Sunday, April 25, 2010

TFC 2 Seattle Sounders 0- home record as encouraging foundation

For all of the worrying that Toronto FC fans have directed towards those many awful moments on the road this year, there was relief felt after the victory over Seattle. TFC have something to be proud of, a home record of two wins and only one goal against.
The tight game of the first half was something I had expected, I went down to the cold and rainy lakeshore hoping for a tie.
Let me get away with a quick first post-more to come later
Positives
JDG- he has not erased the memory of the Colorado leap, but he made real progress today. He was willing to create space- his 180 turns were either drawing fouls or letting him pop clear into territory that he could exploit
DeRo
The back four
The hardy souls in the crowd
subs- Gabe Gala and Sam Cronin and Dan Gargan

Negatives
Nick Labrocca - I know it is early, he may still adjust to new team and those around him. I dislike the Toronto instinct to find a weak link player in every squad as much as the next blogger. Yet I find Labrocca compares poorly to Sam Cronin. Labrocca's defending is ok position-wise, I think that he too often seems to be a step or two away from where he should be. His tackling lacks bite, he slid and blocked some passes but I am underwhelmed. He does not hold onto the ball well, his passing lacks snap and too often he is passing team-mates into 50/50 positions. He seems to have the left side of the midfield by default until Peterson heals.
The ref buying everything that Seattle was selling
a lack of tactics

2 comments:

Branden said...

I actually thought LaBrocca did relatively well. Cleaning up a few times in out 19 yard box, which is nice to see.

Martin Saric however was BAD, really bad. Probably should have been set off in the first half, and then have that reckless shove in the second.

Unknown said...

I guess my struggle is with the relative part of LaBrocca's game. I feel that he lacks the tough defending, he was played as a winger but does not show speed or drive with the ball and therefore I pick on his passing skills.
I guess I express my loyalty to Marvell Wynne by watching LaBrocca with a critical eye. I also compare him to what Guevara/Robbo/Serioux could have been contributing.
I agree that Saric is an accident waiting to happen. I fear that he is a perfect player in the Preki "anti-ballerina" style.