Juby Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 was watching the game, it's a bit sloppy but decently attacking. Frei came out and grabbed a dangerous ball well and I thought it's a pretty good thing we kept johnston in the fold, he's made alot of great picks. that's not the point of this topic though, I'll summarize the game later if nobody bothers. edit: I jinxed it, houston scored, a low bullet of a free kick from a bit outside the box, as I'm typing this Kamara got a nice flick off a free kick from the wing and it's off the post and in *sigh*, Frei isn't very much at fault, both great shots, as I'm saying this, houston scores another free kick off the post. 3-0 houston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Can't fault Frei on the second and third when the ball bounces in off the post like that and tough to know if he should have done more on the first without seeing it from his angle. Teams sometimes get conned by the low shot as happened on the first goal but on the third goal why was there no bullet man coming off the wall to take care of that situation? Also not impressed by what is happening elsewhere. Wynne's performance on the right has bordered on comic, I'm still unsure what Barrett's role is supposed to be and puzzled by the lack of Danny Dichio. Questions need to be asked about Chris Cummins' team selection. Will be interesting to see if he makes any changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 And just to add to the misery TFC get a perfectly legit. goal by Serioux disallowed by the Ref. On the bright side (for Canadian fans at least) Hainault looks pretty good out there for Houston. I wish he was on TFC's defense instead of Velez, who's having an absolute nightmare out there (well, the whole team is, but he's the top culprit). If he isn't subbed out for the start of the 2nd half I'll have to question Cummins' sanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juby Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 I can't comment on the fouls that led to those 3 goals because I got up to type each time they happened and then heard the cheers and checked the replay *sigh*. Anyway, tfc dominated possesion for about ten minutes, decent composed passing game. Houston started to pick it up in the late 30's. Their biggest advantage seems to be technical, it's almost seems lucky how many flicks have and passes were perfect touches. I was thinking Dero and Guevara needed to loosen up though cause their down 3-0, it's gonna take some serious work to dig out this hole. They did a bit, Guevara, seemed to get pretty creative in the final 5ish and Dero took a chance from way out. Frei had a helluva save. a good header near the end was stopped by frei's outstretched foot. And right at the end, off a deflected free kick Serioux seemed to outjump Onstad fairly to pop in a goal but it was disallowed because goaltender interference but looked pretty clean, craig forrest said so too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juby Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca And just to add to the misery TFC get a perfectly legit. goal by Serioux disallowed by the Ref. On the bright side (for Canadian fans at least) Hainault looks pretty good out there for Houston. I wish he was on TFC's defense instead of Velez, who's having an absolute nightmare out there (well, the whole team is, but he's the top culprit). If he isn't subbed out for the start of the 2nd half I'll have to question Cummins' sanity. I forgot about Hainault, he got away for few second towards the net, fumbled up the end but came out and muscled frei around abit to keep him from sending it up quick (hainault has to get back afterall), got a yellow for it but at least that gave him ample time to get back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I could see why the TFC goal was disallowed even if I tend to think keepers get too much protection in the modern game. Serioux went in with an elbow raised. Not sure Velez deserves to be singled out as there are plenty of players having nightmares out ther. In general I find it depressing the way TFC can't string a few passes together. Why Barrett instead of Vitti when the weather gets hot and humid? Makes no sense to me and if a direct style is going to be used why on earth is there no Danny D out there? Have no audio on the computer I'm using so maybe I'm missing some key info on the reasoning behind that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca And just to add to the misery TFC get a perfectly legit. goal by Serioux disallowed by the Ref. On the bright side (for Canadian fans at least) Hainault looks pretty good out there for Houston. I wish he was on TFC's defense instead of Velez, who's having an absolute nightmare out there (well, the whole team is, but he's the top culprit). If he isn't subbed out for the start of the 2nd half I'll have to question Cummins' sanity. Velez...ugh...that's vintage form from last year. [V] Move Attakora inside, push Wynne back to RB, then go from there. Considering TFC's first half form, I can't read much into Hainault's performance. I'll reserve my thoughts until after the game's over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juby Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 carl robinson seems hurt of a ball to the face, not to much has happened, I'd give houston the edge for better play, and the better chance up to this point, harmse gets subbed in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juby Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Houston pretty much was the better team right to the end, Guevara showed a bit of skill and Defence played a little better, made a couple mistakes still, Vitti sometimes showed the right idea but seemed to be a dead end alot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottawaguy2009 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 embarassing game. But you know what, that's what everyone's going to say. (I haven't read the other postings in this thread yet but I'm bracing myself for the gloomsday reports). honestly, it was just Houston's night. We can sit around and bemoan the defensive lapses and the miserly forward runs but...this happens in sports at times folks. Sometimes a team just lights up the opposition. This is just one game we need to bury and move on from. Hoping for a better game next week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Poor game from TFC but that was Houston night, everything fell for them. Tough to blame Frei for the first goal, the ball went through a crowd of players, the wall should've stop that. I agree that Hainault looked good out there. I think Serioux grab Onstad arms on that disallowed goal. Pat motion to punch the ball is blocked and it looked weird that he could not complete the movement, I felt it was the right call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by BearcatSA Velez...ugh...that's vintage form from last year. [V] Move Attakora inside, push Wynne back to RB, then go from there. Yeah, I made the same suggestion at half time on the usector board, but to be honest, it's not like you and I needed to be a brain surgeon to figure out that move needed to be made. It's ironic as I had just posted the other day that Velez hadn't been so bad this year - and then he comes out with that performance in the first half. If anyone does think I'm singling him out, its worth noting the coach did as well given that he yanked him off the field. The whole team was poor mind you, but some were worse than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.T. Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I think they played that back 4 formation in order to prep them for Vancouver for when Wynne won't be available... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by L.T. I think they played that back 4 formation in order to prep them for Vancouver for when Wynne won't be available... I suspect you are right although it is worth remembering that the LA game is also a factor in that regard and Wynne could also be missing a lot this summer during the Confederations and Gold Cup. Hopefully Cummins will think again now. Still think Cronin is a better bet at right back and that Attakora has been doing enough to displace Velez in his natural position i.e. centre half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca If anyone does think I'm singling him out, its worth noting the coach did as well given that he yanked him off the field. The whole team was poor mind you, but some were worse than others. You should maybe ponder the words tactical substitution. Key problems elsewhere were Wynne's Keystone Cops routine on the right, Barrett's Marie Celeste routine and Carl Robinson turning in a highly subpar performance in the holding midfielder role. Those were all taken care of as well eventually although admittedly the last one required the ball to the face leaving only the lack of Danny Dichio as a glaring mistake on Cummins part. You'll get no argument from me over the question that Velez was playing badly but that was far from the only issue and to focus on it obsessively borders on scapegoating, in my opinion. I find it more alarming when a player making in excess of 300k has a nightmare (i.e. Carl Robinson) than a player making 60k having an off night. There is a reason why he is making 60k after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca It's ironic as I had just posted the other day that Velez hadn't been so bad this year - and then he comes out with that performance in the first half. If anyone does think I'm singling him out, its worth noting the coach did as well given that he yanked him off the field. The whole team was poor mind you, but some were worse than others. Funny, I said a similar thing as well, suggesting that he should to stick executing the simple, "meat and potatoes" safe types of plays. Watching the recording of the first half, Velez was really exposed for quickness against Kamara, overrating his own quickness and losing possession too easily on one play leading up to a goal or attempting a questionable headed back pass. I'm might be biased but I thought Attakora looked much better in the CB spot throughout the second half. Hainault: closed guys down quickly and effectively when he had to, which wasn't that often, but to be honest he looked like a right footed CB playing LB. One critique (Hainault family and fans, please relay this to him): eliminate those long diagonal backpasses to Onstad. Those are a pet peeve of mine, and on the second one I think it was DeRo who was already "on his horse" so to speak as Hainault was in the process of making the pass. I think you are playing with matches while wearing a gasoline suit on those kind of plays. Otherwise, it sounds like he has impressed Kinnear with his attitude and work ethic, and with the other two CBs as an establishing pairing, Hainault can keep working on learning the LB position. A stinker match: learn some lessons, then forget about it. Focus should now be entirely on putting Vancouver to the sword on Tuesday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Save Nana (who i didn't notice too much) the entire backline was complete crap. Serioux and Valez made huge mistakes multiple times. Brennan left way too much space on his flank to defend. This is the portion where i worry about TFC's strategy. You can't play high tempo in the dead heat of summer. You need to start zone marking and playing with you brain. oh and of course keep the ball!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Has TFC arrived in Houston for the game yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard You should maybe ponder the words tactical substitution. I think Cummins was pondering the words "Velez is playing like crap tonight" when he made the switch. Obviously injury-causes aside most substitutions have some tactical aspect to them. It's not as though Cummins was likely to have picked Velez's name out of a hat or went with eenie-meenie-miney-mo between him & Attakora when he saw that he needed to make a change. He took off the most crap player on the field, one who was most to blame for two goals & was lucky to not be responsible for another two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 While "Velez is playing like crap tonight" may have been a factor has it not crossed your mind that he may have decided that playing Wynne in midfield had been a ghastly mistake on a night when possession and a patient build up should have been the key factor tactically and that he needed to be moved back to right back pronto thus taking away his rationale for playing Velez in the first place? The best form of defence is attack and the two changes that were made at half time enabled TFC to maintain possession in midfield to a much greater extent than was the case in the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard While "Velez is playing like crap tonight" may have been a factor has it not crossed your mind that he may have decided that playing Wynne in midfield had been a ghastly mistake on a night when possession and a patient build up should have been the key factor tactically and that he needed to be moved back to right back pronto thus taking away his rationale for playing Velez in the first place? Yes, that was obvious by halftime yesterday when I & others suggested moving Wynne back to his regular spot instead of playing him hopelessly out of position. I don't blame Wynne for that though (which it wasn't suggested that Wynne be subbed off), that was Cummins mistake but he had the sense to rectify it. None of that is an excuse for Velez playing very poorly in his natural & most experienced position. Everybody and their aunt has agreed that Velez had a poor game, I'm not sure why its so controversial to state it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Just a question of what the main talking point should be that's all. A few more games like that one and Chris Cummins will never have the interim tag removed because beyond the team selection issues handling the dead ball situations around the box is something that should be sorted out on the training field and the difference in preparedness between the two teams in that regard was obvious for all to see. Think the big fear has to be that this is the start of another long summer slump. Beating the Whitecaps this week and getting the first silverware for the trophy room would be a good way to bounce back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Richard Has TFC arrived in Houston for the game yet? lol. TFC was outstanding . . . when they should have been out running. I think (hope?) they'll be playing like their hair is on fire come Tuesday evening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 That Robinson should be under investigation. Something over $300K is grand larceny given his performances the past month of so. Guevara goes from all-world to chump. Cummins poops the bed tactically. Not a good day for TFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Houston managed to convert two dead-ball situations, which is tough for any team to defend against if they are executed well. Poor defending led to them, which was caused by an improper selection of the back four. Had those free kicks not been awarded, it probably would only have been 1-0 at the half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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