You'd have to think, that if the Revs are really going to make a playoff push, this needs to be win, period. Playing a bad team (though Insigni and Bernadeschi are just coming up to speed), at home, there can be no excuse for not getting all the points. I'll consider their 4-0 win over Charlotte an aberration (they jumped on Charlotte right off the bat with a flukey goal at 4') for now, but Bradley's 2nd goal came off a sweet feed from Insigni, where they both were on the same page. Toronto played in the Canada Cup on Tuesday night, with Bernadeschi going the full 90+ and Insigni nearly as much at 88'. We should be fully rested, but no update yet on Barrero and Bou's availability.
Fabrizio Romano says Jozy's going out on loan. New England Revolution striker Jozy Altidore is headed to Liga MX side Puebla. Deal at final stages, set to be completed. 🇺🇸🇲🇽 #transfersU.S. international agreed to terms on a loan deal Wednesday with the Mexican club that will expire Dec. 31 of this year. #MLS pic.twitter.com/O9R7JoAX9v— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 28, 2022 One would hope Bou will be available.
Rumors on twitter: Revs finalized the purchase of Brazilian striker Weverton currently at Flamengo and who was at Académica de Coimbra, sources. For Revs II? and Gyasi Zardes?
Hopefully the overhype of "new" Toronto will have them ready to drop down a peg: Power Rankings: Toronto FC surge, Real Salt Lake plunge after Week 22 By J. Sam Jones Tuesday, Jul 26, 2022, 12:00 PM
TFC fan dropping by before the game. I see us as becoming a far better team, but not yet having become one. I'm not optimistic of our chances on Saturday. If this was one of the last games of the season and the new players had had time to gel, I think it would be a different story. As it is, I predict something like a 2-1 win for the home team.
Thank you for dropping by. But I fear that my really wanting to believe your prediction has served as me predicting it myself, thereby dooming the home side to some sort of ignominious embarrassment. Kind Regards, Superstitious Fan
According to mlssocer.com’s Jeff Lemieux, Gustavo Bou might not play tomorrow because of an injury (here). If Bou doesn’t play, should Bruce Arena start Giacomo Vrioni or Justin Rennicks at center forward? I would be inclined to go with Rennicks, with the idea of bringing in Vrioni in the second half. Rennicks has been solid this season and is likely 90 minutes fit. Although I was impressed by what I saw from Vrioni against Columbus (he was active and held the ball well), it sounds like he is not 90 minutes fit yet. But I could understand if Arena were to start Vrioni tomorrow. Vrioni looked very promising against Columbus, and he comes with an impressive resume. Moreover, according to Lemieux, it sounds like Dylan Borrero will be ready to start tomorrow. So, here is a line-up Arena should consider starting and the players he should consider for the bench: --------------------------------------------Petrovic---------------------------------------- Bye---------------------------Farrell--------------------Kessler--------------------Jones -------------------------------McNamara--------------Polster------------------------------- Lletget---------------------------------------Gil----------------------------------------Borrero ---------------------------------------------Rennicks------------------------------------------------ 1. Brad Knighton 2. Jon Bell 3. AJ DeLaGarza 4. Maciel 5. Ema Boateng 6. Arnor Traustason 7. Damian Rivera 8. Giacomo Vrioni 9. Omar Gonzalez or Wilfrid Kaptoum It would be good to see DeJuan Jones cross the ball better. He’s capable of being at least a solid crosser, even with his left foot. But it seems that some of his recent crosses have not been as good as they could be. For instance, some of them haven’t been getting past the first man. Moreover, he has outstanding endurance and good speed, so he often is in position to make a cross. I’d like to see him getting the ball in the danger zone more often. If Jones thinks he can’t get a cross off, maybe he should instead cut inside and try to beat his man. He’s not a bad dribbler. Among other things, he has some good step-over moves. Or, if he doesn’t have confidence that he can beat his man, perhaps sometimes he should just pull the ball back. But I think he can get more crosses past the first man and put them in a place where they can help the team. He has 5 assists this season and had 5 last season.
The 3-2 home loss to TOR last year was probably the Revs most embarrassing performance of the season, even though they did fight back after falling behind 3-0. Hopefully they remember that and play accordingly. Based on nothing but gut feelings, I think Vrioni starts and goes about 60 minutes.
Finally Arena sees just how useless Jozy has been. I assume his salary goes with him and Rennicks starts making the bench again?
Love to see Arena put some time into developing Rennicks but Im not holding my breath. I'd settle for having him in the rotation somewhere. As for Bye and Jones..... I'd make it clear to them that unless they learn to cross consistently, they're on thin ice. Last game they were both terrible and its not the first time
I'm not sure I'd take anything from the crossing last game. Who were they trying to aim at? Jozy can't move or jump, Arnot can't shoot, leaving Lletget as the only target. We need to generate some dynamic movements in the box before we start worrying about crossing accuracy
Good 1st half possession. But far too tentative on attack. Get the blood up, Revs, and make this real, for a season-long change!
It has taken me a few hours to collect myself and still I don't even know where to begin with this game so I'm just going to ramble. Last year's Revs would have taken 3 points in a game like this. The resilience is missing. What is the GD point of having VAR if it isn't going to overturn something like THAT penalty call? Officiating didn't rob us of points, our play did that. But the officiating has been awful, and tonight was no exception. Our passing in the final third was terrible tonight on every conceivable level. Sometimes it was because the pass was offline or weighted wrong. Sometimes it was because the runs were lethargic and passive. Other times it was because passing was the wrong decision. The lack of cohesion because of all the injuries and outgoing/incoming players this year has been a point killer all season. Petrovic is a f-ing beast. I remain convinced that IF we can see a consistent lineup of something like Gil, Bou, Vrioni, Borrero, Lletget, Polster, Jones, Kessler, Farrell, Bye and Petrovic that this team has the ability to go on a run. We've seen it before - 2020, 2014 and 2002 leap to mind. There's just not a ton of time left to really get going and they can't afford to fall any further behind than they already have. I'd rather make a run from 3rd or 4th place than 6th or 7th, so they need an extended stretch of wins and very few dropped points from here on out. I'm convinced our best 11 can be really good, but I'm not convinced that they'll figure it out in time for this season.
Ref was horrible, but you can't blame him for only 2 shots of frame (none from strikers) and a xG of only 0.7. They need Vrioni playing like Buksa, and that is going to take some time, possibly the rest of the season. He had their best chance, and missed the open net. Rennicks works hard, and I'd rather have him out there than Jozy, but he's not a scoring threat. Farrell and Kessler seem to be back to their old selves (which is a good thing). Farrell makes the occasional mistake, but he has a knack for anticipating the dangerous pass and clearing it. I liked what I saw from Kaptoum. My biggest worry is Borrero. I think he has missed more games than he has played (not really, but it seems that way). Hopefully that's a fluke and not a trend. They need him out there. MOTM: Petrovic, obviously.
Defensively they were good. Still they were fortunate. Petro bailed them out and Mr. Post came through vs I think it was Bernardeschi. As far as the attack...whenever you're forced to start Tommy Mac, Polster and Kaptoum in the same midfield with Rennicks up front, don't plan on scoring many (if any) goals. Rennicks made the runs, but not once could anyone get him the ball. Vrioini looks like he could be decent in time, but he had a chance to win the match and fluffed it. The club needs another offense minded midfielder - ideally a winger to add some depth. Insert Borrero into last night's 2nd half lineup and we may have something, but he's missed time and there's nothing behind him. I thought Toronto may have made a tactical error by not pressing the Revs more. Eventually someone would have coughed the ball up and we'd have gotten burned in transition but for the most part Bradley stayed away from that. Overall the Revs were fortunate. Toronto had the majority of possession for about the last 15 minutes of the match but the D held up this time.