Win or lose, this season there is little time to dwell on results between matches.

The fixtures continue thick and fast for Toronto FC as the 2020 MLS regular season winds down and the MLS Cup Playoffs come into frame.

Two of TFC’s three remaining games are on the docket this week as they face NYCFC on Wednesday night at Pratt & Whitney Stadium’s Rentschler Field and then welcome expansion side Inter Miami CF to The Rent on Sunday.

The club will close the season a week later when they visit the New York Red Bulls.

Saturday’s 5-0 defeat away to the Philadelphia Union was a shock, no doubt, but sometimes a little kick in the pants can be useful.

“We have to be more deliberate from the start, we have to catch the speed of the game earlier,” said Greg Vanney during Tuesday’s Zoom conference call. “We never even got it in the last game.”

“A lot of this time of year is about how well you play without the ball, not just with the ball,” he continued. “Making good decisions, being able to compete and win individual battles around the field can turn the tide of a game every now and then.”

“We're into that playoff mode. We have seven games left and three trophies to play for. We need to start getting our mindset around what is playoff-type of soccer and the intensity and the speed and all that stuff,” Vanney added. “Last game we let ourselves down a bit, but we have an experienced group and our response needs to be [that] we physically and mentally need to be at the speed of the game a lot earlier and get ourselves into the game.”

“As a collective it’s a good wake up call, a nice slap on the back, to realize that there are a lot of competitive teams in this league, a lot of teams are very ambitious,” reminded Quentin Westberg. “When they play us, teams bring their A game.”

“It's a good reminder, but it's also good to put a little bit of perspective,” he continued. “Every game that we play is a challenge because everyone comes out to play their best game against TFC, which speaks a lot about the club, about the institution, but also is a good challenge for us.”

“Whatever the situation – hard or not, at home or not – every single game is difficult in this league,” Westberg said. “It puts a little bit of perspective on how well we've been doing, but also how committed we need to be if we want to keep doing well.”

Every MLS season is a grind, this one only more so with the added uncertainty, the long waits and subsequent fixture congestion, never mind being away from home for such long stretches.

The defeat in Philadelphia was a reminder that it is that time of year again.

“[That’s what] the playoffs are about,” said Vanney. “It's usually a little bit more two-sided, in terms of each team has its moments and throws the punches the other team has to defend a little bit and back and forth.”

“That's the way the Eastern Conference is going to be this year,” he continued. “There's a lot of teams that are trying to impose themselves on the opposition and not just sitting back and hanging out. These are going to be like heavyweight matches – every single one of these games down the stretch and going into the playoffs.”

Up first is a familiar foe: NYCFC.

Over the course of the last two seasons these two teams have met more than most.

Toronto emerged with a 1-0 victory courtesy of an Ifunanyachi Achara goal when they clashed a life-time ago on March 7 and 1-0 again in the last meeting on September 23 when Alejandro Pozuelo converted yet another last-minute penalty kick against Sean Johnson in the NYCFC goal.

In between New York got the better of Toronto in the Knockout Round of the MLS is Back Tournament with a 3-1 win.

They also met three times in 2019 with TFC winning in March and the two drawing in September, before that unforgettable post-season encounter and yet another brace and last-minute Panenka from Pozuelo that saw the Reds advance.

“They're a good team,” levelled Vanney. “They've given us some challenges throughout the course of the season. I said last time we played them: their capacity to press and be disruptive is a big part of what they do. They're still capable with the ball, but they've been more aggressive about how they're pressing and how they're getting after the game on the defensive side.”

“I assume that that will be similar,” he added. “We need to be able, be ready to manage the pressure, get control of the game in different ways.”

NYCFC have clinched their spot in the playoffs, sitting in fifth place in the East with 30 points, two behind fourth-placed Orlando City SC.

It has been a bit of an up-and-down season for Ronny Delia in his first year in charge of the club, mixing genuinely impressive spells with ones where results have been hard to come by.

“For them it's about whether they get goals or not,” pinpointed Vanney. “It seems simple, but they tend to create chances; they haven't always punished teams with the chances they've created and that can leave them vulnerable.”

Familiarity breeds contempt, but also a measure of respect.

“[They’re], with Montreal, an opponent that we’ve played quite a lot,” began Westberg. “They always play their best games against us.”

“It's going to be a very high pressing team, a little bit more direct than what they used to be, not as elaborate as they were maybe a year-and-a-half ago or so. A strong opponent with very good individuals and a core group of guys that know each other really well,” he added. “A little bit like us, so it’s always a good challenge against NYCFC. We're going to respect them a lot, but impose our style and our game on them.”