Ugly Ugly Ugly. Where to start? Midfield has been awful and get used to seeing teams come to Seattle and do lots of cheap small fouls and look to counter. God I miss Rosales.
Well, Rosales was always being missed because he was injured like 60% of the season, but I get your point, and I agree that his set of skills will be missed. People talking about how Papa is this amazing creative force, and even an "upgrade" over Rosales are out of their freaking mind. I'm not going to hate on the guy just because he's having an abhorrent game today. But even if he comes back to his best Chicago days form, he's at best a guy with a great left foot, that can ocasionally take on one guy, make a decent cross, and being a threat on set pieces. Rosales was SO much than that. Let's hope Pineda puts some order on that midfield, but it's hard to be optimistic when Michael Bradley is on the other side doing his thing so well.
Sad game to watch. Put the game on a platter to TFC. Obvious they would sit and counter yet we were careless with possession in our own half. Pappa to the bench? Dempsey suspended? Evans out? Be interesting.
Turnovers by midfield (both involving Pappa) and poor center back play led to both goals. On the plus side, our two fullbacks looked awesome, particularly Remick today. Pappa did NOT have a good game. Traore's giraffe legs unable to change direction with quick defenders. I say drop him and put in Anibaba. Youth!
I doubt Pappa will be benched it makes zero sense to start neagle over Pappa. Oh and Evans looking like he'll be fine. It was a bruise and those can initially hurt.
Yeah I personally wouldn't bench him but with two poor performances in a row he needs to step it up. Anyone know the length of Bowen's injury? He is someone that can provide pace and get behind a defense which we needed more of today.
Not trolling at all, I live in Seattle and Sounders are my second team. Just wondering if anyone understood Sigi's changes with 2 strikers coming on in the 70th min ( i think?) I was at the match and had a hard time figuring what the shape of the squad was. It seemed like his plan the last 20min was lobbing it forward hoping for a header. I felt the Sounders best chance was through the midfield, 3 pure forwards is a bit odd to me... much better 2nd half tho, amazing how different each half was
He won't be going against such a quality striker like Defoe with his pace every week though. I think Traore still has a lot to offer and this was just a poor decision by Sigi to play him this match. Who knew though since no one saw this version of TFC play before
Just a quad strain as far as i am aware. And those can take time to heal up. SKC was psychical in the midfield there was nothing Pappa could really done. He had a good shot off that could potentially gone in net if it was deflected.
eh, Toronto packed it in tight in the second half. Didn't seem there were many opportunities to punch the ball through the middle. Personally, I thought all our wide players sucked today, too many terrible giveaways and to be honest, Pappa has been shit thus far even if you don't count his assist today.
Considering TFC packed it in for the second half, it isn't surprising that Sigi tossed in the extra forwards. Having the wide midfielders was redundant with both Yedlin and Remick getting plenty of space up the wings to do their thing and TFC being mostly disinterested in getting the ball into the Sounders' half. For periods of time it seemed like the Sounders were playing a 1-4-5 lineup with Remick, Yedlin, and Marshall or Traore making deeps runs into Toronto's half. All in all.. Ugh. I completely missed the build up to TFC's first goal doing kid management, so I can't comment on that one... But the second.. Daaaamn.. Pappa set up Defoe expertly. Defoe's speed and quality made that goal a foregone conclusion once Pappa led him perfectly.
Oh man, I had a great view of the second goal. Once Pappa made that pass to Dafoe it felt like it was in slow motion...nooooooooooooo!
yikes! just catching up on the replays, Clint may have some explaining to do in front of the disco this week.
The Good Some really nice combination play between Oba and Duece. Remick seems to be settling in on the left. presence made known. Nice leading pass from Neagle to Martins in "oceans of space" to set up Dempsey goal. The Bad Someone please please finish. Too Many almosts...missed opportunities. Second game in a row with 25 fouls against SSFC??? The Ugly Backpass nightmare. Pappa will replay that one over and over for the next month. Here's an idea...MOVE THE BALL IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GOAL YOU ARE TRYING TO SCORE IN. QUICKLY. BEFORE THE DEFENSE HAS A CHANCE TO SET UP.
first goal was pretty good honestly. on both of them I turned to my friend and said this is a goal. Defoe just doesn't miss. As a Spurs supporter I know him well and the man was the most clinical finisher in England, he just doesn't miss. I agree that Toronto was putting 10 men behind the ball and just waiting for Sounders to attack but there are better, more effective ways to break this down than throwing 3 or even 4 (dempsey is a forward) forwards in the box. I think having your midfielders have some effective long range shots, which I didn't see happen, would have sucked out their defenders a bit more and created space. I just never saw the long ball in the box working, LA tried it all too often too and it didn't work well for us at those times either. Hopefully Pappa steps it up since I do think the 4-2-3-1 is probably the best option for Seattle moving forward with Dempsey as a true #10. There was a passing sequence in the first half that was absolutely stunning, more of that! Keep the ball on the floor and pass, pass, pass. Too many players on both teams just held the ball far too long
Set my DVR to NBCSN to record this game and got Olympic hockey highlights. So did the game get moved to NBC? Anyway to see the whole game later? Most I've seen so far is MLSsoccer.com full highlights.
I agree with the 4-2-3-1 I think that would be our best bet. The passing sequence around the 7th minute was unbelievable, I saw that play and was shell shocked we were able to play it on the ground past a pressing defense with composure in a fast manner.
My Jaw dropped and my mind raced ahead to visions of a glorious season with that sequence. It was BRILLIANT. It started, I think, with Remick, worked up the left, across the middle, down the right...My son asked me why I was smiling. Finally the Sounders were playing well together as a TEAM...movement off the ball, working it into the open spaces...putting Toronto on their heels. Beautiful. Thanks phoenixhazard for reminding me of it...someone more tech savy than I, please put a loop of that out there to relive again and again.
I re-watched the first half and yeah that was a clinical finish. Again it all started with a turnover in our own half. Pappa compounded the problem by getting beaten like a mule leaving Yedlin out on an island try and mark 3 players. Also, didn't help Evans was just getting back on the field and didn't look like we accounted for his absence. Overall Toronto just look more organized and purposeful.