Match Day 25 - Impact @ TFC Saturday August 25 8pm - To Hold & Have

[stevep]

I had this exact discussion earlier tonight. To me it reeks of the fix being in. The league I believe is terrified of us going on a late season run, winning MLS cup and fucking up their CCL allotments again. Since Atlanta joined the league, Garber & Co. have had a hard on for them. Mavinga 2 games for a one handed push (I wouldn't even call it a smack) and Almiron nothing for spitting on him. Martinez head butt ( on Jozy I think) and nothing but Jozy gets 2 games (and the 2nd being announced 10 days after the incident and 72 hours before our Derby match to completely screw with the game prep). They want Atlanta to break the points record and Martinez to demolish the scoring record.

It is a joke

its quite obvious now that for this year anyways the league does not want tfc in the playoffs for whatever reason
I also believe TFC is in on it also.

[stevep]

Injury update


same old same old

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/status/1032675123831046144

I believe it is really a difficult task to get players to intentionally play poorly but you can remove the top players by suspension or "injuries" to make the game more competitive or to give the team the league desires to win the match an advantage. it changes the probability of a win

how do we know they are injured? we don't. it is unproveable by the fan.

For me this is so easy to see that this is what they have done. To have come to this realization is pretty devastating for me. I am a season ticket holder and I love TFC and for TFC and the league to do this really hurts.

ps: it just hit me another way they do it is via scheduling. tip of the cap to Ensco for the earlier post. it clicked in minutes later after reading his post that this is another method of match outcome determination

[Oldtimer]

I believe it is really a difficult task to get players to intentionally play poorly but you can remove the top players by suspension or "injuries" to make the game more competitive or to give the team the league desires to win the match an advantage.

how do we know they are injured? we don't. it is unproveable by the fan.

For me this is so easy to see that this is what they have done. To have come to this realization is pretty devastating for me. I am a season ticket holder and I love TFC and for TFC and the league to do this really hurts.

I don't know if the injuries are fake, but it sure seems that TFC is being unusually cautious in putting players back into play. Is it due to fear of reinjury? Or is the league forcing things behind the scenes?

[Red CB Toronto]

I believe it is really a difficult task to get players to intentionally play poorly but you can remove the top players by suspension or "injuries" to make the game more competitive or to give the team the league desires to win the match an advantage. it changes the probability of a win

how do we know they are injured? we don't. it is unproveable by the fan.

For me this is so easy to see that this is what they have done. To have come to this realization is pretty devastating for me. I am a season ticket holder and I love TFC and for TFC and the league to do this really hurts.

ps: it just hit me another way they do it is via scheduling. tip of the cap to Ensco for the earlier post. it clicked in minutes later after reading his post that this is another method of match outcome determination

A player is injured or he is not simple as that, the league has nothing to do with this, at least from an injury standpoint.

[Red CB Toronto]

I don't know if the injuries are fake, but it sure seems that TFC is being unusually cautious in putting players back into play. Is it due to fear of reinjury? Or is the league forcing things behind the scenes?

The league would have nothing to do with injuries, roster management is in the hands of the coach/gm.

[red-o]

Is it due to fear of reinjury?

I don’t know if they are but I am afraid every time someone comes back.

[OgtheDim]

So right now...the rain is due to start an hour before kickoff -

Thunderbolts & Lightning

[Derko]

I don't know if the injuries are fake, but it sure seems that TFC is being unusually cautious in putting players back into play. Is it due to fear of reinjury? Or is the league forcing things behind the scenes?

For me perception is reality, and my perception is there is an awful lot of manipulation going on, whether TFC is part of it or not I don't know, but I recall a comment I made awhile back that this season's results and TFC's lake of leadership on the field almost look like they are by design. This is Football so I would not put it past any league, team, player, or official to be coerced into match fixing.

[Derko]

The league would have nothing to do with injuries, roster management is in the hands of the coach/gm.

Yes you are right but with undue pressure from the league to do so, the coach/gm just might

[OgtheDim]

I think the only thing fixed at BMO tomorrow will be the carnie games - those jugs look just so easy to get that ring on.

[Voodooman]

https://twitter.com/NeilMDavidson/st...23024532881408

Mavinga is confirmed out.

Osorio is a maybe now, Vazquez is a likely sub.

Moor and Giovinco to play full 90!

[Initial B]

I don't know if the injuries are fake, but it sure seems that TFC is being unusually cautious in putting players back into play. Is it due to fear of reinjury? Or is the league forcing things behind the scenes?

It makes me wonder if TFC is actually hoping they don't make the playoffs to give their core a good 2 months of recuperation from the last 30 months of play. If they don't make the playoffs, I can imagine the team starting training camp right after Christmas with an eye towards winning the CCL and achieving MLS's Holy Grail. Any of the American MLS teams that qualify for CCL will probably be just a worn down by the playoff grind that TFC was this year. I feel as if TFC is a wave that has pulled back from the shore preparing to surge and crest again. If they can produce another treble or quad next year, they would cement themselves as the greatest team in MLS ever. It would also give MLS's Front Office pause, as it would show that in order to win CCL you have to eschew MLS playoffs, which might not be their desired conclusion.

[paul-collins]

I feel as if TFC is a wave that has pulled back from the shore preparing to surge and crest again.

Nice image

[benito]

Mavinga is confirmed out. Osorio is a maybe now, Vazquez is a likely sub.

The injury bug has really bitten TFC this year. Another game with Hagglund or Zav starting is the scariest rollercoaster ride at the CNE this year.

[Derko]

I think the only thing fixed at BMO tomorrow will be the carnie games - those jugs look just so easy to get that ring on.

I rung one once, walked around with a giant teddy all day,lol

[portu]

https://twitter.com/NeilMDavidson/st...23024532881408

Mavinga is confirmed out.

Osorio is a maybe now, Vazquez is a likely sub.

Moor and Giovinco to play full 90!

Lmaooo fire this medical staff now pls

[stevep]

A player is injured or he is not simple as that, the league has nothing to do with this, at least from an injury standpoint.

how do you know the player is really injured? you don't
how do I know the player is not injured? I don't

you are basing you beliefs upon statements made by TFC and trusting them as fact.
I am saying you cannot trust the staements made by TFC as fact, they could be lying.
This furthers my point that they have conspired along with MLS to throw this season. People are assigning all the blame to MLS when I believe TFC is fully complicit in this.

[stevep]

I think the only thing fixed at BMO tomorrow will be the carnie games - those jugs look just so easy to get that ring on.

most people like the above poster cannot accept that it is possible that TFC and MLS have deliberately conspired to throw this season.
It is a devastating realization for people to accept this possibility.

The game is not fixed, key players have been deliberately kept out of the game to make the game more competitive.
The opening odds on oddsring were TFC 1.41 today they are at 1.59
I will spare you the math but this is 9 points in a 34 game season.
All you gotta do is keep out a couple key players every game, throw a few games Colorado and Houston game 6 potential points
and there you have 15 points less than you would get in a normal season.

come on man it's obvious

[Jack]

LOL yeah...obvious...

[Derko]

Well now that the conspiracy theory stuff is out of the way, show us what you are made of TFC

And I do believe anybody can be bought

[Kamp Berg]

It makes me wonder if TFC is actually hoping they don't make the playoffs to give their core a good 2 months of recuperation from the last 30 months of play. If they don't make the playoffs, I can imagine the team starting training camp right after Christmas with an eye towards winning the CCL and achieving MLS's Holy Grail. Any of the American MLS teams that qualify for CCL will probably be just a worn down by the playoff grind that TFC was this year. I feel as if TFC is a wave that has pulled back from the shore preparing to surge and crest again. If they can produce another treble or quad next year, they would cement themselves as the greatest team in MLS ever. It would also give MLS's Front Office pause, as it would show that in order to win CCL you have to eschew MLS playoffs, which might not be their desired conclusion.

This seems the most probable situation of all the conspiracy theories going around. It might be the only way to force some real dialogue around the situation.

[Richard]

It makes me wonder if TFC is actually hoping they don't make the playoffs to give their core a good 2 months of recuperation from the last 30 months of play. If they don't make the playoffs, I can imagine the team starting training camp right after Christmas with an eye towards winning the CCL and achieving MLS's Holy Grail. Any of the American MLS teams that qualify for CCL will probably be just a worn down by the playoff grind that TFC was this year. I feel as if TFC is a wave that has pulled back from the shore preparing to surge and crest again. If they can produce another treble or quad next year, they would cement themselves as the greatest team in MLS ever. It would also give MLS's Front Office pause, as it would show that in order to win CCL you have to eschew MLS playoffs, which might not be their desired conclusion.

I like this but our team has quite a few cracks now.

We need at least;

- Two starting CB's,
- Replacement for Vazquez because lets face it he is done
- Backup striker for Giovinco and Altidore
- Replacement for Osorio
- Possibly a new winger, LWB, FB

[portu]

I like this but our team has quite a few cracks now.

We need at least;

- Two starting CB's,
- Replacement for Vazquez because lets face it he is done
- Backup striker for Giovinco and Altidore
- Replacement for Osorio
- Possibly a new winger, LWB, FB

I'd say this is roughly accurate. It will be super interesting to see if Janson stays. I'm surprised it hasn't been a bigger topic of conversation. That transfer fee makes him a DP meaning this club is outright planning for a January where a DP leaves.

[flatpicker]

Damn it! All this time I thought the game was in Montreal.
And now I've got plans to be out of town.
Well I feel stupid.

[Redpunkfiddle]

What a weird season. What a weird conspiracy theory.

It's not capital M mathematic Must win, but it's lower case must win. Montreal seems like the only team we can catch.

[Kamp Berg]

What a weird season. What a weird conspiracy theory.

It's not capital M mathematic Must win, but it's lower case must win. Montreal seems like the only team we can catch.

Taking Montreal’s playoff spot would be the most poetic of justice 😉👍🏻

[molenshtain]

I like this but our team has quite a few cracks now.

We need at least;

- Two starting CB's,
- Replacement for Vazquez because lets face it he is done
- Backup striker for Giovinco and Altidore
- Replacement for Osorio
- Possibly a new winger, LWB, FB

One CB. We have Mavinga.

Yeah, grant you that one. Ricketts will be the best player in the CPL next year.

Osorio isn't gone yet and we have cap room and incoming TAM to work with.

Might be hard to get rid of/sign another Vazquez. We doubled his salary and gave him extra years in the off-season. I don't know how the buyout rule works anymore but if it applies I would take a look at it. We may see that position become more a combination of Seba's, Oso's and maybe a loan signing.

We don't really play with wingers and the one's we do have are serviceable enough. We also have four of the best FB's/WB's (not to mention expensive) in the league. Improvement there is a pipe dream.

*We need another Mavinga for sure. A buck-up striker who can hold the ball up well enough when Jozy's absent. beyond that I don't think there's a ton of room for improvement. I will stay take our whole squad over anyone else's in the league, no doubt about.

I don't think that we're demonstrably worse this year than last, just extremely injury prone and very unlucky. No reason to blow the whole thing up just because we had one 4 month period of bad results - most of which we were fielding our b or c teams for.


***

Anyway. Montreal at home during the Ex will be fun.

[Brooker]

I am OK with the suspension.

I am not OK with the scheduling thing. There is something unfair about the totality of it this year. It’s not 3 flights.

Have a guess at how many times Montreal has had to play a game in 4 nights or fewer after a 4+ hour flight.....

....

One

What kind of “competitive balance” is that? We have played 11 games like that. After next week we will have played 13 games after 4+ hour flights within 3/4 nights of the previous game, within 5 months.

The particular combination of fixture congestion with transcon flying is lethal, insane. I will wager a pint that no other team in soccer history in any serious league has ever done that 13 times in 5 months.

The league owes some kind of duty to every team in CCL to look out for these kinds of things, and to any team that runs into something like this. Whether the league office intervene or don’t, when these kinds of things arise, they will be accused of interfering with competitive balance.

But by sitting on their hands, they have gotten this wrong, they have interfered just by doing nothing and letting it happen. They should have moved some games around. Last weeks game in SJ and next weeks game in Portland being Exhibit 1A and 1B - these are an effing travesty. Especially the Portland game. Jesus H Christ, to have to play home, away west coast, home, in 7 days, after all this, that could have been addressed. (In blaming the league, I am assuming Manning tried to address this with the league and failed, but if he didn’t, that is a problem also)

I missed this issue in April, when I was sanguine about the league making us throw the games to Colorado and Houston, but I am pissed about that now. We mostly come from the school that you have to fight through adversity. But this isn’t adversity, or bad luck, it could have and should have been addressed but wasn’t. This is an abdication by the league, malpractice. It has gone way, way too far. We have been cheated out of the opportunity of watching decent football. Our guys can barely get out of bed.

No-one likes us. Are we Millwall but only successful? Looks like it.

It makes me wonder if TFC is actually hoping they don't make the playoffs to give their core a good 2 months of recuperation from the last 30 months of play. If they don't make the playoffs, I can imagine the team starting training camp right after Christmas with an eye towards winning the CCL and achieving MLS's Holy Grail. Any of the American MLS teams that qualify for CCL will probably be just a worn down by the playoff grind that TFC was this year. I feel as if TFC is a wave that has pulled back from the shore preparing to surge and crest again. If they can produce another treble or quad next year, they would cement themselves as the greatest team in MLS ever. It would also give MLS's Front Office pause, as it would show that in order to win CCL you have to eschew MLS playoffs, which might not be their desired conclusion.

[KGH]

The only problem with that theory is tfc doesn't alone determine when they can start camp. There's a CBA and league rules. Camps haven't been allowed to start until after the draft which has been historically mid to end of January.

[Redcoe15]

no-one likes us. Are we Millwall but only successful? Looks like it.

llluuuuuuve...thiiiiiiiis!!!!!