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Aron Winter continued to use a 4-3-3 formation with Dan Gargan slotting in at left back due to both Danleigh Borman and Mikael Yourassowsky being unavailable. The visiting Chicago Fire used a similar shape. Diego Chaves started alone up front with Daniel Paladini buffering the back four.
Oduro stays high
On the Fire’s right wing the speedy Dominic Oduro stayed very high against Gargan. This makes sense in theory; Gargan has been Toronto’s weak link at the back so far. He’s not very quick, especially compared to Oduro, and doesn’t offer a huge attacking threat. This meant Oduro didn’t have to track Gargan back into his own half, and if Gargan did get forward he would create a lot of space for Oduro to exploit. However, this strategy backfired for two reasons. First, Gargan had a very good first half defensively, and secondly it meant that Joao Plata enjoyed similar isolation against Jalil Anibaba.
The rookie full back has been a regular starter for Chicago but was exposed 1v1 against the diminutive Ecuadorian. The opening goal was a result of a number of factors. At the start of the move Daniel Paladini, who had an awful match in midfield, was easily beaten to a header by Jacob Peterson. He flicked the ball on to Nick Soolsma who had space between the lines to cut in because of the now out of position Paladini, and the entire back line shifted because of this. That allowed Plata to get isolated on the left, and without any help from Oduro or the rest of the midfield, Anibaba was always going to struggle against Plata who still had to produce a fine finish to open the scoring.
Toronto midfield outplays Chicago’s
Toronto FC was the better side in the first half and a big reason for that was because their midfield three outplayed Chicago’s. It is not as if Toronto dominated play, but both Peterson and Tony Tchani got forward to support their attackers better than Corben Bone, who looked invisible in the first half, and Gaston Puerari, who was subbed in the second half. Julian de Guzman also had a fine first half, resoundingly outplaying his counterpart Paladini, before fading along with the rest of the team in the second half. In truth, neither midfield was able to keep the ball for an extended period of time, probably due to a combination of pressing, lack of ability, and conditions, but Toronto’s midfield coped better.
The second goal was scored with TFC again finding space in front of the Chicago Fire defense. While it’s difficult to blame someone other than John Conway for the goal, giving Maicon Santos so much time and space in such wet and windy conditions is asking for something like that to happen and again Paladini was at least partly culpable.
Carlos de los Cobos goes 4-4-2
In response to going down by two goals, de los Cobos introduced striker Orr Barouch for the ineffectual Puerari. Although we cannot be sure if the Fire coach simply had the idea of throwing bodies forward in order to get a bigger attacking threat, the fact is that the substitution made sense for a myriad of reasons. With his midfield three being so unproductive, taking one of them out for a forward meant he didn’t really lose anything defensively in midfield. Yes, the Alen Stevanovic chance came about because Tchani had space behind the midfield, but Toronto were finding that space anyway. Because of the tricky conditions, Toronto were struggling to keep possession so Chicago didn’t really need an extra man in the middle to press the home side, although de los Cobos did switch Oduro and Marco Pappa which inverted them both, possibly in order to make up numbers in the middle of the pitch.
Of course, it would be short sighted to not talk about the fact that the biggest impact the substitution had was that it indeed meant that the Toronto backline had an extra man to deal with at the back. Barouch was the one who earned the free kick that led to Chicago’s first goal, causing mayhem around the box, and he was the one at the far post to awkwardly turn home the equalizer. It might sound simplistic to say that Chicago pushed men forward and Toronto sat back but sometimes such a simple explanation is pretty accurate, not every match is necessarily decided by some intricate tactical detail.
Conclusion
Against the Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC had a two goal lead and sat back and snuck away with a win. They did the same thing against the Chicago Fire but this time they were unable to hang on for the maximum three points. While this might seem like a trend, that Winter is willing to shut up shop with a two goal lead in the second half, post game comments dictate otherwise. This seems to be more of a mental thing than a tactical one.
Winter is beginning to figure out what this squad is actually capable of, take for example Plata who has two goals and two assists in three league games, but who didn’t start playing until a few weeks ago. Another example is Matt Gold, who is now apparently the first sub in midfield after being invisible all year. Who knows, maybe players such as Demetrius Omphroy or Ashton Morgan might impress given playing time. Once Winter gets a handle on what his players can do, then we’ll be able to see his vision come to fruition. The problem is that it is part of the coach’s job to know what his players are capable of, and the Dutchman may find they are not capable of what he
is asking.
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