Soccer Weekend: Revs look to expose porous Toronto back line

Let's face it: we know all about the offensive quality in Toronto FC.

Between Jozy Altidore (who is returning after an ankle injury last Saturday in Harrison) and Sebastian Giovinco, who is nursing a calf injury, the Reds can make the onion bag burp with regularity. After all, they are the defending MLS champions, and the CONCACAF Champions League runners-up. To get to that level, you gotta score.

But as we’ve learned this season, so too can Toronto’s opponents.

TFC has yielded 57 goals in the league so far in 2018, and that’s thanks to a rather porous defensive unit which has seen several of its key parts spend time in the trainer’s room this season. For instance, defender Drew Moor is listed as “very questionable,” according to The Canadian Press, with a calf strain. Chris Mavinga, though, is back in the Toronto XI, and he can cause problems for an offense.

Another thing that’s worrisome for Toronto supporters? The Reds are 0-14-1 when conceding first.

Certainly, it’s something the Revolution, unbeaten in their last four, will look to take advantage of — and in the process, expose — at BMO Field Saturday night (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Boston, WBZ-FM 98.5).

“They are a team that likes to build out of the back, we’re a team that likes to press, so it’s going to be one team’s system against another’s, and hopefully we can force them into quite a few mistakes,” New England manager Brad Friedel said earlier this week.

Toronto’s defense, for the lack of a better word, is weak. Depending on its alignment, whether with a traditional four in the back — two centerbacks, a left and a right back — or with three, the Reds have a tendency to be flat-footed, have a tendency to ball-watch, and can be a step too slow when dealing with teams that have a bit of Liquid Schwartz in their kicks.

With three in the back, the Reds play compressed, its back line players keeping their shape. But they position themselves equally, not more than 5-8 yards apart. That allows for plenty of room out on the flanks for — in this weekend’s case — the Revolution’s right and left midfielders (more than likely Kelyn Rowe or Juan Agudelo and Cristian Penilla, respectively) to move, and to create chances.

Another thing that gets Toronto’s goat? Switching the point of attack at the top of the box. It flummoxes the Reds, disorganizes them, and generally will cause their defensive units to switch off.

“We’re going to work both sides of the field,” Revolution central defensive midfielder Scott Caldwell said earlier this week; the Braintree native has been able to pounce on two loose balls against lackadaisical defenses and convert for goals in recent weeks. “You can’t always prepare to go down one side, you have to use the whole field to take care of anyone’s weaknesses.

“They’ve been giving up some goals, especially at home. We’re going to break it down more throughout the week and try to pick out some prime examples.”

Revs forward Teal Bunbury is looking forward to feasting on the Reds — especially if he can get behind them: Toronto has been known to play a rather high line, almost a form of an offside trap, and if the timing is there for New England… well, you know. The Revs have to hit them quick.

Not only that, Toronto likes to play out of the back, which falls into the pressing style the Revs like to employ. Against Portland on August 29, the Timbers’ second goal came as Michael Bradley — who may play in the back line given Moor’s potential absence; Toronto gaffer Greg Vanney has utilized Bradley in that way in the past — was caught unawares with his back to the middle third, was dispossessed, and was slow to react as the Timbers drove in and scored.

“(Toronto’s play) suits our style; they’re comfortable on the ball, but we enjoy being able to press teams,” Bunbury said Tuesday. “They’re playing at home, so they will feel even more comfortable. We just have to make sure we’re taking our chances and we have to try and drive the game. We have to get three points; we can’t be complacent.”

Bunbury also notes that New England can expose Toronto by “just getting in behind, using our pace, using our speed. Sometimes they commit players forward and there’s space in behind, so I think with diagonal runs, that’s going to be something important for us.”