Canada vs Iceland - Jan 15th (Camp Poutine Match #3)

[gator]

5 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

Herdman will need a throat lozenge or two after this.

 

He is annoying to me, I wonder what the players think about it?

[Club Linesman]

At least we are playing games.  The experience will serve us well going forward regardless of which route we need to take.  Points tonight would have been massive but we have 3 games of experience and Herdman has a better idea for our Under 23 and our depth for the CMNT.  With some strategic games in March and June and an El Salvador screw up we might make the hex yet.

[Obinna]

We responded well after a slow start, but it was too little, too late. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

- Ricketts is not useful
- Bassong makes too many horizontal runs into the middle with little purpose unlike Laryea who makes overlapping vertical runs and links up well. Bassong has some talent but I'm not sure he is even ready for our U23s
- When we consider how green this #CanMNT team is and our lack of talent in this squad, they have been extremely well coached when it comes to movement and open play. Think about how much possession we had during that game. Useful and active possession too.
- Piette, Osorio and Fraser really kept that midfield moving like a well oiled machine
- If Adekugbe had been subbed off right when he got injured, we would have had at least one more great chance on goal. They waited too long to sub him out when it was clear that he was too injured to make those runs down the flank.
- Our set piece coaching is awful. This game. The last USA game. Fire Simon Eaddy. Now. Where is he from and when did he join the program?
- Almost all of our opponents chances have been the result of our stupid mistakes by us rather than superb play by them. I'm not sure what that says except that Herdman is very strong on structure and formation. We are difficult to break down in open play.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[toontownman]

We were our own worst enemy unfortunately. 

Was always going to be a long shot, just got longer and we can't bloody hit the target. If we are going to do it I guess we do it the hard way.

A lot of plusses from this Camp though none more than Brym and Bassong who surely have to be big parts of the u23's in March. Jayden showed well today. All three showed incredibly fight and determination tonight. Very impressed. 

Not sold on Didic. He can look dominant and pass like a king one moment but look extremely clumsy and slow the next. Miller was similar. 

Disappointed not to see more Bair but hopefully we will this year for the caps. 

[Club Linesman]

2 minutes ago, gator said:

He is annoying to me, I wonder what the players think about it?

What I find baffling is him screaming the same things over and over.  I always think we will hear some high level interesting comments and he screams together 20 times a half.

I always know I have done a great job coaching when I stop yelling and the players are instinctively doing what they have been taught.  

[lamptern]

I am starting to pray for a draw with Oceania or Asia now......

[Colliedor]

Not thrilled that we went the whole game with 2 DM's. We needed creativity.

Waiting to take out Ricketts at the 90th min is a joke.

There were a few bright spots. Brym played very well. Bassong and Nelson looked good too. Much better second half, it's just a shame we had 2 strikers doing nothing.

[gator]

5 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

At least we are playing games.  The experience will serve us well going forward regardless of which route we need to take.  Points tonight would have been massive but we have 3 games of experience and Herdman has a better idea for our Under 23 and our depth for the CMNT.  With some strategic games in March and June and an El Salvador screw up we might make the hex yet.

That's too positive of an outlook!😀

[trc2014]

Too bad Cav is hurt, we could have used him in the box.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Should've just played Barbados 3 or 4 more times to rack up points.

[Gian-Luca]

One of the problems with starting Ricketts is that you lose what he can bring in his best role as a super-sub. That was pretty much a wasted 89 minutes from him, although fairness the entire team looked like they didn't know what they were doing, not just him.

Why do we keep finding formations that work and then when we play a tougher opponent (or an opponent in tougher circumstances), experiment with a new formation?

Most positive was the performance of Brym, Bassong  & Nelson (especially for the Olympic team qualifying) although I wonder if Bassong should have been brought on to the left side for Adekugbe because half the time when Bassong got the ball on the right flank, he'd run into the middle of the field with it as though he was trying to get to the left side of the field when there was a ton of room to run down the right flank. And I lost track of the number of unproductive crosses we sent in from the left the whole game as sending those kinds of high crosses into the box is Iceland's bread and butter.

Nice save from Crepeau in the 2nd half but very disappointing weak keeping on their goal.

Ah well.

[king1010]

4 minutes ago, lamptern said:

I am starting to pray for a draw with Oceania or Asia now......

When the heck is the intercontinental draw? They havent even announced a date. Would be nice if we knew who we would play before March friendlies. If its Oceania then missing the hex aint all that bad, if its South America everybody panic. 

[Stryker911]

11 minutes ago, gator said:

He is annoying to me, I wonder what the players think about it?

I think so as well. I used to have a coach like that. It was good for about 2 minutes of the game and the other 88 were super annoying.

[Gian-Luca]

12 minutes ago, gator said:

He is annoying to me, I wonder what the players think about it?

I'd be going out of my skull in annoyance as it's not house-league anymore that they are playing. I mean some comments yes, but the constant shouting....occasionally you've got to let the players have some free will out there.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

but very disappointing weak keeping on their goal.

It was weak from everybody! The whole team sort of froze up.

[Corazon]

GK - Crepeau - Had a nice save to keep us in the match late but two very poor mistakes in 3 games.  Looks overweight.

RB - Laryea - Did not look his usual self going forward.

LB - Adekugbe - I thought he looked fairly good out there but faded slightly.

CB - Miller - I thought he was good as well but a few misplaced passes.

CB - Didic - Thought he was fairly good again.  I worry about one on one defending.  Relatively calm and composed on the ball although it sometimes looks awkward.

CM - Fraser - Thought he was very good again today.

CM - Piette - I thought he was fairly good with a few missed passes.  I know he's a favourite but it will be interesting to see how Fraser continues to develop along with a return of Kaye & a healthy Eustaquio.  Also assuming we don't see Atiba.

CM - Osorio - I thought he was good.  More creative on the ball then most.

ST - Brym - Looked very good but needs to work on his finishing

ST - Ricketts - Okay at best today

ST - Akindele - Not particularly good today

Sub - Bassong - Looked very good.  A few bad passes.  My only concern is that he is very left footed only.

Sub - Morgan - Okay

Sub - Nelson - Thought he looked good.  Being 17 has not affected the way he plays.

Sub - Bair - N/A

 

I was pleased with the 2nd half performance from a very inexperienced squad.  Clearly lacking quality finishing and creativity in the final 3rd.  Quality of David, Davies, Hoilett, Larin & Cavallini all could have helped today.

New players

A lot of very good additions in this camp.  Didic, Bassong, Brym, etc. all impressed.  Nelson clearly impressed the coaching staff to be featured in all 3 games at only 17 years old.  Let's also remember, this was a camp over several weeks in which we all only saw a 2 games.  I suspect Jayden did well in training to earn his minutes.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Corazon

[Colliedor]

I'm hoping Carducci gets the chance to prove himself next time. we conceded a total of 3 goals and Crepeau played a big part in 2 of them. Not good.

[Mikmacdo]

We're 1 for 4 in big games with Herdman, with the one win at home.

Bassong should have started.

Starting three strikers was dumb. 

Max isn't on the level on borjan. He made that nice save but the goal was poorly given and his distribution is weak. 

[costarg]

1 hour ago, shorty said:

As much as I’d be disappointed to drop the points, I’m glad we’re taking on decent opposition AND giving the depth a runout. Thumping minnows all the time has its place, but ultimately does nothing to move the program forward in the long run. 

I'd still rather give the depth a runout vs the minnows and reserve the decent opposition for our starters.

[gator]

3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I'd be going out of my skull in annoyance as it's not house-league anymore that they are playing. I mean some comments yes, but the constant shouting....occasionally you've got to let the players have some free will out there.

Most of the stuff he is yelling isn't going to be absorbed by players while the play is fluid, he yells things like "pass" or "shoot" sometimes, I love his enthusiasm but some things come off as house league to me as well!

[CANMNT_SUPERFAN]

Much better 2nd half as everyone in here says, but man, frustrating as well in a lot of levels.... No finishing, hesitation to shoot and the scarce chances we had were just god damn awful ffs!!!!.... However, I still see a lot of promise/upside on this squad, particularly with our U-23 eligible players and continued strong play from the few vets that were present today (referencing OSO & Piette, that is).

Crépeau really looked like the Crépeau  we've grown used to seeing with the Caps in that fantastic save that saved our bloody butts!!!!... Unlike Milan, looks far more comfortable with the ball at his feet and when under pressure!!!

Bloody offsides, TOS just seems to never time his runs right, but certainly deserved the equalizing goal, in terms of possession, passing & build-up we were the far better side in the 2nd half, gotta say that this Icelandic B/domestic squad got some pretty darn good defenders as any ball we played into their penalty box, they seemed to cleared/ cut it very well!!!

They were hard af to break down!!!!

Still, fairly pleased in other aspects of the game against a much stiffer opponent, but not satisfied of course with the result and our inability/unwillingness to shoot on goal!!!!... In one hand , take a little solace this is basically our U-23(Olympic)/Domestic + few Euro based B squad players with a few exceptions (Cornelius, OSO, Laryea & Piette from our A squad under my eyes) , but under the FIFA points implication aspects and that sort of mess that we got into that pushed us out of the HEX, not satisfied at all at dropping some points tonight... Don't even wanna see beyond my post the last bit of my final statement, lmfao

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by CANMNT_SUPERFAN

[lamptern]

2 minutes ago, king1010 said:

When the heck is the intercontinental draw? They havent even announced a date. Would be nice if we knew who we would play before March friendlies. If its Oceania then missing the hex aint all that bad, if its South America everybody panic. 

Historically, the draw happens about 1 year before the Finals. And play offs are scheduled 4-5 months after the draw.

That means this draw won't happen until Dec, 2021. 

We may ask for an earlier draw by sending an email to Gianni Infantino  on behalf of "The Voyageurs"?

[SpecialK]

Awesome to see Brym and Bassong join the program. Bassong looks like he’s going to be really good, hope he’s get some playing time in Belgium or get loaned out to CPL or MLS or somewhere in Europe. 
I’m sorry but I don’t understand herdman logic here. Yes the first two games get your U23 out there see what you got. Makes sense. Iceland comes in, you got points on the line yes it’s Iceland B/C team but all pro soccer players and some that have euro and World Cup experience. So you put out there Didic who is big yes but has no experience and plays in CPL yes I’m sorry CPL fans but come on The quality doesn’t come close to what the Iceland players are playing in, you have James on the bench who plays against some of the Iceland players and has played big games for Canada in the past. We need a goal and they put out a 17 year old who’s plays for TFC 2 when you have MLS players on the bench. Tesho seemed like he didn’t want to play most of game. He should have been taken off at half. I think it was just bad choices. When you have important points on the line but it seems like herdman does this. It’s like he’s trying to do two different things Oh I need my young guys to get experience and I need to win a game. Well this time vs Iceland he needed to win the game. The Mexico, Haiti and the second USA game. Put out your best and experience players and your system that you play And go out kick ass. Simple 
 

Also is it only me but that one guy doing the commentary not the play-by-play, was so annoying by just keep saying the same thing about how good of year we bad and the women’s game coming up bla bla bla, man he sound like a soviet union propaganda guy! LOL

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

 

16 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

Bassong should have started.

No. He should not have. Our first half would have been much shakier.

16 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

Starting three strikers was dumb. 

Somewhat agree. Ricketts and Akindele should not both have started.

16 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

Max isn't on the level on borjan. He made that nice save but the goal was poorly given and his distribution is weak. 

Somewhat agree. Borjan is better but Max's distribution was not that bad. The goal was the fault of the whole team freezing up when they thought play would stop when Crépeau fell.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Olympique_de_Marseille