see if he has a nose for goal. Couldn't be any worse than throwing Ayo out there ...
i think the key is that we look a more motivated, more cohesive team than last season.
but a turnaround from wooden spoon winners to contenders won't be overnight, especially with the amount of bad contracts on the books.
i'd be very content with a cinci 2022 style season this year. then cinci 2023 next year!
Laryea getting surgery on the hammy, out until June. Source: twitter