It sucks to be Greg Sutton

You know that cliche which says the game was closer than what the final score indicates? Yeah, that one. It was true here despite what some people might say. Again, we faced a team which was just better than us and which played like an offensive machine designed to carve out defenses. Giving up only three goals to KC might be considered somewhat of an achievement in the rainy conditions where our defense was struggling to stay on their feet let alone make tackles.

Maybe it was the rainy conditions that brought it out, but we played with a grit that was lacking in the first two games and maybe even a hint of cohesiveness in the offensive unit. The first goal scored by KC was nobody’s fault but if you’re one of those people who likes to assign blame, chalk it up to Carl Robinson for giving the ball away to start the run. The defense played well and made a few world class (yes, world class) tackles to prevent a sure strike on goal. Although Reda was completely schooled on the third goal, he was solid for most of the game doing his best to contain KC strikers Yura Movsisyan and Eddie Johnson.

Offensively we were a little better. Andy Welsh did not suck, he actually had a good game and was consistently able to attack down the left side with help from Robinson in the middle. The 4-5-1 and at times 4-4-2 formation worked well for us with Eskandrian at least threatening to break down KC’s defense. Buddle on the other hand was ineffective, useless and really a waste of a starting spot. He appears to have the talent but his execution is lacking and the rain didn’t help is first touch at all. Very disappointing performance by Buddle again in which he failed to control the ball anytime there was an opportunity to threaten. I really think if we were playing 3-5-2 again, we would’ve conceded 10 goals since the rain did not make things easy for us when trying to check the KC forwards. Late in the game Eskandrian had a chance to score Toronto FC’s first ever goal but his shot was nicely blocked away by the goalie. It’ll have to wait till another day.

We need to get the monkey of that first goal off our back. You can tell the stikers are playing out of their regular capabilities sometimes trying to get that first goal. Both Buddle and Eskandrian tried to go for glory a couple times when passing would’ve been the better option. Aside from Eskandrian’s hustle, there’s very little quality in the final third of the field and it’s starting to show on the scoreboard. As for the goalie Sutton, he’s conceded 9 goals in three games. Even though most of them aren’t his fault, it’s got to take a hit on his confidence and the confidence he has in his defense. He needs to have a statistically good game (even a 0-0 tie will do) to get him and the defense back on track.

Canizalez game off the bench to ignite some runs and I think he got the message after getting kicked out of the starting lineup. I’ll look for him to start the next game. When Eddie Johnson scored his first, he lifted his jersey to pay a “tribute” to the VA Tech victims with a sloppy handwritten message saying In Memory of VTech. This is neither the time or the place to be doing that. It reminded me of the time Henry scored against Man U and lifted his jersey to show For the West Indies. It’s KC at home next.

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