He'll need to play much more in the way of minutes to have any kind of a break out year. Still not sure if the coach is that fond of him.
According to the WTR thread, he was really poor outside of the penalty goal. In fact, judging by the comments there an the highlights everyone had a pretty rough night
With Dike out for the season (has there been official confirmation yet?), does his salary count towards the cap for the year? If not, is there anything the team can do to use the freed up space to pay off more of Laba's cost to bring him off DP status?
From what I gather, outside of getting rid of either: Gilberto, Defoe or Bradley (Not Happening) there is no way to keep Laba.
How confident should we be at the start of the season. Defoe is injured, Dike appears out for the season and just where is Gilberto. (did I miss something). We haven't scored a goal from the field. One penalty I believe and one own goal.. Any chance of winning the first game....not much. Am I a pessimist? Yes, I have followed this team from day 1.
Well, the Defoe injury seems minor: Couldn't find anything on Gilberto not being in camp. Dike's injury is likely for the season - yes - but this is the pre-season, which is by it's very definition is preparation for the upcoming season and results should be taken with a grain of salt, no? I'm not going to give up before we have actual results in-season - and likely not until I hear something out of Michael Bradley (or DeRo) that indicates things are in rough shape.
I think they said Gilberto picked up some kind of injury. Hope it's not too serious. Hopefully Nelsen changes his tactics to accommodate the fact that we don't have any quality strikers fit right now. No point playing with two strikers when you don't have the quality up front available. If it's just DeRo and Weids fit, than I would rather play DeRo alone up top with a five man midfield. Though honestly I'm not a big fan of two striker systems to begin with, unless you have two really good strikers. I think it leaves the central midfield undermanned. Since two of our best (on paper) players are strikers, I don't mind playing with both up top. But when one or both of them are out, I don't see the point of leaving the midfield undermanned so that we can continue playing with two up top.
BTW, TFC and Philly played to a scoreless draw today. So, it's a given that TFC will be in one of the placement matches on Saturday. It's not known yet when and who'll they'll play.
I think you're reading waaaaayy too much into preseason. The lineups that they've been playing aren't even close to what the starting day lineups will be. Preseason is all about trialing new players, getting players in shape and experimenting. Nelson isn't playing to win these games either. Results mean nothing. I remember a few years ago when fans all figured that TFC should give Kiki Musampa a DP contract because he scored 2 goals or something against some USL teams.
This can't be reinforced enough. Just remember that time TFC finished 2nd in the Mickey Mouse Cup. That was the preseason immediately before the 0-9 start.
toronto fc has not looked as hot as predicted they would be so far in the friendlies in florida..they look like the same old tired team from 2013..lack of offence..questionable midfield/defending..TFC will be hard pressed to make any kind of playoff push..just aiming for 10+ wins will be a challenge..:{
Hahahaha, this surely is a joke. These are friendlies and used for the sole purpose of blooding some younger players and allowing senior players to work on their fitness and touch. No player wishes to risk injury in pre-season, so therefore they are approaching these games with the understanding that the end result does not matter. In addition, the starting 11 during each of these games has not even remotely resembled the actual team which will be starting each game during the regular season. This squad has undergone significant roster changes in the off season and will need some time to gel. To write them off so early based on a few friendly games is comical and leads me to question whether you are an actual supporter of this club!!
...with no DeFoe or Gilberto?,.. yeah nothing to see here... I'll wait for the season to pass judgement on you guys...
So we played "the boys" and lost 4-2. Who was in goal and who on defense? I know this is preseason but at this stage surely we could expect a win. If we start with our two forwards injured then our chances at Seattle are pretty poor. I suppose the brass have to give out positives but surely Nelsen could at least point out a weakness and what he will do about it. We now need another forward, which may be on the way.
Are you not getting that this is preseason? Trying to win the game is way, way down on Nelsen's priority list, if it's even on there at all. Fitness, getting the team ready, experimenting with lineups and formations and trying out new players are far more important. So, no, I don't think it's reasonable to demand a win at this point, and no, I don't think Nelsen needs to provide an explanation for not winning a preseason game in a meaningless tournament
I happened to catch the TFC v. Philadelphia game "in an hour" and was pretty impressed overall. Bradley ruled the midfield and sent some incredibly accurate passes up the field. I think our big hole this year may be the back line again, but we'll see how that goes. Cesar can cover up some poor defensive errors.
Yeah I watched it too. Philly didn't really have a single good chance until the 89th minute. Bradley had his way with the midfield and was clearly the best player out there. He set up Wiedeman for what should have been a goal but that he could not finish. Rey missed scoring on that free kick by mms. Only thing I'm really worried about is striker depth with Dike now gone. Frankly Wiedemann blows more chances than he creates and probably is not good enough for this team anymore. Say if Defoe is gone for the WC than trying to count on Dero and Gilberto to play all the minutes at forward is going to be tough, especially if they are counting on Dero to replace Bradley in the MF too. I'd like to hear of something in the works to cover up front some more.