Post-match: Trill Rivals: A Battle for A Cup - Crew v Toronto FC - Match 20 - 7/6/24 7:30 PM

He was never gonna be more than the #6 attacker, which is where he is. Cucho, Rossi, Ramirez, Matan, JRR. He is a U22 in year 1. Relax. Arfsten, Yeboah, and Matan did not do much year 1.

 

Toronto was man marking us for an while, even during the run of play, so Nancy told Farsi to go up top and try to disorient them. We almost got a goal off it from a Schulte long ball.

 

Plus, one can reasonably surmise that Nancy challenged Farsi this season by asking him to be more involved in the attack. Last year, he played 2158 regular season minutes, plus 371 in the playoffs. Zero goals, five assists, took eight total shots, three on goal.

He's played a 1,000 fewer regular season minutes so far in 2024, and has three goals, two assists, with nine shots taken, four on target. What's more, his passing percentage last year was a solid 85.7%, and it's climbed to 89.5% this season.

 

Ask and you shall receive.

 

Too soon to include poop humor?
I've always been a follow the money type guy. (And maybe this says more about me...) But I wouldn't hesitate to give 24 of my best friends soured food/laxatives/Montezuma Water for 50 million dollars...

 

The downside to kicking shit out of the opponent: for the second game in a row, the end of the game got pretty ugly as they started with the cheap and dirty stuff.

I know the announcers always want to say that "it's the frustration coming out" but that's no excuse. You're supposedly a pro, take your ass kicking like a man.

 

Hey can someone help me figure out the words to that on fire chant? And perhaps the rhythm as well? Thanks in advance from supporters up in the chill part of the Nordecke and not the Americanized Ultras part (@Meddlin' Truckstop Owner).

Is it “(insert goal scorer’s name)’s on fire, your defense is terrible”?

Also, Markus continues to ask how one becomes a capo… I am trying so hard to keep him out of the lower part of the Nordecke.. for now.

 

"Your defense is terrified cause (player)'s on fire." It's borrowed from a Wigan supporters song.

There is at least one game every year when Nordecke has kids as the primary capos but I'm sure Markus can be on the capo stand if you just ask one of the people up there.

 

It’s borrowed from virtually every other fanbase, especially in Europe. It first went mainstream in the 2016 Euros when the Irish fans sang Will Grigg’s on Fire. Since then, everyone has just adapted it for their own team.

 

It looked like those stupid wigs English judges wear

 

Very amusing to see Farsi looking like a center forward a few times.

Also worth mentioning: did it seem like Cheberko barely got forward at all last night? He likes to come forward into the attack every now and then, but last night I don't remember seeing him go forward even once. I wonder if Nancy told him to stick with 100% defense for this game, because we've got more than enough other firepower to take care of Toronto.

 

I think the thing that someone needs to note here is that the Crew have given up 18 goals so far. No other team has conceded fewer than 24. Most are in the 30's some are in the 40's.

The team is on a run where it has outscored opponents 15 - 1. Everyone is excited about the 15. Nobody seems to give a damn about the one.

In fact, all I see is guys whining about needing another center back or another "RWB" or something else we don't have defensively.

Are some of you f*cking blind? This team is shutting the league down and all you can talk a
bout is the offense.

Go away until you know something.

 

The way we played in that second half….this is champagne football. Players given freedom within a framework. Attacking players enjoying interchanges and playing with a little flair. If we win the lot or not, this is a golden age of Crew fandom. Enjoy it while it lasts. Wonderful stuff

 

Ramirez seemed to pull out wide that gave Farsi the freedom to play inside. After Ramirez’s goal Nancy had a word with him, a slight tactical change?

 

Our defense is pretty good. But we've also had a lot of luck lately. Vrioni could have easily had a couple of goals against us as he did vs FCC. IMO Nashville got hosed when their goal was called back for a suspected handball. TFC had a goal waved off for a corner kick swinging out of bounds. RSL had plenty of good chances they usually finish, etc.

 

I can show you your own post about defense being a problem. So perhaps you have memory loss. RWB depth isn’t a problem unless Farsi gets hurt. Arfsten has gotten better but he is a attacking player who doesn’t have recovery speed. So yes CB is it and your defense sure does play better when you get a lead with a dominant offense such as ours. Schulte helps a lot but if you think we have the best defensive players in MLS your out of your mind.

We need better defensive players because we don’t have depth at CB. At CM we have capable players in this system although they won’t likely defend as well as Morris. We literally have 4 guys left at CB now that Zawadzki is mostly getting the minutes at CM.
If any get hurt we will be down to 3. That’s not a smart way to build your roster. Camacho is older he knows this system but he still is past his prime athletically. He is not a Iron man like Nagbe. Unfortunately we sold off all the young cheaper options that played CB and nobody on Crew2 is ready apparently. Camacho needs help so he can be fresh for the end of season stretch and playoffs. I know we have really good fitness and have avoided injury for the most part. But when we did have some injuries it certainly affected us in a negative way as we dropped points. Adding offensive weapons is not a top priority this window. Any positions we want to address for next year will need done now.We don’t know what their plans are for next season but in the winter window there is a lot less options. We only have 6 defenders (7 would be Hughes who will surely not be here next year) only two of them are true center backs. So for now Cheberko is Camacho’s back up. We absolutely need another CB.

What we have:
Farsi
Sands
Moreira
Sands
Amundsen
Camacho
Cheberko

a few offensive players who help on defense but are more or less midfielders at this point
Zawadzki
Arfsten
Yeboah
Mățan
Hinestroza

Most importantly our Offense makes our defense look much better than it actually is. Anyone who can give a honest assessment could tell you that. Nancy is excellent with his tactics and controlling most games. Our offense isn’t the weakest link of this team the defense is. We are a good team and we are good defensively but it’s because our offense covers that up. We are trying to get better hopefully we beat LA and don’t lay a egg like we did vrs Pachuca , Cincinnati , Charlotte & Miami.

So what exactly do you think we need to improve the most to win the Shield, Leauges Cup & MLS Cup?

 

I did note this on Wednesday night and the defensive stats only got better last night. A big part of the reason why they've been so much better on the road this season is they're allowing 1.2 GA in MLS away matches, or less than 1.1 if the CCC game at Houston is included. At this point last year, they were at 1.8 GA per MLS away match and that's where they finished the year inclusive of the playoff run. They had six road matches last season in which they allowed 3+ goals, this year they've not allowed 3 goals in any game of MLS play. It's a lot easier to get results when two goals usually puts the team in position to win.

I don't get the sentiment that Camacho is going to wear down and we need someone rotating with him or supplanting him. He's consistently the Crew's best defender and has shown he can play 70-90 minutes on a weekly basis and on short rest for almost a year now. There aren't many short rest games going forward either. The only three midweek matches left are home vs Charlotte next week, at Toronto in mid-September, and home vs Miami in October.

Next weekend will be a measuring stick game for the offense. The defense will allow one or two because no one in MLS can completely shut down the LAFC attack, but Columbus' defenders and Schulte won't let it get out of hand. The offense has to hold up its end of the bargain this time to get a result. It let down the defense in the two losses to teams at the top of the table. Against FCC, the Crew offense had over a week to rest and got shut out for the first 90+ minutes. Against Miami, the offense had nearly 70% of possession but played like they were completely content to lose 2-1 which is exactly what they earned. The RSL game as I mentioned at the time was a scheduled loss when MLS put it on the calendar, so I've got no complaints about them getting a scoreless draw in that game while playing a USOC lineup. If they score one goal or fewer and lose again on Saturday, they're just a very good team that can't beat great teams.

 

You need to let go of the Supporters Shield, that ship has sailed. The Crew will be extremely fortunate just to pass Miami in the table.

The primary need is Aidan's replacement, a box-to-box #8. Zawadzki and Jones aren't good enough with holding possession and passing through the midfield. Better teams will pressure them into mistakes that lead to high-danger chances on the counter. Sean is still best as a utility player rather than an everyday starter, he's not starting caliber and one of the more injury-prone players on the roster. An Aidan replacement lets him go back to filling in when and where he's needed, either at CB or CM.

After doing the best they can to patch that hole at CM, the next need is an elite CF. Ramirez has been on a heater but he did the same thing to open the year last season and then went until the playoffs without scoring. He's not going to maintain this and we've seen against the better teams he's not dangerous enough to give Rossi and Cucho the space they need to operate. He was invisible against Miami a few weeks ago. JRR and Matan also aren't good enough to maximize the talent around them if they supplant Ramirez again.

The #8 and #9 positions would be what I'd do with the extra DP spot after Nagbe's buydown and the open U22 slot. Then add a TAM level player on the right wing who's more consistent and decisive than Farsi and one depth defender and that imo is enough to win a trophy or two. Nancyball is about risks and throwing guys forward, it's inherently biased to offense over defense. The Crew defense is championship caliber right now, the offense is the unit that hasn't shown up in the biggest games. Zero goals by the starters against FCC and a grand total of four SOG against a Miami team that ceded 68% of the possession. Not good enough. A more dangerous CF presence will be needed for the rematches.

Arfsten seems to be plenty good enough at LWB and Yeboah and Amundsen have experience on that wing, so the Crew are good on that side. Columbus will need more from RWB to get through the East. The Crew doesn't win MLS Cup last year without Julian Gressel and they won't win anything this year if Farsi is the everyday RWB. I love Mo and he's a workhorse especially on the defensive end, but we've seen too many times where he kills a promising attack with an errant pass or indecision and by failing to be aggressive when he has open space. He's also, like Zawadzki, an injury-prone player. The more he starts, the more likely he picks up something that makes him unavailable for the playoff run.

 

How are Zawadzki and Farsi injury prone players ? Farsi had a bad ankle and missed very lil time. Zawadzki missed time for a concussion and that could be a problem if it happens a lot but it’s only been what 1-2 instances for him. Please Elaborate on how they are injury prone. I agree with adding more quality at the 8 and while I’m on board about a 9 that’s younger and quality it’s just not the biggest hole in the roster.

It’s not about Camacho he is fine this year when healthy. It’s keeping him healthy and it’s hard to do if we have 4 CB for 3 spots. We need one more guy. A guy who is young and athletic and can play both CB and RCB.

 

Yeah, if Farsi and Zawadski are injury prone, that’s news to me.

 

You answered your own question but more specifically:

Farsi had an ankle injury in February and a lower body/groin injury after returning in April. He's had to be subbed out of two games due to injury.

Zawadzki had a major concussion earlier this year and had to go through a check on Wednesday for his knee.

 

These are normal things that happen everyone gets banged up during the season. Injury prone means they consistently miss a lot of games every year due to injury. Clearly we don’t have the same definition of injury prone.

 

Well, to be fair, getting nailed in the head and ending up with a mild concussion does not mean that you're injury prone. As an example, get someone to nail you in the head.

He did go down after an on field assault that would get you arrested if it happened on the street, and it was painful and the medicos came out and all that. Then he came back and seemed fine. Again, it would be quite a stretch to use that as an example of much of anything.

Farsi has had a couple of nagging issues this season but again, I really think it's a bit early to say it's a trend.