We are not a good football team right now.
We're not.
And Toronto. Yes, f*cking Toronto, showed that.
John Herdman is a great coach... I mean, you just need to look at what he's done with the Canadian national team. He was always going to get Toronto playing eventually. That being said, this Toronto side, in a matter of a few short months is playing with more cohesion than Orlando City have all season, with a coach that has been in situ for 4 years.
Now isn't the time to kickstart the Papi 'in' or Papi 'out' debate. But if the fact that Toronto, yes Toronto (!!), came to our house and played us off the park, doesn't concern you, then I want to drink from the same well of optimism as you.
Whilst this is no time to be hitting the panic button, it's important to acknowledge we're almost a third of the way into the regular season and we sit 13th in the east. We're out of the Concacaf Champions Cup. There's no US Open Cup. We're 13 points away from the Supporters Shield. We're on course to miss the play-offs. OK, maybe panic a little but like, don't lose your minds about it...
There's still time to correct things.
But Orlando need to improve, fast.
No control of the game
People will talk about the sloppy goals we gave up. As they should. And we will, don't worry. But, we never had control. Despite what Papi said after the game (about us losing control in the second half). Our 'control' in the first half was an illusion. As Dr. Ellie Sattler would say 'we never had control. That's the illusion'.
Toronto moved the ball with so much more confidence and cohesion that we could ever hope to muster. Our passing was loose, turgid and unadventurous.
We never really looked like scoring. Toronto played more key passes, more through balls, more forward passes, more crosses... They were just so much more expansive and intrepid than us.
For Orlando, everything was too narrow. Facundo Torres and Ivan Angulo were coming inside far too often (figure 1), as such everything was too narrow. Toronto, on the other hand, made excellent use of the pitch. Federico Bernadeschi, in particular, was getting into some great wide positions. Toronto were creating more promising shooting actions as a result (figure 2).
And that told in the end.
Figure 1 shows the average positioning of both teams.
Figure 2 shows the shot zones for both teams.
Terrible defending at the worst possible time
The goals are just... Awful. I'd sooner re-watch the Jar-Jar Binks episodes of Clone Wars. They're that bad. The first one is just amateur hour. Both Prince Owusu and Tyrese Spicer are just allowed to saunter into the penalty area completely undetected (figure 3). Spicer, as it turned out, was the grateful recipient of the cross that Kyle Smith couldn't be bothered to close down. No-one is aware of anything. Even former Mansfield Town midfielder, Matty Longstaff has the freedom of the area from the edge of the D.
It was so cheap. And it gave Toronto the belief they needed to go on and win it.
Which they did.
Now, I don't know what dirt Rodrigo Schlegel has on Papi but it must be good.
Just look at the clip in figure 4... What is he doing? He's running back like a headless chicken. Owusu just does what all good strikers do and finds the space. Which wasn't difficult in all fairness. Schlegel has been dreadful this season and shouldn't be anywhere near an MLS match day squad.
Figure 3 shows a game still from the first goal for TFC.
Figure 4 is a clip of TFC's winner.
Top player
Duncan McGuire
Big Dunc led the line well and deserved his goal. Sadly for Orlando City, he was the only player to emerge from this game with a modicum of credit.
Player ratings
Starting XI
Gallese -6- Hung out to dry for both their goals.
Santos -6- Caught out of position a fair bit.
Jansson -6- Struggled without Brekalo.
Brekalo -6- Hope he's not out long.
Þórhallsson -5- Lost his man multiple times.
Araujo -5- Passive.
Cartagena -5- Forgot he was playing.
Angulo -5- Anonymous.
Torres -6- Good assist but nada aside from that.
Ojeda -6- Needs to do more.
McGuire -7- Had nothing to work with but did his best.
Substitutes
Schlegel -4- Just don't.
Lodeiro -6- Couldn't find any rhythm.
Smith -5- Stop that cross!
Muriel -5- Struggled.
Reaction
Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja
"Very disappointed obviously with the game that certainly had the necessity for us to get three points, win at home and after these past four games you got that momentum going and the end of the game is very disappointing for us. And obviously the responsibilities taken. I thought in the second half we lost control of the ball, and we lost control of the game, and we couldn’t hold the result. That’s what we need to study during the week, to see how we can be better because really, after the good first half, in the second half we lost control.”
*All statistics courtesy of Fotmob.
Top player image and cover image courtesy of Orlando City SC.
Media availability and b-roll footage courtesy of Orlando City SC.
Game stills and footage courtesy of MLS/Apple TV.