Of course. You are spot on.Originally Posted by Ben - D.O.W.
It's my first day.
Of course. You are spot on.
It's my first day.
Just win the Shield. Now.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
All this moaning about Atlanta. Give me a break.
They have looked like crap for significant parts of this season. They got hot, whoopee. Jacob Peterson scored a goal for them, whoopee.
See "Chicago in May/June" for further reference.
Their backline can't handle us. They are the one team who won't try to hack us down. I would LOVE to play Atlanta. It's teams like Columbus and NYRB that worry me more - they can eke it out at home, and goon it up, and with the right ref, help from the weather... that's a way bigger problem.
My ideal scenario is Chicago in the first round, Atlanta in the ECF.
Last edited by ensco; 09-29-2017 at 07:48 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Atlanta v TFC will play out in a similar fashion to Mexico v any top European Nation.
We're bigger, smarter, more complete and will win the game easily.
What makes you say that given they gave us fits last time they played us?
Gave us fits, but we still drew them 2-2.
Those two goals were pretty much solely on Mavinga. In his first (I think) start. He's not that same player any more by any means and I don't think our defense looks nearly that vulnerable at this point (despite the last 2 games).
TFC management changes: "like adding a new fish to your aquarium of failure." - Shakes
I wouldn't say they gave us fits. In fact I was left wondering what all the hype was about. They pulled out a draw at a time we were still getting into form.
Their front 4 is fast as hell, they are faster in transition then any other team in MLS so i'd worry about the backline keeping pace with them.
Don't get me wrong, they can be taken but it's not gonna be as simple as some think. That's all.
Far from simple but I think it will fall on the midfield being able to close down that transition, and I really think TFC have to play hard, tough football, not reckless but tough in the midfield defensively.
These two posts have to be read together.
Mavinga is extremely fast back there. He was naive those first two games. We've seen him chase down, overtake and tackle as the season has proceeded.
To back-up your point, after Mavinga's first two games (and subsequent hamstring injury he picked up back then) he even admitted that he was naive and mistook the quality in MLS when he started against ATL (from a Larson article back in May or June I believe) and stated that he needed to improve (which he has undoubtedly).
Toronto FC,#CMNT & #CWNT, Scotland, Heart of Midlothian FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC
"The Harder the Struggle, The Greater the Reward" - @OsoJ92AWAY DAYS - CHICAGO August 2017, MONTREAL March 2018
Atlanta doesn't do very well against teams with a decent DM. Heck, even Orlando held them for awhile. I would put Vazquez's defensive work up against any midfielder with NER, Orlando, Dallas, or LAG. And he's the least defensive capable of our usual midfield 5. We have shown ourselves to be very good at shutting down opposing top guns & covering wide players. Atlanta has speed to burn but I look at the matchups and don't see an issue.
Villalba goes up against Morrow & Mavinga (they REALLY like to bomb down the right). Asad against Zavaleta & Hasler/Beitashour. Martinez vs. the back 3. Almiron vs. Bradley/Delgado/Vasquez. We match up well.
Atlanta's secret is their holding 2 DM's. They are great at stuffing up stuff going through the middle. If we can get the ball through them and out wide, we will pen them in.
Last edited by OgtheDim; 09-29-2017 at 11:09 AM.
With a fully healthy lineup Toronto is lethal, but still are known to struggle when:
1 - Teams have suffocating defenses (park the bus, 5 man back lines, etc). They frustrate TFC (similar to what happened in DC). Watch out for SEA and SKC.
2 - Speed. TFC have gotten better, but still get burned. Watch out for ATL and MTL.
3 - Counter attacks. This primarily goes hand in hand with #2, however we still have our sloppy moments that burn us. And if that means a road goal or two, we make it much harder on ourselves.
Add all that together and that means that a team that can counter, and has speed can exploit and get a goal (or two). If that's all it takes to then clog the defense - they could eek out the win.
TFC are vulnerable to the ATL attack (as all teams are these days), but ATL's style would be more inline with taking on our team defense. Give them 2-3 goals. That forces our offence to be at our absolute best, assuming their defense doesn't give away any gimme's.
Overall - if we are healthy, we're the one's to beat. Anyone that wants to be the best should have to beat the best, and will beat the best. Fun time of year.
Of Atlanta's 14 wins this year, they only beaten 5 teams currently in a playoff spot (and only 2 of those 5 wins were against teams comfortably in the playoffs CHI and NY). They've really beaten up on the mediocre/bad teams this year.
Atlanta Wins (playoff teams in bold)
Minnesota
Chicago
Real Salt Lake
Houston
New York City
Columbus (2)
Colorado
San Jose
Orlando
FC Dallas
New England
LA Galaxy
Montreal
Philadelphia
Last edited by 105; 09-29-2017 at 02:26 PM.
Should Toronto beat RBNY tonight (September 30), will the Supporters Shield be presented after the game?
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
No, it's not even in Canada.
Being in the London for a family wedding this week, happy that I can watch the Reds it live on SkySports tonight. From across the pond, Come On You Reds !!
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Race over! Lock the thread! Lock the thread!!
^^Noooooo! Let's keep this thread open so that we may savor this 'till the end of the season.
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
Congratulations to everyone. Like I said on twitter, this night looked so far away for such a long time...and now TFC has it.
That was worrisome but the boys pulled it out. Dumb foul in the box to let them tie it up.
Well done to the south end.
Road Games:
2013 - Montréal , 2014 - Orlando (Disney Classic), Montréal
2015 - Columbus, New England, Montréal
2016 - NYCFC (Leg 2 Conference Semis), Montréal (Leg 1 Conference Final)
2017 - Ottawa (Leg 1 Canadian Championship Semi), DCU, Red Bulls (Leg 1 Conference Final), Columbus (Leg 2 Conference Final)
2019 - Montréal, NYCFC (Eastern Conference Semi @ Citi Field), Seattle (MLS Cup Final)
Yeah, what was Drew thinking with that slide. But is simply does not matter anymore !!
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Sorry, that was not that dumb of a foul (beyond the fact it was in the box). The tackle was necessary. Sadly. It was automatic if he didn't.
It happened right in front of me, I can't fault him too much...
Yeah, the first Red Bulls goal was much dumber by TFC than the 2nd.
Its been a long time coming, we "officially" don't suck
The race is over.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/KristianJack/status/914299540840296448
So we did it in our 11th season.
There were 13 teams in MLS in 2007. We beat the odds - slightly.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
We did it.
Just think of how the 3-5-2 has contributed to this success. Our d-backs on both sides just do so well. I knew years ago acquiring Morrow would be so helpful to the team, but I didn't imagine it meant anything like this.
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