Pre-Match/Match/Post-Match Thread - Toronto FC at Columbus Crew - April 5, 2014 (R)

Welcome to TFC, Issey!

 

That step-over by Morrow in the box on his assist was just dirty. Beautiful way to shield the ball from a defender, but coach might be chiding him for being flashy!

Congrats to Hagglund and Issey on debuts for them to remember. Bradley gets MoM but Hagglund made a good case for it too.

No Defoe. No Captain Caldwell. No Osorio. No Henry. Still pulled it out.

For all the talk about the improved offense this year, man, it's the defense that is winning us games so far. Just imagine how good this team will be once they learn to start passing better.

to add. Week five and no more perfect teams. I wonder if that is a record.

 

Being wrong never felt so good! Amazing depth performance. Smart of Nelsen to start Bekker over Hall, gutsy and assured from Orr and Haglund. Happy for Issey to poach one I've followed some of his career and was pleased about the signing. Not worried about Gilberto either I like what he brings.

 

So...any doubters left? ;-)

 

Bekker played his best game yet. I had a feeling that playing next to Bradley would bring out the best in him. I know Osorio is pretty much universally considered the better of the two (and for good reason, as in most ways he is), but in this game Bekker played better in tandem with Bradley than Oso or Hall have so far. Sure he made some bad passes, but he also made a lot of key interceptions in the midfield to keep the pressure off the back line; made some good passes forward; had good passing chemistry with Bradley, and most importantly IMO, he managed to keep the shape with Bradley moving all over the place much better than Hall or Osorio have managed to do. Osorio did pretty well in that regard too, but there were still times when he got caught upfield with Bradley. Bekker seems to have a slightly better understanding of what Bradley is doing, and is able to play along with that. I give him a lot of credit for that.

That said, I still wish he would be more aggressive when tracking back. I can't remember ever seeing him run as hard as he can to catch and stop someone. If playing with Bradley can't inspire him to add that to his game, then I don't think that will ever be part of his game.

 

I also thought Bekker had a terrific game. He played to his strengths which I believe to be as linking type of holding mid, providing defensive support rather than the ball winning in a destroyer role but mainly to keep possession rolling with quick, safe distribution and being positionally aware in complementing Bradley. Hope this is a turning point for his pro club career.

That was a well organized performance. I'll give Nelsen and this staff some props here, as well.

 

When did he turn Brazillian?

 

I'm sure the staff writers at mlssoccer.com who pay zero attention to TFC will still insist that TFC has done nothing to improve their back line from last year, since they didn't add any recognizable names to their defence.

 

If there is one player we have to keep fit for the season is Bradley, every game thus far he has been the best player by a mile. I thought DeRo was really effective last night at linking the play when Bradley was deep which is something I notice the last game when we had Defoe and Gilberto up top neither of them really want to drop deep but prefer to play off the defenders shoulder.

 

Maybe...I was talking, though, about people in this thread. ;-)

 

Oh sorry. Yeah there will likely still be some doubters here.

 

This appears to be the real guy but even Bob de Klerk is impressed with the way the season is going.

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