I'm back.  Let's work.
 
Toronto FC and Product Plug New York played a tense, messy bit of largely forgettable soccer in the howling wind and cold, soaking damp of BMO Field last night.  It ended in a 1-1 drain-off, with both sides perhaps lucky to score, and little serious chance that the tally was ever going to be higher.
 
The best news for the Torontos?  The back four, which keeps improving but didn't really have much choice after that horrendous early outing in D.C., held the dangerous New York attacking duo of Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore without a shot on goal all night.  The Reds showed good, consistent graft in-close, and got a point from a game earlier incarnations of this team could very, very easily have lost.
 
The concern, alas, was up front.
 
Fan and franchise favourite Danny Dichio struggled badly last night.  The New Yorkers switched from a three-man defensive unit to a four, and marked Dichio out of the match – a bit too easily, many observers thought.  Their two central defenders set up three to five yards either side of Toronto's isolated forward threat, and Dichio was unable to dislodge them.  He looked both deliberate and tentative on the few through balls that found him – not a promising combo in admittedly difficult weather.
 
Toronto coach John Carver – whose smiling post-game bluntness is winning admirers among the so-called experts, myself included – declined to single his striker out for criticism.  But when all his praise went to his goaltender, defenders and midfield, the flip side of the coin was up there spinning for anyone who cared to call it.
 
So I did.  Asked directly, Carver felt Dichio should have moved in close to one of his defenders, giving him one man he could turn, leaving the other fullback off on his own.  But he also rose mildly to Dichio's defence, saying he was out there to knock down high balls from the midfield, which never came.  Also, there weren't enough dangerous forward runs that could have pried the advertising-clad New York defenders off the lonely striker's back.
 
The point here is not to rip Danny Dichio.  But concern – certainly – has raised its head.
 
Some nights, lone strikers have to do all the work themselves.  With the rest of the Torontos largely gobbled up on containment duty, it fell to Dichio to find ways to get open.  On this night, he didn't.
 
The speedier and smaller Jeff Cunningham got a late look, subbing in for Dichio on 83 minutes.  He didn't have any luck slipping the chronic double coverage either.

But after tonight, I suspect he'll get a start or two so Carver can do some comparison shopping, seeing how his new midfield flies with an entirely different kind of target man.
 
Personally, I'm still hoping we get some chances to see Dichio and Cunningham working together, because they have an instinctive passing by-play that creates chances and is a lot of fun to watch.  But with the multi-faceted dangerousness of Amado Guevara prowling the netherland between midfield and attack, there really isn't room for the both of them anymore.
 
I'm certainly not going to chase a man out of town for having an off-night.  But just at the moment, the Red Rocket that is TFC is working a lot harder than its nosecone.  And that will kill you dead in the playoffs – if you manage to get there.
 
Onward!