Another week, another TFC loss, more negative stats to add to the list!

Some TFC players may dismiss stats when talking to reporters (looking at you Darren!) because they can be skewed to prove a certain negative viewpoint (and I would agree with that theory – having used the stats to try and do exactly the opposite for many games over each of the last seven seasons), but in TFC’s case, they are so lopsidedly negative that they can only show how bad we are now and have been up to this point. Trying to prove a positive point from such negative data becomes almost impossible.

Even Ryan Nelsen got into the stats quagmire in his search for something upbeat to say prior to this match by noting that TFC had not lost by more than a single goal (in MLS) this season! We all knew then, that it was tempting fate, and we would probably lose by more than 1 …. we did !!! In 92 minutes of this game, sitting in the bar with a pint and watching the game on TV, I made a casual comment when the Revs got a corner that here comes the 2nd goal … it didn’t come directly from the corner, but 60 seconds later, our sloppy clearance of that corner led to another attack and defensive cluster**** and I was (unfortunately) proved right. The casual comment was not some statistic I had in my head and trotted out because I knew the numbers, it was an observation, once again proved correct, about our habit this year of going to sleep before the final whistle.

Here though is the statistic …. Below is a list of our 12 MLS games this season along with the minute mark of the last opponent goal of the game in brackets. 6 of our 12 games this season have been impacted by goals in the last 5 minutes of regulation time or injury time. Of those games we turned 3 winning positions into ties, and 2 tying positions into losses – so potentially 8 points dropped. We had already lost Saturday’s game so that late goal had little impact other than creating some deja-vu about previous episodes of deja-vu!

• Game 12 – Revs 2-0 TFC (93)
• Game 11 – TFC 0-1 Columbus (42)
• Game 10 – San Jose 2-1 TFC (81)
• Game 9 – Colorado 1-0 TFC (86)
• Game 8 – TFC 1-2 New York (89)
• Game 7 – TFC 1-1 Houston (93)
• Game 6 – Philly 1-1 TFC (93)
• Game 5 – TFC 2-2 Dallas (59) – (TFC score in 85 & 90 to tie it)
• Game 4 – TFC 2-2 LA Galaxy (92)
• Game 3 – Montreal 2-1 TFC (45)
• Game 2 – TFC 2-1 Kansas (77) – a WIN !!!
• Game 1 – Vancouver 1-0 TFC (59)

Had enough yet? No, ok, here are some more stats ….

Depressing Stats

• 5 straight MLS defeats (record = 9 set in 2012)
• 6 straight defeats (all competitions) – ties TFC record set in Mar-Apr 2012
• 10 MLS games without a victory (last victory 9th March, Vs Kansas @ Rogers Centre) (record = 14 set in 2012/+ game 1 of 2013)
• 311 days since last MLS win at BMO field !

And finally a word on the ref since we are watching MLS’s response to TFC’s apparently valid complaint about being lab-rats for rookies …..

Referee: Ismail Elfath

MLS continues to take the piss out of TFC with inexperienced refereeing. For this game it was Ismail Elfath in the middle. A veteran of 12 previous MLS games who – on average – calls 24.5 fouls per game, issues 2.8 yellows, has flashed the red card 4 times and awarded 6 penalties.

No Red cards or penalties in this game, but he called 26 fouls and issued a total of 6 yellows (3 apiece). Laba and Silva can both be aggrieved at their yellows, which at worst may have merited a talking to – and in Silva’s case, the talking to would have been to the Revs player for (inadvertently) kicking Silva as they both went for the ball. The Revs player came of worse so Silva got booked!

Elfath has refereed 2 TFC games before this one, both at BMO. He officiated the TFC 2-2 Dallas game earlier in the season where TFC remarkably managed to come back from 0-2 down and tie 2-2 with late goals from Braun and Russell. On that day he called 27 fouls, booked 4 TFC players (Russell, Ephraim, Silva, Braun) and 3 Dallas players. His previous game involving TFC was last season where TFC overcame the Rapids 2-1 at BMO. On that day he called 26 fouls, but only booked a single player (Colorado’s Larentowicz). He also awarded TFC a 3rd minute penalty which Pickens saved, but Johnson and Wiedeman scored second half goals which secured the points.

And so its onward and upwards (as in uphill climb) to BMO this weekend and a meeting with Philly …. TFC were leading 0-1 in the fixture in Chester last month but a Jack McInerney goal in 93 minutes gave the Union a share of the points. A potential positive for TFC is the chance of a return for Danny Koevermans to the starting lineup …..