Toronto FC: Is It All Coming Together?

[powerof11]

Jeremy Loome finds there are some positive points creeping into the season:

• Chad Barrett's Form

•O'Brian White's Confidence

•Adrian Cann and Nana Attakora's Partnership

•Toronto's Midfield of DeRosario, Sanyang, DeGuzman and Labrocca

http://www.rednationonline.ca/Is_It_All_Coming_Together_may_12_10_column.shtml

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

...hopefully Jeremy Loome now realises that he doesn't know enough about the inner workings of TFC and about the sport of soccer in general to be in a position to vociferously second guess what management are up to when the squad is being assembled during training camp.

[Cheeta]

Will agree by and large with these points. They are at least worth discussion...

Supposition #3: As stay-at-home centre halfs, Adrian Cann and Nana Attakora are seriously solid. Cann's time in Europe and the coaching have obviously served him well.

Supposition #4: Toronto's midfield of DeRosario, Sanyang, DeGuzman and Labrocca can cause major problems for any team in the league.

However, I'm not as optimistic as our Mr. Loom. Yes, Cann and Attakora are pretty straight forward and pretty effective. And this alone is a vast, vast improvement over last season but we have to keep in mind that 1). TFC and MLS for that matter are still in early season so who's to say what the real mid season form holds for the one and the other at large and 2). TFC have garnered all their points and their only praise at home during some pretty hostile weather. Don't dismiss that.

Over the long North American summer Preki cannot rely on Mother Nature to conspire with TFC to reduce the effectiveness of more skilled/organized clubs for his "Run, run, run" tactics. He can only play that card effectively so often. Truth be told, but for some good fortune TFC could be on one win right now and a whole different attitude about what lays ahead prevalent both with the public and in the locker room, so a word of caution to all concerned.

Yes, while there are positive signs there are also plenty of reasons to remain cynical. I'm quite sure by the end of May we're going to know if Preki and his program are the vessel to take TFC into the MLS playoffs and CONCACAF Champions League proper.

Does that mean he's on the right track? Maybe. But given were TFC finished off last year, just shy of the playoffs, he has no excuses for failing to achieve that goal now. At least not good ones.

Say what you want about this, that, or the next thing the fact remains he came into possession of a club which just missed the playoffs last go around. Nothing short of bettering that goal could be considered moving forward.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The emphasis that Preki has placed on maintaining possession is the reason for optimism where midseason form is concerned. I suspect a big part of the reason he was brought in was that even Mo Johnston could see that the British style 4-4-2 approach hadn't worked over the previous three seasons and that it was time to move forward in a new direction by bringing in the coach of Chivas USA.

[Havoc88]

...hopefully Jeremy Loome now realises that he doesn't know enough about the inner workings of TFC and about the sport of soccer in general to be in a position to vociferously second guess what management are up to when the squad is being assembled during training camp.

Do you remember training camp though? How many teams go through preseason unable to practice XI v XI, even worse with 15 healthy bodies? It wasn't a stretch to say that this team was not fully prepared for March 27. I think what we're starting to see is the closer to the play we would have had had this squad been assembled 3 months ago.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Preki wanted to do a radical rebuild so having the squad assembled 3 months ago wasn't on the agenda. Some people had no idea what was happening, panicked and assumed Mo Johnston had gone insane when players like Robinson, Serioux and Wynne left and started demanding his dismissal. People need to keep more of an even keel, in my opinion. Right now there are reasons for optimism because the new starting lineup clearly has the quality to make the playoffs. Like in 2007 though when briefly a string of decent results were put together before the long summer goalless slump the concern has to be what would happen if certain key players like Cann and DeRosario were to get injured (things are not as bad as in 2007 obviously but similar issues apply where depth to the roster is concerned). It will be season two under Preki before the squad is really fully sorted out due to the money wasted on Robinson, Gerba and Garcia this season.

[AvroArrow]

If your plan is to release players and then not replace them until several weeks into the season, then you need to re-evaluate your plan. As we learned at the end of last season, throwing away points can have devestating consequences for your playoff ambitions.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Not my plan. I'm only explaining what happened with that post, not expressing complete agreement with it. Not sure if you see me as some kind of spokesman for the powers that be at TFC but if you read my posts you will find plenty of criticism about decisions that have been made over the past three and a bit seasons. What Preki embarked on was a high risk strategy and arguably was something that should have been done more gradually but having disgruntled and/or unmotivated players around who were not keen on the new regime would have involved an element of risk as well.

[AvroArrow]

Not my plan. I'm only explaining what happened with that post, not expressing complete agreement with it. Not sure if you see me as some kind of spokesman for the powers that be at TFC but if you read my posts you will find plenty of criticism about decisions that have been made over the past three and a bit seasons. What Preki embarked on was a high risk strategy and arguably was something that should have been done more gradually but having disgruntled and/or unmotivated players around who were not keen on the new regime would have involved an element of risk as well.

Ok, I obviously was not referring to you personally, as we all know you are not the GM of of an MLS soccer club (unless you have a secret job that we don't know about). The use of the word "your" refers to anyone that engages in that kind of roster planning. Seriously.

[jpoma]

This team has to play consistently well on the road before anyone can decidedly say that it is coming together (IMO).

[Free kick]

Its a little early to say that "all is good" now. The performamces in away games have been poor and there is no denying that some good talent has left that has not been replaced. Can you get better with less talent but better discipline and better tactics? thats the big question that we will see answered as the seaon goes on.

But what i have found troubling is that (even though there have been improvement) the game that TFC now plays is still pretty ugly and that doesn't showcase skills. Never the less its still possible that this will yield more success. I certainly did not see that sustained possession that some were talking about but, instead, I see a better positional play and a greater commitment to challenge and win the ball. The new arrivals are not more talented than the departed.

Until Vancouver and Montreal enter the league, TFC (right now) has the most visbility in Canada so its important that they play a game thats a model for others to follow and that also creates new fans. Its hard to do that if you looked at the first few games of the season even if we have seen glimpse of improvement in the later games. I hate comparaison's to hockey but, overall, TFC looks like Jacques Lemaire coached team. If you win titles, you'll live with that, but anything less is another story.

[Havoc88]

Preki wanted to do a radical rebuild so having the squad assembled 3 months ago wasn't on the agenda. Some people had no idea what was happening, panicked and assumed Mo Johnston had gone insane when players like Robinson, Serioux and Wynne left and started demanding his dismissal. People need to keep more of an even keel, in my opinion. Right now there are reasons for optimism because the new starting lineup clearly has the quality to make the playoffs. Like in 2007 though when briefly a string of decent results were put together before the long summer goalless slump the concern has to be what would happen if certain key players like Cann and DeRosario were to get injured (things are not as bad as in 2007 obviously but similar issues apply where depth to the roster is concerned). It will be season two under Preki before the squad is really fully sorted out due to the money wasted on Robinson, Gerba and Garcia this season.

I'm still not sure I follow the first two sentences. Preki was hired in November, preseason was in February and having a full squad before the season started wasn't on the agenda? Someone clearly dropped the ball somewhere along the line between Nov and March, as every other team saw fit to fill out their roster except Toronto who used the CBA as an excuse. IMO preseason criticism for this was completely justified, even De Guzman said openly he'd never seen anything like this in his career.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Not sure what is difficult to understand about a new coach not wanting a vast portion of the players on the roster that played under the previous coaching regime and needing to use the training camp to assess a long line of trialists to replace them.

[BearcatSA]

The emphasis that Preki has placed on maintaining possession is the reason for optimism where midseason form is concerned.

Hopefully that comes to fruition. He would have been very disappointed by the lack of midfield possession in the RSL match. This upcoming road match vs the Galaxy may be a good test of how well they do at keeping the ball away from home against the league's in form club.

[Keegan]

This team has to play consistently well on the road before anyone can decidedly say that it is coming together (IMO).

This, this and this ^^

Until they show they can even COMPETE on the road I am not convinced

Edit: And games vs. Vancouver and Montreal away DO NOT count

[tmcmurph]

9 points out of 21 is a nice start but taking 43% of available points is just making the playoffs (around 40% is the usual to make it). They have been playing much better since Cann and Nana have taken over the CB roles. Their keeper has confidence in them. Like others have said lets see what happens on the road. If they can get 40% of the points on the road for a month then yes they have turned the corner.

[jpg75]

If we were to extrapolate the early season results they'd actually end up with 50% of the points (15-0 at home, 0-15 on the road) for 45 points.

[thedude99]

This, this and this ^^

Until they show they can even COMPETE on the road I am not convinced

Edit: And games vs. Vancouver and Montreal away DO NOT count

They do need to play better football on the road, but no teams in the MLS are strong on the road.

The most road wins last year for any team was 6. We won the same number of road games as the RSL, the eventual cup winners, and actually picked up more points on the road than they did. In 2008, New York made it to the MLS cup with one away win.

Even Columbus, who, as much as it pains me to say were probably the best overall team in the MLS last year only won 4 and drew 6 on the road.

[Keegan]

They do need to play better football on the road, but no teams in the MLS are strong on the road.

The most road wins last year for any team was 6. We won the same number of road games as the RSL, the eventual cup winners, and actually picked up more points on the road than they did. In 2008, New York made it to the MLS cup with one away win.

Even Columbus, who, as much as it pains me to say were probably the best overall team in the MLS last year only won 4 and drew 6 on the road.

Only won 4 and drew 6? That is 18 points from 15 away matches and thats fantastic... if tfc could grab 12 away points this season I'd be happy but they've looked awful so far on the road

[thedude99]

Only won 4 and drew 6? That is 18 points from 15 away matches and thats fantastic... if tfc could grab 12 away points this season I'd be happy but they've looked awful so far on the road

That's great for an away record in the MLS. Under most cases, I wouldn't consider 18 points from a possible 45 a fantastic record for the strongest team in a given league.

That point aside, TFC's record on the road is bad, but when you look at in the context of what other MLS teams are doing, it's not as bad as it first appears.

[jpoma]

That point aside, TFC's record on the road is bad, but when you look at in the context of what other MLS teams are doing, it's not as bad as it first appears.

For me, it's not so much that they have no points, it's that they've looked impotent doing it.