CNL Play-In for Copa America: Canada vs Trinidad & Tobago - Saturday, March 23, 2024 - Frisco (greater Dallas), Texas

[cornerkick]

1 hour ago, scullion44 said:

What a relief we didn’t have to play one of Costa Rica or Honduras

I wonder if having a crowd would have injected some more emotion and a sense of urgency to the Canada game.  it just felt like there was more intensity and battle in the CR v Honduras match, very lively atmosphere 

[costarg]

30 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I agree with so much of that again.

But if you don't think CBs bomb up in a well run three at the back ("Underlapping runs", is the normal term) you haven't watched a creative version of that formation.  

Since you love tactics, I would recommend looking into it.

"When facing a deeper block, the wider centre-backs can also provide crosses from narrow positions or make overlapping or underlapping forward runs. They can work with the wing-back and wide attacker to create overloads in wide areas and try to progress around the opposition block."

Ya, I understand, but this isn't for national teams that play once every 3-4 months.  Just not enough time to create the understanding and automatisms between the guys.  It was all well evident tonight as well as the last few games.  On top of doing it with Johnston who just isn't a CB to begin with.  Sure he's athletic and smart enough to pull it off vs the weaker teams, but he will get devoured vs the better teams.  We have enough talent to play guys in their real positions, need to stop with the 3D chess.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

10 minutes ago, costarg said:

Ya, I understand, but this isn't for national teams that play once every 3-4 months.  Just not enough time to create the understanding and automatisms between the guys.  It was all well evident tonight as well as the last few games.  On top of doing it with Johnston who just isn't a CB to begin with.  Sure he's athletic and smart enough to pull it off vs the weaker teams, but he will get devoured vs the better teams.  We have enough talent to play guys in their real positions, need to stop with the 3D chess.

National teams do it.  England did it for a while, Walker was a centre back.

We just need to commit to something, play some games as you say.  

We played most guys where they "should" be today but it was a bad formation because we tried to play too many of guys in form (or our best) in their "real" positions.  Sometimes  people need to sit; you play the best formation and the best players available for the role, not neccesarily the best players.

Edited March 24 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[Mattd97]

6 hours ago, El Hombre said:

Has he?  I haven't seen it.  Nothing is coming out of the wings and one guy is getting pilloried and the other skates by.

Davies gets pilled on by 90% of the board, not sure I'd ever consider him criticism-free

[The Beaver 2.0]

Will we have a new gaffer in time for COPA? This will be one of (the many) first large tests for Blue, certainly one of the more visible/ publicly tangible ones. Will he give Biello more time? A couple more friendlies? From what I see and understand, Biello is a good dude, but he doesn't have the chops to do the job at hand, that seems clear.

[Bison44]

17 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Will we have a new gaffer in time for COPA? This will be one of (the many) first large tests for Blue, certainly one of the more visible/ publicly tangible ones. Will he give Biello more time? A couple more friendlies? From what I see and understand, Biello is a good dude, but he doesn't have the chops to do the job at hand, that seems clear.

I dont know, Herdman had plenty of goofball lineups. strange subs and was no tactical master.  He grew into that part of the job, maybe Biello will too.  We have so few homegrown coaches at his level, it would be a shame to push him out the door, if a replacement ever gets found.  Maybe he goes back to the youth set up if and when the time comes?

 

[Macksam]

Saw the match at Bramalea Celtic Club. Nice meeting you today Joel. 

[lamptern]

1 hour ago, Bison44 said:

I dont know, Herdman had plenty of goofball lineups. strange subs and was no tactical master.  He grew into that part of the job, maybe Biello will too.  We have so few homegrown coaches at his level, it would be a shame to push him out the door, if a replacement ever gets found.  Maybe he goes back to the youth set up if and when the time comes?

 

Expanded U17 World Cup (48 team?) will be held every year starting 2025. I don’t mind if Biello runs the coach team as a full time job.

Edited March 24 by lamptern

[PegCityCam]

Assuming Davies is holding his MOTM award as he bounces into the dressing room and LDF has clearly passed the vibe check...

 

[lamptern]

3 minutes ago, PegCityCam said:

Assuming Davies is holding his MOTM award as he bounces into the dressing room and LDF has clearly passed the vibe check...

 

That LDF is really a lovely boy.

[The Beaver 2.0]

1 hour ago, Bison44 said:

I dont know, Herdman had plenty of goofball lineups. strange subs and was no tactical master.  He grew into that part of the job, maybe Biello will too.  We have so few homegrown coaches at his level, it would be a shame to push him out the door, if a replacement ever gets found.  Maybe he goes back to the youth set up if and when the time comes?

 

Sure, I get all that, and I don't disagree, but I feel our program needs to go up a notch, and at best Biello represents the best of what Herdman achieved. He's not a step up. I'm not convinced the solution is going to be homegrown. Not yet at least. (I want to be wrong. Believe me. But I just don't feel we're there.)

[blueseeka]

Glad it is over. We all knew T&T would be tough. We move on

David was great all night

Great finish by Larin and Shaffelburg

Kone and Eustáquio were very solid with their distribution

Davies and Buchanan created chances with their speed. Yes, they were turnover machines but they caused alot of havoc

Johnston - Waterman - Miller = absolutely terrifying.  Johnston shouldn't ever play in a back three. Miller constant scares me. Waterman was fine. I am grateful that T&T didn't attack at all. Everytime they did, it was an adventure

Crepeau didn't do much. But it was so nice to see a goalie who provided ball distribution.

JRR is the real deal. His presence on the field has so much improved since last year. Let's hope he continues starting for Columbus. I would love to see this lineup with JRR instead of Ugbo. And Ugbo was fine. He was more noticeable than he has been in any other game he played for CMNT.

LDF finally

Stressful game but they pulled it out

 

 

 

[Joe MacCarthy]

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

4 hours ago, blueseeka said:

Glad it is over. We all knew T&T would be tough. We move on

David was great all night

Great finish by Larin and Shaffelburg...

Think Mauro Biello has to be taken seriously now for the coaching job. Made a few roster decisions that were the right ones such as moving things forward at goalkeeper with an eye on 2026 and picking players based on assessed quality of current form rather than perceived prestige of the club they play for. Suspect he'll need at least one win against Peru or Chile to nail it down though.

Edited March 24 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[phil03]

5 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Think Mauro Biello has to be taken seriously now for the coaching job. Made a few roster decisions that were the right ones such as moving things forward at goalkeeper with an eye on 2026 and picking players based on assessed quality of current form rather than perceived prestige of the club they play for. Suspect he'll need at least one win against Peru or Chile to nail it down though.

(repeating myself from another thread a bit)

I am usually closer to your opinion then most here but I have to strongly disagree on this one.

The only way that Biello could have been justifiable is if things had gone well in Nations League. In that case the first round of Gold Cup could have been depicted as just a fluke and there would be an argument to not fix what ain't broken but the team had clearly looked somewhat disorganized in recent games, especially the last one. We won against TnT not thanks to him but despite him, by grinding them down eventually due to superior quality (altough they obviously deserve props for being a hard team to play against). 

Like, I'd go as far as to say that if we still had Herdman, or a descent manager really, not only would we have beaten Jamaica but, considering how close a depleted Jamaica got against the USA, we would probably be talking about our ods against Mexico instead of discussing lessons from a repechage game...

Broadly speaking the guy has neve really done well as a head coach. Not with the Impact except for one single playoff run, not with the youth teams and not as acting manager. At some point we have to see the pattern here...

And now we are probably going to be stuck with the guy for longer!? He is a good scout and should be sent back to that job asap.

Edited March 24 by phil03

[Fresh Prince of MTL]

Probably just one of you optimistic sickos getting my hopes up, but has anyone else heard of this?

[Sal333]

31 minutes ago, phil03 said:

(repeating myself from another thread a bit)

I am usually closer to your opinion then most here but I have to strongly disagree on this one.

The only way that Biello could have been justifiable is if things had gone well in Nations League. In that case the first round of Gold Cup could have been depicted as just a fluke and there would be an argument to not fix what ain't broken but the team had clearly looked somewhat disorganized in recent games, especially the last one. We won against TnT not thanks to him but despite him, by grinding them down eventually due to superior quality (altough they obviously deserve props for being a hard team to play against). 

Like, I'd go as far as to say that if we still had Herdman, or a descent manager really, not only would we have beaten Jamaica but, considering how close a depleted Jamaica got against the USA, we would probably be talking about our ods against Mexico instead of discussing lessons from a repechage game...

Broadly speaking the guy has neve really done well as a head coach. Not with the Impact except for one single playoff run, not with the youth teams and not as acting manager. At some point we have to see the pattern here...

And now we are probably going to be stuck with the guy for longer!? He is a good scout and should be sent back to that job asap.

I said it when he was manager and I'll repeat it now, Herdman is an excellent coach. You don't believe me, look at what he has done with Toronto. They're tied for second and it's a completely different team.

We'll be extremely lucky to get a coach of Herdman's quality and trust me Biello is not it. He may be a great guy but Biello is a complementary piece in a management team. This is not his first gig. He was manager of the Impact.

[JamboAl]

14 minutes ago, Fresh Prince of MTL said:

Probably just one of you optimistic sickos getting my hopes up, but has anyone else heard of this?

Ummm…no. 

[jonovision]

7 hours ago, blueseeka said:

Glad it is over. We all knew T&T would be tough. We move on

Johnston - Waterman - Miller = absolutely terrifying.  Johnston shouldn't ever play in a back three. Miller constant scares me. Waterman was fine. I am grateful that T&T didn't attack at all. Everytime they did, it was an adventure.

 

Agree with most of your player evaluations but I'd reverse these two. Waterman had several poor headers where chances that should have been cleared led to further danger. Also anticipated several chances poorly, leading to him being a step behind. Nearly punished, especially the big chance in the first half.

[gator]

Edit: moved to appropriate thread!

Edited March 24 by gator

[TOcanadafan]

A consistent theme from many previous posts is that one or another star player is not performing to his capabilities, nor on the same page with his teammates.  I don't think we've had a game since WCQ where the team has been on the same page in both attack and especially defense , where every player knows and accepts their roll (aside from perhaps David who always seems to figure our what needs to be done in spite of what's going on around him).  And to add, many of our most cohesive, structurally sound games were played when Davies was out due to injury.

We need a coach who can get the most out of our talent, mask our deficiencies / lack of talent in central defense and convince all the players to accept the vision.  I still haven't figured out if Biello lacks the game plan, the communication of said plan, or both... but we'll continue to spin our wheel until a higher level coach is found.

 

Edited March 24 by TOcanadafan

[jhoops__]

Amen brother 

[dyslexic nam]

17 minutes ago, TOcanadafan said:

A consistent theme from many previous posts is that one or another star player is not performing to his capabilities, nor on the same page with his teammates.  I don't think we've had a game since WCQ where the team has been on the same page in both attack and especially defense , where every player knows and accepts their roll (aside from perhaps David who always seems to figure our what needs to be done in spite of what's going on around him).  And to add, many of our most cohesive, structurally sound games were played when Davies was out due to injury.

We need a coach who can get the most out of our talent, mask our deficiencies / lack of talent in central defense and convince all the players to accept the vision.  I still haven't figured out if Biello lacks the game plan, the communication of said plan, or both... but we'll continue to spin our wheel until a higher level coach is found.

 

In fairness to Biello - the lack of cohesiveness  isn’t just (or necessarily) about the coaching. It is no coincidence IMO that the best footy we played came during the long run of WCQ where we had a ton of games in relatively constant succession.   The chemistry we developed then was amazing - and hasn’t been replicated since we switched back to skipping camps, failing to book friendlies, etc.  Our guys always seem to need a period of time to get acclimatized - whether in a window or even within a single game.   I think a major factor in getting better is putting arrangements in place to get the necessary reps - regardless of who is at the helm.  

[Aird25]

Ugbo had 17 touches, Davies had 96. That seems like something went wrong considering Davies was double teamed from the start. He needs to be better using his teammates to draw attention away from himself with Canada. He plays differently with Bayern

[TGAA_Star]

Shaffelburg definitely needs to be in our final squad for Copa