Having watched Lombardo all season I think it is time he was dumped. Yes he runs a lot but his ball control is poor and his passing not the best. He rarely has a shot on target. He had several one on one with the keepers over the season and never once scored. He was unlucky on one shot last night, his only one on target I believe, and he failed horribly near the end of the game. The team gave it their best shot and I feel sorry for them, they deserved a tie. Brennan was fabulous and tireless.
I doubt Lombardo would be dumped, he is basically a reserve player who is being asked to do job that he was never really intended to do. I believe he is on the developmental roster as well. He has a very small salary too. There is no reason to drop him from the roster at all really. Because of injuries and what not he is where he is. That said there is multiple times he should have scored and simply just choked.
He was moved off the development roster to the first team roster earlier this year. His salary went from like ~$17k to ~$30k, so even with him on the first team roster he doesn't count for much against our salary cap. He needs a while more to develop. People need to stop calling for heads 2/3 of the way through the first freaking season for the team. Cheers!
Thats a great way to treat your future. The guy is 20 years old. Derosario at 20 was no better. Alot of players at 20 where no better. It takes time to develop them. Your suggestion would make us the leafs of the 80's when they gave up on young talent just in time for it to go elsewhere and flourish. Nice to see such support for Canadians.
Exactly. The kid is 20 years old and put in a position he wasn't meant to be put in this season. Now he might just be trying too hard and not connecting, once he can get shots on net, he will be a valuable player for this team and hopefully the MNT.
Lombardo our future! That makes me worried! Really, I don't see what this kid has to offer; his touch is poor, his finishing is poor, he doesn't have any speed or creativity and his passing is poor. I know players who played with him at NTC and they say that there were many other players who were much better than him. Make no mistake, I would love it if he improved and became a capable target man. However, if he doesn't improve, I don't see a career in soccer for him and that another actually talented Canadian youth take his place. To be fair though, a lot of people and the media tried to build him up into something he wasn't - mainly because he is a young Canadian player playing in his hometown. I think people are now realizing that he isn't that good. They should be looking at Kenneth Owusu-Ansah, who I thought was Canada's best player at the u-20 World Cup
THANK YOU!!!! finallly someone understands! i have been defending this kid since day one and everyone seems so keen on bashing the poor kid. he has to live in and fill the shoes of dichio and cunningham - the fan favourite and an MLS all star - not easy. he is 20 trying to deal with this pressure its not easy trust me. i played striker growing up and i always had people on me team better than me at my position so after every game they would get all this praise and i would get " try better next time" it felt like shit to hear that. you feel like your not good enough to do anything. right now what the kid needs is encouragement and support or else he will never believe in himself as a player which means he will never accomplish anything. the main thing is the kid is coachable, mo is a great coach and im almost positive this kid will begin to improve. he haas had many scoring chances but cant finish and its just bad luck. he should have had a goal against the galaxy but it kicked off the line at the last second so i mean that isnt his fault, he beat the keeper. the problem is you people expect immediate results and you expect for us to have these world class players but we dont have that. this the MLS not serie a or the priemiership. lombardo will improve and i will continue to defend him because i believe that he has a bright future with the right coaching. and i mean samuel is a striker too, when has he scored us a goal in the last few games?? lombardo scored a beautiful goal against aston villa - a real pro team, and i was there to see it so it made it that much better to know the player i have belived in so much actually scored a goal the game i got to go to. so please stop bashing him that isnt going to help him as a player or Toronto as a team.
Spot on - I think he's shown enough to warrant a place as a sub who gets limited big time minutes and hones his craft playing with the reserves. Lombardo needs to work on his game and and criticism of him now is counter productive. He will hit form in a 4-5 year period - I fail to see how dumping on a 20 year old is beneficial to the team in any way.
Lombardo wears his heart on his sleeve. I feel bad for the kid, c'mon atleast 1 goal by now should have happened but he just can't find the luck. I like his passion and workrate, but he shouldn't be on for 90 minutes, it's working against him. I say Mo should go 4-5-1 and toss in Melo or Canizalez as the extra Mid and use Samuel zzzzzzzz as the CF
Sorry guys but it ain't about how lucky he is the guy just has no first touch and he can't shoot or head the ball. A few months ago the boards were buzzing with this new Canadian wonder kid but he is not good enough. If this guy is TFC's future then we are destined for a long long road ahead. If we can get anything for him i say let the guy go. but hopefully he will prove me wrong because we need at least one good striker!!!!!!
we have to have a minimum number of Canadian players in the team, and unfortunately all the good ones are already taken.....
Dump him to the reserves to hone his skills or use him as a bench player but replace him with someone who can score a goal now and then. He's had a lengthy trial so either he produces goals or assists or we try someone else. If Mo has given up the remaining games as lost then he can play who the hell he likes and try anything and we will suffer the rest of the games and hope for better things next year.
I think Lombardo has the chance to become a top striker in the MLS and for Canada. He has this beguiling quality of not really looking like he's working very hard and yet gets in the right positions. He was ready for a simple tap in late in the game on Saturday had the ball got to him at the far post and made himself a nice breakaway earlier (which he blew). Patience is the key I think.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but getting rid of Lombardo is silly. As has been mentioned quite well he is Canadian and we need them to fill out our roster. Also, he is very, very young and still learning and is after all our 3rd or 4th choice striker at this stage that owing to injuries is having to come in and play. There have been 2 moments of promise that stand out for me that demonstrate his promise. 1) Our first home win versus Chicago; Lombardo was pivotal in holding the ball up as the lone stiker (after Dichio was sent off) and showed great vision in picking out the late arriving Edu who put the game away. 2) Tying up the game against Aston Villa in the friendly. That was a great moment with a lot of character shown by the team and Andrea. So he has scored for us just not in an MLS game. Please, give him a break! I think he will score against Salt Lake this weekend and the future is very bright for him still.
There was also the game (against Chivas?) where he beat the charging keeper with a perfect little flick only to have a defender clear the ball of the goal line. I have a feeling that Lombardo's situation mirrors that of the team - as soon as the first goal goes in they will come in significant numbers but that first goal just won't go in. I agree with the posters here who point out that it costs the team very little to retain Lombardo for his future potential (especially for Canadian content). That said, I really wish he (and his older, much more highly paid teammates) would put the stupid ball in the net!
I think either 2 things need to happen with MLS... -reserve division needs to be stronger fixture. ie. more games...as soon as the senior team finishes...game 2 with reserves against opponent reserves. -loan agreements..ie. find and establish an affiliation to USL league and have them playing regularly at that level. I understand that logistically neither of these options possibly cant be done but its a way of trying to develop young players into future stars without them leaving to some div. 3 team in UK or div. 2 team in norway or something where you cant bring them back. But at the moment he is not ready to play at MLS level...neither is Canizalez or Melo and others..but lets not discourage them that when they are 25 and have the physical strength and skill level to compete at MLS level then they are no where to be found.
that was against the galaxy and it was just bad luck. your right toronto is unlucky and so is he so cut the kid some slack and just be patient. his time will come, maybe not tomorrow or the next day but eventually. the problem is toronto sports fans are so keen on bashing their teams or players when they arent performing....if you wanna watch pro soccer watch euro soccer
Yeah, Lombardo's choking left and right so maybe just cut his minutes to take pressure off or split the time with Joey. You were joking about the Samuel CF part, right? The only finishing Samuel's done since he got here is his plate (and anything else he can reach at the dinner table). Mo must realize he still isn't fit to go 90 and needs to be subbed in the second half even if by a youngster. It's a sad situation . . . but still a joy to have a home team to follow. Ted
Ya I agree with this. He's crumpled under the pressure ... the breakaway where he kicked a field goal was a perfect example. I'm sure he can do better than that, normally. But why start somebody that has completely psyched himself out. Do they have a sport psychologist on their staff? They need one! Maybe anyone would be better ... cuz think of it, what effect does his play have on others... they work to set him up and he muffs it, doesn't that affect the whole team? I guess Mo is hoping L. scores a goal and then suddenly feel like a different man, or something, he must see some potential in him ...
Thirey Henry was crap at 20, he got booted out of Italy he was so crap. Dont give up on 20 year olds. Randy Carlye booted out of Toronto at 20 wins a norris years latter. How many more examples of crap 20 year olds who turned out good or great do you need.
Teams should never give up on 20 yr olds cuz they may be the next Norris trophy winner? Ha, whatever ... How many examples are there of 20 yr olds that never panned out? Anyways I was replying to somebody who said his minutes should be cut or split. I didn't say anything about giving up on him. Actually I've defended him in the past, somewhat. I'm getting tired of watching TFC go scoreless. Guess yer not? If you disagree with his minutes being cut, then tell me what you see in his play that makes you say that (that is, Lombardo and not Randy Carlye).
He should not be getting any first team time. He should be on developmental team. He is playing because of injuries. He is not ready for MLS. But in 2 -3 years he might be decent enought to come off the bench. Dero, Saltieri where not great when they played as 20 year olds with the Lynx.