New Look TFC = Same Result

So we have talked about all the roster moves that TFC has made in the past month or so and there were a lot of them.  To be honest I am not even sure if Winter is all done making moves even now so who knows what else could be in store.   Last week though we got the chance to see this very changed TFC side in action twice after a fairly long layoff and sadly all we got as fans was a lot more of the same.

Against FC Dallas Winter put in 6 of the new players for the starting lineup meaning that the club eclipsed the 100 players all time mark and then some.  They also had more then half of their starting 11 players being fresh faces which was almost certain to result in a bit of a settling in period.  I won't be getting in to the actual match but the fact of the matter is that you could see the need for yet more patience.  The team still had a fair few areas that are in clear need of improvement and if not for an impressive effort from Frei things would have been a lot worse then the 1-0 final score.  The other thing that struck me was that Koevermans clearly had not played in a match of late and seemed to lack sharpness in front of goal.  Training can help a lot but for both Danny and Frings they went from being in their offseason to jumping straight in to the middle of a season so it might take them a while to get up to pace.  Speaking of Frings though he was one of the best players in the game for TFC.  He provided a sharpness and edge to the midfield and his passes were instrumental in almost all of the chances that TFC did manage to create.

On the weekend things looked a whole lot worse for TFC as the team continued to defend terribly and this time Frei was not able to stand on his head and keep the scoreline close.  An awful stretch of around 10 minutes saw the team conceding goals like it was going out of style.  The 3 goals in 9 minutes was more then enough to sink Toronto on the day and made sure that new comers Koevermans and Ryan Johnson picking up their first goals for the club was not enough.  In the end the score was 4-2 for Kansas City and for TFC it was the 4th straight defeat and 6th in their past seven matches.  There is no point in trying to sugar coat it at this point as we can all see that TFC are struggling and have a long ways to go still before they are really competitive in the MLS.  The problem is that no one on the team seems to know how to defend properly.  It is not just the back 4 that are to blame for this, but they do get their share of the blame, but also includes the midfield who seem lost more often then not when they are trying to track back and cover.  There is a part of this that has to be attributed to the coaching of the team as they do not seem prepared to defend properly and are often looking unorganized.  The other half of the problem is that the personal to play defense are just not their with all the injuries.  The team added Iro which is a plus and gives them another decent defender but they need at least 4 of them and they are well short of that number right now.

The problem that I see for TFC is that they do have some good defenders who are out for the season the most notable of them is Adrian Cann.  So if they were to go out and make trades to bring in more quality defenders then they would have a bit of an overload come the start of next season when everyone is fit.  So if you are planning for the long term you might just have to kiss any sort of playoff push goodbye and just make due with what you have and then work to improve things for the next season when you know who will be fit.  I personally think they will not make a lot more changes this season in the back line but I hope that they do bring in a top class centre back.  Not someone of Iro level but instead someone who would be among the best defenders in the MLS.  The club needs to make a big move in the back line but now is not the ideal time to do that barring De Guzman moving back to Europe.

So we have our first two games for the new look TFC in the books and it is clear that they still can't defend and that the wins are not just going to start pouring in now.  The club still has a long ways to go but at least as these players all settle in I expect the team to only get better.  In fact I would still say that despite continuing the losing ways TFC are better now then they were before all the roster moves.

A Whole Other Class: TFC-NYRB

So this part week Toronto FC were taking on the New York Redbull in what was always going to be a tough test for TFC but what they did on the day was prove that they are still a long ways from reaching the levels of the top teams in the MLS.  This game almost made the match against the Union seem like a close match since at least TFC were able to find the net on that occasion.

I have to be honest and say that despite the Red Bulls poor form coming in to the match, 3 draws and a loss in their 4 game road trip, I still felt that they were primed to crush TFC who would be unable to up their game from the level it had to be to defeat the Whitecaps twice last week.  That was mostly because of the fact that TFC are on an even worse run of form with Vancouver being the only team that they seem capable of beating.  Toronto have only that one win in the MLS since May 7th and in that time they have been shut out 5 times.  We all know by now that TFC have an anemic offence but it is even worse when they don't even have Gordon or Santos in the starting lineup like they did midweek.

When the lineups were announced and there was no Gordon or Santos it felt like the best that TFC were going to be able to get was a 0-0 draw since they just don't seem to have anyone else who can step up and score.  I don't even think that Gordon and Santos are great strikers or great goal scorers but the fact is that they are clearly the best options that the club has.  Compare Toronto having Soolsma, Plata, and Martina as their attacking options with the fact that New York had Henry, Rodgers, and Agudelo leading their line.  I guess there is no surprise that Toronto FC struggled to create any sort of attacking chances and New York had them in abundance.  The 5-0 final score was by no means flattering to the Red Bulls but I don't even want to get into the match itself more then that.

What I feel is the most worthy element of this game is the fact that this game once again illustrates how for behind Toronto FC are in terms of skill and experience.  I know that they are a side that is slowly being destroyed by injuries and that their two new signings are yet to be eligible to play for the team but I can't help but notice the gap in skill between the two sides.  The Red Bulls two designated players are Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez who both have loads of experience on the world's biggest stages and despite being a bit advanced in age they still have the kind of quality that allows them to be stars in the MLS.  The Red Bulls third spot is still empty since they traded De Ro but chances are that when they do fill that spot it is going to be with a player who is better then any of the three designated players in Toronto's roster.  Toronto, having recently signed a pair of DP's, now have De Guzman, Frings, and Koevermans on its roster.  I do like all three of those players and think that when they were at their very best they were all world class but now none of them seem good enough to be dominant players in the MLS which is what you should expect from such players.  You can only have three of these players so you really are going to have to make them count which New York is clearly doing a better job of then Toronto is.  It may not be fair to expect TFC to go out and sign their own Beckham or Henry since Toronto is not the most appealing city and the team just does not have the same kind of budget but what I want to see is this gap starting to close down.  That would be the point of this rebuild that the club is going through after all.  Maybe we can will even one day see the club make a move for a world class player who is still in their prime and can be a real difference maker for the team.

So what is the point of all of this?  The point is that I do understand that TFC are going to lose games like this from time to time.  They are a side that is messed up by all kinds of injuries right now and even when they are completely fit they still would not be as good as the top teams in the league.  But what I need to start seeing is that TFC are making the kinds of moves that are going to help them close down this skill gap.  Frings and Koevermans are a start but with them taking up two of the DP spots the club is limited in that kinds of moves it can make to get better unless they go out and make some big trades.  Since I do understand that these kinds of defeats are bound to happen for this team I will just keep on hoping to see signs of progress from the team since the playoffs are not going to happen unless they start beating anyone not named the Whitecaps!