Good, Bad and Ugly for TFC in Columbus

Kristian Jack

TSN Soccer Analyst

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Formations

Toronto FC remained unchanged from last week's 3-1 win in Vancouver and once again employed a wide-open 4-3-3 shape with Sebastian Giovinco pushed higher in between the pair of Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley. Columbus made two changes from their loss in Houston and, most notably, Justin Meram returned to a lively front four that would go on to course the visitors no end of troubles.

The Good

It was a game that changed on one moment (more about that later). For the neutral, for 43 minutes and 30 seconds, it was a terrific spectacle. Perhaps, for Toronto FC's sake, too entertaining. The Reds are going through a massive transition at the moment, ye the clear mandate above everything else remains winning. To be attractive is a bonus but, two away games in, they simply have to be more cautious when it comes to how they start games. When they have the ball, the Reds are a real threat and the front three can be difficult to defend against. Inside the opening three minutes, Toronto hit a quick transition and Columbus suddenly had a three-on-three scenario in their own half. Altidore is excellent at holding the ball up while running towards goal (not just with his back towards it), which forces an opponent to be drawn towards him, creating room in behind. This is particularly important because of the positioning of the other two forwards. Giovinco is effectively a central striker, who leads the press without the ball, and can use his space to get in behind when they attack. On this occasion that's what happened, but the Italian also doesn't get isolated as Findley's natural tendencies are to also run centrally and he provided his partner with a good outlet. It was a key move that didn't come off this time but will in the future.

Giovinco's lateral movement is exceptional. His performances through two games haven't been incredible but they have been very important because already opponents are playing Toronto FC with him in mind. Defenders get drawn to him so often, which puts others in key spaces, something that happened in 26th minute, when Warren Creavalle's shot was misdirected and Benoit Cheyrou's shot was blocked.

The Bad

Where to start? I know what you are thinking. We'll wait to get to him. It would be easy for Toronto FC to look at the game and think it completely changed on the sending off. However, there was a massive imbalance issue for Greg Vanney's side in the first half. When in possession the high starting position of the full backs works. Columbus didn't press and had the three men off Kei Kamara drop deep to try and narrow the space for Giovinco to maneuver. This allowed the Toronto FC centre-backs to have a lot of time on the ball. Steven Caldwell, removed at half-time through injury, found himself on the ball a number of times and although the route from that position was usually direct to Giovinco, even a loose ball was often recovered on the second phase because of the amount of Toronto bodies in around the former Juventus man. The problem, however, came when Columbus attacked. The full backs didn't drop deep enough, forcing Caldwell and Damien Perquis to do exactly that to prevent them getting beaten in behind. This allowed Columbus to play in the channels. Four times in the opening 22 minutes of the match a ball was played between Perquis and Justin Morrow. On two occasions these came from errors by Michael Bradley who again played the deepest of the midfield three. In possession, once again, this trio works but it is vulnerable to quick counters and pace and can become very narrow, which puts too much pressure on the centre-backs. It should be noted all of these observations come when the game was 11-vs-11, but even in the second half Bradley struggled in a midfield two and seconds before they conceded the second goal, he led a press all the way forward to be alongside Jozy Altidore. Four passes and 10 seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net and the contest was over. Toronto FC capitulated at the back and allowed another cross to come into the box far too easy but the manner in which Columbus easily played around the Bradley press and into the space he vacated was troubling.

The Ugly

It was only four days ago that I wrote a piece about poor refereeing. Such a piece can be exhausting to write so to have to write about another poor refereeing performance today is frustrating. In that piece, I had pushed for referees to take more time, talk to their assistants to make sure they get the ball right. Dave Gantar did all of that except the bit about being right. It took the Canadian referee SIXTY FOUR seconds from the moment Morrow challenged Ethan Finley to the time he brought out the red card. During that one minute and four seconds he also managed to forget who it was who actually made the challenge as he initially gave a red to Perquis. Referees have a very difficult job but this was not a time for sympathy. Gantar, for once, decided not to be judge and jury, used help to consult, but then returned with a woefully inept verdict and attempted to punish a blameless man for an act that should have been thrown out of court. Once he had found the apparent guilty man the whole thing had graduated from a laugh to an absolute farce and the only one who should have been held to questioning was Gantar himself.

It will be convenient to forget the part the visitors played in the buildup. At 43:30, goalkeeper Joe Bendik cleared a ball past the halfway line, but ten seconds later left back Morrow had to put in a last ditch attempt to win the ball to stop Finley going in on a one-on-one. Foul or no foul, that is simply not good enough. Columbus didn't exactly produce some magic to break the visitors open; a headed ball back in managed to get the play past all the midfielders and then it was Perquis who decided to come high, almost touch tight on his opponent, exposing space in behind that forced Morrow to run back into to get the ball off Finley. It was a small error that had a massive consequence and the positioning of the two centre-backs, similar to moments in the first half at Vancouver, in such situations needs to be monitored.

Next

Toronto FC get next weekend off and it comes at a good time. They will hope Steven Caldwell will be fit in two weeks time, otherwise they will start that game at Real Salt Lake with two of their starting defenders missing as Morrow will be suspended. Against a fluid RSL attack, that is a worrying proposition. Further questions remain over the midfield balance and they'll need to find a way to get Cheyrou more into the game but, in general, it was only one match that turned on a decision shortly before half-time. It would have been interesting to see how the team would have adjusted at half-time if it was still 11-vs-11 but a time needs to come when they are not as open to start games and further adjustments don't need to be made so quickly.