TFC - 2022 Season Thread

[jonovision]

Salcedo does not look like an upgrade over either Mavinga or Gonzalez, neither of which were good last year. The pitch is shocking. Bob Bradley surely won't have to worry about anyone pressuring him to play the kids this year. Pozuelo looks heavy. 

[jonovision]

Could be 5-1. Player looked on. Had the linesman decided not to raise the flag, VAR would not have overturned.

[wallflower]

There are so many holes with this roster.

#10 might be, father coaching son.

Going to be a long season for TFC.

[Club Linesman]

Rebuilding year. Still hopeful that Bob is good enough to have the squad competing this year, if not winning.

Wonder if Insigne is watching these games and wondering if the 15 million is worth it.  Solteldo was petulant and clearly miffed with the lack of quality around him, what will Insigne think with this squad and the young kids getting minutes?

On the plus side if I want to attend some games the resale market should work in my favour.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Club Linesman

[Shway]

15 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

Rebuilding year. Still hopeful that Bob is good enough to have the squad competing this year, if not winning.

Wonder if Insigne is watching these games and wondering if the 15 million is worth it.  Slots do was petulant and clearly miffed with the lack of quality around him, what will Insigne think with this squad and the young kids getting minutes?

On the plus side if I want to attend some games the resale market should work in my favour.

It's still early. But in this state Insigne isn't the answer, as over two games I see the middle is a problem, when it is the most experienced. 

[Big_M]

osorio was awful...last a few balls in his half including the one that led to the first goal

[toontownman]

Agree on Osorio completely, was really disappointed. 

There were positives today for sure but completely lacking any end product and falling down when it comes to a final pass. 

A win for Canadian soccer with 9 Canadians featuring today. Tops the table today with Montreal a close second with 8, whitecaps lagging behind so far. I CPL fanboy'd hard when Chung and MacNaughton came on. Great to see Priso getting steps back to full fitness. 

[TOcanadafan]

Not good enough from everyone, but if you know the instructions have been given to the fullbacks to bomb forward, you need to have 2 solid CB’s and a quality CDMid.  Osorio gave the ball away on the first goal, but Bradley got blown by, Salcedo was ball watching and didn’t take the wide man who delivered the assist, O’Neill had no idea where he should be (which was the case for the entire match), and JMR failed to mark his guy who scored.  The second goal, Bradley is too far up the pitch and too slow to recover,  O’Neill steps up and fails to win the ball, Salcedo is out of position and JMR fails to mark his man.  Third goal was an entire team f-up, and the 4th, Shaffelburg didn’t jump for the ball and Salcedo was beaten. Total S-show all around -big questions about JMR’s defensive awareness, but I put a large part of the blame on Bradley and Salcedo… absolutely zero organization, awareness and competence.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Only saw the highlights but Michael Bradley looks way off the pace in the build up to some of the goals conceded. If they only have young inexperiened fullbacks, I would have thought a back 3 plus wingbacks would be the way to go.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Nelson was frustrating.  Holds on to the ball forever while teammates are making positive runs.  Needs to release the ball quickly.

[narduch]

How bad was yesterday's game lol?

 

[An Observer]

5 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Nelson was frustrating.  Holds on to the ball forever while teammates are making positive runs.  Needs to release the ball quickly.

Yeah. I thought the same.  Tonnes of one on one talent but needs serious work on his passing (something that if you don't have at his age, its unlikely you will get it)

[BearcatSA]

9 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Only saw the highlights but Michael Bradley looks way off the pace in the build up to some of the goals conceded. If they only have young inexperiened fullbacks, I would have thought a back 3 plus wingbacks would be the way to go.

Talk about an uncomfortable dynamic in the Bradley family if Michael continues to slide as his tires grow bald.  I remember when one of my favourite MLS players, Kyle Beckerman, was hanging on too long at RSL and should have been moved on much earlier than his simply retiring.  Maybe Bob will tinker with his tactical beliefs and go with three in the back featuring Michael in the centre, much like Aron Winter at times used to deploy Torsten Frings with TFC.  But if the decline is progressive and not simply a case of very early season rust, than Bradley the Elder needs to make some tough, objective decisions here much sooner than later. 

[Kingston]

10 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Talk about an uncomfortable dynamic in the Bradley family if Michael continues to slide as his tires grow bald.  I remember when one of my favourite MLS players, Kyle Beckerman, was hanging on too long at RSL and should have been moved on much earlier than his simply retiring.  Maybe Bob will tinker with his tactical beliefs and go with three in the back featuring Michael in the centre, much like Aron Winter at times used to deploy Torsten Frings with TFC.  But if the decline is progressive and not simply a case of very early season rust, than Bradley the Elder needs to make some tough, objective decisions here much sooner than later. 

A problem for the team is, who do you replace him with?  Liam Fraser looked to be a younger Bradley type in the making but the team totally squandered him.  Now there isn't a drop in replacement so, unless they bring in a new player to fill that role, they're looking at a different formation/style, not just a different player.

[Kingston]

On 3/5/2022 at 5:41 PM, Club Linesman said:

Rebuilding year. Still hopeful that Bob is good enough to have the squad competing this year, if not winning.

This was a bad game.  We had 67% possession but generated very little offence and were porous at the back.  We can pick apart the specific plays if we want.  In very general terms, however, I put the lack of offence down to the players' unfamiliarity with each other so plays don't quite click.  The defense goes down to youthful inexperience.  Yes, there were midfield cough-ups to start the play, but look how many opposing attackers are simply unmarked.

These games are going to happen this year with this team.  Hopefully less and less as familiarity and experience grow so that, by the end of the season, the team will be playing well.  But we're going to see a few of these before things get better.

[lbula17]

29 minutes ago, Kingston said:

A problem for the team is, who do you replace him with?  Liam Fraser looked to be a younger Bradley type in the making but the team totally squandered him.  Now there isn't a drop in replacement so, unless they bring in a new player to fill that role, they're looking at a different formation/style, not just a different player.

Priso or Okello could easily replace Bradley. My preference would be Priso as he looks more confident on the field. In the few minutes which he had, he looked fluid and energized.

[Ivan]

56 minutes ago, lbula17 said:

Priso or Okello could easily replace Bradley. My preference would be Priso as he looks more confident on the field. In the few minutes which he had, he looked fluid and energized.

Definitely Priso over Okello.  Okello just doesn't seem to have it yet (he's still young) to be a consistent rock in the middle of the pitch.  Priso looked good in his 15 or so minutes after such a long layoff.  Priso could start right away, but Okello is still a ways off IMHO.

[Kingston]

I didn't get to watch him much last season but what I did see and hear of Priso impressed me.

My question, though, is whether he is the player for that CDM, midfield-general type role that a younger Bradley filled so well for us.  Is that his wheel house (honest question)?

[Gian-Luca]

It's a thorny problem, because TFC already has a fairly inexperienced line-up as it is (arguably too inexperienced collectively), so while Michael Bradley clearly can't do the "6" role on his own as a starting midfielder, their only options to replace him at the moment would mean to add even more inexperience to the line-up. But they may have to do that, or change formations.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem if they hadn't let Fraser go.

[Dominic94]

I think that Mavinga is done, don’t mind Salvedo. 
 

Bradley hasn’t been a night in night out 90 starter in 2 years.

[Bison44]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:48 AM, lbula17 said:

Priso or Okello could easily replace Bradley. My preference would be Priso as he looks more confident on the field. In the few minutes which he had, he looked fluid and energized.

Bradley is still a much better passer than the youngsters.  Okello still looked a little skitish out there, but I think its a good sign BOB actually subbed JR.  How many times over the last 2-3 years have we seen Bradley play the full 90 when he should have been subbed??  Priso and Okello should get lots of chances in mid weeks games or 70 min subs to show what they can do...BOB will have the fortitude to manage JR minutes that other managers didnt.    

[Obinna]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:39 PM, narduch said:

How bad was yesterday's field lol?

 

FYP

[nfitz]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:20 PM, Gian-Luca said:

The south end of the pitch looks incredibly rough, worst I’ve ever seen

Why did the south end look so bad. There was almost a line across the pitch, and looked terrible south of it, and consistently green to the north.

Plumbing problems?

[narduch]

Further proof that VAR is joke, Salcedo suspended for that play that was reviewed on Saturday 

 

[CanadaFan123]

16 hours ago, narduch said:

Further proof that VAR is joke, Salcedo suspended for that play that was reviewed on Saturday 

 

This is outrageous. Not a red on the field, not a red upon review... but wait a few days and it's a red.

If it takes that long to decide then there is nothing "clear and obvious" about it. Why the need to overrule your own refs?