Lou_macari_chippy said: I'll never forgive Miller for missing that chance. I dont know why he didnt head it, a diving header and that was in the back of the net. Miller is totally finished at pretty much any level, i'm not kidding there are guys in the VMLS that can play better than him, he's a total waste of big money.

Just a side footer like Magee did would have been easier.

VanCity_Piker said:

DannyBoy said: A solid core to build on for next year.

I don't see much of a core except the back line. The Scots aren't worth the money, Rennie's suckholing seems to have created resentment in locker room, we don't play our young players, and we're losing Richards.

Koffie, Mattocks, Salgado hello?

Couple things I'd like to note on the match:

1) What happened to Mattocks? He looked hurt when he came off the field.

2) Losing Demerit was HUGE! Very, very unlucky on our part.

3) Was it just me or was Lee looking rather old? He seemed much slower than usual and wasn't great defensively throughout the game. I'm afraid we won't be seeing him back next year...

Overall it was a good performance by our boys in blue! I'm proud of the way they played despite the results.

We missed a real chance there, LA were not at their best, in a way getting the early goal was a curse.

dhawk11 said: what a complete Embarrassment..........i had tf fuckin c fans making fun of me after this game.................

I'm sorry, but is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've read on here lately. TFC hasn't even come remotely close to what we've done in a year, and you're the one who's embarrassed?

Give your head a shake.

I thought it was a highly entertaining game. That much constant pressure was bound to break through at some point.

Can't wait for next year!

Anyone who's embarrassed needs to give their head a shake. It was a brave effort for the most part against a better team in a league where road wins are few and far between. Yeah...there were a few mistakes and we should have gone up 2-0. But anyone who looks at TFC fans as the model of anything, or wishes we lost 5-0 tonight deserves a sentence of watching all of the TS-led Cap games back-to-back everyday until Kickoff 2013!

This was LA not barcelona, there was no reason at all for us to have played that way, look how easy it was for us to score - and with something like 30% possession we had other chances, we payed them far too much respect yes they have players that can hurt you but those players were still getting shots in, winning corners, getting crosses in anyway so us playing that way didnt make much difference other than giving them more of the ball. Thats style of play hardly ever works.

Great effort but again the problem was Miller, who blew a chance to put the game away. Miller is the highest paid player on team and his left footed effort was pathetic. He is paid to finish chances like that. Robson was not too bad but when your DPs are not contributing in the most important game of the year, you are not going to win. Get rid of both of them

The caps played a really good game against superior opposition . I think the only shame should be putting in miller, just a waste at this point . But, he was not at fault for the loss... Anyone could have blown that chance.

We lost to a far Better club who have dp's that play like top players . No shame in losing this game , the caps played well for most of the game.

An amazing and emotional season !

If we can say one comment about our first two years , it has never been dull and is always filled with intrigue and crazy shit!

Some of you guys are idiots you really are. They played great tonight, worked hard and really limited LA to one half chance which they took and a peno that never was. They knew they were going to only get one or two chances and they tucked one away early (probably too early) and should have buried it at 0-2 but those things go by the way side in a game.

Frustrating end to an overall positive performance. Certainly a great foundation to build on in the offseason and I certainly don't think we'll be in the 'play-in' next year.

Great game. Good season.

I though Knighton and Watson played especially well. Good call by Rennie to bring these guys over from Carolina.

Generally the right strategy - pack the middle of the park, trust O'Brien and DeMerit to win the balls in the air, use Mattocks to keep the LA backline honest. Can't argue with it at all, gave us the best chance to win. And when Mattocks came off, he looked absolutely spent, don't think there was much choice, and Miller at least provided some possibility of holding the ball up.

Should have made it 2-0 right before they scored, probably would have if Barry weren't so one-footed. Thought the penalty a bit soft, but not surprised. Don't believe Thor dived, he had his foot stepped on, he was kicked in the ankle and poked in the eye. Even Kyle Martino on NBCSN said that if Donovan's was a penalty, Thor's had to be, too. Would have liked to have seen a replay of Koffie going down in the box, too.

Petrescu is awful. Always has been, always will be. Somehow fitting he's on the pitch for the end of our season.

SAFC_Yank said: Don't believe Thor dived, he had his foot stepped on, he was kicked in the ankle and poked in the eye. Even Kyle Martino on NBCSN said that if Donovan's was a penalty, Thor's had to be, too. Would have liked to have seen a replay of Koffie going down in the box, too.

Petrescu is awful. Always has been, always will be. Somehow fitting he's on the pitch for the end of our season.

^This. Sums up the game for me. We were never going to keep up with LA offensively. Perfect gameplan. Just fell short.

and while I'm picking on favorite players, was magee Koffie's guy to cover on the goal. and thought Demerrit could have stayed down when he ran into Beckhams boot(ala Harvey), just to slow things down.

^ the defending on the corner where LA scored was very poor. The Caps were so focused on winning the header in the box that they failed to recognize the short corner option. No one came out to pressure the short ball played by Beckham which allowed a perfect cross to be played into Magee.

If you watch Koffie, he was caught betweeen 2 LA players and didn't know which one he was supposed to mark until it was too late. As it turned out it was Magee and while his shot was great he was not pressured. With proper marking he doesn't get that shot off.

The players have to identify their mark immediately (ie. before the corner is taken). There was an obvious lack of communication/organization on that particular play.

I thought it was the correct approach by Rennie. Trying to go toe to toe with the Galaxy would have been suicide and we would have been blown out. Just disappointing that the game was decided on such a soft penalty call, but you just knew it was going to happen. I hate go all conspiratorial, but which team do you think MLS wanted to progress? As long as LA were not winning that ref was going to give them everything he could.

I thought DeMerit, O'Brien, Knighton and Watson were outstanding. Robson will deservedly get flak for bungling that chance but he was solid throughout the game I thought. Miller was sadly disappointing.

The team can be proud of the effort last night. It will be interesting to see what happens in the off season.

Bad_Gones said:

SAFC_Yank said: Don't believe Thor dived, he had his foot stepped on, he was kicked in the ankle and poked in the eye. Even Kyle Martino on NBCSN said that if Donovan's was a penalty, Thor's had to be, too. Would have liked to have seen a replay of Koffie going down in the box, too.

Petrescu is awful. Always has been, always will be. Somehow fitting he's on the pitch for the end of our season.

^This. Sums up the game for me. We were never going to keep up with LA offensively. Perfect gameplan. Just fell short.

I'm not sure I agree. I get the idea that we need to thoughtful about our being defensive. We had 11 behind the ball the whole game. I really think it's a bit naive to think that, that tactic was going to work. We've been leaky at the end of games all season. Why would we think it was going to work against quite possibly the best team in the league for literally the whole game?

If you invite presure all game, it was always going to back fire. By the way I'm not questioning the effort of the players. I thought that was a very good effort from the boys.

I haven't like Rennie's tactics and I didn't like them last night.

Rennie's game plan spoke volumes about how he see's this team right now. He obviously doesn't see much.

Hammer said: If you invite presure all game, it was always going to back fire. By the way I'm not questioning the effort of the players. I thought that was a very good effort from the boys.

I haven't like Rennie's tactics and I didn't like them last night.

Rennie's game plan spoke volumes about how he see's this team right now. He obviously doesn't see much.

Rennie worked with what he had. For the last half of the season our offense has been weak. Suddenly it's going to produce against LA? Hardly. If we started to open up to attack we'd have been down 2-1 or worse before the half. I agree it wasn't "pretty" but it was effective.

Now, if you want to make the case that Rennie is responsible for the state of the offense, I won't argue.

Hammer said:

I'm not sure I agree. I get the idea that we need to thoughtful about our being defensive. We had 11 behind the ball the whole game. I really think it's a bit naive to think that, that tactic was going to work. We've been leaky at the end of games all season. Why would we think it was going to work against quite possibly the best team in the league for literally the whole game?

If you invite presure all game, it was always going to back fire. By the way I'm not questioning the effort of the players. I thought that was a very good effort from the boys.

I haven't like Rennie's tactics and I didn't like them last night.

Rennie's game plan spoke volumes about how he see's this team right now. He obviously doesn't see much.

This sums up the way I feel about the effort last night - lads played hard in the shape they were asked to, however I didn't like the tactics last night (or much of the season) either. Was hoping to see at least a bit of willingness to play forward as a unit and try to play the game instead of all fall back behind the ball and hope to get lucky on the counter. I understand the tactic, just don't like it and was/am frustrated watching it.

Agree with Gones as well, Rennie clearly has much to show regarding offensive tactics - yes, he needs better players with offensive flair and ability however even with the few he has had available has shown precious little.

Next season needs to be a step forward offensively for the Caps, it is the natural next step in the club's development. More South American flair is needed to truly compete in the MLS; looking to Europe/U.K. isn't the answer.

Lou_macari_chippy said: Glad i'm not the only one that thinks the game plan was crap. LA were there for the taking last night, they were not at their best and had a young midfielder playing as a right back, their defense isnt that good anyway.

I wouldnt mind if we were truly limiting them but they were doing all the things they would normally do anyway - winning corners, free kicks, hitting shots from just outside the box, beckham swinging balls in etc... we were under more pressure than ever because of the stupid tactics we were playing.

We didnt need to have almost every player backed into our half of the field, it was a total mistake to put robson in behind mattocks, robson should have been putting himself about in the middle of the park with koffie, and richards should have been playing wide right so we could inject some pace and spring some attacks. For me the tactics were poor, if we'd have played that game and attacked them a bit more there were goals there for us. It was a pitiful effort by Rennie. I dont fault the players at all, in fact they stuck to the plan and tried their best to execute it - but it was a flawed plan and i fear that because rennie thinks it almost worked he might try it again sometime soon.

Wasted opportunity imo.

I thought Rennie got the tactics right. They played a great game and couldn't hold out.

With respect to corners and Beckham crosses - I think the Caps had less issue with giving these up knowing that DeMerit and O'Brien could defend these in the air - the one they did score was a player pulling away and volleying.

With respect to Miller - That was absolutely the right decision to put him on. Camillo isn't trustworthy and Richards alone up top - I don't think I've ever seen him play in the position.

I'm not sure what you wanted them to do? Attack LA and expose yourself at the back with a team that barely scored a goal a game this year? I don't understand what people think around here - you have to play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses - not the opposite. It's naive to say, I'd rather lose 5-0 ... give me a break.

Hammer said: There wasn't hardly a sniff of counter attack all game.

Too bad you went to get a drink when Watson fed to Mattocks for our goal, or when Thorrington hashed his chance, or when Robson bumbled around. We had enough quality "sniffs" to win the game. If we had converted two of three instead of one of three we probably would have won the game. That suggests that not only were the tactics workable, they could have acheived victory despite the fact we have a very low scoring team that's out of form and were playing a very high scoring one that is currently in form.

I agree it was poorly defended.

I guess what I meant was - the Caps were willing to let LA cross the ball with the intent of getting a head on it as the Caps would win those aerial battles.

The one they did score on was a defensive blunder and a great shot.

i dont think think magee was koffie or demerits. he jogs into the area from about 25-30 yards out. robson follows but doesnt seem worried about getting goalside of him despite magee being wide open

You can play a bit more defensive without completely conceding the game like we did. You play with 4 defenders and have a defensive midfieler just in front of them. Thats all you need, the defenders just need to stay back to defend and not adventure up the field. The rest of the players should be able to attack and play football.

Watson was getting through that left side easily enough, if we'd have had camilo running at them on that side he would have caused them all sorts of problems. We didnt have to be as defensive as we were, it was awful to watch and just so negative.

If you look at the actual plays of LA in their attacks we just had bodies there doing nothing and marking no one, our defenders were defending while our midfielders stood around watching them defend, we had very little in the way of an outlet and the few times we did keep the ball (other than the three attacks we had) there were no players like richards or camilo around to do anything so they just petered out to nothing.

I can understand wanting to be careful at the back and being a bit more cautious than usual - that is the correct approach, but what we did was well beyond that and the scary thing is i think we were going to play that way right from the start even at 0-0. You cannot win football matches playing that way, i've seen it tried many times over the years at various levels and it almost always doesnt work. Like i said, this was LA not barcelona, LA have 4 players that are higher quality, the rest of their team is on par or not as good as the players we have, football is a team game, we had players that could have played and opened them up a lot more and we had a defense that was plenty capable of keeping their goals to a minimum, we have midfield players plenty capable of competing in the middle of the park.

I dont want my team to play scared against teams of the same caliber. Yes i think we are the same caliber as LA across the two teams - they have some players better than ours, we have some players better than theirs, this was a game to stand up and be counted and we should have played it a similar way in which we recently played seattle and Real Salt Lake.

That style of play will lose you games 9/10 times.