Bahrain vs Canada - Friday, November 11th - 10:30am EST / 7:30am Pacific - Isa Town, Bahrain

[The Beaver 2.0]

I think we have to play a 3-5-2 against Belgium and Croatia. Maybe even a 3-5-1-1, in effect.  We need to clog the middle and protect our back three, then counter hard on the wings. 

[Gian-Luca]

The main negative for me was the play of Johnston since of the players who gave away the goals (and several contributed to both), he is the only one that is likely to see any minutes in Qatar (unless we are really hit badly with injuries over the next week). But perhaps we can put that down in part (at least his inability to cross the ball) to the conditions.

After that it was Piette, although these games where the opposition sit back in us aren’t the type where he is most useful, And I don’t see any of our opponents doing that in the World Cup.

I would be tempted to take Fraser over Waterman based on this performance, Atiba and Fraser can cover at CB if needed.

 

[Lansdude]

1 minute ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

I think we have to play a 3-5-2 against Belgium and Croatia. Maybe even a 3-5-1-1, in effect.  We need to clog the middle and protect our back three, then counter hard on the wings. 

Yep, this is literally our only chance. I'm almost inclined to say we should go with ONE out-and-out forward if have Eustaquio and Osorio on at the same time because they can both attack.

[kacbru]

6 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I think people are getting a bit weird with this brotherhood thing. It was just a fun way to bring everyone together at the start of qualifying. It's not like a secret society or something 

Agreed. You know who's in the brotherhood? Everyone that goes to Qatar. 

[SpursFlu]

8 minutes ago, gator said:

That's why Arfield should be in it, yes, I went there!😀

Arfield 100% should be there. If not, at least get Josh Heard to show up and pretend to be Arfield 

Kinda like the fake Razor Ramon

Edited November 11, 2022 by SpursFlu

[Bigandy]

3 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I think people are getting a bit weird with this brotherhood thing. It was just a fun way to bring everyone together at the start of qualifying. It's not like a secret society or something 

Great point!  We’ve brought in players consistently who were better than the guys who were picked vs Bermuda.  Ugbo. Kone. Buchanan. Kennedy. Koleosho. We gave Brym looks. We gave waterman a shot and he’s clearly not good enough. 
 

theres is not one clearly better player that we havnt given looks to because of a “brotherhood”. 
 

Dual nations excluded for obvious reason. 

[Kadenge]

We are simply pathetic on aerial passes into the box against and for, and this is the same issue with our A team. Is it a lack of size? I know some point to one of the coaching staff but why hasn't JH done something about it? Bizarre 

[Stoppage Time]

A lack of depth may force some players into the squad.

Borjan, St. Clair, Pantemis

Miller, Cornelius, Vitoria, Johnston, ZBG, Adekugbe, Laryea, Davies

Kone, Piette, Eustaquio, Osorio, Wotherspoon, Hutchinson, Hoilett,  

Larin, David, Cavallini, Buchanan, Millar

 

Add three more (Corbeanu? Kaye? Edwards? Fraser? Ugbo? Arfield? Waterman? Nelson? Choiniere?)

Do you focus on adding positional depth, youth for experience "being there", some out there person? Do you take the best available player regardless of position?

There is your 26. We will find out on Sunday. Cheers!

 

[DeRo_Is_King]

I agree with much of @Corazon's assessment, but Henry is injured again. I'm not sure what happened in warmup, but I guess it's Cornelius first off the bench if Henry isn't ready to go. I am really hoping Vitoria has the stamina for three full WC games, or we are in serious trouble at the back. 

[rydermike]

In on the Kaye/Fraser debate. Kaye has a much higher ceiling, but when he's off, his floor seems to be much lower. Fraser just seems to be more consistent, nothing spectacular (well that through ball to David was), but nothing too poor. 

Fraser you know what you're going to get, Kaye can give you a lot, but his current form is not providing that. It's all about the risk/reward you want to go for imo

[Kadenge]

9 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

I think we have to play a 3-5-2 against Belgium and Croatia. Maybe even a 3-5-1-1, in effect.  We need to clog the middle and protect our back three, then counter hard on the wings. 

A back 3 can only be used with Johnston at RCB. After today, I don't think we can use Waterman there. A bit harsh after 1 game but we are running out of time and it's too late to gamble now. Johnston has had 2 poor games in a row so that's a concern. Let's hope he gets back his WCQ form next game.

[Kadenge]

3 minutes ago, DeRo_Is_King said:

I agree with much of @Corazon's assessment, but Henry is injured again. I'm not sure what happened in warmup, but I guess it's Cornelius first off the bench if Henry isn't ready to go. I am really hoping Vitoria has the stamina for three full WC games, or we are in serious trouble at the back. 

Vitoria has been playing every game for his club in top flight Portugal. No reason he can't go 3 games at the very least.

[Lansdude]

1 minute ago, Kadenge said:

A back 3 can only be used with Johnston at RCB. After today, I don't think we can use Waterman there. A bit harsh after 1 game but we are running out of time and it's too late to gamble now. Johnston has had 2 poor games in a row so that's a concern. Let's hope he gets back his WCQ form next game.

For Canada? I might be remembering the match before, but wasn't he great in the match Montreal went out? I didn't think he was at fault in that loss.

[The Beaver 2.0]

1 minute ago, rydermike said:

In on the Kaye/Fraser debate. Kaye has a much higher ceiling, but when he's off, his floor seems to be much lower. Fraser just seems to be more consistent, nothing spectacular (well that through ball to David was), but nothing too poor. 

Fraser you know what you're going to get, Kaye can give you a lot, but his current form is not providing that. It's all about the risk/reward you want to go for imo

yeah, i think you've nailed it. kaye has the ability to make a killer, line-splitting pass from time to time, whereas Fraser is solid all around, but won't help you much going forward (the brilliant pass to David notwithstanding). But for my money Oso and Kone are a head of Kaye in terms of creative, attacking midfielders, and I feel we'd be better off with some dependable coverage for more defensive-minded midfielders like Piette, even Hutch. As of today, I would bring Fraser over Kaye.  

[Corazon]

13 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

A lack of depth may force some players into the squad.

Borjan, St. Clair, Pantemis

Miller, Cornelius, Vitoria, Johnston, ZBG, Adekugbe, Laryea

Kone, Piette, Eustaquio, Osorio, Wotherspoon, Hutchinson, Hoilett,  

Larin, David, Cavallini, Buchanan, Millar

 

Add three more (Corbeanu? Kaye? Edwards? Fraser? Ugbo? Arfield? Waterman? Nelson? Choiniere?)

Do you focus on adding positional depth, youth for experience "being there", some out there person? Do you take the best available player regardless of position?

There is your 26. We will find out on Sunday. Cheers!

 

I think this is pretty spot on.  For me:

Borjan is clear starter.  St Clair & Pantemis will be the backups

Miller, Vitoria, Johnston, Adekugbe, Laryea are locks in the back

Kone, Piette, Eustaquio, Osorio, Hutchinson, Hoilett are locks in the midfield

Larin, David, Davies & Buchanan are locks up top

In my opinion those 18 players are 100% locks and those are the main 15 players we will see play in Qatar with a few appearances from some others.

The next locks for me - Henry (if healthy), Kaye, Cavallini, Ugbo, Millar & Wotherspoon

We have a lot of players listed above that can move around and play mutliple positions if needed so the final 2 spots could be anyone and in my opinion they fall between any of the following players - ZBG, Corbeanu, Edwards, Fraser, Shaffelburg, Waterman & Brym.

Obviously Arfield would be automatic if available, but I think that him along with Nelson, MacNaughton, Choiniere & Akinola are off the radar completely.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Corazon

[Free kick]

18 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

The main negative for me was the play of Johnston since of the players who gave away the goals (and several contributed to both), he is the only one that is likely to see any minutes in Qatar (unless we are really hit badly with injuries over the next week). But perhaps we can put that down in part (at least his inability to cross the ball) to the conditions.

After that it was Piette, although these games where the opposition sit back in us aren’t the type where he is most useful, And I don’t see any of our opponents doing that in the World Cup.

I would be tempted to take Fraser over Waterman based on this performance, Atiba and Fraser can cover at CB if needed.

 

I think so.  I am starting to lean towards putting ZBG higher on the pecking order of wingers and wing back.   Before Laryea left TFC for NF,  he was a good bet for starter minutes.   He was effective in comming forward, challenging/beating defenders and creating scoring chances for both TFC and Canada.  I thought he held his own defensively.   Plus he brought some intangibles.  At the start of WCQ he was ahead of ZBG on the peckig order. 
 

Something seems to have happened since the time he left for NF.   I havent seen him attacking as much.   I am seeing more from ZBG in this area than Laryea.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Free kick

[Lansdude]

Just now, The Beaver 2.0 said:

yeah, i think you've nailed it. kaye has the ability to make a killer, line-splitting pass from time to time, whereas Fraser is solid all around, but won't help you much going forward (the brilliant pass to David notwithstanding). But for my money Oso and Kone are a head of Kaye in terms of creative, attacking midfielders, and I feel we'd be better off with some dependable coverage for more defensive-minded midfielders like Piette, even Hutch. As of today, I would bring Fraser over Kaye.  

I think this is wrong re: Fraser, he presents a lot going forward, particularly in transition. He just doesn't carry the ball a ton or get himself forward to play one-twos. When he came on the field we immediately looked more dangerous because we could bypass buildup through the middle and he could hit our wide players.

[SpursFlu]

Not to sound like im pilling up on MAK but the "bad pass" by Waterman that created a goal was actually MAKs fault.

He was on his heel and sinking back but if you had confidence and read the defense the opportunity was there to start moving positively as a unit. That's what Waterman read and that's why Waterman played the ball ahead of him. MAK was still in a a retreating posture and that's why he was caught off by the pass. He should have recognized that there was an opportunity to take space and start dictating the play

Edited November 11, 2022 by SpursFlu

[gkhs]

I've talked myself off of the ledge on this one - the late switch contributed to this match being a total debacle. This is a back three that would never play, under any circumstances. Because they would never play Waterman as the central player in a back three.

That said, what really changes, if Henry misses out, is that the back-3 concept goes out the window if/when Vitoria is off the pitch, we have no one else left who can make that work.

[Gian-Luca]

Its a shame that the Bahrain match wasn't played at the stadium where the women are playing right now, the pitch looks immaculate by comparison. I know that this was effectively a "bonus" match just to get players minutes and into game shape for the big dance, but I am really tired of seeing us play on these bovine pastures. Thankfully the next four (at minimum) will be be on actual half-decent pitches.

[Califax]

There should be a long phone call to a Glasgow sometime in the next 24 hours. 

[Aird25]

4 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Not to sound like im pilling up on MAK but the "bad pass" by Waterman that created a goal was actually MAKs fault.

He was on his heel and sinking back but if you had confidence and read the defense the opportunity was there to start moving positively as a unit. That's what Waterman read and that's why Waterman played the ball ahead of him. MAK was still in a a retreating posture and that's why he was caught off by the pass. He should have recognized that there was an opportunity to take space and start dictating the play

Even being wrong footed, he could have just taken a better angle to the pass instead of lunging and being off balance. He had plenty of time and space to receive that pass

[top cheese]

I think the play and result were typical for a match like this. 

There's a group of guaranteed world cup players who want a runout but not at the expense of getting hurt and a bunch of inexperienced players. I think you can see why experience matters at the international level and why players like waterman might be good in MLS but still are not up to the international play. 

It is what it is I wouldn't look to far into it. 

[Bigandy]

6 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Not to sound like im pilling up on MAK but the "bad pass" by Waterman that created a goal was actually MAKs fault.

He was on his heel and sinking back but if you had confidence and read the defense the opportunity was there to start moving positively as a unit. That's what Waterman read and that's why Waterman played the ball ahead of him. MAK was still in a a retreating posture and that's why he was caught off by the pass. He should have recognized that there was an opportunity to take space and start dictating the play

I think you are correct that mak could’ve taken space. But it’s very common for players to drop deeper to receive the ball.  The run dictates the pass. If mak is going backwards (even if he shouldn’t be) why would you play the ball in the opposite direction of his movement.  You’re asking for trouble if you play it in the wrong direction.  
 

It’s debatable whether mak had the correct movement. But it is 100% waterman’s fault for not identifying that movement and putting the ball outside of mak reach.  

[DeRo_Is_King]

13 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Vitoria has been playing every game for his club in top flight Portugal. No reason he can't go 3 games at the very least.

Good way to look at it. Hope you're right, because for all the chatter about a decent back-up CB, we really have no one who fits the bill.