The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — Toronto FC 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps
WELP. Y-I-K-E-S.
OK, honesty time. Is anyone REALLY that surprised? Are some of you secretly OK with this? I mean, this turgid campaign deserves more infamy than just an internal “worst season in Toronto FC history.” We deserve the wooden spoon and recognition from the league proper for the levels of ineptitude on display.
THE GOOD
One of the best tifos ever seen at BMO to honour one of the best, if not the outright best, servants to the badge:
302 appearances. 296 of them starts. That’s BONKERS.
Expected a hail of Boos to greet Richie Laryea’s lineup announcement; I heard plenty of cheers mixing in with my own.
Despite stacking VWFC with CanMNT/Toronto-adjacent talent, we still showed Tos some love:
That was a perfectly weighted pass from Lorenzo Insigne to find Deandre Kerr alone in on net. And Kerr buried it for two goals in two games. You’ll never see me go full monty on breakaway goals because they are like empty calories, but that one was at the very least really sweet. Plus, when this team finishes chances, any chance, it’s cause for some celebration:
Kobe Franklin’s ascent into a inked-in starter continues… Raoul Petretta and Sigurd Rosted at least look like soccer players again… The second half was immeasurably better than the second. Thought TFC were hanging on for dear life a good bit of that first 45’… Coming around on that Energy kit…
This week’s TTID is gonna. be. lit.
Victor Vazquez’s 10-minute garbage time cameo…
THE BAD
VV consistently getting those 10-minute garbage time cameos. He changes the game instantly for the better. Why is he seeing such limited time? GB&U readers wanna know!
Tomás Romero needs to figure out some combination of control/coral/lasso/force pull on those rebounds, man. Was it every shot? 90 percent sure felt like it… MB4 at CB has always shown flashes of “could work”, and then we get a play like this:
Sure, learning a new position is hard, doubly so in the twilight of your playing career, but his positioning is so wrong, deputizing in central defence and not marking Brian White(?) on a run into your box(?!). You hate to see it, but he made that goal look so easy for them. At least on the broadcast angle… JMR’s continued use in different positions. It’s comedy at this point…
We could be going from great-kumbaya tifo to burn-it-all-down no-fans tifo in record time:
THE UGLY
Regression is too kind a word for what has happened to pretty much every player on the roster at one point over this woeful campaign. When one Phoenix rises, at least another crashes in flames… Can we honestly look at this team play and blame “tactics”? I see none when they play and you can’t tell me it’s not discussed and drilled, it has to be. It just all evaporates into vapour once the whistle blows and we get the same disjointed, zero trust in your teammates, emphasis on wide play and/or hero ball as always, compounded by terrible body language and a sliding scale of lack of desire/effort. It’s hard to watch…
TFC haven’t won two games in a row since LAST AUGUST… I don’t like repeating myself and I was only just quasi-goaded into another Jeffie Pretentious Twi(X)er thread on the ugly DPs, so forgive the copypasta:
Next game up? Yup, Inter Barcaloniami FC. Without the GOAT (because would YOU start him against this team?), getting molywhopped by their U-22’s and Jordi Alba.
This season cannot end soon enough.
The season never started……..
That second Vancouver goal should be filed in the “more then ugly” category it is inexcusable what Bradley is doing! Simply put Michael Bradley should never start another game in a TFC uniform, absolutely horror show defending all night by Bradley, needs to retire ASAP
At this point I’ll let Bradley get his 300 starts for the club, but after that, under any circumstances, can he play more professional football, he has been washed up for years and is now. It is past being embarrassing to see him playing, it is just sad to see him get toasted every game for years now. 2019 or 2020 was the time for him to go, it will be a shame to see the once great man being wheeled out again next season.
I don’t find it sad at all , Mike Bradley like his dad is full of arrogance, he just won’t admit that he is a has been, watching a replay of that second Vancouver goal in this weeks team meetings will be a cold slap in the face to remind Bradley to get the F out.
‘We deserve the wooden spoon and recognition from the league proper for the levels of ineptitude on display.’
Agreed. I’m hoping we capture our latest and greatest Wooden Spoon so we’ll have a trophy to remember this disaster.
re Bernardeschi having ‘a friend who’s equally madness inducing’
Judging by the way they play together, I don’t think they’re friends.
re ‘Raoul Petretta and Sigurd Rosted at least look like soccer players again’
Vehemently disagree. They continue to look like absolute trash to me. Blame it on the team spirit/lack of trust/coaching/etc., but they weren’t any more than their usual dog-excrement on the pitch.
Rosted and Petretta are both Coach Bradley signings! along with the other shocking deals handed out Diomonde, VV, Sapong,O’neill, MAK,Ayo. It really is quite amazing how a guy who claims he knows as much about this game as Zidane and Pep, how he destroyed the club so badly. Easily ranks up there as one of the worst jobs any manager at any club has done.
Jack: Bob’s gone! Crying every week over the moves he made just ensures that he lives in your head rent free.
Its time to move on and come up with realistic solutions to the ineptitude on the pitch. How do we move players when we can only buy out one per season? Who will buy or trade for inept players who are over paid. What’s the solution? Blaming Bob is not a solution (its just finger pointing) and last I checked finger pointing never solves any problems.
Herdman will have his hands full (i.e. keeping the DP’s interested) long enough to improve the quality of players surrounding them. Personally I think you move Fede as he seems to not want to play with the players who surround him. Insigne on the other hand makes nice passes and moves the ball quickly (something Fede does not do… rather he tries to hold on to the ball for too long and turns it over)
An entire back line needs to be brought in but can it be done within one off season? Its not just about getting new players its moving the existing one’s out. Who will want at Petratta or Rosted for what they are getting paid.
I think all of next season will be part of the flushing out of players because we will only be able to move so much out in the off season. This will take two seasons to sort out.
The flushing out needs to start with manning. Only then can we move forward. Manning is disaster for him to have any more decision making abilities for anything beyond the argos won’t make us move forward.
Manning ain’t going anywhere? If he was allowed to select Herdman, read between the lines.
Why continue to beat a DEAD horse?
It will be be on Herdman and the rest of the front office to re-tool this group for 2024.
I agree with the posts to bloody the prospects to see who is a potential solution.
If they can un-load Insigne a Bernardeschi in ghe Hanuary transfer window, do it. Both sides will see value from such transactions.
Yes let’s keep manning and Osorio and bradley get rid of Italians we will be winning in no time lol. My point isn’t beating a dead horse it’s a fact the fans need to be vocal and yell fire manning throughout the last games that’s on us until we do that we deserve what we get.
Mrppv hats off to you my friend, always intelligent comments.
Fan boy , you want a solution! you buy out Mike Bradley today! Next you got Bob Bradleys foolish acquisitions Vic Vazquez and Sapong who’s contracts expire this year and you have 3 open spots . Next year Oso is not a friggin DP, you bring in a central mid “class DP” Then you get a mid thirty year old top four league Center back on 1.5 million a year, finally a #9 again older from the top four leagues. This isn’t rocket science
Personally using your one buy out on a $300K buy out is not making the best use of a buy out even if its Bradley. You are better off buying a larger contract for one of Rosted, Petrata or Diomande (cause otherwise you are stuck with these guys for another two season minimum).
You can use Bradley off the bench or when short staffed due to injuries and you only have to ride out one more season. These other guys have multiple years left and I don’t see any team ponying up big dollars for these guys.
We won’t be making the play offs next season unless we get lucky.
MLSE will not pay for a big $ third DP, until they see this team performing well enough to be considered making the play offs (which means nothing is happening this off season to add another DP). I hope I am wrong, but I don’t see Manning having the currency to go to the board to free up $6M/yr on a multi year contract for a big name DP until this team is mid pack in the standings.
So our Italians will have to perform with MLS level players around them before there is injection of another big dollar Euro, unless its on a TAM contract.
Rosted and petretta are horrendous signings full stop. It’s time to play Stefanovic over rosted. The complete signings by bob may go down as the worst signings in mls history. This just shows how little he knows about finding gems he got two from Norway one of the worst leagues in Europe (after the amateur ones in like malta Gibraltar etc.,) he didn’t even try eastern Europe where teams like NE and Philly etc., found gems. It’s almost impossible to screw up as hard as bob did as sporting director and coach.
Thing is you cannot sit out Rosted and Petratta who account for 31% off our cap. We have to find a way to move them. You can write off one contract this off season, but you have to find a way to either have one of these guys contribute effectively (through coaching) or find a way to trade them.
Bernardeschi at least looks like he’s trying imo, he actually shows some energy. Insigne on the other hand has checked out. He hugs the touchline and literally does nothing. He doesn’t even drive forward, doesn’t switch wings, doesn’t come in the middle, doesn’t play to the overlapping fullback, doesn’t cross.
Maybe after the winter break he’ll come back recharged but who knows, he looks finished to me. How does Herdman get something out of a player who does not want to be here?
I thought Insigne has played more engaged then Bernadeschi. He passes the ball more they Fede and has make others around him improve compared to Fede who just runs at defenders with the ball and turns it over.
Sure with an off season and a new coach you hope these guys come back engaged, but if they cannot play to their full potential for their third coach in 1.5 seasons, then they need to be moved as they will no longer be a part of the solution in Toronto.
I don’t know man, I see much more hustle from Bernardeschi than Insigne. Insigne spends most of the game walking around or he drifts so far wide that he has zero impact when the team’s in possession.
It’s funny because we’re all correct. Both players have the nasty habit of making you believe again so soon after counting them out. And then the pendulum shifts. Lol. It’s madness inducing.
Good article again.
I am also starting to think it is not the tactics as it is the weakness down the middle. How could you have any tactics when there is no #10, I wish Pozuelo were still here. Oso has never been that type of player either.
I think with Sean Johnson healthy, a new center back and a # 10. This team could be competitive.
Osorio was alright till this season . But now he’s done, it might be injuries but he’s another guy if can need to move on from, he’s one of the many candidates for a buy out.
Osorio isn’t a number 10 for an advanced number 8 he is decent but we did massively overpay him
Yeah, Oso has been terrible for the national team, too. We can’t just blame TFC for his drop in performance.
He could have been a serviceable #10 for us if he were still the player from 1-2 years ago.
I’ll wait to see next year if there’s improvement with a full offseason to finish recovering from any lingering injuries, but I’m not too optimistic given he’s on the wrong side of 30 now.
Manning has throughly washed this organization as a “soccer club”. They operate more competently as a bar than they do as a soccer club.
The last sentence of the article “season can not end soon enough”
I only need one hand to count the number of players that have a high soccer IQ on this team.
Team needs LOTS of help and we all know this. Does anybody know who is out of contract for next year? TFC must have atleast 10 open roster spots for next year.
Love the tifo. Still hate this kit. Why, oh why, are we not wearing our home kits at home? At least they had a little bit of red in them.
The answer is obvious. The sales of the jersey haven’t met the marketing department’s projections yet. Sales probably haven’t even recouped the cost to design and deploy them.
Did anyone feel a retirement-like vibe inside BMO field for Michael Bradley’s pre-game presentation? I certainly did.
Hopefully it would be criminal if he tries to play at an mls level next year
Me too. Shudder.
Mikey..a study in necromantic modestum….. Patience; good stadii the lions are hungry; and angry.