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MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (0) - Seattle Sounders (2) Post Game Summary

July 2, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (0) - SEATTLE SOUNDERS (2) POST GAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

SEA - Dylan Teves 39' (Léo Chú, Jimmy Medranda)

SEA - Fredy Montero 60' (Nicolás Lodeiro)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

SEA - Léo Chú 14' (caution)

TOR - Carlos Salcedo 31' (caution)

SEA - Nouhou Tolo 34' (caution)

SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro 70' (caution)

SEA - Danny Leyva 90+2' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-D)

Toronto FC 5-10-3 18 points

Seattle Sounders 8-7-2 26 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Quentin Westberg; Kosi Thompson, Carlos Salcedo, Chris Mavinga, Luca Petrasso (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 46'); Michael Bradley (C), Jonathan Osorio, Jayden Nelson (Ralph Priso 79'), Alejandro Pozuelo; Ayo Akinola (Deandre Kerr 46'), Jesús Jiménez

Substitutes Not Used: Alex Bono, Lukas MacNaughton, Kadin Chung, Shane O'Neill, Jacob Shaffelburg, Jordan Perruzza

SEATTLE SOUNDERS - Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Jackson Ragen, Nouhou Tolo, Jimmy Medranda (Kelyn Rowe 60'); Danny Leyva, Nicolás Lodeiro (C), Dylan Teves (Ethan Dobbelaere 59'), Léo Chú (Josh Atencio 72'); Fredy Montero (Reed Baker-Whiting 86')

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Thomas, Abdoulaye Cissoko, Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez

MEDIA NOTES

Alejandro Pozuelo made his 100th appearance for Toronto FC in all competitions, becoming the 14th player in club history to reach the milestone.

Jonathan Osorio made his 250th MLS regular season appearance for Toronto FC.

BOB BRADLEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. Can you take us through the game, please?

I think the team of late, I've said many times, has done a good job in terms of tempo, but tonight it went the other way. Started the game slow they were able to clog the middle of the field. Took us too long to get into any kind of real tempo.

From that, we do a poor job on the first goal and we have to try to push the game. But we started the second half better. But again off of a long ball where we don't win the duel, and then some -- not doing well enough in the middle of the defense, they played through us. Frustrating night. I'm disappointed because I think most nights we still of late feel like things have gotten better but tonight the first half was not the case.

Q. Most of the game we were able to get the ball but we lack the direct shots. 61 minutes in, Bradley was able to do the first shot and at 83, Priso was able to do the second shot. Are you going to try to change the mentality of the team to probably try to do more direct shots?

You still have to understand what's a good shot and what's not. There are times shooting from outside the box is a good idea, and there's other times where the right run, the right pass, we did very well getting into the right side of the box, but were not able to get a really good ball across to produce chances. Chances comes in different ways. One way is long shots -- but the bar tips completely.

Q. This is a new team coming together, and you don't have all the pieces. Do you see, is it one step forward and one step back? Are you seeing progress despite these evenings like this?

Yeah, look, there's been a bunch of games lately, we've talked after every game of things that were better for sure, creating more chances. We have had two games in a row where we had a real lot of the ball, and the other team defended very deep. And then our ability to make big chances against the low block is still certainly an area that has to get better.

Q. Did you see any frustration from your players tonight?

Sure, we went down 1-0, and then you know, you have still some guys that if a play doesn't go their way show some frustration. So tonight there was a little bit of that.

Q. The double switch, was that tactical related?

Seattle played with three in the back tonight which becomes five, and I felt that we needed to try to switch to more like 4-2-3-1 and see if with Jayden and Deandre we could get more deep runs from outside and threaten them more that way. I didn't think we did a good enough job of that in the first half.

Q. You mentioned yesterday against Columbus, you had not seen enough from Ayo; he wasn't engaged enough. Was there an improvement on that front in this game?

It's still not. Look, in the first half, I don't think anyone plays well. So it would be unfair to make it seem like the subs are guys that are coming out because they are the problem. That's not correct.

I don't think in the first half we were -- we were quick enough, sharp enough, good enough, across the board. And again, the tactics, you know, we've done pretty well lately where, whatever you want to call it, it's a version of 4-4-2 but where Ale has all sorts of freedom, right; where Ayo stays up a little more; where Jesus us sees moments to come underneath. We've had an ability then to play through the middle, connect passes faster.

But I think there are other times where the threats from outside and trying to get Jayden to be more of a direct threat with our runs, in the second half, trying to get Deandre do that, I felt the way Seattle was playing that, was going to be a good way to change the game at halftime.

Q. As you mentioned before, the boys have played a lot of football since the trip to Red Bull. Was fatigue a considerable factor especially for the young guys?

You could see fatigue was a factor for a number of guys, yeah.

Q. Today was Alejandro's one hundredth game, and he's been in the middle of a lot of the chance creations the last couple of games and a lot of the good stuff. We talked earlier this year about finding the balance for him on the pitch. What have you seen from him?

We do everything to give him the chance to be the guy who is the chance creator. We change the way we play. We try to be fluid defensively. We allow him complete freedom.

So yeah, of course he's going to create some chances. I mean, he's still a player that when the ball is at his feet and he's got an opportunity to slip a past or clip a pass or sometimes make a little dribble, that's still what he brings to a team.

Yeah, it would be a long discussion about when a player has that much freedom what it means in other moments and what it means when you lose balls, and that's not for tonight.

But yeah, of course, look, in terms of being someone who is creative when he was the ball at his feet and can make a play and we have, you know, at the beginning of the year, I talked a little bit about trying to see if Ale could play a game or two as an eight and that wasn't comfortable for him. We tried a lot of different things. This latest version of something like 4-4-2, but where he has freedom and Ayo is up there and use Jesus the way we have, I think that's served us well.

But tonight in the first half, I didn't think that we were finding good enough ways against their back five at times and so that's why we changed.

Q. With Carlos back in the 11, is there an assumption that everything is okay with his personal life?

Yeah, look, I'm not going to speak about the details. I mentioned that on the family side, he has had some concerns with family health, okay. That's all I want to say. And that we've given him the chance to make sure that things are right at home, and that's hard. You know, it's hard when there's that going on, and Carlos is a family man. So we support him in those ways.

Q. Any chances to bring Priso earlier to start the game and bring Osorio on in the second half? We saw the team play better in the second half with Priso, and can you find any partner for Bradley?

I think Oso and Michael have a good understanding. Oso has worked his way back. It's the first time he played 90 minutes. Ralph has moved himself along. He's had some good games and he's had some bad ones, some tough moments. He's learning. We show him a lot of this inks and we try to help him along. We saw a way over the last part of the game to bring Ralph, get hill closer to Michael, move Oso up and let Alé play from the right. Again, it's a tactical adjustment late, and put Deandre on the left if we can find a way to open up their tight defense.

MICHAEL BRADLEY - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Q. Michael, give us your impression of the 61st minute, direct shot you made to the goal? The team was lacking on offense but you were able to make the first direct shot.

Yeah, look, the first half wasn't good enough. We know that. Too slow. Not sharp enough. Not enough intensity. Just not the way we want to play in any way. It obviously second half starts. We're trying to really pick up the speed of things and really go after them and see if we can connect passes and see if we can push them back and see if we can create chances and win ball back quickly. I thought we had a pretty good start to the second half, some good advantages. Can't quite make enough of them and obviously give away another poor goal.

Yeah, frustrating night in all ways.

Q. This is a new team with lots of new pieces, some of which are not on the field yet. You said it's a frustrating evening and Bob said the same thing. Is this part of the learning curve or was it just a poor outing?

Both. Both. Anyone who has been around here in this last stretch knew that it's going to take a little bit of time to put the pieces back together in a strong way and make a real team, a team that can play football and a team that has the right mentality, a team that can be resilient, a team that can win.

So yeah, again, anyone who has been around here knew that there was no quick fix. There was no magic dust and all of a sudden everything was going to be perfect. We knew that. But tonight especially the first half is not good enough. It's frustrating because we feel like in this last stretch, we have made good progress in terms of how we want to play, in terms of, you know, again, pushing games in the right way, playing our football. Yeah, it's not added up to enough points, yet. But we feel like there's been good progress in this last stretch. The first half was a step backwards in that regard.

But we have no choice now but to regroup and get ourselves ready for a huge home game on Saturday, and obviously now we know that with -- at some point with Lorenzo, with Mimmo, we'll start to have a few new faces and so we will try to integrate them as quickly as possible and continue to make real strides.

Q. Was the fatigue both mental and physical a factor tonight?

Not an excuse. You go through different periods in a season where games pile up, and yeah, it's all part of it. When I use the word resilient, that's exactly what I mean, just the group's ability even on nights when things aren't easy, even on nights when things don't come perfectly to still find ways to make the right plays and to play our football and to still take points. We have to continue to learn in those ways. We will.

Q. The last two games, you've encountered a low block from the opposition. What are some of the challenges with that?

Just a lot of numbers behind the ball. Again, I think our football is getting better. But still, turning that football into more big chances, into more goals, that's the next step.

Q. As you know, it was Pozuelo's one hundredth game in all competitions today but got some rough treatment against Seattle, doing his artistic best to help your team. Can you talk about what he's done recently?

He's been in good form. Obviously we know the ability that he has in terms of being able to make special plays, and so you know, in this last stretch, he's been able to come through for us in some important moments, whether it's assists or goals. You know, we are going to continue to need that in a big way.

Q. I was not able to see short combinations today. Do you think you play better with Pozuelo close to you? I see you only trying to carry the team, are you looking for a better partner or did something happen today?

I think there were moments of where the connections were tighter and we were able to play quicker with each other. Obviously Seattle, a big part of their plan was to clog the center of the field. You know, to still find the right ways to play but also play from inside out and use the half-spaces and use the wider areas also becomes important. I thought there were moments where the football and the connections and the fluidity was good and obviously the game presents different challenges, and so you try to find the right ways to still attack and find chances.

Q. What would you tell a lot of the younger guys that are experiencing a lot of football in several days?

Just to keep going. There's no substitute for doing it. You know, the experience that they are all picking up is so important. They are great kids. Kids isn't even the right word; young men. Men. Players. You know, they are great guys. They come in every day hungry, motivated. They have all shown real glimpse of the quality they have.

And it's normal that again for everybody, as we are trying to put the pieces back together in a real way to build a team that now there's frustrating moments, there's moments where things don't go exactly the way you would like, and the ability to just keep going, the mentality that says nothing is going to put you off to just push and push and push that part. You know, I think I mentioned to you guys a few weeks ago, that's what separates guys.

That's the difference between good players and great players. That's the difference between guys who play for a few years and guys who have really long careers. They are all doing really well. We just have to keep finding the right ways to keep helping them and supporting them. Look, they help and support us, also. So we'll keep at it together.

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