Lurker Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Despite the bad giveaway and goal I thought we looked good. Inability to finish up front continues to be the number one concern but besides that I thought it was a positive game for us. Time to get Ali G back in the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan10 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Cann is not a player for this level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Good: De Rosario (grumble) Peters Ricketts, in his brief look Simpson Borjan. Oh, boy, Borjan Jakovic Bad: Straith Johnson Hutchinson, at least for the first hour Cann Occean (sorry, buddy, you're just out of your depth at this level. Would love to see what he can do against St. VAG or Barbados or something, but...) Ugly: So, Rob Friend has to be done, right? This was, what, his fifteenth completely and irredeemably awful game in a row for the national team? How much does he have to suck before Stephen Hart finally says "I get it, this guy sucks!"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 ^ Hard to be too critical of Straith when he was probably playing LB for the first time in his life. The mistake was dreadful, of course, but we've seen just as bad or worse from more experienced players. Overall not a bad performance from what I saw (2nd half). Really like what I saw from Hutchinson once he was given more free reign to go forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil7777 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Cann is not a player for this level. Agreed. Cann looks like a peewee playing with adults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Only got to see the first half, the goal against, and the last 10 minutes. Edgar is showing why he isn't playing in the powership. Atiba is the man! De Ro has every right to be a part of this team on this performance. That was an excellent performance and on another day we get a result. Someone said in another thread that "if we lose because our left back is weak I have no issue with that because our proper left backs are unavailable." Well, our left back was of course the cause for the goal against. Straith isn't a left back and so I have no worry there (but what a finish by the Greek player). Anyway, we can be very happy with that performance! I am very interested to read your guys' comments on the 2nd half as I missed all but 10 minutes. Especially on the new guys. Pacheco looked comfortable in the last 10 minutes though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Rob Friend is tall, He plays in Germany. And he'll head the ball, As wide as it can be. His pals say he needs, Just one decent pass. But when he tries to run, He'll fall down on his ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Borjan looks promising for the future but maybe not quite ready for prime time yet? Very lucky to get away with that one stray pass and spilled one shot early in the second half I thought he definitely should have been able to handle. At the back not the best performance from Jackovic in addition to Straith but early in preseason training gives him a bit of an excuse. Atiba Hutchison should be providing more. Subs came too late. Players like Ricketts and Pacheco should have got more time given the lacklustre way some of the starters were playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil7777 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Well, he'll probably get it when he'll have more callups. The lack of choice was problematic for this game. Bring back Prince Ali. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 That game was completely winnable and would've done gangbusters for our FIFA ranking. My question is when will Hart start making tactical subs to win games and improve our seeding, rather than keep experimenting and watching shaky players shake and burn. Of course it's early doors but I hope he's learning a lot from these matches so we're not stuck in another group of death next competition. And Greece stunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 De Jong or Kluko is in this match and I think we'd a won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Not sure what was going on with that giveaway even if he did connect that ball probably wasn't going far... frustrating yes but would you rather that mistake be made in Greece or Honduras? Also you need to take into account that come WCQ that left back spot will most likely be Hainault, Klukowski or De Jong. De Rosario worked his way back into the MNT with that performance BUT lets use our head Dwayne... you have Straith, Edgar, Friend, Cann and Jakovic that ball needs to hit a head but instead once he goes for a low cross and the other time he goes for a shot! Friend was useless in that half, the header was a good effort but he couldn't make a pass for his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 His pals say he needs, Just one decent pass. Well, he got his one decent pass today, and still missed the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Cann is not a player for this level. Agreed but he earned himself a look with his play for TFC last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcoatsforever Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Not sure what was going on with that giveaway even if he did connect that ball probably wasn't going far... frustrating yes but would you rather that mistake be made in Greece or Honduras? Also you need to take into account that come WCQ that left back spot will most likely be Hainault, Klukowski or De Jong. De Rosario worked his way back into the MNT with that performance BUT lets use our head Dwayne... you have Straith, Edgar, Friend, Cann and Jakovic that ball needs to hit a head but instead once he goes for a low cross and the other time he goes for a shot! Friend was useless in that half, the header was a good effort but he couldn't make a pass for his life. DeRo's free kick shot was incredible, it was just dipping under the bar. There was nothing wrong with his shot, kudos to the Greek keeper for stopping it. Friend's passing was subpar, the attempted layoff to DeRo showed how very little attention he was paying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sébastien Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I missed most of the 2nd half because of a meeting (everyone knows how great those are to attend). I don't mind much having Straith make that kind of mistake. It's obvious he is not used to playing left back and has very limited confidence in his left foot. I thought Simpson played a great game. Every time the ball touched his feet, something seemed to happen. Couldn't finish, but it's still an improvement. I am frustrated to see Hutchinson continue being used in front of the defense in a holding position. Yes, he does his job well, but for us to score, we need him engaged in the top third of the field. It is completely unacceptable to me that probably the player with the best instinct for getting balls to open players in or close to the box plays a defensive role. Overall, not a bad game. We got good chances against a tough defensive team. Simply couldn't bury it. I usually have confidence in Friend, but it instantly evaporated when he missed the WIDE OPEN HEADDER he had. That his basically his JOB, to, when he gets one, GET IT ON TARGET. If you ask me, that is the least pardonnable play of the whole game. This is his bread and butter and he failed miserably on it. If he compensated with other skills, then fine, but he isn't. This is what he has to do, and he was unable to do so. Frustrating to lose, and frustrating that we were, once again, shutout. Altought I saw many interesting things and I can see where things are going, it's still incredibly frustrating to see how futile we are offensively under Hart and to see that he does not react at all when it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finchster Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Not sure what was going on with that giveaway even if he did connect that ball probably wasn't going far... frustrating yes but would you rather that mistake be made in Greece or Honduras? Also you need to take into account that come WCQ that left back spot will most likely be Hainault, Klukowski or De Jong. De Rosario worked his way back into the MNT with that performance BUT lets use our head Dwayne... you have Straith, Edgar, Friend, Cann and Jakovic that ball needs to hit a head but instead once he goes for a low cross and the other time he goes for a shot! Friend was useless in that half, the header was a good effort but he couldn't make a pass for his life. That is the kind of play you get from De Ro, very selfish player. In one sense we need players like that and De Ro does have the skills to be selfish sometimes, but he lacks the on pitch intelligence to know when to do it. This is the way it has been his whole career, attempts more than his skills will allow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepaco Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 DeRo's free kick shot was incredible, it was just dipping under the bar. There was nothing wrong with his shot, kudos to the Greek keeper for stopping it. Friend's passing was subpar, the attempted layoff to DeRo showed how very little attention he was paying. he is talking about the two failed crosses at the end of the match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Great 1st half, dodgy 2nd, and I don't think we should feel hard done by at the end of it all. Result for us was begging but didn't happen. Over all, still a few positives to take home when it's all said and done. Have to try and keep in mind this isn't even Canada's B team. Was pleasantly surprised by what was happening out there in the 1st half against a fairly aggressive Greek side against a largely out-of-season Canadian squad and virgin goalkeeper. No complaints, good job, oh and Adam...the 1st round is on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finchster Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 DeRo's free kick shot was incredible, it was just dipping under the bar. There was nothing wrong with his shot, kudos to the Greek keeper for stopping it. Friend's passing was subpar, the attempted layoff to DeRo showed how very little attention he was paying. i am sure he is refering to the free kick from far out that hit the wall of players Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Borjan looks promising for the future but maybe not quite ready for prime time yet? Very lucky to get away with that one stray pass and spilled one shot early in the second half I thought he definitely should have been able to handle. At the back not the best performance from Jackovic in addition to Straith but early in preseason training gives him a bit of an excuse. Atiba Hutchison should be providing more. Subs came too late. Players like Ricketts and Pacheco should have got more time given the lacklustre way some of the starters were playing. I don't know if you've seen the Poland game one year ago but Lars did the stray pass thing twice in a row so Borjan is actually an improvement Seriously, I think he'll be able to push Lars for the starting spot. He looks good overall. I wasn't impress by our backline, Peters was the better of the 4. Jakovic has to stop going for challenge he won't win, it opens up the defense and he has a tendancy to do it. Occean was OK, he looks better than Friend in term of build up but didn't do much else. I think I'll make the same criticism for DeRo and Simpson, who both played well today. They sometimes should pass the ball quickly instead of holding on to it, I think it could help our build up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil7777 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 De Jong or Kluko is in this match and I think we'd a won. I would say we would've tied the game - which would still be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Sickening to listen to the condescending stuff from the Bet365 commentator (I know I may have been the only one who suffered through it) but it was all about 70 places lower in the rankings, a gulf in class blah blah blah. The players are there to get a result against a team like Greece, who are not exactly world beaters. I'm not sure the coach is though. Everybody on here who was posting pretty much saw what the weak link was at the back. Why didn't Hart try to fix that at half time? Was there any real semblance of a system with the players playing as a team rather than as a bunch of individuals hurriedly thrown together? Not that I could see. Things have taken a step back in that regard from even the Bobby Lenarduzzi era. Hopefully the CSA will reassess things after the Gold Cup if things don't pick up a bit in that regard and won't allow things to just drift along into another qualification cycle if the results and performances aren't there to warrant it. Given how many players are early in preseason training can't read too much into one friendly game obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 The overall Straith performance can be excuse by the fact that he was playing out of position but on the goal that can't be an excuse. As a CB or a RB you'll sometimes find yourself temporary at LB on situation like this and you have to do much better. The good thing, he's 20 and he'll learn from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Have to try and keep in mind this isn't even Canada's B team. What? I realize there were some injuries, but how was this not even Canada's B team? Who would you have realistically added? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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