Jonathan Osorio’s possible return has TFC coach Bob Bradley looking at the bright side

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Some of us timeworn Monty Python fans have come to the conclusion that Toronto FC coach Bob Bradley must be a Monty Python fan.

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He is certainly a practitioner of the comedy troupe’s famous ditty, ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.’

Since the 2022 MLS season began, the first-year TFC manager has dealt with a never-ending slew of injuries, a problem that is difficult to overcome when you’re dealing with a relatively new roster. With that, came a stretch earlier this year when the Reds were bleeding goals.

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Recently, TFC can’t score, having gone three straight games without putting the ball in the back of the opposition goal. Toronto has scored one goal in the last four and has lost five games in a row heading into Saturday’s match at DC United.

There’s also the fact that the Reds have yet to post a clean sheet this season – something that goalkeeper Alex Bono said “keeps him awake at night.” TFC’s previous clean sheet came against Colorado (0-0) on Sept. 25, 2021, though the Reds kept Vancouver and Orlando off the board until added time in their last two matches.

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Yet there was Bradley on Thursday, happily (well, perhaps ‘cordially’ would be the better word) fielding questions about injuries, the club’s offensive woes, the earlier defensive woes … The bottom line, despite his team’s problems, Bradley still sees the bright side of things and is optimistic that his charges can turn their fortunes around in the U.S. capital on Saturday.

Part of that optimism lies in the fact that veteran midfielder Jonathan Osorio, who has missed TFC’s last two matches with a lower-body injury, is back training and may play on Saturday.

“When you go through a stretch and (goals) are hard to come by, there’s always different factors. Generally speaking, I think we get up around the box enough times, but the final parts of decisions – the right pass, the right finish, getting enough runners in the box – I think there’s just a lot of things there we must continue to work on,” said Bradley. “And when we look at our group right now, that part is not at as high a level as it needs to be. Obviously when we go through some games and Oso’s healthy and he’s sharp and the ball moves quickly through the midfield, which it does most games, and Oso gets it with a little bit of an opportunity and now there’s options for him, then we see some good things.”

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“We’ve scored some good goals (earlier),” Bradley added. “When Oso’s out, obviously we’re not quite as good at finding some of those moments. But it doesn’t change the ideas. I still think the advantages are there and we just have to continue to work to improve on how we handle it.”

Another factor weighing in Toronto’s favour this Saturday is that forward Ayo Akinola, who has yet to start for TFC since suffering an ACL injury last July, is getting healthier and is getting close to being able to start. Akinola, TFC’s co-leading goal scorer in 2020 with nine in 15 appearances, played 45 minutes off the bench in TFC’s 2-1 loss to Orlando last Saturday, and is starting to get his chances.

“I don’t think he’s ready for 90 minutes, but coming off the 45 minutes against Orlando I think it is a possibility that he could start (against DC United), and we can begin to push the number of minutes past 45,” said Bradley, adding that he has explored numerous ways Akinola and first-year forward Jesus Jimenez could feed off each other when they’re finally playing together for an extended period of time.

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“There’s possibilities of playing a little bit more with two strikers. There’s way that we can do it,” said the coach. “Tactically, we’ve had to think about a lot of different things as we’ve moved through this first part of the year. I think we still prefer 4-3-3, but the ability to get the best out of all of our players is always the lead part of any discussion. And so as Ayo is able to play more and more minutes, we’ll look at all the different ways that he and Jesus can be connected on the field and consider some of the different tactical ideas. We played some games with a version of 3-4-2-1, that’s easily changed to 3-4-1-2. So I think some of the work that has been done so far will lend itself to the flexibility when he’s ready to give us more minutes.”

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Bradley said Osorio trained with the team on Wednesday, though that was scaled back on Thursday. He added that the injured Alejandro Pozuelo and Jacob Shaffelburg are making improvements though he is unsure if they will be available for Saturday’s game.

Clearly, TFC’s offence is not the same without those two. Bradley said fullback Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty is still “some time away” from returning. Also still on the injured list are midfielder Noble Okello, defender Chris Mavinga and full back Kadin Chung.

“There’s a focus on how we continue to go from game to game to game – take the good things, build on those, and work on things that need to be improved,” said Bradley. “When you’re in this type of situation and you’re building a team, what you don’t want to do is to come in with different ideas every week. So there’s a consistency on how we want to play and what we want to be about and the response of the players has been positive.”

[email protected]
Twitter @Beezersun

Article content

Some of us timeworn Monty Python fans have come to the conclusion that Toronto FC coach Bob Bradley must be a Monty Python fan.

Article content

He is certainly a practitioner of the comedy troupe’s famous ditty, ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.’

Since the 2022 MLS season began, the first-year TFC manager has dealt with a never-ending slew of injuries, a problem that is difficult to overcome when you’re dealing with a relatively new roster. With that, came a stretch earlier this year when the Reds were bleeding goals.

Article content

Recently, TFC can’t score, having gone three straight games without putting the ball in the back of the opposition goal. Toronto has scored one goal in the last four and has lost five games in a row heading into Saturday’s match at DC United.

There’s also the fact that the Reds have yet to post a clean sheet this season – something that goalkeeper Alex Bono said “keeps him awake at night.” TFC’s previous clean sheet came against Colorado (0-0) on Sept. 25, 2021, though the Reds kept Vancouver and Orlando off the board until added time in their last two matches.

Article content

Yet there was Bradley on Thursday, happily (well, perhaps ‘cordially’ would be the better word) fielding questions about injuries, the club’s offensive woes, the earlier defensive woes … The bottom line, despite his team’s problems, Bradley still sees the bright side of things and is optimistic that his charges can turn their fortunes around in the U.S. capital on Saturday.

Part of that optimism lies in the fact that veteran midfielder Jonathan Osorio, who has missed TFC’s last two matches with a lower-body injury, is back training and may play on Saturday.

“When you go through a stretch and (goals) are hard to come by, there’s always different factors. Generally speaking, I think we get up around the box enough times, but the final parts of decisions – the right pass, the right finish, getting enough runners in the box – I think there’s just a lot of things there we must continue to work on,” said Bradley. “And when we look at our group right now, that part is not at as high a level as it needs to be. Obviously when we go through some games and Oso’s healthy and he’s sharp and the ball moves quickly through the midfield, which it does most games, and Oso gets it with a little bit of an opportunity and now there’s options for him, then we see some good things.”

Article content

“We’ve scored some good goals (earlier),” Bradley added. “When Oso’s out, obviously we’re not quite as good at finding some of those moments. But it doesn’t change the ideas. I still think the advantages are there and we just have to continue to work to improve on how we handle it.”

Another factor weighing in Toronto’s favour this Saturday is that forward Ayo Akinola, who has yet to start for TFC since suffering an ACL injury last July, is getting healthier and is getting close to being able to start. Akinola, TFC’s co-leading goal scorer in 2020 with nine in 15 appearances, played 45 minutes off the bench in TFC’s 2-1 loss to Orlando last Saturday, and is starting to get his chances.

“I don’t think he’s ready for 90 minutes, but coming off the 45 minutes against Orlando I think it is a possibility that he could start (against DC United), and we can begin to push the number of minutes past 45,” said Bradley, adding that he has explored numerous ways Akinola and first-year forward Jesus Jimenez could feed off each other when they’re finally playing together for an extended period of time.

Article content

“There’s possibilities of playing a little bit more with two strikers. There’s way that we can do it,” said the coach. “Tactically, we’ve had to think about a lot of different things as we’ve moved through this first part of the year. I think we still prefer 4-3-3, but the ability to get the best out of all of our players is always the lead part of any discussion. And so as Ayo is able to play more and more minutes, we’ll look at all the different ways that he and Jesus can be connected on the field and consider some of the different tactical ideas. We played some games with a version of 3-4-2-1, that’s easily changed to 3-4-1-2. So I think some of the work that has been done so far will lend itself to the flexibility when he’s ready to give us more minutes.”

Article content

Bradley said Osorio trained with the team on Wednesday, though that was scaled back on Thursday. He added that the injured Alejandro Pozuelo and Jacob Shaffelburg are making improvements though he is unsure if they will be available for Saturday’s game.

Clearly, TFC’s offence is not the same without those two. Bradley said fullback Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty is still “some time away” from returning. Also still on the injured list are midfielder Noble Okello, defender Chris Mavinga and full back Kadin Chung.

“There’s a focus on how we continue to go from game to game to game – take the good things, build on those, and work on things that need to be improved,” said Bradley. “When you’re in this type of situation and you’re building a team, what you don’t want to do is to come in with different ideas every week. So there’s a consistency on how we want to play and what we want to be about and the response of the players has been positive.”

[email protected]
Twitter @Beezersun