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TFC vs. Real Salt Lake (R)


Gian-Luca

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TFC does it again, giving up a late goal after tying a match on the road and losing 2-1. Guevara with the goal for TFC on a direct free kick - nicely struck but it has to be said he was invisible the rest of the game. Only three TFC players had a decent game, Sutton, Brennan & Ricketts. Sutton might have had the second goal but had no chance on the first and kept it close for TFC, including making two excellent saves in stripping the ball from a Salt Lake player in all alone on him on two separate occasions.

Carver is starting to go rapidly downhill as a coach. Brennan aside the defense was poor tonight with the right side of the defense (Velez and James) especially brutal. Both RSL goals came from that side of the field, though to be fair to James I don't think he's played right back before in his life so one can't be too hard on him. One would think that James would play in the middle & Velez at right back, but after the game had started and it was apparent to even a near-sighted rhinocerous (if one happened to be watching) that James was completely clueless at right back, one wonders why they didn't switch positions or why Carver didn't bring on Tyler Hemming who at least has a clue as to what he's supposed to be doing (and he could hardly be worse than either James or Velez were tonight). Instead he left it as it is and it cost TFC the game (after someone on the right side of defense had left a RSL player un-marked in front of the goal for the first goal of the game earlier in the second half).

TFC don't have any strikers that can score with any regularity with Dichio gone - Smith was totally ineffective again, Ibrahim missed two sitters and Cunningham came on as a sub and didn't do much, but the fact that Carver is relying on a striker he just humiliated & denigrated publicly says it all.

Carver made one sub once again despite his team cleary flagging from the heat & altitude at Salt Lake. RSL made three by mid-way through the second half and won the game late in the second half. Carver keeps talking about how important the whole squad is but he never bloody plays them when he should.

If TFC continue to play this poorly and drop themselves out of contention for a playoff spot, I wonder what the excuse will be for Mo - that we need more than 19 foreign spots?

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What does the last sentence have to do with the rest of the post? The international roster spots that have been acquired in trades are needed so that TFC can stand still in terms of foreign players given 2 will be lost at the end of this season and 1 at the end of next with the two extra Americans also up for review at that point. Beyond that agreed on the Velez out wide and James in the middle bit. Serious questions have to be asked about John Carver's coaching ability after that.

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quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard

What does the last sentence have to do with the rest of the post?

The fact that TFC doesn't seem to be a whole lot improved over last season, a season where the poor results were largely blamed (publicly at least) that TFC had too many Canadians and an inability to sign more foreigners as needed. As that no longer applies this season but we are getting disappointing results & performances, what will be Mo's excuse this year?

If you check where we were at this time last year & where we are now, there's not actually a huge difference - perhaps the biggest one being that we didn't have the massive disappointment losing the Voyageurs Cup last year.

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another game, another pathetic performance.

I've got serious reservations about Carver. How on earth do you manage to pull even and not make EVERY effort to play for a draw. He had 2 subs to use and didn't...even if his players didn't need a rest (they did but lets suppose they didn't), making 2 subs would have been an excellent time waster.

This season is slipping away quickly. This team is in deep trouble. they showed very little pride or desire out there tonight.

On the bright side, Guevara's goal was excellent and Sutton was very solid and can't be blamed for the 2 goals.

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Thought Sutton played very well. Looked good. Seemed like Marshall might have got just a tiny piece of the shot that went in there at the end but maybe not.

Oy. Poor James will be having nightmares for a week. Tough match from start to finish.

Will put in one disclaimer though it has to be tough playing on that plastic. Little wonder RSL has such a good home record. And people complain about TFC having an unfair home advantage because of the FieldTurf.

One more thing, this is NOT the way to be developing the talents of a player like Ibrahim. He's one of a couple of players on TFC who has a future and Trader Mo and Carver are stunting it for some imagined short term gain. Poor policy.

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I can't believe they leaked that goal at the end. Sutton had a good game, but he wasn't getting a lot of help. James is nothing but an athlete, and he's got a long way to go to becoming a soccer player. Velez started the year crap, then he was pretty good for a while, and now he's been crappy again for a while. I really can't see how Hemming and Nana could fare much worse than those two.

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quote:Originally posted by VPjr

He had 2 subs to use and didn't...

The problem is that only in a strict, by the rules, sense did he have 2 subs remaining. Since all the outfield players on the bench were Canadian, his hands were tied by the "max 2 Canadians on the pitch per match" rule that TFC has instituted.

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quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard

If that is your agenda then pointing out how the players available to John Carver were not used to best advantage doesn't really fit the script.

That's because as much as it might be fun to blame Mo Johnston for everything, Carver shares some of the responsibility as well.

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Terrible, Just terrible. I have lost virtually all hope and there is nothing I can do about it. Would have been 4-1 if it were not for Sutton.

You can view games that are broadcast on CBC bold at cbc.ca then to sports section. Quality is not great but at least you can watch it live. I think they have archives too. Anyway I watched it there and was content for all of one minute when i actually thought we might come away with the draw. We need Tebily back on that line, that was disgusting

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quote:Originally posted by jonovision

The problem is that only in a strict, by the rules, sense did he have 2 subs remaining. Since all the outfield players on the bench were Canadian, his hands were tied by the "max 2 Canadians on the pitch per match" rule that TFC has instituted.

Too funny because it is true ;)

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I didn't see the match, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but in any other league/country in the world both Mo and Carver would be fired right about now.

I like Carver, I think he's a good guy and he's not getting a lot of help from Mo. But he (and his boss) will ultimately have to take the fall on this one.

I admit I haven't looked at the table before writing this, but isn't it rapidly approaching Dasovic and a CSL guy or two should take over for the remainder of the season? We can speculate that Nana and Hemming would be better than Velez and James, but we're never going to find out unless they get a chance -something that won't happen under the current regime.

To me it doesn't matter what the regulations of the league state, you need a base of domestic players on any club to provide stability and continuity for the younger players coming through. They also provide a conduit for the players who come from overseas to integrate into the club and the community. Mo's model is flawed, amongst other reasons, because the players he's brought in (Dichio aside) are really just trying to earn a dollar in the twighlight of their career and don't care about the future of the club.

Dickov may or may not score a few goals, but he's not really an asset and doesn't provide much for the future. At 400k, I would bet that a savvy manager could find a promising younger Greek, Portuguese, or Croatian player who the supporters could count on to be not only walking, but playing in a year or two.

By turning the club over to Dasovic, the club and potential managers could see what the club has and doesn't have. Regardless of this analysis, TFC has great support and they deserve better. Sometimes in football the manager has to go a little sooner than in other sports. I hope MLSE can see this. I do feel for Carver, but que sera sera.

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^ I don't disagree that there is justification for making Mo and Carver walk the plank but, personally, i want them replaced by experienced professionals. I like what Dasovic did with the u23's but I honestly don't believe he's got the experience at the club level to take the reigns of this club. Nick needs to be an assistant for a while.

Ultimatley, I'd rather just see the team get through the season with Mo and Carver in charge but I don't like the idea of Mo making any more deals. This team needs a new plan.

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I'm not saying Dasovic should be given the job, but merely take over as caretaker. Obviously, this means the season is over. I don't follow the club closely enough to know whether said plug should be pulled.

I have no doubt there are literally thousands of candidates more qualified than Mo, but an MLS season is not well suited to a mid-season change. The search for the long-term solution would probably be better served if it occured during the winter.

The advantage to turning things over to Nick short-term, is to remove the current manager bias (relax BBB, I mean in general) and see whether some of the reservists are worth keeping around.

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^ under that scenario, I could live with such a move. I imagine the Canadian kids would get a better shot to impress with Nick in charge.

Having said that, I don't think a coaching change is going to happen.

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quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

The advantage to turning things over to Nick short-term, is to remove the current manager bias (relax BBB, I mean in general) and see whether some of the reservists are worth keeping around.

I honestly have no idea why you think I would be bothered by that remark if BBB is being used as an abbreviation for my username? I think it's a bit premature to write this season off. Things could look very different a week from now if Brian McBride ever does get around to signing an MLS contract.

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quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard

I honestly have no idea why you think I would be bothered by that remark if BBB is being used as an abbreviation for my username? I think it's a bit premature to write this season off. Things could look very different a week from now if Brian McBride ever does get around to signing an MLS contract.

Well, I sort of agree with your lone wolf stance on this board on the general issue of TFC & Canadians. So I didn't want to come off as if my point was Dasovic would be inherently better than Mo/Carver because he's Canadian. Rather, he's the only one in the coaching ranks who isn't part of Mo's team, which is heavily biased towards aging, second-tier British players.

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There is just a commedy of errors going on with this team at the current rate. I can't see us making the playoffs but I really don't see us doing poorly enough for anyone to get fired either.

Which is really disapointing because we'll be privlaged to watch more tactical dark ages garbage next year from a bunch of people who know so little about the modern game, you think they already worked for the CSA.

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