The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — NYCFC 3-0 Toronto FC
It’s insane how terrible this TFC team is. It really is.
To say this campaign has been difficult to endure, especially considering the woeful past two seasons and the unbridled excitement at the outset, is the understatement of the year. We bet big and lost big, but even that perfectly encapsulated statement doesn’t do the experience justice. Nobody expected THIS.
Absolutely everything went wrong. The wheels fell off the cart mid-motion and we just kept going, grinding the transmission until it too failed, and still kept on, trying to carry the pieces of this broken club up the mountain.
Gosh, I really, really hope this here is rock bottom. It has to be, right? Right?
THE GOOD
Kobe Franklin is at times the only player on the pitch who looks like he wants to be there. Credit to the kid, he puts his head down and gets to work whilst everything around him burns. That’s the kind of player you want on your team… I didn’t break VV:
New Jersey-area Emergency Plumbing Repairs, we thank you for your service… Luka Gavran’s penalty save:
THE BAD
Uh, everything? This team doesn’t want to be here, and now that we’re properly eliminated from the playoffs, again, for the third year straight, they don’t have to be for much longer. Shame about the games still unplayed, though. That has to complicate holiday plans and golf bookings.
THE UGLY
All three NYCFC goals. Wow. Could we at least, I dunno, try out there?… Another loss, another round of inane post-game platitudes from all involved, can we just not do pressers for a bit? Oh, and also, can we just forfeit the balance of the season? Losing the rest of the games 3-0 may in fact be a better option than “playing” out the string… Worst single season in franchise history, with the highest payroll, what a sick joke… The inescapable fact that we have eyes, and the eye test reveals this team hates each other, hates being out there on the pitch, hates this, hates that. There’s no love for the game on display, no love for the spirit of competition, no beauty in the beautiful game. It’s painful to watch:
Thanks, JPN. Misery loves company and I enjoyed reading you give these clowns yet another well deserved roasting.
The only reason I’m going to the match this Saturday is because I have family visiting, they love football and want to go see Toronto FC.
I already apologized in advance. On a positive note, perhaps traffic and crowds will be lighter.
I wouldn’t bet on it. There’s always something. A concert at Budweiser, A jays game, some convention of douchbaggery at Hotel X, etc.
That darned Hotel X!!!
Douchebaggery…😂
I am at the point where I watch to game just to see how bad we will lose. it is also a great tool of what bad look like when coaching soccer as the lack of support, movement, awareness pride is outstanding.
Multiple studies (dont have a reference but I can look for one!) have correlated money spent and success in soccer, the fact that TFC is going to win the wooden spoon with the biggest payroll in MLS deserves a book and a study on its own.
For me, there are two priorities for John Herdman.. First, which players can contribute in the near future (I am a believer that there should be a few in the current roster that could be good complementary pieces – but nothing to build around)…. and second, understand why do we have so many players unavailable due to injuries.
The rest of the season will be a test of character for the team.. it will be good to see who still want to be here next year.
Everyone. And I do mean EVERYONE. At this club bears responsibility for where we are. EVERYONE. There are no sacred cows left. The past is prologue and it wasn’t worth as much as we’d like if we’re finding ourselves here. This is a colossal failure and nobody has or deserves to get off scott free. I’m not sure any of the players deserve to be employed by a soccer club next year. And I mean EVERY player.
The finger pointing has already started. Hell, it’s the thesis of this season FFS, but I could give a shit about who started what at this point. It’s all broken. We need to seriously consider every spot on the roster and do something we say we’ve done but haven’t really – BE BRUTAL.
if that means we start the off-season with 2 players, then so be it. And it won’t be THOSE 2 players. Please, for the love of all things good and holy, end this nonsense with the whining wingers.
Kobe and Coello can stay. Those are the two players I think deserve to wear the badge moving forward. Everyone else should be playing for their jobs.
I’ll be honest I only watched the highlights of this fixture (there were far too many other games on Sunday afternoon to waste my time with this one) but while franklin has worked hard, put in honest shift and I would like him to stay but as depth peice his technical ability isn’t good enough to be a starter on an MLS team and coello has been good at time but he’s a depth peice too (on any good MLS team) as he loses the ball far to often. I get it we are miles away from a squad of any quality. But we also cannot pencil in fringe players as starters moving forward we need to get better all around.
Agree on your assessment of both Franklin and Coello. They are not good enough to be starters on a championship contending team. Coello has played great at times, but his poor give away in the second minute last game which led to NY’s first goal is emblamatic of what has gone wrong this season (sloppy turn overs at inopportune times).
The only starter who has shown his worth as someone who can help a team be a contender has been Sean Johnson.
I mean we had six clean sheets before June started (which is unheard for at TFC).
Here’s an interesting record we will break this season. We will have more clean sheets then wins (this while having one of the highest paid attacking rosters in MLS).
For me, role players that they could improve with a better environment are: Coello, Kobe, Kerr, Servania and Gavran. Maybe the benefit of the doubt to Prince, Blessing, Ibarra and Mailula and Johnson.
The rest of the roster.. move it.. even the DPs. Regardless of their quality, they will not be the answer IMHO
I’d keep berna and insigne (they still haven’t had a real coach while here) any day over Coelho and franklin and so would just about every club on earth. Will they stay or go that’s another matter, at this point who knows what will happen especially since it seems, manning probably won’t get the boot.
Just utter nonsense to hear a writer on WTR like Jeffrey Nesker crying out loud for the Italians to be gone, I recall back in the day when sports journalists actually had some knowledge of the sport they were writing about. You are right Mrppv when you say that any club on earth would keep our DP’s over Coelho and Franklin who really are no better then good CPL players. What this team needs is an off season that does not include Mike Bradley and his dad making playing acquisition decisions at TFC.
Jack Lorenzo is paid more then 70X more then these guys…. but his attitude or contributions do not reflect that.
Sure the two Italians are highly skilled, but they simply are not performing. At the end of the day, they represent the crest and should be playing with pride and determination while leading by example (especially considering how well they are paid). I mean there is not a team on this planet willing to pay them the wages they are getting because if that was true, they would have long engineered their exit.
How about this stat: Kerr makes $90K and Insigne over $7M. But Kerr has scored more then Insigne and is tied with Fede while playing significantly less minutes then both.
By no means am I saying Kerr is anywhere as talented or valuable as the two Italians, but at the same time, there return on investment on the two Italians is abysmal (not sure how anyone can argue that). You can blame coaches, other players around them, etc…. but at the end of the day, every TFC player on the pitch is playing with the same challenges and nobody is underperforming at the level the two Italians are.
Its time to clean house top to bottom. Yes that includes Manning, but also the DP’s. Think what freeing up $14M and two DP spots could get us.
Only four more ass whoopings and then we (MLSE) can pretend like this season (the last three years) never happened.
I think it’s dumb, from a marketing perspective, to not have mentioned in the membership renewal email that relegation avoidance is 100% GUARANTEED for eternity. They have the past three seasons to back up that claim.
I don’t understand why there would have to be any mention of relegation. This is MLS where every team owner has a fractional ownership MLS and league wide revenue is shared. Its one of the reason we have parity within the league.