Following a 2-0 loss away to the New England Revolution on Saturday that stretched Toronto FC’s losing streak to five games, TFC striker Robert Earnshaw did not mince words.
"They were better than us today," Earnshaw said after TFC struggled mightily to generate scoring chances against the Revolution. “They kept the ball and what they did attacking-wise was better than us. They got two goals and maybe they could have got one or two more.”
One of the ongoing themes for Toronto FC this season has centered on the fact that while the squad has often played well enough to earn at least a draw from most of their matches, lapses of concentration late in games or slow starts have tripped the team up and prevented them from delivering truly complete performances over a full 90 minutes.
After a poor first half against the Revolution, TFC were buoyed by the insertion of rookie midfielder Jonathan Osorio at the start of the second half and they made a push for a result right up until New England forward Juan Agudelo scored an insurance goal to shut the door during stoppage time.
“What we really should have done was stepped it up from the beginning,” Earnshaw said. “That’s down to the team. As a team we didn’t turn up today. The effort and quality could have been a lot better tonight.”
With Toronto now in the midst of a run of five games against Eastern Conference opponents, a TFC (1-7-4) squad sitting on a lone victory to date still has a chance to work their way back into the MLS Playoffs picture. In order to do that they will need to reverse a run of form that has seen the club struggle to score goals in recent fixtures.
OPTA Chalkboard: TFC dominates duels with the Revolution, but can not capitalize
TFC have now been shut out in two straight matches and the defeat to New England (4-4-4) actually marks the first time that the Reds have lost by more than a single goal in league action.
“Our standards need to be raised from what they have been over the last several weeks,” Earnshaw added. “We need to improve very, very quickly. Next week you will see a very different team because we can’t put out what we did today. There has definitely got to be improvement and there will be.”
