The 24th Minute Season review

[SweetOwnGoal]

Part I: What to do about Mo (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-i-what-to-do.html)

I'm doing a five part series:

Part I - Mo Johnston and management
Part II - What went right on the pitch?
Part III - What went wrong on the pitch?
Part IV - Player and staff report card
Part V - What needs to happen?

[felipe]

huh...good article Duane...although I'll second your thinking on Cummins and apply it to MoJo - you can't replace him unless you got something better. Change for the sake of change is pointless

[Pigfynn]

Exactly...who is better? and Is it even possible to hire them?

[stretchthetruth]

Thread Title Fixed...

ah man, my sweet joke got removed!

[VPjr]

Exactly...who is better? and Is it even possible to hire them?

You want a Steve Nicol or Preki? Give them control of Coaching and Player Personnel. Dump Mo because no one good is gonna want to touch this mess with a 10 foot pole (unless they are ridiculously overpaid) with Mo (and good buddy Barry) still in charge of player personnel decisions.

Hire some smart lawyer with MLS front office experience to handle the supposedly intricate MLS rulebook. Let their impressive network of contacts help fill the glaring holes in TFC's lineup. You don't need to make 1000 trades to build your team. Do some solid scouting, scour the lower leagues for one or two depth players to help fill quotas. Go offshore to bring in some good talent. Its not quite that simple but I think the Sigi Schmid and Bruce Arena examples show that a good manager, surrounded by good support people, can make a huge difference to a club.

[Cambridge_Red]

You want a Steve Nicol or Preki? Give them control of Coaching and Player Personnel. Dump Mo because no one good is gonna want to touch this mess with a 10 foot pole (unless they are ridiculously overpaid) with Mo (and good buddy Barry) still in charge of player personnel decisions.

Hire some smart lawyer with MLS front office experience to handle the supposedly intricate MLS rulebook. Let their impressive network of contacts help fill the glaring holes in TFC's lineup. You don't need to make 1000 trades to build your team. Do some solid scouting, scour the lower leagues for one or two depth players to help fill quotas. Go offshore to bring in some good talent. Its not quite that simple but I think the Sigi Schmid and Bruce Arena examples show that a good manager, surrounded by good support people, can make a huge difference to a club.


Yes my man preach the good word, I totally agree and have been saying this since the end of last season about Mo.

[FluSH]

Part I: What to do about Mo (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-i-what-to-do.html)

I'm doing a five part series:

Part I - Mo Johnston and management
Part II - What went right on the pitch?
Part III - What went wrong on the pitch?
Part IV - Player and staff report card
Part V - What needs to happen?


Will you have much to talk about for the Part II?

[mighty_torontofc_2008]

I have supported Mo for the Most part the last 3 seasons but his Bringing in DeRo and JDG could be the final straw...neither played help the club, we may have gotten
worse bringing these two on board....i remember when DeRo signed the majority on here
preditced playoff for sure and a few crazies predicted MLS cup triumph...we we got neither ...Mo needs to sopt listening to what fans want and concentrate on whats good for the club...If DeRO and JDG were to leave in the off season i would be celebrating likes its new years ever.. fingers crossed.

[ArmenJBX]

I have supported Mo for the Most part the last 3 seasons but his Bringing in DeRo and JDG could be the final straw...neither played help the club, we may have gotten
worse bringing these two on board....i remember when DeRo signed the majority on here
preditced playoff for sure and a few crazies predicted MLS cup triumph...we we got neither ...Mo needs to sopt listening to what fans want and concentrate on whats good for the club...If DeRO and JDG were to leave in the off season i would be celebrating likes its new years ever.. fingers crossed.

We get it. You hate De Rosario. Why that is, I don't know...

Seriously dude, how can you deny what De Ro has done this season! No one would celebrate them leaving except you and couple others. Without De Rosario, we would be DEAD LAST this season. He's won a lot of games for us and managed to draw a couple of them.

I admit, a couple of fan pressured signings were bad. I agree that perhaps he should focus more on what we need, rather then what fans want. Ali Gerba and Nick Garcia come to mind. Both were signings we called for (Though not directly...we asked for a center back and a striker...he got us those two) He was pressured into them and probably wouldn't have signed them if we weren't screaming our asses off. Right now, we just need to get a solid, hot shot centerback, a winger, and a striker. Dejan Jakovic, Will Johnson, Cam Weaver. There you go.

We also need an authoritarian coach and need to trim the cancerous players from the locker room.

[Cambridge_Red]

Who's the cancer then? A cancer is usually a player with influence is he not? Like a leading scorer ?? hmm maybe.. OR is this something dreamed up to distract the real truth that Mo Johnston has fucked this team. Anyways something to think about..

[ag futbol]

You want a Steve Nicol or Preki? Give them control of Coaching and Player Personnel. Dump Mo because no one good is gonna want to touch this mess with a 10 foot pole (unless they are ridiculously overpaid) with Mo (and good buddy Barry) still in charge of player personnel decisions.

Hire some smart lawyer with MLS front office experience to handle the supposedly intricate MLS rulebook. Let their impressive network of contacts help fill the glaring holes in TFC's lineup. You don't need to make 1000 trades to build your team. Do some solid scouting, scour the lower leagues for one or two depth players to help fill quotas. Go offshore to bring in some good talent. Its not quite that simple but I think the Sigi Schmid and Bruce Arena examples show that a good manager, surrounded by good support people, can make a huge difference to a club.
That's the thing, other league have rules as well and while MLS has it's own wierd spin it's hardly a un-heard of managerial challenge. Other leagues have strange and challenging restrictions as well ... MLS just happens to be the local garb that's more publicized.

This situation can be as simple as this: Mo Johnston's contract is over, Preki (from everything we've heard) is not coming back to Chivas as the ownership there is slightly crazy and insanely cheap.

There's no compensation to be paid to the league, nothing to be paid to Johnston ... nothing else to bother except that a better manager will soon be available than the one we currnetly have. Give him the resources to be successful that we gave Johnston and I would bet money we'd never regret it.

[felipe]

I do not want Preki. period.

[SweetOwnGoal]

Part II - the positives (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-ii-al-that-went.html)

[Rudi]

Who's the cancer then? A cancer is usually a player with influence is he not? Like a leading scorer ?? hmm maybe.. OR is this something dreamed up to distract the real truth that Mo Johnston has fucked this team. Anyways something to think about..
Dreamed up by Kristian Jack, who has shown that he has no love lost for Mo and will not hesitate to speak the truth?

Yeah, I'm sure KJ is trying to distract from the real truth in his latest blog post. :rolleyes:

[Globetrotter]

Here's my season in review:

YEAR W L T PT GF GA +/- Position
07 6 17 7 25 25 49 -24 13/13
08 9 13 8 35 34 43 -9 12/14
09 10 11 9 39 37 46 -9 12/15


HOME
W L T PT GF GA +/-
5 7 3 18 17 18 -1
6 2 7 25 17 12 +5
8 3 4 28 20 14 +6


AWAY
W L T PT GF GA +/-
1 10 4 7 8 31 -23
3 11 1 10 17 31 -14
2 8 5 11 17 32 -15


IMPROVEMENTS:
1 more win
2 less losses
1 more tie
4 more points
3 more goals for

**at home
2 more wins
3 more points
3 more goals for
1 more goal differential

**on road
3 less losses
1 more point
4 more ties


FAILURES:
3 more goals against
12th place, with one more team in the league

**at home
1 more loss
2 more goals against

**on road
1 less win
1 more goal against
1 more goal differential


NO CHANGE:
Goal differential
12th overall
out of playoffs

**on road
goals for


You can make a laundry list of new faces or new starters on the field. We changed the coach. We brought in a DP. We didn't have to deal with as bad of an international schedule.

So what does all this amount to?

4 more points, no change in goal differential, still no higher than 12th place, out of the playoffs.

So, we could say that's a baby step forward. All that change for a baby step. But let's not forget how Dichio was treated (speculation?), DeRo claiming he was promised DP spot (speculation?), Cummins now speaking of unfulfilled promises to him (speculation?).

So, we might have stepped on some important feet, and made a whole lot of moves like in years past. Thanks for that extra home win and road tie. :rolleyes:

[Roogsy]

^ Great friggin post.

[SweetOwnGoal]

Part III - What went wrong (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-iii-what-went.html)

[prizby]

Duane-in part 2 you said Frei has an EU passport

Can you (or anyone else) explain how Frei has an EU passport. Switzerland is not part of the European Union, so I am not sure how Frei would qualify for a EU passport because of this?

[menefreghista]

Duane-in part 2 you said Frei has an EU passport

Can you (or anyone else) explain how Frei has an EU passport. Switzerland is not part of the European Union, so I am not sure how Frei would qualify for a EU passport because of this?

Switzerland and the EU have a free movement of labour agreement that doesn't require work permits.

I'm going to assume this carries over to soccer.

[Nomad]

Duane-in part 2 you said Frei has an EU passport

Can you (or anyone else) explain how Frei has an EU passport. Switzerland is not part of the European Union, so I am not sure how Frei would qualify for a EU passport because of this?

It signed the Schengen treaty which means citizens of these 25 countries (EU members plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and a few others) have no borders within these countries and are free to travel (and i think work).

[prizby]

hmm i guess i haven't updated Football manager (i only have 07)...my swiss player on sevilla was considered "non EU"

[KrazyKanadian]

Oh, this is easy:

Part I - Mo Johnston and management - Fire them all
Part II - What went right on the pitch? - It lasted long enough to finish the season
Part III - What went wrong on the pitch? - They let TFC play
Part IV - Player and staff report card - F for everyone, except Malcolm
Part V - What needs to happen? - See part I

[Parkdale]

Part IV - Player and staff report card - F for everyone, except Malcolm

unless the players showed up on the pitch in street clothes, how could malcolm get anything but an A+

[SweetOwnGoal]

Part IV - The player report card (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-iv-report-card.html)

[SweetOwnGoal]

Oh, this is easy:

Part I - Mo Johnston and management - Fire them all
Part II - What went right on the pitch? - It lasted long enough to finish the season
Part III - What went wrong on the pitch? - They let TFC play
Part IV - Player and staff report card - F for everyone, except Malcolm
Part V - What needs to happen? - See part I


Al due respect and all, but you might want to watch the rest of the league a little bit to gain a fuller appreciation of where Toronto's season really stacks up. It was disappointing, sure. But, you make it should like this is the worst team in the history of MLS.

To suggest that there were no positives, or that every players deserves an F, is, frankly, pretty reactionary.

[Parkdale]

To suggest that there were no positives, or that every players deserves an F, is, frankly, pretty reactionary.


ooultras don't see positives. only victory or death.

[mastermixer]

Why do I have a feeling that either Gabe Gala or Faud Ibrahim will become stars on some other team in the next few years, or that Vitti will get 17 goals for Dallas next season...

[Roogsy]

To suggest that there were no positives, or that every players deserves an F, is, frankly, pretty reactionary.

Agreed.

That's twice I've agreed with you Duane. You may be on the wrong side of this issue! :D

Although to be fair, I think you were somewhat generous with some of the players. With the average score you gave, their performance doesn't add up to the standings and the points of the team overall.

[Parkdale]

^ you need to stop agreeing with everyone today. sheesh, why are you in such a good mood? Did you get all your beans counted early?

[Roogsy]

LOL!

Well...it has been a good week on the job front if not on the TFC front.

[SweetOwnGoal]

Part V - Where do we go from here? (http://www.24thminute.com/2009/10/tfc-season-review-part-v-where-do-we-go.html)

[Yohan]

Duane, IIRC, Nick Garcia won MLS Cup with MoJo back in 2000 with KC.

Enjoyed the articles. Now will anyone take Wynne for a decent winger or a 10 goal striker? lol