Planet Soccer

The problem with Toronto is speed. They don't have Wynne or Cunningham, the main core of their offense. I'm not sure Toronto will get to win 10 games by the end of the year. I agree, Welsh needs to go, but they need another striker. They have to let go of Lombardo. He's just nor ready.

While I can agree that Welsh takes up too much salary space, your comparison of him and Boyens is ridiculous. What about Ronnie O'brien, the All-Star player has 0!! goals for Toronto on the right wing. Of course Welsh'll look stupid on the right side, everyone knows he's going to try and play it with his left foot. The fact is though, that he has created chances, a lot of the time won free kicks, corners and throw-ins down the left side. Brennan hasn't done a better job on the left side when he's been playing there, he's created barely any offense at all, but he is more handsome! Welsh puts in 100% effort in 90% of the games he's in. That's a helluva lot more than Samuel.

BRENNAN FOR STARTING LEFT-BACK; CANIZALES NEEDS TO BE GIVEN A CHANCE

OK, so Welsh is a puny winger with not much tackling or defensive ability. That is exusable, because that is not what he is there for. His role is an attacking one: to dribble around midfielders and defenders, to get the ball in the box with either a well-placed cross or a give-and go with a team-mate.

He did neither in the last TFC game (I was watching from the 21st row on the eastern side), and many people were commenting on how useless he was. OK. But maybe we were more aware of his failure because he actually gets the ball on numerous occasions...

Jim Brennan, the TFC captain, on the other hand, is a much more complete player, and very versatile as we've seen. But offensively he created absolutely nothing in that game either, and he was playing his natural position, which is the same as Welsh's. But Brennan is much better defensively, while Welsh is at least slightly better offensively.

This is probably why Brennan has been playing defense until the last game. The real question is: Who do they want as the starting left-winger? I still say Welsh unless we get someone better.

I actually thought Todd Dunivant was the worst TFC player on Sunday, and would rather have seen Brennan playing left-back, which I think is really the best position for him now. Brennan is a better player than both Dunivant and Goldthwaite, and now that we have Tyrone Marshall at centre-back (he was the best acquistion this year by far), our starting back line should be (when Wynne comes back):

Wynne, Marshall, Boyens, Brennan

Dunivant or Pozniak can play right back until Wynne gets back.

And why don't we try Canizales on the wing in the absence of O'Brien? He seems to have quite a bit of offensive ability, I wonder why Mo hasn't played him lately. Who knows, maybe he can even win Welsh's job if given the chance.

Mo will figure it out, he's no dummy. Go team!

Very poor managment job.
Start with making a roster,then trade most of the players(which he pick at the first place).
Now even a veteran players are scared who is
next to go.Failure to build atmosphere in a team.No leadership and motivational skills.
Screaming on players after game,blaiming ref's,Canadian Soccer Association,...does not
motivate players.
No quality practice(only playing scrimage),no game plan's...
Results are not priority for the first year team.We would like to see some skills in our
games.

I will start with the forwards:

Dichio: Holds the ball well and distributs the ball well on the park. Effective. A

Samuel: Strong, powerful but dreadfully lazy. He did give a good effort against Villa...I wonder why? I would play him on the left side of mid and if he has a poor work rate send him back from where he came... C+

Lombardo:Excellent attitude and work rate. Fouls much to often in the attacking third. Needs experience. B-

Robinson: Good passer of the ball. HAs met expectations. A

Edu: A candidate for rookie of the year. Makes an impact. B

Welsh: In and out of games. Decent off the bench. C

Brennan: Ineffective at left mid. Should be inserted back into the defensive line where ghe's done well. A

MArshall: Has been average. I've seen him do some great things and at the same time make some dreadful mistakes. Not all that I expected. B-

Boyens: Has done well as young player. STill needs to improve his game. B-

Reda/Braz: No comment. Reda has not seen much plaing time since he was suspect on 2 goals early in the season. I think he should be given another chance to redeem himself.

Pozniak: Has beeen a very versatile player and helped out the club in positions when their distressed. B

Wynne: Has attacked and defended well. Will develop in the years ahead into an excellent player. Should find a home on the US national teams. A

Dunivant: A quiet consistent player. He's not all that he's been made out to be. I see him as the 5th defender, and Reda could have easily filled his shoes.

Any comments....

Have to agree with the author on this one. Some of you guys must be taking a creative writing class to think Welsh is playing that well.

Look at his salary / performance then compare him to some of the better wingers in MLS. They're getting more production for less money.

Andy's a great guy, but not an effective player.

Welsh has definitely failed to live up to MoJo over-hyped and premature assessment of his talent. He is certainly not the best left footed player in the MLS, and to be painfully honest I have yet to witness a decent left footed effort from the lad - be it a cross or a shot. His slight frame makes him an easy target in possession, and the physical nature of the league seems to have taken its psychological toll as well, as John pointed out.
As for Brennan failing to impress on the wing, I'd be hard pressed to disagree. I'd love to see Jim partner Carl in the centre of the park, (upon his return from injury), with Edu perhaps taking on a wider or a more decidedly advanced midfield role. I think Jim's got the skillset to help out the d-line as well as spread the play with more touches than he sees out wide. I think now is definitely the time for MoJo to tinker with the formation, (maybe an emerging MLS favourite 3-5-2?), and personnel. I'd also like to see Canizales get the nod.

That's all in all a bit hard on Welsh and I think although his goal tally is meager he's been the quiet link in many of TFC's goals earlier this season.

Wynne and Dichio seem to be doing the bulk of work for this team. I would give Danny an A- though; there are times when his link up play is random at best. I have yet to see him make a decisive pass...

I like Mo's fire, which definitely goes against the grain of the MLSE's "Everything's fine" approach. I'm not convinced he's a great coach. I feel Samuels is a HUGE mistake. He looks sluggish and can't beat a defender if he was lying on the pitch.

Goals are not the most important thing sometimes (this ain't hockey and Welsh is no forward) but it would really be nice to see some goals coming from the midfield. Once. Please.

While I am not a fan of Welsh, he actually had a better game last week than usual. His ability to bring down strong passes and run with the ball are very good. he is pushed off the ball easily and appears to tire easily. However, the real problem for TFC is the lack of organization at the back ... Dunivant struggles and Marshall is lost in the middle... not strong enough. We need better backs and we need Mo to organize them instead of musical chair defence.

Mo Johnston is the name of the person we should be ripping here. He hand picked a bunch of these guys and made the recent trade than has been a bust.

Playing Brennan at left midfield has been a complete waste of player destined to be a great centreback (in the MLS). Our tactics are completely suspect and all this points directly back to our coaching staff.

Numerous times Welsh was calling for the pass up field and it never came. Plus Pozniak had absolutely no vision with the ball going forward. I don't even know where Edu was half the time and Samuel just didn't create any space for attacking up that right side or give Welsh and options on the ball.

Hope the next article is titled "Samuel:Vegetable or Mineral"

Without a central core of players you can build a team around, you'll never have a consistency, and you'll never win a cup. The issue is that a core cannot be had in the first year of a team - it takes a few seasons to get the right guys. So have some patience, don't make rash trades, exhibit better confidence in the existing players.

Welsh has been poor all season. I can count on one hand the number of crosses he makes a match which actually make it to a TFC player in the final third.
Actually, I could probably count them on one finger.
But he's not their only problem.
The team has absolutely no depth.
Andrea Lombardo is useless. Unless the ball drops right to his feet and he's within six yards of the goal, he won't score.
I see people criticizing Dunivant, but when you consider who used to play in his position, I think he'd be taken any day over Goldthwaite.
Samuel appears to be playing the role of the tin man, as he has no heart.
The keepers are all woeful, although I can't harp on Monsalve as he's been left to die by the defence.
Brennan is for the most part anonymous in matches and proves why he's back in the MLS from England.
Which leaves us with the only decent to good players in the side: Dichio, Cunningham, O'Brien, Robinson and Wynne (and Edu occasionally) and with the majority of them out injured, Toronto resembles a sunday league side.

Welsh is alright, good hard worker, i like him but not good enough to start majority of matches. Kepp him at midfield on the left side and he will get the ball upfield. Thanks to cbc for hosting FC games and putting them live online as well.

Rare indeed when I can absolutely agree with Mr. Molinaro.

That Toronto found someone to take Buddle, leads me to believe that they'll have little trouble doing the same with Welsh too.

I have three expectations for MY MLS team:

I don't expect the roster that started the season to resemble the roster that finishes this season. And I don't expect 2008's roster to resemble what finishes 2007's schedule either.

I didn't and still don't expect a play-off berth in 2007; however I do for 2008!

I expected a team that would compete, be fit and at the very least be somewhat entertaining. Unfortunately they don't always compete, they are obviously not fit and rarely have they been entertaining (very MLSEish).

The only one who should go is Mo. He has surronded the team in poor talent. This was suppose to be a showcase of Canadian players, not young inexperienced players and over paid European players who underperform. They could of signed some of our better Canadian talent on this team: Iain Hume, Paul Peschisolido, Marc Bircham, Daniel Imhof, Kevin McKenna, Lars Hirschfeld, Olivier Occean, Julian de Guzman (to name a few). Yes you can't sign all of them, but at least a couple of decent Canadian's on the team aside from Brennan. Having no limit on Canadian players is a benefit, if you exploit it well and bring in some of the better players who only play as back ups in Europe anyway.

andrea lombardo is one of the most embarassing players on the team - they need to get rid of him. i've yet to see him do something good. mostly he just runs with the ball (if he happens to get it) and makes pathetic attempts to get to the goal. horrible!

What they need is players that can hold on the ball and make count in the attacking third.Speed is good to a point specially in the winds or in the transition from defense to attack but not all the time as this team does...it becames predictable there is not surprise. I am surprise that welsh did not fit in the system as this team is built for his style...there are plenty of quality players around is only a matter of find it and open the door.

I will start by expressing agreement with the previous comments from Heidi: We need more of a Canadian showcase here in TFC. Notwithstanding, if we still exist as a dominion that does not support soccer, (football) as well as the rest of the planet, then we will continue to lose great players to Europe -- like Edgars.
With that said, we are (in my humble opinion) still best as British North America and can not afford to lose any of our UK-commonwealth influence. Keep Welsh, (though he's Scotch, not Welsh) and let us see how our team fares next season.

Brennan is useless. Always has been useless. He is an average tackler. Every other skill set is is either sub par or very poor. This is why he is useless at LM. At CB he was less of a detriment to team.

Pozniak has never impressed me. He's a young Jim Brennan. Useless when young and will develope into a useless veteran.

Reda the same thing. He was crap when I've seen him with the Lynx. Things haven't changed at TFC.

Without O'Brien and Wynne the team can produce little offence from the flanks. Before they were both hurt atleast TFC had an attack from the Right side. Now the right side is just as bad as the left side.

My advice to MoJ is to look at players (Canadians especially) who play for the Whitecaps or Impact.

Things aren't that bad. I think there are a good core of players for an expansion club. Edu, O'Brien, Wynne, Cunningham and Dichio

I believe Mo has a great player and he is not putting him out at all. Is "David Guzman" , you must watch him and ask somehow to be put on. Once he plays, you wont want to take him out of the field. What is Mo's problem! You see him play and he'll be everyone's favorite, i guarantee!!

I hope everyone watched last night's game against LA. All the team lacked was a goal. All these players you're bashing stepped up, Lombardo was man of the match, and Welsh put in a good shift off the bench. He has really disappointed this season, for sure, but I think a good kick in the ass from Mo will set him straight. Samuel shouldn't be playing on the wing, I think he should be behind or just beside Lombardo, like they used to do with Dichio and Cunningham. I can only imagine how the team will do when we get all these guys back from injury. Especially Wynne, Dichio, and Cunningham.

One thing I forgot to mention: everyone seems to have overlooked that we are an expansion team. The fact we are still in the playoff race means we've surpassed every other expansion team in their first season.

David Guzman is to small 1. He doesnt seem that he has the drive to play or Motivation or the coach would see it and give him on oppurnitiy..He doesnt belong in t.o fc
and the person who wrote about him is just his friend i seen him at practice i have vip access and he is not ready nor able to handle the game. we only took him cuz we HAD TO HAVE MORE CANADIANs thats why..