It's the same broken record. Good effort, but still no goals. Two PK goals do TFC in. 2-0 FC Dallas is your final.
I've just watched the CBC broadcast. I forgot about the webstream and decided not to join in progress. We deserved better or would have deserved better if we hadn't botched up so many opportunities. Generally speaking, there was some good play by our boys but the finishing just isn't there. Lombardo! Oh my god!!! That just can't happen. OK, maybe you miss but you couldn't do much worse than he did on that breakaway. Poz, nice shot. Bad luck. Samuel! Bad luck on your shot too. He played ok overall with only the occasional spell of laziness but who am I to call him lazy playing in that heat. The boys really were sweating. The first Penalty was obviously b.s. It's a shame that those things have to happen. ... and as for the rest of the game, we can't buy one can we. B
Just finished watching the tape delay. Boys played well, bad luck continues but at least we will get to see them break the streak next week at home. Oh, and Soccer Gods - f$ck you for doing this to my team. This just got personal. As I walk to bed I will be holding one finger high in the air so those lousey Soccer Gods can know clearly how I feel about them right now.
Here we go again. I don't care what anyone says about it being a good effort...at this point good effort means squat. We don't need good effort, we need some touch and skill on the ball. Too many errant passes, too many lousy headers and shots on target. Lombardo..clear cut header over the bar, and in alone not even on target...WTF!!! Wynne...too fast for his own good..he either overruns the ball or pushes it too far ahead out of his reach to do something good. Brennan (and I never want to say anything bad about his play) is having issues with any free kicks dead center just out of the 18 and corners...wasted. Marshall..why bother making the run up into the box..do you know how to kick the ball when you get it? Part of it is feeling that futility record and tensing up but part of it is just lack of finish skill. Its like they do something good to get an opportunity then they do something bad (something to make you shake your head in wonder) and blow the opportunity. Here is another thought. Why not try some decent long attempts at net from outside the 18. A few of those and maybe it starts opening up the back line so they might be able to get through. Instead its always the same thing..try to play pinball off legs as they run directly into a defensive wall. Sure there is also some bad luck but really you make your luck with the quality you can show. Just another disappointing loss.
In defence of Wynne, the guy is a defender who has been pushing into a purely attacking role by injury. Is he all of a sudden supposed to be Wayne Rooney? I don't think so. Ya, he probably is a bit too quick for his own good in that he has always been able to rely on that facet of his play to bail him out at the back but now that he's an attacker, the other parts of his game are going to be put under scrutiny. If we keep him in this role, he will improve. The question is whether or not he'll be at the back again next year once RoB is back in the line-up. BTW, Brennan's corners were the most consistent of any series of corners this season. I was pleased. I'd leave them to JB instead of Carl. B
a few thoughts... samuel's first touch is good - after that, not so good. boyens has to go. makes too many mistakes like the quick giveaway to denilson just outside the box. braz shouldn't start and probably shouldn't see any time on the pitch. melo needs more time - not 10 minutes. start him in the 2nd half same with canizalez move wynne back - not an effective winger much better defender that can join the run mo needs the team to practse running with the ball and making space and anticipating passes. and the frowards MUST go down when they feel contact. not dive, just if someone is ppushing them, don't try to stand up! they try too hard. they need more of an attack and they have to have patience with teh ball - take a look before you crack the ball upfield... and it's up to the player next to you to give you an option to pass. why do we always use a long throw iin? this rarely happens at a premier level... throw it in short, tap pit back and use the space to set the play up - look for teh streaking froward! GO OFFSIDE! at least threaten the opposing defenders! why is it that they all bunch up and stop running? go wide, take their defenders out and cross it in... i dunno these seem like such basic things to be said and it seems that these guys miss it so much. the last few matches were ripe for 9 points and we came up with 0! WHAT THE HELL???? come on guys, mo, lets get it together!
It is not hard to tell our best attacking options are all out and one issue that will need to be sorted is depth in attacking because Lombardo is getting worst, Samuel is rubbish and we have two full backs playing on the wings which either of them look to comfortable in. Yeah damn those strikers who want to play with a little pride and not resort to play acting
I think the man is brutal. Can't beat anyone for pace, he never gains an advantage with his first touch, can't beat his man in a one-on-one situation. He's gritty and that at best earns him a spot as a back or a defensive midfielder. He's not the reason we lost, I didn't see too many mistakes from him. He's not guilty of anything too bad. Not tonight at least. You're right, he's only playing because of injury. You really got nothing to lose by starting him, I'd like to see him get more time. I was a little surprised Mo pulled the plug on him early in the season. Good to see him back. Disagree, I thought he was good tonight. Created some chances and caused trouble for FCD. Lacks the pace however. WTF? Our strikers aren't that good. Here's my match report: http://arsenalist.com/2007/09/09/tfc-0-fcd-2-how-did-lombardo-miss-that/
732 minutes!!! It started as an embarassment, turned into humiliation. Now i have installed a ceiling fan and bought a rope, just in case if I feel like hanging myself.
sorry arsenalist, i don't think we were watching the same match... wynne is not comfortable on the wing at all... he's got pace but that's it. the ball gets away from him too much. and it's not just about the run, it's about teh cross, drwaing players towards you, creating space and creating viable options to score which obviously didn't happen. dunivant looked good but is certainly lucky to fit in. he's a good player and he can play a defensive or attacking role - seems very versatile. lombardo should've burried taht goal sure, and pozniak should've burried his chance as well and samuel? well he just should plainly have chances and it's not happening. braz isn't just in there because of injury... there are some younger guys i woudl rather see in there than him... why not try nana attakora-gyan in there or stephen lumley? at least as a sub anyway... braz loks like a high schooler at best... and to think he was getting minutes with canada? now that i can see the real player on a constant basis, it's troubling. boyens is not worthy of getting full matches yet. he didn't do much last night and i felt that he actually shyed away from play so that nobody would see his mistakes. he is young and i think he has a lot of promise but he is certainly not fast and he makes way too many quick dumps when he gets posession. actually most of teh team is guilty of this. they all need to slow the game down, spread out and work the ball upfield and those strikers need to press! i would even like to try melo at the striker role at least in some development action. i think he has the wheels and he has a great shot and seems to have some creativity taht most don't have on this team.
I thought if Wynne had a little more pace he would've scored tonight. in one instance he was on a break and had to cut back the ball because the defender caught up with him, he had to use his skill and that was the end of that chance. I'm not proposing starting the guy at winger but him and Dunivant are two players who showed up tonight and did enough for us to get a point out of this game. Your last point is 100% correct. One of the problems is that we look for our forwards too soon, we need to actually build up some pressure by passing between the midfielders and backs and get some shape to our attacks. If the first notion our midfield has is to attempt a through pass by threading a needle we’re never going to tire teams out, we need to just take a little more time, try to spread the field vertically and then have our wingers/forwards make runs. I think I saw 50 instances today where we’re just trying to kick the ball somewhere without really knowing what the plan is.
Man, see what happened when Melo and Canizalez were put into the game? Things happened, lots of opportunity and fluid ball movement. They both played like they were hungry, sure Melo caused a PK, but thats inexperience for you. I'm all for starting Melo and Canizalez earlier in the game, they both played hungry. And Jim Brennan? Wow... Fantastic effort.
melo coming back to take that penalty just shows how quick he is and how he actually comes back to help defend - even down by a goal! i thought that was a little unfair although the camera angle the tv audience had looked like a penalty, teh guy he brought down also grabbed his jersy for a split second which created even more momentum in teh fall. mo should start both melo and canizalez next match. send a message to your team that nobody's position is "for sure"
I agree, we seem to always be on the same page. My dad was watching with me and he was like "Wtf is Melo doing defending so deep?" and that just shows what he's willing to do that our own defenders aren't doing well enough. I saw Melo everywhere on the field for the 10 minutes he was on, ridiculous and hungry! I really like Canizalez, can't say this enough but Melo/Canizalez is a good offensive combo, we almost had 2 goals in the 10 minutes they were on. Canizalez schooled someone infront of goal at one point, totally leaving him behind then tossing a through pass infront of goal where Melo just missed it and Pozniak hit the bar. What are the official postions of Canizalez and Melo? Melo told me he plays everywhere in mid and he can even play FW but I would like him better as a winger as he has speed and very good technical skills.
Wynne might have been bushed later in the game but I have no idea how you can say that he 'lacks pace'. He is one of the fastest players in MLS.
I read these post-game threads from time to time and one thing I've noticed is that Edu almost never gets criticized and only somewhat rarely gets mentioned at all in the player-by-player breakdowns. Anybody care to comment on that? Anyway, good luck next game.
i think it's generally because maybe he's not a guy to make many mistakes or make any really sick plays either... he can disappear at times during the match but overall, he's a good player. i woudl like to see him take more of an attacking role as he has three on the year for tfc and that puts him in 2nd place on the team!