Post game thread - tfc 1 @ dc 3

[Pookie]

I wish folks would stop labelling the "Canadian" content issue as one against our players. I have Serioux's name on the back of one of my jerseys. If they are good enough, they can play every minute, every game.

The issue is with roster management. Aside from the strength of the talent pool we are working in, Canadian roster players are largely untradeable under MLS rules. You have to be good enough to beat out an International player to work with 16 MLS teams. That's why the grand total of Canadians playing south of the border is a whooping 8. As in we have more Canadians on TFC than ALL USA BASED MLS teams

I know the CSA's stance well. Interesting TFC joined Vancouver and lobbied to have the quota reduced to 0. They then signed 9... 9 more than they were lobbying for and more than the original quota that they originally said made it hard to compete.

The man at the table representing TFC once Mo was out of the way? Earl Cochrane, he who spent somewhere around 5 years working for the CSA. If our technical director knew we had talent ready to go and felt they were stronger than US players, why in the hell would he sit at the table to lower the quota to make it easier for other teams?

Or did Mr Earl simply sit, support the CSA in their stance to have it raised to 3 (from the proposed 0) and then quietly enact his agenda after the fact?

[Chevy]

Hey supporters of the Canadian Army, Afghan ain't going well so fuck off.

Thank you Jack for posting your response. My thoughts were much more profane on that rant.

Why did this angry fellow tell me to fuck off? Because I buy only discounted tickets due to income? Because I have a 6 year old jersey? Because I pre-drink to avoid the beer prices? I love T.O. sports teams and football. I can't not do what I love. I may have joined the boards this year only, but my love of the game is not a trend like many seem to be riding.

Considering our trials and tribulations over the years, these are the seven most intelligent words posted on these boards. I think we all should refer to this line on a regular basis. It will help us through the losses (more to come I'm sure), and will make the wins even sweeter (starting with another Canadian championship this week!!!)

[Whoop]

http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/eurovis...ing-wrong.aspx

Interesting article.

This interested me the most.

Following the introduction of the model by Louis van Gaal on behalf of the Dutch FA (KNVB) in 2002, it may be surprising to know that only 36 clubs in Holland are officially professional, but a further 2,700 amateur sides benefit from the KNVB’s £1 billion investment every year.

£1 billion seems pretty high no?

[Blizzard]

Exactly. Compare their salaries, then tell me who's better value for money. I think Danny's great and am glad he's on the team, but giving Gordon away was bone-headed.

As for Gordon's injury, he told me personally that they misdiagnosed his hernia and forced him to play with it even though he was unhealthy. When he pushed back, there was an argument and soon they began talking about trading him. Winter, Mariner and BDK at their best.

Pushed back? Argument? He physically assaulted one of the club's therapists! That's an unacceptable act by any player at any time!

[jloome]

We've always had lots of Canadians. We've never been this bad. That is simply not the problem. When things are going bad, you have to be careful not to blame the shadows and concentrate on the real problems. Having Canadians may not be an advantage but it has little impact on our overall record.

Given that most of them wouldn't be starting on any other team in the league? Yeah, it has a pretty significant impact.

[DangerRed]

Pushed back? Argument? He physically assaulted one of the club's therapists! That's an unacceptable act by any player at any time!

Thats a big accusation. Do you have ANY proof at all, or are you just repeating something you heard? Did he punch someone? Or shove them? Very different, but both called physical assault.

[Wingback6]

Gonna wade in here briefly.

I don't think the problem is winter. Though he is a bit of a tool. Or the players per se.

Clearly it is upper management but.... the real problem.

This team doesn't have an owner. A real owner. Some clubs do ok being owned by hedge-funds, or whatever, or a group of football fan rich guys. Or one football fan rich guy. This team doesn't have any of that. It is an asset. You want an other example of a club that is just somebody's asset : Blackburn Rovers, and look what a fuck show they've become since Venky's (Damn those chicken fuckers to hell!!) took over.

If this team had a proper owner, none of these problems. Owners make management accountable. Anselmi, and Cochrane are essentially un-accountable to anyone. They are accountable to a board, which means the decisions made about them take forever, and can be delayed through politiking, but they can make decisions about others in a heart beat.

If this team had an actual owner, Anselmi, and Cochrane would be gone, and Mo Jo would have been fired two years earlier. At the end of the day an owner is, and should be a fan, and in that way the club is accountable to the fan's. Because it belongs to one of them.

This is a very specific ideal, and obviously there are all kinds of owners, but if you look at most of the financially, and competitively successful teams on earth, they have good owners. Bad players/managers, can ruin clubs if given time, but a bad owner can destroy a one hundred year old club in months. Just look at Rangers.

[ManUtd4ever]

Gonna wade in here briefly.

I don't think the problem is winter. Though he is a bit of a tool. Or the players per se.

Clearly it is upper management but.... the real problem.

This team doesn't have an owner. A real owner. Some clubs do ok being owned by hedge-funds, or whatever, or a group of football fan rich guys. Or one football fan rich guy. This team doesn't have any of that. It is an asset. You want an other example of a club that is just somebody's asset : Blackburn Rovers, and look what a fuck show they've become since Venky's (Damn those chicken fuckers to hell!!) took over.

If this team had a proper owner, none of these problems. Owners make management accountable. Anselmi, and Cochrane are essentially un-accountable to anyone. They are accountable to a board, which means the decisions made about them take forever, and can be delayed through politiking, but they can make decisions about others in a heart beat.

If this team had an actual owner, Anselmi, and Cochrane would be gone, and Mo Jo would have been fired two years earlier. At the end of the day an owner is, and should be a fan, and in that way the club is accountable to the fan's. Because it belongs to one of them.

This is a very specific ideal, and obviously there are all kinds of owners, but if you look at most of the financially, and competitively successful teams on earth, they have good owners. Bad players/managers, can ruin clubs if given time, but a bad owner can destroy a one hundred year old club in months. Just look at Rangers.

Agreed. Despite the fact that MLSE has allocated ample financial resources towards building a contender, the lack of accountability within the front office has ultimately proven to be the downfall of the organization.

[Shakes McQueen]

well well. another league match. another league loss. 0-9 now. AND COUNTING. but its ok everyone. because shakes mqueen says we played that great game against montreal back on may 9th and are gonna be playing in the all important final this wednesday for the amway cdn championship. oh goody *hands clapping*. were "maybe" gonna win the amway cup *jumping up and down*. give me a fuckin break. newsflash, assclown: nobody gives a fuck. except u and some of the other kool-aid drinkers. its the league that counts and anyone with half a brain knows that. the team is the laughing stock of the league and maybe even the entire soccer world and it is "supporters" (or internet warriors) like u who keep it that way. as a collective group we have a golden opportunity to do something extraordinary to voice and display our displeasure with the organization and the people responsible that have run this team right into the ditch, but we havent taken that opportunity and its beyond me why there isnt non stop talk of organizing massive protests on here. any other group of "supporters" anywhere else in the world would not be taking this horseshit lying down. they would be organizing and staging massive protests against this fucking dog and pony show MLSE is running. period. but what do this outfit do? just keep taking it up the ass. hey shakes: enjoy your amway nutrilite canadian championsip or whatever the fuck its called. me? im giving my tickets to a couple of homeless guys outside the liquor store (if they'll take them). still got room in the treehouse for them? and when anyone wants to get serious and help organize or contribute any mass protest ideas, let me know. and i'll be all over it. and btw, my idea of a mass mooning still stands. in the meantime the rest of u just keep drinking the kool-aid up in the treehouse. oh and in the words of barbarez...fuck off.

I appreciate the ridiculous insults, but what exactly does this have to do with me? I'm 99.8% sure I've never claimed that the ACC was more important than the league to begin with. In fact, while I consider the ACC an important thing to win every year, I'd gladly trade it for a league title any day of the week right now.

Of course, even if I did say it, this post is so insanely out of line that it doesn't really matter.

- Scott

[Roogsy]

Given that most of them wouldn't be starting on any other team in the league? Yeah, it has a pretty significant impact.

Some would, some wouldn't. You could say that about some players on pretty much any roster in MLS. "He would not be starting on other teams". That is subjective. It is the quality of the team as a whole that matters, including the coaching and tactics. You will always have subpar players, you would hope the above-average players even out the impact. Isn't that why we have THREE DPs?

[Alonso]

If this team had an actual owner, Anselmi, and Cochrane would be gone, and Mo Jo would have been fired two years earlier. At the end of the day an owner is, and should be a fan, and in that way the club is accountable to the fan's. Because it belongs to one of them.

This is a very specific ideal, and obviously there are all kinds of owners, but if you look at most of the financially, and competitively successful teams on earth, they have good owners. Bad players/managers, can ruin clubs if given time, but a bad owner can destroy a one hundred year old club in months. Just look at Rangers.

This is exactly it. If the free fall continues maybe it could cajole Belogers to sell TFC to someone who gives a fuck. I really like what Joey Saputo is doing for his city and football team and there really is a lot to be said about having an invested owner who loves the game and the team like its his own and who doesn't have to play musical chairs by being accountable to a board of people sitting behind desks running 4 pro-teams (which are all a disgrace to the city), and academy all kinds of real-estate etc.

[Roogsy]

I would disagree with this for a couple of reasons.

First. "Never been this bad" is a relative term. We have never made the playoffs, ever. All campaigns have had a high reliance on players from a shallow talent pool, the same pool Earl Cochrane was involved in with the CSA, and all campaigns have ended in failure.

I am going to address this particular point because it is the most egregious Pook...my statement is not relative. It is absolute. There is no way you can equate style of play with absolute results. This team has never lost 9 straight games. We have never started a season going into the END of May with no points. We have never had a season where playoffs were written off before the first day of summer.

In every measurable way possible, we have never been this bad. There is no way to make that a subjective evaluation.

Therefore, since we have always had a large contingency of Canadian players, including in some of our "best" years, the fact that the team has gotten worse cannot be attributed directly to the number of Canadian players but rather more obviously to the changes made when our fortunes started going south.

And not to bring this back to that one player that tends to cause super-long threads, but if you are forced to carry Canadian players, doesn't that mean you should be doing what you can to make sure you have the BEST Canadian players and not intentionally ship them out? I am not sure how many Canadian players we are supposed to have, but imagine not having to bring in Dunfield because we have already used that spot with the reigning MLS MVP? Do you not see the insanity in making a decision about a player because you don't like his celebration dance when it in fact hurts us in the long-run by forcing us to sign lesser quality players to meet the quota?

[billygrieveuk]

At the beginning of march I attempted to build up the strength to continue to care about TFC.
I have had season tickets since year 1, and for a 3 or 4 years there i really felt this was my team.

But i personally just dont have the heart for it anymore....
I have pretty much sold off my tickets in section 111 for this year, except for 3 games during my vacations.
And i plan on selling next years seats as well.

I have resorted back to my "pre 2006" team and interests in european leagues again...
TFC is just for fun...

sucks, cause it could have been something pretty special.
MLS isnt the hardest league, why this team seems to struggle SO BADLY is beyond me...
anyway, good luck guys.

i'm out.

[bigredone]

^Shame to loose ya, but you will be back!

[jabbronies]

Exactly. Compare their salaries, then tell me who's better value for money. I think Danny's great and am glad he's on the team, but giving Gordon away was bone-headed.

As for Gordon's injury, he told me personally that they misdiagnosed his hernia and forced him to play with it even though he was unhealthy. When he pushed back, there was an argument and soon they began talking about trading him. Winter, Mariner and BDK at their best.

But we got Johnson in exchange for Gordan. I would take Johnson over Gordan any day

[jabbronies]

If there is 1 single problem that can be changed that will help turn this around in the short term it would be to get the intensity up. The single element that we had in Montreal that was different from last night it would have to be intensity. When Koevs and Soolsma came into the game Saturday night, that was the thing they brought to the field, it was intensity.

I think the dutch system is great, but we are missing that MLS grit and intensity that every other team has. We are not winning 50/50 balls...actually there are no 50/50 balls because we don't make the effort to get those chances. I don't like Jimmy B being AM, but since he is there, I would hope he is focusing on the grit and intensity while Winter works on the tactics.

This team needs to muscle up. pronto.

[Waggy]

Someone was on here bashing the Canadian military? Actually? This is getting fucking ridiculous. Blaming Canadian content? BLAME THE PERSON WHO PICKS THE PLAYERS! THE PLAYERS, THE CSA AND THE FANS DON'T PICK PLAYERS! THE GENERAL MANAGER WHO WAS PICKED BY THE OWNER PICKS THE PLAYERS! How can it POSSIBLY be the players fault that they aren't good enough?! Players can be blamed for not trying, for allowing personal problems to affect the group, for selfishness and for errors on the field. They can't be blamed for being selected for the team! That's not their fucking call! What in fucks name is so complicated about this?! I can't believe some of the fucking drivel I just sifted through on here. Un fucking believable.

People want to know why threads aren't as popular as they used to be? Because this place became more insufferable and miserable than watching TFC. Because anyone who expresses any hope or optimism is shouted down as being a moron by dozens of people. Because people would rather talk about our problems last year, or 2 years ago or longer than attempt to fix the problems going forward. Jesus fucking christ. TFC has long made me ashamed to say I watch TFC, but reading some of the stuff on here the past 6 weeks or so makes me ashamed to be a supporter of TFC.

[Sally Mack]

Because this place became more insufferable and miserable than watching TFC.

Bingo. Nothing makes me more depressed after watching us lose then going on this board. I try to give myself a buffer period, hoping that by the time i log on, the conversation becomes a bit more balanced. The Danny K interview was hard to watch (btw, he's 100% right). You can really feel that these players are already worn down and defeated not even 1/3 into the season. I really don't believe things will get much better this season.

Semi-related side note: I'm impressed with what saputo has done with the impact. It appears as though he's built a better squad in his first year than we have ever had in 6 seasons. I find myself asking why TFC can't do that.

Hopefully our academy investment pays off sooner rather than later.

[69Chevy396]

Gonna wade in here briefly.

I don't think the problem is winter. Though he is a bit of a tool. Or the players per se.

Clearly it is upper management but.... the real problem.

This team doesn't have an owner. A real owner. Some clubs do ok being owned by hedge-funds, or whatever, or a group of football fan rich guys. Or one football fan rich guy. This team doesn't have any of that. It is an asset. You want an other example of a club that is just somebody's asset : Blackburn Rovers, and look what a fuck show they've become since Venky's (Damn those chicken fuckers to hell!!) took over.

If this team had a proper owner, none of these problems. Owners make management accountable. Anselmi, and Cochrane are essentially un-accountable to anyone. They are accountable to a board, which means the decisions made about them take forever, and can be delayed through politiking, but they can make decisions about others in a heart beat.

If this team had an actual owner, Anselmi, and Cochrane would be gone, and Mo Jo would have been fired two years earlier. At the end of the day an owner is, and should be a fan, and in that way the club is accountable to the fan's. Because it belongs to one of them.

This is a very specific ideal, and obviously there are all kinds of owners, but if you look at most of the financially, and competitively successful teams on earth, they have good owners. Bad players/managers, can ruin clubs if given time, but a bad owner can destroy a one hundred year old club in months. Just look at Rangers.

There has been no pressure on the board of directors at MLSE to make fundamental changes or improvements. They are operating a business and the business is doing just fine: how many mls clubs can brag about 16000+ season ticket holders, getting away with outrageously expensive concessions and ticket prices all while doing next to nothing to make the on field product entertaining, if not winning? As long as Toronto soccer fans pay to watch TFC play, nothing will be done, we don't have to look very hard for proof of mediocrity in this town.

[Ajax TFC]

There has been no pressure on the board of directors at MLSE to make fundamental changes or improvements. They are operating a business and the business is doing just fine: how many mls clubs can brag about 16000+ season ticket holders, getting away with outrageously expensive concessions and ticket prices all while doing next to nothing to make the on field product entertaining, if not winning? As long as Toronto soccer fans pay to watch TFC play, nothing will be done, we don't have to look very hard for proof of mediocrity in this town.

I personally don't believe that this mindset will continue after bell/Rogers take over. You don't have to be out of money to see that that's where you're going. The fact that they've gone from 18 000 season's seat holders + a 3k waiting list to 16k and no waiting list should shout incompetence to the new ownership group. The fact that no one shows up to the games means huge losses at the concessions. The fact that the team sucks means huge losses in potential merchandise sales. Bell/Rogers will see how much everything has dropped and know that it wont stop dropping until something is done about it.

No investor (except Ontario Teachers Pension Plan) is satisfied with where their brand is when the bought it. They want to bring it up to it's full potential. The potential fan base for TFC is there. Bell/Rogers wont be satisfied with the downward direction of this team as long as it makes money. They'll want it to make the most money it can and to do that it has to be a winning team.

Bell/Rogers will ask Anselmi and Cochrane "how the hell did you let such a large fan base slip away?" When they have nothing but ridiculous excuses they will be fired along with everyone else and hopefully a proper structure will be set up.

[jazzy]

Gonna wade in here briefly.

I don't think the problem is winter. Though he is a bit of a tool. Or the players per se.

Clearly it is upper management but.... the real problem.
This team doesn't have an owner. A real owner. Some clubs do ok being owned by hedge-funds, or whatever, or a group of football fan rich guys. Or one football fan rich guy. This team doesn't have any of that. It is an asset. You want an other example of a club that is just somebody's asset : Blackburn Rovers, and look what a fuck show they've become since Venky's (Damn those chicken fuckers to hell!!) took over.

If this team had a proper owner, none of these problems. Owners make management accountable. Anselmi, and Cochrane are essentially un-accountable to anyone. They are accountable to a board, which means the decisions made about them take forever, and can be delayed through politiking, but they can make decisions about others in a heart beat.

If this team had an actual owner, Anselmi, and Cochrane would be gone, and Mo Jo would have been fired two years earlier. At the end of the day an owner is, and should be a fan, and in that way the club is accountable to the fan's. Because it belongs to one of them.

This is a very specific ideal, and obviously there are all kinds of owners, but if you look at most of the financially, and competitively successful teams on earth, they have good owners. Bad players/managers, can ruin clubs if given time, but a bad owner can destroy a one hundred year old club in months. Just look at Rangers.

THIS^...and isn't going away...so what do we do? I have no idea!........but Anselmi should never be promoted due to his incompetence in letting a sure money maker, TFC...die a slow death....remember this team once was a publicity gold mine.....and now.......his indifference and 'looking' the other way or better still to more important corporate movements, to me has proven he is out of touch with new business ventures and media....strickly old monoply's are his only game....unfortunately ever-present in this Canadian business environment..We need a more worldly vision especially on the marketing and vision front but it again isn't going to happen........would love a Paul Beeston to come in and say what a disaster......who shit the bed

[T-boy]

But we got Johnson in exchange for Gordan. I would take Johnson over Gordan any day

I would take a FIT Gordon over Johnson any day. Gordon is an actual striker (which is what we need when Koev's isn't playing). Johnson isn't really a striker at all, he's just filling in a gap as we have no other alternative. Gordon is twice the striker that Johnson is, when fit.

[Roogsy]

To be fair...without Johnson, TFC would probably not gone as far in the CCL as we did. It was a good move at the time...I thought it then and I still do. I believe Johnsons struggles are more a symptom of what is truly ailing this club. If that were solved, we'd be getting more production out of him like in the CCL.

[Ajax TFC]

I would take a FIT Gordon over Johnson any day. Gordon is an actual striker (which is what we need when Koev's isn't playing). Johnson isn't really a striker at all, he's just filling in a gap as we have no other alternative. Gordon is twice the striker that Johnson is, when fit.

at this point I would agree with you. Gordon is a good poacher who scores lots of garbage goals, but doesn't do much elsewhere. But that's okay because you should only have to play him when the striker is injured.
Johnson is more of a Jack of all trades - master of none. He can play striker, but isn't nearly clinical enough with his chances. He can play left wing, but he doesn't look at his options before doing anything. He just puts his head down, stares at the ball and hits in a cross. He can play AM, but he doesn't link up with the other midfielders well because he doesn't move back to get the ball from them.
I guess it's a matter of opinion. Do you want a decent player who can fill in at multiple positions as a backup, or do you want someone who's good at just one position as a backup? When Koevermans is out it's easy to say that you'd rather have Gordon as the backup, but when Plata goes down maybe you'd prefer that left footed jack of all trades to fill in on the left wing rather than the poacher (I'm pretending Lambe doesn't exist since the trade happened before we got him)

[jabbronies]

Johnson on the wing is great. This is where most of his success has been this season. Defenders forget he's there and he has the ability to sneak in a get his goals.
Johnson up the middle is bad. He can't play that holding striker position that Koevs/Gordan plays. He isn't strong enough to work through defenders to get the loose balls in the middle.

[Pookie]

I am going to address this particular point because it is the most egregious Pook...my statement is not relative. It is absolute. There is no way you can equate style of play with absolute results. This team has never lost 9 straight games. We have never started a season going into the END of May with no points. We have never had a season where playoffs were written off before the first day of summer.

In every measurable way possible, we have never been this bad. There is no way to make that a subjective evaluation.

Therefore, since we have always had a large contingency of Canadian players, including in some of our "best" years, the fact that the team has gotten worse cannot be attributed directly to the number of Canadian players but rather more obviously to the changes made when our fortunes started going south.

And not to bring this back to that one player that tends to cause super-long threads, but if you are forced to carry Canadian players, doesn't that mean you should be doing what you can to make sure you have the BEST Canadian players and not intentionally ship them out? I am not sure how many Canadian players we are supposed to have, but imagine not having to bring in Dunfield because we have already used that spot with the reigning MLS MVP? Do you not see the insanity in making a decision about a player because you don't like his celebration dance when it in fact hurts us in the long-run by forcing us to sign lesser quality players to meet the quota?

Ok. I'll make my philosophy professor cringe here but we can talk in absolutes. We absolutely haven't been very good in any season we have played.

(cue: canned laughter)

For me, it's splitting hairs. You look at a track record of failure and you have to look at the constants. Senior leadership hasn't changed. Reliance on the same market for prospects hasn't changed. Internal political culture really hasn't changed. I can't say it is one factor over another but all need to be addressed.

As for the DeRo point, it is actually one of the main reasons in favour of him staying. Our quota at the time of his arrival was 8, knowing it was going to be eliminated or lowered to 3, it would seem that a priority to fill those spaces would be to seek out the best Canadians in MLS. He would certainly qualify.

A shrewd manager, or shrewd leadership approving a manager's plans, would have signed International players with the goal of trading for the top 3 Canadians in MLS. From there, the Internationals could be replaced given the size of the talent pool. We'd fullfill the quota, Earl's CSA agenda and the Marketing arm of TFC is rolling in excitement over "local players."

Why didn't you mention this point sooner?

[bigredone]

Someone was on here bashing the Canadian military? Actually? This is getting fucking ridiculous. Blaming Canadian content? BLAME THE PERSON WHO PICKS THE PLAYERS! THE PLAYERS, THE CSA AND THE FANS DON'T PICK PLAYERS! THE GENERAL MANAGER WHO WAS PICKED BY THE OWNER PICKS THE PLAYERS! How can it POSSIBLY be the players fault that they aren't good enough?! Players can be blamed for not trying, for allowing personal problems to affect the group, for selfishness and for errors on the field. They can't be blamed for being selected for the team! That's not their fucking call! What in fucks name is so complicated about this?! I can't believe some of the fucking drivel I just sifted through on here. Un fucking believable.

People want to know why threads aren't as popular as they used to be? Because this place became more insufferable and miserable than watching TFC. Because anyone who expresses any hope or optimism is shouted down as being a moron by dozens of people. Because people would rather talk about our problems last year, or 2 years ago or longer than attempt to fix the problems going forward. Jesus fucking christ. TFC has long made me ashamed to say I watch TFC, but reading some of the stuff on here the past 6 weeks or so makes me ashamed to be a supporter of TFC.

If you were responding to my quote about the Canadian military than I would ask you to put a little more effort into reading and understanding the posts. I was responding to a post where supporters of TFC were told to "fuck off" so I highlighted the ridiculousness with a ridiculous comment. You tend to miss points when "sifting" through posts.

[Roogsy]

Why didn't you mention this point sooner?

Now you're fucking with me.

[OgtheDim]

Semi-related side note: I'm impressed with what saputo has done with the impact. It appears as though he's built a better squad in his first year than we have ever had in 6 seasons. I find myself asking why TFC can't do that.
...

Running a second tier team first helped a lot. I'd say they and Vancouver really started as promoted sides.

[Roogsy]

Here are some interesting stats that I came across this weekend in a discussion with Priz.

Toronto FC is not only last in the league in goals allowed (no surprise, given our defensive issues), we are also tied for last in the league in goals scored, (TFC and Chivas have 7 each) for a combined -14 goal differential. The next closest team has -7 (Dallas).

Last season, Toronto took over the all-time worst goal differential from Colorado. As of the end of the 2011 season, we have been scored on 73 more times than we have scored. With our worsened form, the -14 extends our ownership of that particular stat to -87. The next closest is Colorado at +68 (they are +1 so far this season). We are 19 goals adrift in the all-time goal differential category. The chasm between us and the all time best goal differential team in MLS history (LA Galaxy at +142) is an eye-popping 229 goals.

This highlights a few very interesting contradictions. We have repeatedly heard in some corners that this team is playing "better" but when you have the worst stats in the league in both defense and offence, I am not sure where the "better" can be found. Before Winter took over, we were sitting in 3rd worst in the league with a -50 goal differential. In barely over a season (43 games), we have dropped 37 goals more than we scored. It took 4 entire seasons (120 games) to get to -50, but in 43 games (almost a third of 120 games) we have come within 13 goals of matching that record of futility. That is beyond shocking.

And finally, the stat that reared it's ugly head in this particular game against DC, their 2nd top scorer (DeRo) has 5 goals and 7 assists on the season. Our top 3 scorers have 5 goals and 3 asissts combined. (Koevermans: 2,0, Lambe: 2,1, Johnson: 1,2). Their top scorer (Santos) has more goals than our top 3, with 6 and both are ex-TFC.

Somebody pass me the hard stuff, you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.