Tosaint Ricketts

[jpg75]

We haven't played in the Hex in over 20 years. 

[ktf]

42 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

We haven't played in the Hex in over 20 years. 

Yes, I know that, Meant to put the pre-Hex round of 12. Not really a smooth way to write that. But hey we have been in the hex many times in my imagination. 

[Obinna]

5 hours ago, ktf said:

I applaud Ricketts for always coming, and carving out a long professonal career, which as a Canadian is always difficult. He always plays with passion, which I also love.

However, I cannot (and don't want to) count how many times an offensive possession went to die on his feet. Ricketts in space, only to blast it over the bar from a position he has probably never scored from. 

5 of 16 goals in WCQ. 0 in Gold Cups. Only 1 of those goals was in the immediate pre-Hex stage, and it was vs. Cuba. He started I believe 8 out of our last 12 Hex games, including the disaster in Honduras. To say he delivered when it mattered is not true. He also has five goals from when Canada was already up 2-0 or more at the time. Putting teams away is great, but goals 5 and 6 to 0 vs Dominica in the second leg, hardly seem to count as clutch. 

Only 7 of Dero's 22 were in friendlies, and at least he has the pre-Hex goals vs. Costa Rica and Panama

Only 6 of 19 for Mitchell were in friendlies. 11 out of 18 for Catliff is closer, but he also had goals against Mexico and on the road in Honduras and El Salvador in competitive games. 

Ricketts and Ledgerwood were often my bane of watching for years. I grew to appreciate the relatively solid reliability of Ledgerwood. At least I stopped noticing him. However, Ricketts, when it mattered was not good. Was there another option? Not usually. Or at least not someone likely to do much better. Their talent is/was just limited. These are guys that hopefully (assuming our depth stays the same/grows) should only ever be on the fringes of the team. 

A few things:

1) Do you see the irony in pointing out he scored 5 WCQ goals, while also saying he never scored when it mattered most? World Cup Qualifiers are literially the most important games we play - even more than Gold Cup.

True he only scored 1 of those goals in the semi final round, but that is irrelevant. The other 4 goals got us into the semi final round. Those goals mattered.

When we eventually qualify for the World Cup, I hope the goal contributions from all of our players are respected, remembered and valued by the fans, not just the goals in the latter stages. 

2) Now, I do wish that we grow to the point where Ricketts can't get into the team. However, if he proves he belongs in the team, I want him there. That is true of any player and is my main point. 

That is why I asked: how many club goals would it take for Ricketts to enter the conversation for a recall? 

It's probably unlikely, but if his team makes it into the final rounds of UCL qualifying in fall, and he is the one scoring the goals to get them there, I personally think we need to at least consider him for league of nations.

Maybe for others he needs to move to a bigger club in a bigger league? Maybe he needs to bring his team to the UCL group stages to earn a call up? 

Either way, I wouldn't want to ever permanently close the door on Ricketts, or even Simeon Jackson. Any striker should be able to play his way back into the team if he scores enough goals at a high enough level.

Ricketts is playing at a very low level, but he's scoring a ton and apparently will play in UCL qualifying. That's the interesting part about his situation!

 

[Shway]

@Obinna I respect your take on Ricketts. The reality is he is our current leading goal scorer - regardless of where the goals came from. 

But for me, I just think we are too crowded up top with the current crop of young talent playing/training at elite levels. (Cavallini 26, Larin 23, David 19, Millar 19). Even Jordan Hamilton at 23 has had a good start to his season, and could put himself into future contention. 

Its a far cry from the times we had Haber, Jackson, and Ricketts.... And we were still snubbing an Olivier Ocean who was scoring more than any of those 3 guys. 

Its just different times, but like you said if he keeps scoring and takes them into UCL qualifying he'll make a case for himself. 

[jonovision]

On 3/22/2019 at 8:29 AM, ktf said:

I applaud Ricketts for always coming, and carving out a long professonal career, which as a Canadian is always difficult. He always plays with passion, which I also love.

However, I cannot (and don't want to) count how many times an offensive possession went to die on his feet. Ricketts in space, only to blast it over the bar from a position he has probably never scored from. 

5 of 16 goals in WCQ. 0 in Gold Cups. Only 1 of those goals was in the immediate pre-Hex stage, and it was vs. Cuba. He started I believe 8 out of our last 12 Hex games, including the disaster in Honduras. To say he delivered when it mattered is not true. He also has five goals from when Canada was already up 2-0 or more at the time. Putting teams away is great, but goals 5 and 6 to 0 vs Dominica in the second leg, hardly seem to count as clutch. 

Only 7 of Dero's 22 were in friendlies, and at least he has the pre-Hex goals vs. Costa Rica and Panama

Only 6 of 19 for Mitchell were in friendlies. 11 out of 18 for Catliff is closer, but he also had goals against Mexico and on the road in Honduras and El Salvador in competitive games. 

Ricketts and Ledgerwood were often my bane of watching for years. I grew to appreciate the relatively solid reliability of Ledgerwood. At least I stopped noticing him. However, Ricketts, when it mattered was not good. Was there another option? Not usually. Or at least not someone likely to do much better. Their talent is/was just limited. These are guys that hopefully (assuming our depth stays the same/grows) should only ever be on the fringes of the team. 

None of our strikers of this century, bar Ali Gerba, have a good record of producing in important matches. 

[jordan]

Three years ago we were calling clubless players to friendlies, i think it’s hard to write off just anyone with his experience, and he knows the region. I’m not saying he’s a lock I’m saying he needs to be in consideration.

Edited March 27, 2019 by jordan

[Norrin Radd]

On 3/23/2019 at 12:40 PM, jonovision said:

None of our strikers of this century, bar Ali Gerba, have a good record of producing in important matches. 

If you include the year 2000 as a part of this century, Carlo Corazzin deserves a shout out for his performance at the 2000 Gold Cup. He had 4 goals in the tournament after scoring 3 in the qualification playoffs.

[dyslexic nam]

51 minutes ago, Norrin Radd said:

If you include the year 2000 as a part of this century, Carlo Corazzin deserves a shout out for his performance at the 2000 Gold Cup. He had 4 goals in the tournament after scoring 3 in the qualification playoffs.

I get your point, but if you have to go back 19 years I think the point still stands that Ricketts managed to produce a very respectable amount of goals at a time when we were pretty thin on the offensive end of things. 

[johnyb]

18 hours ago, Norrin Radd said:

If you include the year 2000 as a part of this century, Carlo Corazzin deserves a shout out for his performance at the 2000 Gold Cup. He had 4 goals in the tournament after scoring 3 in the qualification playoffs.

One was a beauty Bicycle kick too!

[masster]

Nice Ricketts article from the Score
https://www.thescore.com/mls/news/1748885

[SoccMan]

3 hours ago, masster said:

Nice Ricketts article from the Score
https://www.thescore.com/mls/news/1748885

Nice article really enjoyed watching him play here in Toronto for TFC.  I’m glad he got to experience winning the MLS Cup in 2017 and the Supporters Shield along with the Voyageurs Cup. He played a major role in TFC’s magical season in 2017 and also played a major role in that magical playoff game between Montreal and Toronto in the 2016 MLS eastern conference championship second leg game at BMO Field . He is a very useful player and might still be able to contribute even with our national team especially as a super sub.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/2019/08/09/whitecaps-fc-sign-canadian-forward-tosaint-ricketts

[Obinna]

So that's why he wasn't dressed for the FK Suduva Europa League qualifier...

Good move for the Whitecaps.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

Would explain him not being in the squad in the Europa League. 

Hopefully a little bit of what Vancouver needs, if only next year. 

Edit: great minds...

Edited August 9, 2019 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[dyslexic nam]

Wait, TR signed for the Caps?  Cool.  Will be great to see him playing in Canada again. 

[Guest]

Not sure if he will be that much of an impactful signing but lets see what happens

[Obinna]

I think Ricketts and Montero could be a good pair. Tos can stretch the field with his pace and create space for Montero to work in.

Or perhaps we'll see him in the late super sub role he excelled with at Toronto.

It's a lower level he's coming from, but he's in good form. I think he may get more minutes in struggling Vancouver than he did with Toronto.

[BrennanFan]

Happy for Tos but I've no idea what MDS is trying to accomplish on a team/ strategy/ style level.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 hours ago, BrennanFan said:

Happy for Tos but I've no idea what MDS is trying to accomplish on a team/ strategy/ style level.  

Agreed, it is totally senseless. They just have huge problems figuring out what they want to do and make half-ass decisions all the way down the line.

[Bison44]

I wonder if the plan was to bring in AJH as well as Ricketts, or it was a last minute replacement??  If they can afford Rickets, why couldnt they afford JacksonHamel.  I will be glad to see RIckets on a regular basis again, I'm sure TFC wished they had held on to him the way their striker situation has been.  

[BearcatSA]

12 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Agreed, it is totally senseless. They just have huge problems figuring out what they want to do and make half-ass decisions all the way down the line.

Clutching at straws?

[Blackdude]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

I wonder if the plan was to bring in AJH as well as Ricketts, or it was a last minute replacement??  If they can afford Rickets, why couldnt they afford JacksonHamel.  I will be glad to see RIckets on a regular basis again, I'm sure TFC wished they had held on to him the way their striker situation has been.  

I don't think so. I think they wanted a striker and Ricketts was the one they got. We didn't know that Ricketts was available, but Whitecaps were confident that the Ricketts move would happen and Jackson was just there if the Ricketts move didn't materialize.

[Kadenge]

On 8/9/2019 at 2:31 PM, BrennanFan said:

Happy for Tos but I've no idea what MDS is trying to accomplish on a team/ strategy/ style level.  

Trade you Vanney for MDS?

[Bison44]

2 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Trade you Vanney for MDS?

In a heartbeat, and we'll even throw in free pop in your drink machine.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

In relation to this, the Caps were really awful on Saturday, although they could even have sneaked a result since the league is that way, teams do not manage leads well. But seriously, a player like Ricketts, who adds nothing in terms of the passing game, does not hold up, runs into nowhere a lot, but has pace and defends and picks up garbage goals--well sure, maybe he'll do better than Bair, who is a teen. 

The real problem with MDS is that he speaks in one way but in practice his team is the total opposite, it is a calamity and a good part of the fault is his.