TFC 2020 Season

[Club Linesman]

Priso for Fraser. Wow leaving Bradley on.

[gator]

I thought Fraser was very solid, good positional play, bailed a poor Bradley out a few times, his passing overall was good, one misplaced pass down the right wing was sloppy, he played better than Bradley which should be a concern! I get why they want to leave MB in, he is coming back from a long lay off and should improve, nice to see more Canadians on!

[Free kick]

Nelson should have come in earlier.

[Gian-Luca]

Endoh sets a new MLS record for most consecutive ineffective substitute appearances 

[gator]

This isn't the TFC we will see in the play offs obviously, these matches should be useful for Vanney even though the last 2 were losses, he has had a good look at  squad depth because it is questionable whether he can pick his strongest 11 again this season!

[El Hombre]

59 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

They need to be healthy to have any shot of winning the cup.  Without Oso, Mavinga, Piatti and Akinola they are done.

These injuries didn't happen in a vacuum.  This is what happens when you ride the same 10 or 11 horses in a very compressed schedule.  Anyone could've seen this coming.  That's why other teams are rotating players in and out.

56 minutes ago, Free kick said:

I think that this is given.  But thats MLS.   You go as far as your core of best players will take you.

In a regular season yes, but not in this shortened compressed season.  You can't play the same players night after night.  Its actually the periphery players that will carry a team in a situation like this.

[Free kick]

9 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Endoh sets a new MLS record for most consecutive ineffective substitute appearances 

Yeah.  I was going to post something along those lines.  But kept deleting it because i would have been repeating myself and i hate beating a dead horse.

i just dont know what adjective to use.  He is just not effective is probably appropriate. No imagination or quality in his play.  

i rolled my eyes when i saw that he was the first sub to come in. Those guys who come on later, should have come in first.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Free kick

[Colliedor]

Nelson looked a lot more confident taking on players and more eager to get the ball. Good showing. 

 

Prison made some good tackles, perhaps needs to be a little more willing to make forward passes but still a decent game.

Shaffleburg just couldn't get involved at all. His game is very predictable and raw and I just don't see a future for him with tfc tbh.

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Colliedor

[Free kick]

12 minutes ago, Colliedor said:

Nelson looked a lot more confident taking on players and more eager to get the ball. Good showing. 

 

Prison made some good tackles, perhaps needs to be a little more willing to make forward passes but still a decent game.

Shaffleburg just couldn't get involved at all. His game is very predictable and raw and I just don't see a future for him with tfc tbh.

 

I would say: 100% agreement with your coment on Nelson.   Priso, i havent seen enough to form an opinion.   Shaffleburg,  i would say its too early to say that there isnt a future. But i agree somewhat with your first point.  When they first used him he showed a strong ability down the wings and was taking on defenders and able to cross some balls.  He impressed.  The next couple of outings it was more if the same. Eventually, he sat becasue i am not sure that there was much else to his game.  

Edited October 29, 2020 by Free kick

[Bison44]

At least this should kill some of the Vanney for coach of the year baloney that was starting up.  Might as well line up the dead horse and beat it.  The cool little plan of a group of 12 players that he trusts and he rides them to the MLS finals hasnt worked this year.  Maybe if Vanney had opened up his bench earlier on TFC wouldn't be left with no options now.  Why wouldnt Nelsen have started this game or SHaff??  What has ENdoh done at all this year to warrant a first off the bench policy??  Grrr...this is just getting tiring.

As far as SHaff, I kind of wish he never signed for TFC....he might have been better off starting for Halifax and making a splash there than rotting in Toronto.  And as much as I like what he brings, Nelsen should get into the game first.  As for this not being the TFC we see in the playoffs...it wouldnt surprise me if Bradley plays every minute until he comes up lame/injured again and the team does better with him in the press box.  

 

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

Yeah.  I was going to post something along those lines.  But kept deleting it because i would have been repeating myself and i hate beating a dead horse.

i just dont know what adjective to use.  He is just not effective is probably appropriate. No imagination or quality in his play.  

i rolled my eyes when i saw that he was the first sub to come in. Those guys who come on later, should have come in first.

Definitely Nelson should have come on first, that's the best we've seen from him so far. I would have brought on Marshall-Rhutty over Endoh as well though. Shaffelburg didn't do much this game but a large part of that was his teammates not passing him the ball. He also hasn't played since July so he was bound to be rusty. The other difference between him and Endoh is that the latter has had about 4000 more opportunities to show he can do something and still hasn't. I don't want to pile on the guy too much, he's not bad as a cheap depth player but Vanney uses him instead of the promising kids way the hell too much. When the regulars come back, Endoh should not be the first option off the bench - his minutes should be going to Nelson.

I thought Laryea looked a bit tired tonight. Fraser played well for the most part - he had a couple of giveaways but they were attempted through balls deep in NYC's half, whereas Bradley was giving the ball away as much as possible on the edge of his own 18 yard boxy. I would have taken Bradley off instead. Bradley's been a silhouette of his former self (not even a shadow) these past three games.Their record with him starting is now actually mediocre (remember, he missed the first two games of the year back in March - I think they have lost their last 3 matches where he has started, and they have only lost 4 matches overall). If they continue to start him when the regular players come back, the team won't win a playoff game. The goal tonight came in large part because he didn't close down anyone just outside the team's 18 yard box, the very area he was meant to be protecting. He is just too slow now to hunt the ball down and he doesn't even get into position to win any tackles. He should be a late game defensive sub to help protect a lead at this point, not someone who starts when Delgado & Osorio are both healthy.

[Gian-Luca]

The normally fairly mild-mannered Vanney goes on a bit of rant at the reporters in the post-match presser, particularly at the end when somebody asks a (admittedly pretty stupid) question about how much the team is missing Altidore and Akinola:

https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2020/10/28/postgame-sound-greg-vanney-october-28-2020?autoplay=true

Although the question was pretty stupid (since the answer is so bloody obvious why even bother to ask the question - what's Vanney going to say, "Nah, we're not missing them at all"?), the bigger problem for me from the questions being asked is nobody asked about Bradley and whether Vanney plans to use him when the midfield that was so successful without him being in it comes back.

 

[Bison44]

MEH...he should be used to playing without Altidore by now.  Should have contingency plans.  Ride Bradley like a rented mule and he is breaking down and looking used up...thats no surprise.  And with this kind of schedule you'd probably be sitting a couple starters in a midweek game anyways. 

I wonder what he would have done if he got a tough question.   Like.... you are shitting the bed at the worst possible time, how are you going to turn this around in the next week with the guys you have before you flame out in the playoffs??  Or whats wrong with Bradley??  

[Gian-Luca]

The same reporter in the other post game video asked Jayden Nelson "You looked like you are growing in confidence out there. Is there more to come from you?"

Again, not sure what kind of answer the guy is expecting. "Nope, that's it, I've decided to retire immediately because we lost the game", or "I'm 18 and have probably only played about 80 minutes of MLS level football, I've clearly plateaued" or "Nope, that's it, that game was the best you are ever going to see from me. Especially when I am wide open at the top of the box and a 27 year old import player who hasn't played an impressive pass in his entire MLS career ignores me and sends a poor floated ball into the box too close to the keeper for Gonzalez to try and head in"

None of this excuses Vanney losing his cool, it's just to point out that the Canadian soccer media don't ask tough questions (and often, pretty stupid/naive ones like the one above), as Bison also suggests.

[Bison44]

TFC should have a easier time with Miami but I doubt it will be a cake walk.  Hate to lose this one and then just a tough red bull game to end the skid before playoffs.  Nelsen has been looking better and more confident, it would be nice to see him start.  Hopefully AKinola and Osorio are healthy enough to go, I've seen enough of Mullins and Deleon prob needs a game off.  And if Mavinga is coming back it should make everyone (even Bradley) look better today.  

[rkomar]

I thought Nelsen did look good last game, but he was going at a defence that was getting worn down by the end of the game.  I'm not sure he would have been as effective at the start of the game.  Maybe his best role right now is to come on late as he did against NYCFC.

[scooterlawrence5]

Nelson = supersub 

 

 

[Bison44]

That is what Vanney said about Lareya too, better coming on as a super sub against tired legs.  So glad he got the starts and blew up that fallacy.  If they are desperate enough to throw Morrow up on the wing they can take a chance on Nelsen.  

[narduch]

Priso starting.

 

[Gian-Luca]

20 min in and Endoh and  Bradley doing their best to stifle the Toronto attack.

[Free kick]

21 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

20 min in and Endoh and  Bradley doing their best to stifle the Toronto attack.

Endoh has been invisible.  My first thoughts about this game is:   How could a team that has Matuidi, Gonzalo Higuain, Pizarro and Lewis Morgan on the pitch look this terrible?

edit :  the above  was posted before Matuidi scored.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Free kick

[Free kick]

These linesmen are incompetent. So many ball out and and ball in calls botched.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Free kick

[Gian-Luca]

In a way I am glad Miami scored (despite it being a completely shitty goal for TFC to give up) as it will hopefully force Vanney to put on the Canadian offensive talent that is nailed to the bench. Get Nelson and Jak on there immediately, Laryea too if he is not too tired. Bradley should be benched as well but that is never going to happen. 

[Free kick]

8 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

In a way I am glad Miami scored (despite it being a completely ****** goal for TFC to give up) as it will hopefully force Vanney to put on the Canadian offensive talent that is nailed to the bench. Get Nelson and Jak on there immediately, Laryea too if he is not too tired. Bradley should be benched as well but that is never going to happen. 

Endoh out and Nelson in.  That should be the half time substitution.  Tfc have had possession but no quality in the final third.

The next sub after that should be should be.  Laryea for Gallagher.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Free kick

[gator]

I thought Priso was quite good, he's playing a little further forward than Fraser was, he seems to read the game well and has shown some good individual skill including a pass that set up TFC's best chance! Miami has some good players with some pedigree and skill, they are interesting to watch and a good test for our young Canadian in the midfield, I hope he stays in for the 2nd half!