Yes, I'm alive.
(Now that's out of the way...)
Early this year Aron Winter and, especially, Bob De Klerk talked a lot about the idea that the best way to defend was to hold the ball -- you can't get scored on if you have the ball in the other end was the cliché.
It's true. You really can't be scored on if you have the ball yourself. Well, at least it would be pretty hard to be scored on in that circumstance. Yet, TFC has failed to live up to that promise so far this season.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Leading 2-0 against Chicago the Reds decided that the best approach would be to forget everything they had done up to that point to get the lead. They sat back and they crapped the bed with 10 men behind the ball. Same old, same old for those of us that have watched this club since 2007.
The psychology of panic defending with a lead has always fascinated me. Good clubs can put a second holding mid on and tighten things up, but clubs like Toronto, well, they aren't good clubs. If the coaching staff is to talk about possession being the key to defending then they should probably play like they mean it.
I think I speak for most TFC fans when I suggest that it would be easier to deal with a late game collapse if it came from playing a little too aggressively. Basically, to be crude, if the balls are big enough people are going to be OK if they trip over them from time to time.
But when the balls are the size of peanuts...
No one likes peanut balls (and I promise I'll stop talking about balls now).
TFC is only four points back of first place. Pragmatically they've dropped 11 points at home. If the playoffs are going to happen, the Reds are going to need to grow something, soon.
Draw your own conclusion as to what that something is.