Over the last four road games Toronto FC has lost by an aggregate score of 14-3. As stupid as it sounds – and trust me, it sounds stupid – the Reds only looked outmatched in two of the four games. In the other two they had moments where they appeared to be on par, if not better, than the opposition – and that includes the 5-0 loss to New York.
The difference is twofold – defensive terribleness and mental weakness. They are interchangeable.
And so it was tonight. Defensively it`s a story of missed assignments, poor man-marking and positioning that would make a beer league keeper take up the drink. Every trip into the final third by the opposition is a scoring opportunity. TFC’s back-line is in a short conversation for the worst all-time in MLS.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Part of that is the fault of bad talent evaluation. There is little doubt that Aron Winter and staff own responsibility here. However, it’s unfair to not point out that the club lost two starting defenders. Any club is going to struggle with that type of challenge.
Of course most club’s in that position wouldn’t react by freezing out a player that started the majority of its games at CB the season prior, but that’s a subject for another day (Nana played for the Earthquakes tonight, by the way).
Talent deficit problems have an obvious fix – get better players. And, there is still some time to find some this year.
Mental problems, however, are a different thing altogether.
It’s hard to think of a team that collapsed as easily or as quickly as TFC has/does (and keep in mind that this author is a lifelong Manchester “typical” City supporter).
Look at tonight. Toronto was arguably the better team on the pitch until Kei Kamara’s overhead goal. It was a moment of brilliance, a goal that will be in the discussion for Goal of the Year. However, it was just one goal. Good clubs find a way to fight back from set-backs. TFC allowed two more in the next nine minutes.
Sadly, you can’t buy mental strength during the transfer window. At least not on a MLS budget.
And until that part of TFC’s game gets fixed fans are likely looking at a lot more nights like tonight.