Vancouver Whitecaps 2020 Season

[SpursFlu]

7 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

You didn't watch the absolute embarrassment that was the LA Galaxy match, then? They are a very bad team who is lucky that they play in a pretty bad league. 

Cmon buddy. Everything is within the context of the league they play in, your comment is silly

Edited October 25, 2020 by SpursFlu

[SthMelbRed]

Just now, SpursFlu said:

Cmon buddy. Everything is within the context of the league they play in your comment is silly

The team is, by magnitudes, worse than they should be, based on all of the metrics. That nearly half of the teams in MLS are equally bad does not excuse the fact that the coach and most players are not up to the reasonably expected standard.

[SpursFlu]

6 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

The team is, by magnitudes, worse than they should be, based on all of the metrics. That nearly half of the teams in MLS are equally bad does not excuse the fact that the coach and most players are not up to the reasonably expected standard.

Whats the reasonably expected standard in your opinion? Just so I can understand what your talking about 

[SthMelbRed]

5 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Whats the reasonably expected standard in your opinion? Just so I can understand what your talking about 

I expect decently paid professional footballers to be able to play to a tactical plan, but also be able to modify their on-pitch actions based on the way the match is playing out. I expect that they be able to pass and receive a pass, to attack and defend as a unit, and to back their teammates to give the team the best opportunity to win. Due to being home a lot more these days, I've been able to watch 3/4 of Whitecaps' matches in 2020, and in all but 2 or 3, they've been well below that expected standard. When they've won, it's usually been with a huge stroke of luck, and when they've lost, it's been absolutely woeful. If such a team is allowed to claim some kind of achievement from the season, based on making the playoffs ahead of 4 equally abject teams, it will be a sad indictment on the league as a whole. That being said, I expect them to lose the next 2 matches, against Seattle and Portland, without much of a fight. 

[SpursFlu]

So sorry.. whats you expectation?

[SpursFlu]

So sorry.. whats you expectation? Mine was playoffs

[Big_M]

lol the good old ''when you win you are lucky and when you lose you are bad''

[BearcatSA]

3 hours ago, Big_M said:

lol the good old ''when you win you are lucky and when you lose you are bad''

In this league, for the lower echelon of teams, you're sometimes never as bad as many of your losses but also never as good as some of your wins (depending on your opponents and context).  

I'm looking foward to some good performances vs Seattle and Portland, regardless of the outcomes, before the final match vs a visiting Galaxy, who they should beat, based on what I saw from both teams in the previous game.  Winning % might be the playoff determinant, considering Colorado has bunch of games to make up, so making the playoffs isn't my metric for this season.  

[SthMelbRed]

5 hours ago, Big_M said:

lol the good old ''when you win you are lucky and when you lose you are bad''

The Whitecaps have been very bad in all but 4-5 matches, regardless of wins or losses. They have played 21 times, winning 8, losing 12, and drawing 1 (which they subsequently lost on penalties). They have lost games in comical fashion (blowing a 2-goal lead twice before conceding a 98th-minute winner) and embarrassing fashion (6-nil, 3-nil while barely getting a touch in the opposition half). None of the losses, bar the aforementioned SJE collapse, have required the opposition to work very hard to walk away with 3 points.

The wins have come against very bad teams, for the most part (6 of 8 against teams that are out of contention or on the playoff bubble). Even still, they have had to rely on good fortune for those wins (3 wins against teams who had a player sent off, getting a win against LAFC's youth team). Even their one draw relied on a 20-year old 'keeper in his 2nd ever pro start making a hundred amazing saves to keep it scoreless.

The only impressive win against a good team was against TFC at BC Place.

I don't say these things because I'm a rival supporter looking to score cheap points at the 'Caps expense. I'm a lifelong Whitecaps' supporter. I watched games at Empire in the NASL days. I used to sit on the grass at Swangard most matches in the CSL days. I've been with the team through every stage of its evolution.

I'm not one of the pathologically anti-Bobby/anti-Kerfoot losers in the Southsiders. I have advocated for a balanced and reasonable stance when it comes to the front office, managers, and players over the years.

It gives me no pleasure to point out the stark reality of this team and manager. At this point, qualifying for the playoffs can only have a negative effect. It can be used as a shield against the massive flaws that need correcting before next season. It's not even going to generate much-needed revenue for the club to reinvest. Getting embarrassed in a one-off elimination game against Seattle or Portland isn't helping anybody. It will only potentially delay the inevitable.

If you want to argue against the facts above and try to make the case for the 'Caps not being an atrocious team, feel free.

Edited October 26, 2020 by SthMelbRed

[SthMelbRed]

5 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

So sorry.. whats you expectation? Mine was playoffs

Can't you read? 🙄

[Unnamed Trialist]

11 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

The Whitecaps have been very bad in all but 4-5 matches, regardless of wins or losses. They have played 21 times, winning 8, losing 12, and drawing 1 (which they subsequently lost on penalties). They have lost games in comical fashion (blowing a 2-goal lead twice before conceding a 98th-minute winner) and embarrassing fashion (6-nil, 3-nil while barely getting a touch in the opposition half). None of the losses, bar the aforementioned SJE collapse, have required the opposition to work very hard to walk away with 3 points.

The wins have come against very bad teams, for the most part (6 of 8 against teams that are out of contention or on the playoff bubble). Even still, they have had to rely on good fortune for those wins (3 wins against teams who had a player sent off, getting a win against LAFC's youth team). Even their one draw relied on a 20-year old 'keeper in his 2nd ever pro start making a hundred amazing saves to keep it scoreless.

The only impressive win against a good team was against TFC at BC Place.

I don't say these things because I'm a rival supporter looking to score cheap points at the 'Caps expense. I'm a lifelong Whitecaps' supporter. I watched games at Empire in the NASL days. I used to sit on the grass at Swangard most matches in the CSL days. I've been with the team through every stage of its evolution.

I'm not one of the pathologically anti-Bobby/anti-Kerfoot losers in the Southsiders. I have advocated for a balanced and reasonable stance when it comes to the front office, managers, and players over the years.

It gives me no pleasure to point out the stark reality of this team and manager. At this point, qualifying for the playoffs can only have a negative effect. It can be used as a shield against the massive flaws that need correcting before next season. It's not even going to generate much-needed revenue for the club to reinvest. Getting embarrassed in a one-off elimination game against Seattle or Portland isn't helping anybody. It will only potentially delay the inevitable.

If you want to argue against the facts above and try to make the case for the 'Caps not being an atrocious team, feel free.

Great post, pretty much how I feel. Even if we were a more competent team, boring, dull, competent, and drawing more games, however useless those points are, I'd be happier. 

I can see no substantial improvement on the team under MDS and he's had time enough to get it right. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

And just to say along with @SthMelbRed I too was at Empire Stadium back in the NASL days, had season tickets at age 20 or so, I remember when we were a match always to the Sounders, even went to Seattle to see games. Most of Swangard I missed except summers when I started to come back from overseas and went to everything I could, and in USL we were also a tough, competitive team and won championships. The Whitecaps have still not made the minimum transition necessary to the MLS, to meet the tradition of the name and the demands of the fans--as well as what we deserve. It is as if we simply have not shifted over yet, ten years on.

[BearcatSA]

Considering the short time between matches, tonight's game will give some needed rotational replacements a chance to impress in an underpromise/overdeliver situation.

Edit:  lots of changes in the starting eleven so hopefully they can pull off an unexpected result.

Edited October 28, 2020 by BearcatSA

[Big_M]

BC Lions owner and former Vancouver 86ers owner David Braley passed away yesterday at age 79. Rest in peace

https://www.bclions.com/2020/10/26/lions-saddened-passing-owner-cfl-giant-david-braley/

Mr. Braley’s success in the world of sports wasn’t just limited to the Canadian Football League. He kept soccer alive in the market by purchasing the Vancouver 86ers (A-League) in 1997 and owning them until the year 2000.

[BearcatSA]

I think they'll find a way to grind out a win tonight.  Too bad Cornelius's good play last match didn't translate to another start for this one.

[Gian-Luca]

As they need 3 points tonight, they can't continue to keep this ultra defensive midfield on for much longer. One of the two central minds needs to be subbed out for Baldisimo 

[BearcatSA]

It's been a good game.  There have been some good chances at both ends.  The Caps need to avoid that start-to-the-second-half-swoon which results in goals against.

[BearcatSA]

17 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

As they need 3 points tonight, they can't continue to keep this ultra defensive midfield on for much longer. One of the two central minds needs to be subbed out for Baldisimo 

Owusu

[Gian-Luca]

Fortune favours the brave. The line up was too cowardly for a must-win match.

[SthMelbRed]

1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

Fortune favours the brave. The line up was too cowardly for a must-win match.

MDS knows that sneaking an undeserved playoff spot is probably his only faint hope of holding on to his job. He also knows that he needed 2 wins from the last 2 matches to achieve that. So, instead of putting in place a strategy to try to win the game, MDS decides to put out a team that's set up to avoid defeat. Only in the last 10 minutes, needing 2 goals, does he swap to a brainless, 'lump it long into the box every chance you get' strategy to salvage something. He should be sacked immediately for stupidity. Dasovic can come in to take charge of the last match, and give the kids a go.

[Big_M]

out of playoff contention if the san jose lafc game isnt rescheduled as they wont be able to catch the points per game of san jose even if they win the last match

[BearcatSA]

I thought Montero was pretty disappointing, especially in the second half.  He seems to have license to do his own thing out there but either didn't execute with playmaking at crucial moments or didn't provide attacking support for Cavallini.  I still thought that they might have popped in a tying goal late in the match but alas, it didn't happen and that's it.

Edited November 2, 2020 by BearcatSA

[BearcatSA]

14 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I thought Montero was pretty disappointing, especially in the second half.  He seems to have license to do his own thing out there but either didn't execute with playmaking at crucial moments or didn't provide attacking support for Cavallini.  I still thought that they might have popped in a tying goal late in the match but alas, it didn't happen and that's it.

In the post match presser, MDS said Montero had been nursing a knock during training before the match.

[Unnamed Trialist]

In the end that match vs. Galaxy was the important one, the one they had to win. 

No team in MLS has had more games without a "result". We are the least resolutive team in the league. 

[SthMelbRed]

21 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

In the end that match vs. Galaxy was the important one, the one they had to win. 

No team in MLS has had more games without a "result". We are the least resolutive team in the league. 

It was also the final straw. MDS' unsuitability as an MLS manager was proven without reservation in that match. Actively trying not to create scoring chances in a must-win game is never a good look.