davey_twelve Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Who saw Morgan leading the board in minutes at the beginning of the year? lol He's definitely doing better than his 166 league minutes last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 ^^ That's a pretty stark reminder of how far we still have to go. Only 16 Canadians with minutes and that's with 3 franchises north of the border. It's going to be a few years until more Canadians are in the league, if at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_twelve Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Worth noting that at least a few players are getting decent time with American teams (Akindele, Larin, de Jong and Ouimette). Last season it was really only Johnson that played serious minutes with a non-Canadian side. The top 6 players in this list are in their early 20s. The younger players are hopefully getting decent minutes with USL sides. I remain optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Who saw Morgan leading the board in minutes at the beginning of the year? lol I know right? Congratulations due to Ashtone, he doesn't look like the same player he did a few years ago. THAT kid looked like a lot of potential that needed to work on aspects of his game. The new, more mature Morgan can be taken as a shining example of what a young prospect with hard work and coaching CAN turn into. Unfortunately, a lot of our young prospects don't ever turn the corner, mature, and go to that next level. If Morgan is to be taken as an example of what having options after the age of 23 looks like for Canadian players to stay at home...then I'm on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Who saw Morgan leading the board in minutes at the beginning of the year? lol Not me. I would have picked Osorio knowing that Johnson was injured. The top 5 on that list will miss MLS time for the Gold Cup & WCQ but I think it is between them as I don't see any of the others moving up to catch them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baulderdash77 Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 I figured Akindele and Osorio would be our strongest MLS players this year. Morgan is without a doubt the surprise of the season for us. Also I think that we're also seeing the best case scenario for Larin as well. Morgan looks like a completely different player now though. He's always had great pace and nice crosses but he'd get lost in traffic and lose a guy open too often. We're not seeing this this year and his consistency has really made a huge difference. Also Morgan gets a bit of other lime lite that he didn't get in the past. For example last weekend TFC had a free coaching session for 400 coaches at BMO field and they brought Vanney, Stuart Neely, Danny Dichio and Morgan to speak with the coaches. That's really a pretty big indication of how they rate Morgan. At the end of the season we're going to see if Morgan has a future outside of MLS or if he's going to be a stalwart member of the team in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 My happiest surprise - Ouimette catching on at all with a non-Canadian MLS team. His time may be numbered there, but when Red Bulls signed him I fully expected Red Bulls II. My biggest disappointment - JGL for the Impact. After that game he played terribly for the Nats, he basically fell right off the radar, from a guy that I had hopes would be trying to squeeze out Bernier's old job. Still young... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_twelve Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Morgan looks like a completely different player now though. He's always had great pace and nice crosses but he'd get lost in traffic and lose a guy open too often. We're not seeing this this year and his consistency has really made a huge difference. Not to take away from Morgan's progress but I think TFC has looked a lot more organized and disciplined defensively as a whole (about the time they switched to a diamond/had Cheyrou as the sole DM). Osorio has also improved his defensive game, him and Morgan seem much more aware of what they're supposed to be doing when defending. Morgan is a lot less reckless lately which is natural as you mature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Not to take away from Morgan's progress but I think TFC has looked a lot more organized and disciplined defensively as a whole (about the time they switched to a diamond/had Cheyrou as the sole DM). Osorio has also improved his defensive game, him and Morgan seem much more aware of what they're supposed to be doing when defending. Morgan is a lot less reckless lately which is natural as you mature. I also think it helps when teams have to game plan against the most dangerous attacking player in MLS (Giovinco) by providing extra defensive support from midfield. I hate to use trendy cliches, but that's another reason why the little Italian is a gamechanger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 In fairness to Pedro Morales, but when he first started to slip a touch off the radar is when all the other MLS teams caught on and started double and triple teaming him as well. Lowered Morales' production, but sure helped the other guys on the pitch, not as much this season, but big time last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baulderdash77 Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 I added Wandrille Lefevre as he's a citizen as of today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrennanFan Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Added Lefevre. Total Minutes, halfway through the season: Morgan 1099 Osorio 1028 Akindele 927 Teibert 852 Larin 847 Adekugbe 616 deJong 614 Ouimette 502 Lefevre 360 Johnson 354 Tissot 346 Bernier 325 Bekker 313 Froese 161 Jackson-Hamel 84 Chapman 47 Gagnon-Lapare 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucklefan Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 LA Galaxy 1 - 0 TFC (Chapman, Manella, Hamilton) after 10 minutes Chapman gets his first regular season start. Manella and Hamilton are on the bench. Montreal Impact (Jackson-Hamel) 1 - 2 NYC Jackson-Hamel played the last 7 minutes plus added time. Colorado Rapids 3 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps (Froese) after 85 minutes Vancouver made its 3 substitutions and Froese stayed on the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Russ off to Gold Cup & Sam still injured (hasn't even dressed for the WC2 game yet) so none for us this week. Flores in with Gersh was not good defending. Great passing but cost us several bad turnovers. Russ & Gersh are clearly ahead of him in the "DM not named Laba" role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Chapman played about 70 min and Hamilton got in for the last 5 + ET in TFC drubbing at the hands of the Galaxy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macksam Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Again, with Chapman he is simply not hungry enough for this. Apart from playing passively throughout the game, the two times he was set up by Cheyrou to break out with space, he nearly lost it (he did end up doing well to keep possession to his credit) in the first rush and timidly went forward the second time. He should have blitzed down the field both times and created any semblance of a scoring opportunity instead of what we actually ended up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Chapman played about 70 min and Hamilton got in for the last 5 + ET in TFC drubbing at the hands of the Galaxy. Unfortunately, given the way Findley played, it was 85 minutes later than Hamilton should have come on. In fact, he only came on when Findley seemed to cramp up, making it seem like Vanney only played him when he was absolutely forced to. Given the way Findley has played (He's definitely been the bust of all the new signings for TFC this season) it has made the lack of use of Hamilton very frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 ^ & ^^. I agree with these last two posts. Chapman has to get more aggressive if he wants more PT. Findley is absolutely useless. Creavalle and Zavaletta had really rough games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_twelve Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Will Johnson plays the full game as Portland beats SJ 1-0. Timbers are a much better side with him in the starting line-up (5-0-0 thus far). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 You know, I haven't been the biggest proponent of Hamilton, but you guys are 100% correct. With the same amount of time Findley has had on the pitch, Hamilton definitely would have tossed in a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 ^ & ^^. I agree with these last two posts. Chapman has to get more aggressive if he wants more PT. Findley is absolutely useless. Creavalle and Zavaletta had really rough games. Chapman looked to be overwhelmed by the total pace of the opposition's game (decision making, off the ball movement, passing distribution), so I'd chalk that one up to a good learning experience. I like the description someone gave to Findley elsewhere as an "MLS 1.0 player," who parlayed his quickness into one good season, and a World Cup appearance, but doesn't have the technique/savvy to overcome his loss of athleticism. Takes up too much cap hit, too. Creavalle and Zavaletta really lack situational awareness, as we say in the workplace safety biz. Among many other things, how many times did these guys get burnt off of throw ins? And the only thing that makes Zavaletta's distribution weaknesses less noticeable is how bad Creavalle is with passing the ball. Vanney's going to undermine this team's post season run if he persists with using Creavalle if the first choice RB is out at playoff time (hmm?? where have I seen this before recently??) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Hopefully Bloom is healthy enough for a run out, at least until Ashtone comes back (who would have imagined we would be saying that at the end of last year!). Apparently, Caldwell is near a return which could solidify things a bit. Or, give Hagglund another shot, but he was shockingly bad for the first few weeks after Caldwell was hurt, which is why Zavaletta was playing in the first place. I miss Doneil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Chapman and Hamilton stay on the bench in TFC's 4-4 draw with NYC. I wish Creavalle had stayed on the bench too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Chapman and Hamilton stay on the bench in TFC's 4-4 draw with NYC. I wish Creavalle had stayed on the bench too. It was a helluva a cross for the tying goal, except it was NYCFC he was crossing to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_twelve Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 It was a helluva a cross for the tying goal, except it was NYCFC he was crossing to! Such a boneheaded decision to play it across the goal but even his awareness was shocking, the NYCFC player wasn't really close to him. You have to hope he won't see the pitch for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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