Charlotte FC’s Stock Up, Stock Down: Toklomati continues to play; slow offense ruins opportunity against 10 Men
By Sam Vanolinda
The glaring negatives for Charlotte FC this season, which have been ignored due to the match results, were displayed in Sunday afternoon’s 1-0 loss to Inter Miami.
After Wilfried Zaha poked the ball past Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari in the 38th minute and was brought down by the Argentinian with a clear goal-scoring chance in front of him, we all thought that the Charlotte FC team with a man advantage would cruise to victory against a Messi-less Inter Miami team.
Unfortunately, the Crown's tortoiselike offensive showing and a loss of concentration at the start of the second half set the tone for a disheartening night.
The first couple of weeks have been very positive for Charlotte this season, but there have been issues with many players on the team that will now take the spotlight after an embarrassing prime-time performance.
Dean Smith in the post-game presser said he was impressed with the way the team played. I think for the first 20 minutes of the game the team played with great energy; besides that, they struggled greatly with a man advantage.
Here is the stock up/down for Sunday’s game:
Stock Up
Idan Toklomati
Every week Toklomati is finding his way into the game.
In a 10-second sequence, he made more of an impact than Liel Abada has all season. Shortly after being introduced in the right-wing position, Toklomati beat a defender and cut in towards the goal, coming inches away from evening the game with a shot that hit the left post.
Now, Toklomati has been subbed into two positions: striker and right-wing. Dean Smith clearly sees a lot in the youngster.
In a game with not many positives, let's look to the youth; Toklomati is a prospect who has made an impact so far.
If Abada keeps offering absolutely nothing, why not give Toklomati a start in that position?
Iuri Tavares
Tavares made it back into the game on Sunday night, being subbed in the 77th minute for Pep Biel. While his impact wasn’t incredible, his stock is up due to his appearance.
With Abada’s poor performance, we may be able to see more minutes for Tavares in the upcoming games.
Stock Down
Patrick Agyemang
Another game in which Agyemang has had little involvement. It seems like he has lost confidence when possessing the ball.
With the small chances he did have, he was wasteful. His header that went wide in the second half needs to be finished.
Agyemang just needs to see the net ripple to build some momentum and confidence. A 10-man Miami team seemed like the perfect storm for him to make a mark on the match, but it was not to be.
When the opposing team is down to 10 men and has their third string goalkeeper in the game, the striker should be salivating.
Three total shots with none on target and 21 touches in 86 minutes of play. There are plenty of veteran strikers who are still on the market that can offer a lot more impact.
Liel Abada
Again, I am not trying to single out these players every week, but these players are the reason Charlotte FC’s offense is so slow.
It's easy to see when you watch the game. The right side of the field was barely even thought about. The ball was constantly being forced to Zaha because Abada showed little quality on his side.
DP players are going to get significant minutes, but there are better options at right wing right now.
Abada had eight passes. Eight. Zero chances created, 23 touches, and 0/3 successful dribbles. It may as well have been 10v10 when he was on the field.
After zero successful dribbles, his replacement, Toklomati immediately came in and successfully beat a Miami player before creating a massive chance.
Adilson Malanda
Inter Miami’s goal just seconds into the second half was a lack of concentration from the whole defense, but Malanda did not track the run of Allende after the 1-2 with Suarez well enough.
Malanda did not show urgency when Suarez lofted the ball over his head, and by the time he could turn around, Allende was slotting the ball into the corner and celebrating.
Besides this one moment, the defense had very little to do and was solid in thwarting Miami's attacks, but against a team with the attacking quality Miami has you cannot lose concentration.
When you are playing against the Revolution you may get away with not tracking a run, but Sunday afternoon Charlotte was playing against Luis Suarez; even when he is pushing 40 he has absolute world-class ability on the ball.
Brandt Bronico
At the start of the first half, it looked like Bronico would have a great game. He was making wide, angeled runs in the space that Wilfried Zaha was creating.
When the Miami right back Gonzalo Lujan would press Zaha when he received the ball, there was instantly a lot of space in behind on the flank. Bronico was making impactful runs and receiving the ball in space.
Unfortunately, once Miami got into the game and started dominating possession Bronico faded into obscurity in the game; he only had 23 passes and was dispossessed three times.
This was the type of game where you want a more attacking player in Bronico’s role, especially when Miami went down to 10 men. Dean Smith could've made a change at halftime. Bronico thrives when out of possession hustling and counter-attacking, but when it's 11v10 you want a more creative player to ignite the offense.
