MauditYvon Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, Watchmen said: Well, looks like the final weekend will be interesting at least. It starts today, Portland - LAFC and SKC - Seattle. If Portland loses and Seattle lose/draw, Vancouver only need to win next Sunday to make the playoffs. Edited October 2, 2022 by MauditYvon PastPros and narduch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 6 hours ago, MauditYvon said: It starts today, Portland - LAFC and SKC - Seattle. If Portland loses and Seattle lose/draw, Vancouver only need to win next Sunday to make the playoffs. And Portland has lost. Can't believe how much has been breaking the Whitecaps way this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Seattle behind 1-0 to SKC. So the scenario, if Seattle doesn't win, if I understand it correctly, is -beat Minnesota Then if Salt Lake doesn't win we are ahead of them; and if they do win, we would be tied with Portland and go ahead of them on most wins, the first tie-breaker. In case of nabbing that final playoff spot, we'd play Austin again, away. MauditYvon and Stryker911 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 On the one hand, our form over the season, if you take away the disastrous first 9 games, would put us in the top 2 of the conference, if extrapolated over a whole season. On the other hand, we're fucking awful on the road. So, beating Minnesota at their place, then beating Austin at theirs, looks like a pretty tall task. But, keep fighting 'til it's all done, and all that. Unnamed Trialist, Watchmen and Goal_Kick 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MauditYvon Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Playoffs start next Sunday for Vancouver! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 I obviously haven't been paying close attention, but I had just assumed that Whitecaps were eliminated a few weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 1 hour ago, jonovision said: I obviously haven't been paying close attention, but I had just assumed that Whitecaps were eliminated a few weeks ago. They kept winning and the right teams kept losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 3 hours ago, jonovision said: I obviously haven't been paying close attention, but I had just assumed that Whitecaps were eliminated a few weeks ago. Going in to the weekend, they had a 3% chance of making the playoffs. They now apparently control their own destiny. Wild. Goal_Kick and Metro 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Schuster extension apparently coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Anderson out. Lenarduzzi sticking around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 On 10/2/2022 at 7:42 PM, MauditYvon said: Playoffs start next Sunday for Vancouver! An exciting decision day. Caps have a playoff-contending squad if they can stay healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goal_Kick Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 On 10/2/2022 at 5:42 PM, MauditYvon said: Playoffs start next Sunday for Vancouver! Yep. Win five away games in a row and they're MLS champs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Sloppy turnover on the first goal, unlucky bounce on the second. No real connections up front today, with heavy touches and missed passes everywhere. Thought it was at least entertaining until they gave up the 2nd goal. Unnamed Trialist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Watchmen said: Sloppy turnover on the first goal, unlucky bounce on the second. No real connections up front today, with heavy touches and missed passes everywhere. Thought it was at least entertaining until they gave up the 2nd goal. It's a bit bewildering you'd play the off form striker to start and leave the in form on the bench. The real game plan had to be an early goal and hold on, not chase the game when the opening draw was useless. The team never clicked and wasn't tight, especially with huge gaps in the middle. Think Caps have decent pieces, an acceptable roster. Need a new coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 7 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said: It's a bit bewildering you'd play the off form striker to start and leave the in form on the bench. The real game plan had to be an early goal and hold on, not chase the game when the opening draw was useless. The team never clicked and wasn't tight, especially with huge gaps in the middle. Think Caps have decent pieces, an acceptable roster. Need a new coach. They'd won 3 straight against good opposition without Cava, so I could understand that decision. Agree that the game plan had to be an early goal, but if they were still tied in the second half than bringing on Cava then works well. Real problem was that they gave up the sloppy 1st goal, which would have happened regardless of which striker started. Agree, I think there's good pieces in place but Vanni needs to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpursFlu Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Yup the sloppy goal they basically gave away just turned to whole game on its head. With Minnesota knowing they just needed a tie it was always going to be extremely difficult after that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison44 Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Still a great run by the Whitecaps and it looks like they have the foundation to work with next year. Dont think its enough to save the coaches job though. I wish I could find the Onesoccer vid at start of season where Wheels was kind of dickish talking about chances for playoffs. How TFC had a good chance to turn it around but he couldnt see how Van was ever going to fix things, it was just a lost cause. HEHE. Watchmen, saladroit and narduch 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 8 hours ago, Bison44 said: Still a great run by the Whitecaps and it looks like they have the foundation to work with next year. Dont think its enough to save the coaches job though. I wish I could find the Onesoccer vid at start of season where Wheels was kind of dickish talking about chances for playoffs. How TFC had a good chance to turn it around but he couldnt see how Van was ever going to fix things, it was just a lost cause. HEHE. I really applaud your positivity, but I feel like I've seen this movie before. You know, the one where the team works hard and almost makes it, only to have that same experience again the following season. I think it's terrible that they made no progress at all after all the poor-mediocre seasons they've had, and continue to be a club that is stretching for the middle. This is their 12th MLS season. They've had more wins than losses once in the last five seasons. Only five times overall. Incredibly, they've only been in the top half of the league four times by my count. They've only had a positive GD four times. I get it, they looked good for stretches and finished strong. But the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and so that suggests the Whitecaps will make lots of sideways moves with players, won't make a coaching change that is meaningful, and will be struggling to be a top half team again next seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 19 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said: It's a bit bewildering you'd play the off form striker to start and leave the in form on the bench. The real game plan had to be an early goal and hold on, not chase the game when the opening draw was useless. The team never clicked and wasn't tight, especially with huge gaps in the middle. Think Caps have decent pieces, an acceptable roster. Need a new coach. If Cavallini sticks around for one more year, Schuster needs to get a quality box to box central midfielder to go with Cubas (fishy pun time: the sight of El Piraña getting stripped of the ball on the winning goal gutted me!). I was hoping that partner would be Caio but he didn't pan out, and neither has Owusu, while the jury is also out on Schöpf (he needs a full preseason and at least the first half of next season to see what he really brings to the table). They need to get more offensive contribution from the guy partnering Cubas to take the ball playing pressure off of the Paraguayan. If they return to a back three regularly with more advanced WBs, they probably can get away with predominatedly right footed CBs but Martins' recent performances (excluding Sunday's game) show that having a left footed guy out wide at LWB or left fullback just makes more space centrally for others, most importantly Gauld. So getting replacements for Gutierrez (I assume that he is not having his option exercised) would help. Dajome's play has fallen off a cliff but aparently he's guaranteed for another year, so maybe the plan will be to loan him out to a South American league, like Caio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 6 minutes ago, RJB said: I get it, they looked good for stretches and finished strong. But the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and so that suggests the Whitecaps will make lots of sideways moves with players, won't make a coaching change that is meaningful, and will be struggling to be a top half team again next seasons. In the very recent past, Schuster has absolutely nailed it with his two DP signings (Gauld, then Cubas), so that alone should bring a lot of optimism. saladroit and Bison44 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saladroit Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) optimistic about next year, like others have said there's legit a good core to build around here imo. blackmon and veselinovic are decent CBs (badly need a naturally left footed LCB though), cubas was immediately one of the best CDMs in the entire league (based on eye-test but also a ton of the underlying stats in terms of pressing/recoveries), and gauld is a really good 10. should be decent flexibility. cava will leave and open up a DP spot for hopefully a #9 that fits in terms of pressing and more vertical play in behind, alexandre leaving probably opens up a u22 initiative slot. likely a lot of cap space opening up with nerwinski/owusu/bikel/probably others whose contracts are up at the end of the year. honestly the recruitment/scouting since Overheul came in early 2021 has been significantly better, it's no coincidence that the best players on this team are the ones who have been added in the last couple transfer windows lol defensively a lot of things were skewed by subpar goalkeeping and the handful of games where they just got totally blown out, there's less work to do there given how they played once cubas came in compared to the attacking side (which was easily near the bottom of the league in terms of most metrics such as open-play chance creation and xG) the comparison isn't totally apt since nancy is a far better manager than sartini (who will probably be let go given that schuster has still never really hired a manager of his own choice), but this does remind me of where montreal was at the end of last year heading into this season in terms of potential and progress. really cf montreal/philly union should be the model for what the caps try to do Edited October 11, 2022 by saladroit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 7 minutes ago, saladroit said: defensively a lot of things were skewed by subpar goalkeeping and the handful of games where they just got totally blown out, there's less work to do there given how they played once cubas came in compared to the attacking side (which was easily near the bottom of the league in terms of most metrics such as open-play chance creation and xG) Everything had to go through Gauld, especially when they moved Gressel away from his advanced wingback crossing strength and into a much less effective deeper midfield role where too many of his forward passing attempts were picked off. If you get a more dynamic central mid offence generator (like an Osorio-type), then you provide another threat against which opponents need defend. saladroit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saladroit Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) 18 minutes ago, BearcatSA said: Everything had to go through Gauld, especially when they moved Gressel away from his advanced wingback crossing strength and into a much less effective deeper midfield role where too many of his forward passing attempts were picked off. If you get a more dynamic central mid offence generator (like an Osorio-type), then you provide another threat against which opponents need defend. hopefully schopf can be that player with a full preseason, a lot of his shot-creation numbers in the bundesliga were really good. that being said i wouldn't be totally opposed to another cubas type in a double pivot and then just playing gauld/vite as dual 10s (caicedo and schopf as rotation/competition) with really attacking wingbacks, basically how they ended the year one of the questions i have is the tactical sense, are they gonna want to commit to being a (good) pressing team? rbny/philly/cincinnati have shown that you can definitely have success with that low-possession/high pressing style (especially if you're a team that doesn't spend much), but then your squad composition has to just be fully committed to that which would probably mean more of personnel turnover than expected. the caps did rank pretty high in the league in terms of pressures (3rd in the league according to fbref) but their success rate and % were unsurprisingly pretty terrible because only a few of the players can actually execute on it Edited October 11, 2022 by saladroit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 40 minutes ago, RJB said: I really applaud your positivity, but I feel like I've seen this movie before. You know, the one where the team works hard and almost makes it, only to have that same experience again the following season. I think it's terrible that they made no progress at all after all the poor-mediocre seasons they've had, and continue to be a club that is stretching for the middle. This is their 12th MLS season. They've had more wins than losses once in the last five seasons. Only five times overall. Incredibly, they've only been in the top half of the league four times by my count. They've only had a positive GD four times. I get it, they looked good for stretches and finished strong. But the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and so that suggests the Whitecaps will make lots of sideways moves with players, won't make a coaching change that is meaningful, and will be struggling to be a top half team again next seasons. Do the caps have any homegrown prospects in the 17 to 21 range that anyone thinks can grow into players like CF Montreal has in spades? I honestly think that is their biggest issue. Where it (arguably) was true that 5 to 10 years ago they had one of the best academies in the MLS, and maybe only Dallas (and possibly Toronto) was better, their academy now sucks. And when they have developed players, they haven’t managed their transition from youth to first team well (Alderson, Fisk, etc.) or they have let them go too early and seen them succeed elsewhere (Adekugbe and possibly soon Coln and Peciano). Obviously, Davies is a glaring exception but there is not many others at least with the Caps. For a small market team, they need to rely heavily on their academy like CF Montreal does. Imagine the Caps side now but with a few key academy players in the starting 11 or on the squad rotation. That is probably all they would need to be close to the Montreal situation rather than the current TFC one RJB and Unnamed Trialist 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now