Sunday, Apr. 18 - TFC @ Colorado

[Sam]

Toronto didn't look that bad for the second match in a row. Once again they lost because of house league level defensive errors. Preki must be furious, De Guzman's jump was pitiful

[loyola]

Unlucky PK against TFC. Cann didn't touch the ball with his hand but that was still bad defending.

JDG should be bench for that move and his overall play this season. He needs a wake up call of some kind.

The Barrett pass to Cronin was gorgeous.

I think OBW should've started this game with Barrett up front and DeRo on the left side of the mid.

[Sam]

Unlucky PK against TFC. Cann didn't touch the ball with his hand but that was still bad defending.

JDG should be bench for that move and his overall play this season. He needs a wake up call of some kind.

The Barrett pass to Cronin was gorgeous.

I think OBW should've started this game with Barrett up front and DeRo on the left side of the mid.

I actually though aside from the jump De Guzman had one of his better games in the second half. But overall he's been a bit of a disaster for TFC so far considering the $$$ they spent on him. Long gone are the days where he was bossing the Real Madrid midfield. Now he's getting pushed off the ball by MLS hacks, he's misplacing every second pass, he's lost that little bit of creativity and seems to be shot for confidence. I'm a little worried what effect this poorer Julian might have on the national team. Hope he picks it up and still has "it" in him.

[Free kick]

Cann looks like he's an adequate addition and a real improvement on the train wreck named Garcia.

I'll reserve judgment on Cann ( and give you the benefit of the doubt)in so far as his defensive coverage abilities. But man oh man his skills on the ball level leave a lot to be desired. I have yet to see any of hoofs forward come anywhere near an intended target. I saw him wiff on ball on the colorado end that you seldom see at this level.

[Free kick]

I think OBW should've started this game with Barrett up front and DeRo on the left side of the mid.

Its a mystery to me why OBW is not starting. It was his pace that created the PK that led to the winning goal in the last game

[kcisoul]

thats crazy that Jonathan De Guzman did the same thing as his brother in the TFC game .... haha come on man Julian De Guzman plays for tfc Jonathan De Guzman plays for Feyenoord in Denmark. anyway just messing with you.

But i have no clue what he was doing, i dont think he did it to get out of the way either but still.

And ya I agree with you what a boring game, TFC could not make a pass and when they did the player didnt control it.

tfc was down 2-1 and who come in Gargan .... are you kidding me? the guy that was played as a defender is going to create a chance to score? TFC needs some speed and skill on the wings also it would be nice to have a guy with speed at striker. There were so many times a guy on the wing had some space to run and they turned and passed it back.

[kcisoul]

i Agree JDG hasnt been wroth the money at all, his passes are not very good, he has defended ok but tfc could have spent the money on a guy who can make something happen.

[Gian-Luca]

I actually though aside from the jump De Guzman had one of his better games in the second half.

I agree, it was a shame about that error in the wall because he was starting to dominate the game - unlike Saric he was actually winning the ball in midfield and making some nice passes with it, especially to Peterson (who also looked much better) and of course he was instrumental in the build-up to the PK goal for us.

But I do wonder why the shortest guy on the team was even in that wall to begin with. When your short (and I speak from personal experience) you will have a tendency to want to jump up to block the ball (and Julian can leap well) so it was always likely that the ball would be blasted past him in his attempt to do so.

Overall, with Cann's arrival I am starting to feel a bit better about the backline - I thought both PK calls were a joke, and outside of that and the free kick Colorado didn't create much until TFC had to open up late. But offensively this team has very little, especially on the road - and tv ratings for road matches aren't going to increase because of the excitement. Cann is an improvement over Garcia defensively but as predicted can't really distribute out of the back so the offense needs to be built out of midfield. But the midfielders are all too defensive , Julian being the only one capable of creating something (the other might be Gabe Gala but he wasn't even dressed). De Ro might set another record for goals this year - and a record for highest percentage of goals by the team. Right now he's at 100%. Not a good sign. They need another striker and more midfield creativity.

[BearcatSA]

I agree, it was a shame about that error in the wall because he was starting to dominate the game - unlike Saric he was actually winning the ball in midfield and making some nice passes with it, especially to Peterson (who also looked much better) and of course he was instrumental in the build-up to the PK goal for us.

I think Saric has been a disappointment thus far. Sanyang's been the better of the two at this point, IMO: at least he can win some challenges. I don't know what the fancy "Pro Zone" stats say, but I would guess that Saric leads the team in fouls, especially needless ones (including the one leading to the second goal) but is well behind JDG and Sanyang in actually winning the ball legally. And he's still too inconsistent with his distribution. I was expecting better. That's not to say I wasn't expecting better from JDG, as well.

I agree with loyola on Barrett's great ball to Cronin.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Here's what Paul James made of the game:-

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/careless-toronto-fc-get-what-they-deserve/article1538858/

[jpg75]

I'll reserve judgment on Cann ( and give you the benefit of the doubt)in so far as his defensive coverage abilities. But man oh man his skills on the ball level leave a lot to be desired. I have yet to see any of hoofs forward come anywhere near an intended target. I saw him wiff on ball on the colorado end that you seldom see at this level.

My evaluation is more of a comparison to Garcia. Cann is far from perfect, and i'd have rather kept Serioux, but he's atleast somewhat competent. He can make a back pass without getting intercepted and he can jump more than 12 inches vertically.

[jpg75]

thats crazy that Jonathan De Guzman did the same thing as his brother in the TFC game .... haha come on man Julian De Guzman plays for tfc Jonathan De Guzman plays for Feyenoord in Denmark. anyway just messing with you.

This is either an awesome joke or an epic fail.

[kyam]

Here's what Paul James made of the game:-

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/careless-toronto-fc-get-what-they-deserve/article1538858/

I like how Paul James analyzes and breaksdown the performance of each player on the field.

My observations for the match:

- Was their something wrong with the Colorado pitch? I notice a lot of players, particularly TFC players were slipping and falling all over the place, usually at the worst time possible

- On one occasion, De Guzman made a nice cross-field pass to Labracca. Labracca made a clumsy attempt to receive the ball, but failed. On this occasion, JDG threw his arms into the air and looked absolutely disgusted. Not the first time I see him do this, it almost seems like the more he plays with TFC, the more frustrated he gets (I don't think its an attitude against MLS, just an attitude against the quality of TFC)

- Based on the limited playing time Peterson had, I've found that his foot work has been more creative than Barrett or OBW. Perhaps Preki can experiment with moving him up as a striker, see if his creativity can complement De-Ro?

- I'm surprised Saric didn't get a 2nd yellow on some of the challenges he made, TFC got jipped on both PK's, but I think the ref gave TFC a break on Saric on a number of occasions.

[loyola]

- On one occasion, De Guzman made a nice cross-field pass to Labracca. Labracca made a clumsy attempt to receive the ball, but failed. On this occasion, JDG threw his arms into the air and looked absolutely disgusted. Not the first time I see him do this, it almost seems like the more he plays with TFC, the more frustrated he gets (I don't think its an attitude against MLS, just an attitude against the quality of TFC)

I'm not sure if we are thinking about the same play but it happened in the first half and the pass was in front of Labrocca and went out for a Colorado throw. I think it was a mistake by Julian since Labrocca was obviously not making a run into space, so why pass it way in front of him? You could blame Labrocca for not making the run but at the end of the day JDG would've been better if he had pass it directly to Labrocca instead of loosing possession.

I agree that JDG body language seems to suggest he is frustrated with his teamates but IMO he himself isn't looking sharp at all (in all games I've seen he has made terrible giveaways in the middle of the park that led to dangerous counter attack).

[Guest Ed]

Abysmal attendance, abysmal game. Both PK's deserved. Julian went from hero to zero in that one. Barrett is a waste of space.

[kyam]

I agree that JDG body language seems to suggest he is frustrated with his teamates but IMO he himself isn't looking sharp at all (in all games I've seen he has made terrible giveaways in the middle of the park that led to dangerous counter attack).

JDG hasn't been what I expected. I know they want him to play an attacking role, but he even his defensive efforts isn'T as strong as I would expect. I don't think he's "stolen" the ball from the opponent as much as the media seems to imply he has.

That said, some of his give-a-ways occured due to hesitation. Seems like a confidence issue. Not necessarily confidence in his own ability, but confidence in his team mates. The split second hesitation is all it takes for the opponent to pounce.

If anything, hes over-confident in his ability to hold the ball, but has too little confidence in his team mates.