Thursday night's display in Washington was downright despicable. When your coach has no words to defend your effort, you know you had yourself a night. But sadly, the lack of effort and care has been a theme for most of the season thus far. This team is absolutely cooked. Obviously, we kicked off the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take by giving our initial comments on whatever that game was. We were harsh, we were critical. At the end of the day, it's getting to a point where the players may be forcing Brad Treliving's hand. This isn't on the coach, but ultimately, it's easiest scapegoat to pull.
Saturday's match against Athletic Club was always going to be special, whatever the result. Even though there is still plenty of building work to be completed at Camp Nou before Barcelona can boast the biggest stadium in Europe, the plain fact that the Catalans were finally back home after two years was worthy of a celebration. Before a ball was kicked, feelings were heightened, due in no small part to the festival atmosphere that had been created in and around the ground.