POST GAME-TFC 0-2 Sporting Kansas City

[jrober38]

At this stage TFC is totally broken. From the top to the bottom, every aspect of the team is broken beyond repair. After years of total ineptitude by management, the team is no longer in a position to hire good coaches or bring in quality players because the teams reputation has spent the past 5 years getting dragged through the mud.

What was at one point in time a great opportunity to establish soccer as an extremely popular professional sport in this city has been totally wasted. In a time when the Raptors and Leafs have been equally useless (no surprise given they share the same owners), TFC was presented a golden opportunity and they wasted it. Instead of filling the stadium and creating buzz around the team, season ticket holders can't give away their tickets because no one cares, and no one wants to see this team play aside from the people who invested money into this team before this season started.

At this point, the only way to fix TFC and their reputation is to sell the team to an owner or small partnership of owners who have a vision of running a successful soccer club. With that vision comes the desire for having good coaches and good players who can get results on the pitch. For as long as this team is run by a Corporate board of directors, there is no hope whatsoever for this team.

It's just that simple.

[jrober38]

The players who are supposed to be really good are awful by DP standards.

The role players aren't particularly bad, but the guys who are supposed to carry this team by single handedly making a major difference on the field are not getting the job done.

[ensco]

Remember your own Peddie analysis: the guy returned 5% annually and they revere him.

There'll be a different "they" once the deal closes.

Unlike Teachers, the new guys actually have a clue as to how to measure and run an operating business.

But sure, they're suits too - there will be new and interesting forms of dysfunction.

[JamboAl]

It was a typo, not improper grammar. The latter being infinitely worse.

So you've been following Hearts since the 70s? Awesome. That's somewhat surprising though. I mean; they haven't exactly won anything of significance since 1960. Judging by your original post I would have expected the "apathy" to set in some time ago. You could argue that they've won the Scottish Cup and the league a bunch of times (the last time being 1960 ouch), but the fact of the matter is that TFC has won more hardware / years in existence than they have (4 championships in 6 years).

So what's your criteria for increasing apathy towards one's team? If it's futility, Hearts has that in spades. When will "going out for gelato" eventually supercede your support for Hearts in terms of importance? Or is there something else I'm missing here.

It's nice to see that you've been supporting them since the 70's. I've been supporting TFC since 2007.

Generally, I don't go out for gelato at 10 am on a Saturday morning so have never been faced with that dilemma; and there's more to life than watching soccer, especially TFC. I've also been a Charlton Athletic supporter since the late 1980s and was a season ticket holder in the 90s when I lived in London...so I am definitely not a gloryhunter. You seem to have a good grasp of Scottish football...do you support Celtic or Club #12?

Apathy comes and goes...don't tell me there hasn't been a Leafs or Jays fan in Toronto that haven't felt the same way. And don't tell me that over the 6 seasons of TFC, you haven't said, "screw it, I've got something better to do." Cause if you haven't, then you are a better supporter than I (and I'd guess 90% of the people on this board).

[Chris Wren]

The team didn't look lost for most of those games. The only ones I would truly say we looked like shit were Montreal and DC United at home. Possibly also the San Jose at home. We were in every other game. We were not remotely in Saturday's game. Worst of the season for sure. We were playing a good team so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for that. Then again, RSL and Santos are good teams and Winter had us competitive in both.

I guess I was watching a different team. I was watching one that scored 8 while conceding 21. I was watching a team that had repeated, glaring defensive breakdowns. I was watching a coach who sat his DP striker while playing the likes of Terry Dunfield. I remember a coach who made Maicon Santos captain, and then traded him probably 10 games later for Avila, who now sits on the bench most games. If being competitive against the odd team is a measure of success I'm afraid our standards are pretty low.

By no means am I saying Marriner is the answer to our prayers, but this talk of Winter being some sort of hope is strange to me. I never saw the attractive football others seemed to see. I certainly didn't see much of a system, especially this year. I saw players who looked frustrated rather than confident. Marriner at least has some track record in this league. I'll give him more than one game to write him off completely.

[denime]

I guess I was watching a different team. I was watching one that scored 8 while conceding 21. I was watching a team that had repeated, glaring defensive breakdowns. I was watching a coach who sat his DP striker while playing the likes of Terry Dunfield. I remember a coach who made Maicon Santos captain, and then traded him probably 10 games later for Avila, who now sits on the bench most games. If being competitive against the odd team is a measure of success I'm afraid our standards are pretty low.

By no means am I saying Marriner is the answer to our prayers, but this talk of Winter being some sort of hope is strange to me. I never saw the attractive football others seemed to see. I certainly didn't see much of a system, especially this year. I saw players who looked frustrated rather than confident. Marriner at least has some track record in this league. I'll give him more than one game to write him off completely.

Name one as a head coach,please.

[jrober38]

I guess I was watching a different team. I was watching one that scored 8 while conceding 21. I was watching a team that had repeated, glaring defensive breakdowns. I was watching a coach who sat his DP striker while playing the likes of Terry Dunfield. I remember a coach who made Maicon Santos captain, and then traded him probably 10 games later for Avila, who now sits on the bench most games. If being competitive against the odd team is a measure of success I'm afraid our standards are pretty low.

By no means am I saying Marriner is the answer to our prayers, but this talk of Winter being some sort of hope is strange to me. I never saw the attractive football others seemed to see. I certainly didn't see much of a system, especially this year. I saw players who looked frustrated rather than confident. Marriner at least has some track record in this league. I'll give him more than one game to write him off completely.

The team is a disaster for all of the reasons you mentioned. They can't score and they can't defend.

No new coach is going to change that, especially when the new coach is our former head scout and director of player development who hand picked almost all of these players.

TFC's issue is that they're built the wrong way. They've allocated all of they're money into players at positions who don't help them score or defend (I'm oversimplifying), and accordingly the results are terrible.

To succeed in MLS, you need a reliable goal scorer, a creative midfielder who can make the players around him better and a defender to keep the back line organized. We don't have any of those things. Kooevermans is slow and out of shape and De Guzman and Frings are defensive midfielders who offer next to nothing going forward and aren't active enough at this stage of their careers to make up for our problems at the back.

Regardless who coaches us, we won't be able to overcome these fundamental problems.

[Chris Wren]

Name one as a head coach,please.

He doesn't as a head coach. He was assistant on New England when they went to some MLS Cups. You could also highlight the next sentence, to actually finish the thought. The part where I say I'll give him more than one game to right him off completely. You could also highlight the opening sentence of the paragraph too, where I said by no means do I think Mariner is the answer to our prayers. My point is at least he has been around this league at least, he's been a part of a good club. I believe MLS experience is important to any potential head coaches.

Do you just want to argue or something? You seem to pick one line of my post that you could say something sarcastic about. My point is that Winter had to go. Mariner might not be the answer, but he's going to have till the end of the year to prove it what he can do. I'd rather him than watch any more of the Aron winter show, which had us breaking futility records.

[Canary10]

I guess I was watching a different team. I was watching one that scored 8 while conceding 21. I was watching a team that had repeated, glaring defensive breakdowns. I was watching a coach who sat his DP striker while playing the likes of Terry Dunfield. I remember a coach who made Maicon Santos captain, and then traded him probably 10 games later for Avila, who now sits on the bench most games. If being competitive against the odd team is a measure of success I'm afraid our standards are pretty low.

By no means am I saying Marriner is the answer to our prayers, but this talk of Winter being some sort of hope is strange to me. I never saw the attractive football others seemed to see. I certainly didn't see much of a system, especially this year. I saw players who looked frustrated rather than confident. Marriner at least has some track record in this league. I'll give him more than one game to write him off completely.

What I watched Saturday was infinitely worse than every other game this year. Bar none. Maybe we are seeing things differently, that's fair. But I saw quite a good team in most of the games this year, including many we lost.

The team needed to change managers for sure. The league record can't be defended. However, the team looked better in every other game. It's one game though so we'll see.

[2mil4dero+santo]

So the alternative is? Don't give them time, don't hire those 2 and stay with a manager that can't get on with anyone?

What also can contribute to a losing culture is not knowing what to do but insist that what's happening is wrong then doing nothing about it.

The point I'm trying to make is that its too late now... the main problem is six seasons and the head coach position has never been properly filled imo (except maybe Carver/Cummins)...

[2mil4dero+santo]

Once again, because of the pending sale of ownership, there was no chance that a long term replacement for Winter with superb credentials was going to be hired at this point in time. I'm going to give Mariner the benefit of the doubt for the time being to see if he can lead TFC on a positive trajectory for the duration of the season and the CCL.

If you think that taking such a stance is contributing to a losing culture, it is you that needs an attitude adjustment. I'm not going judge Mariner after one game at the helm.

The point I'm trying to make, is that a real coach should have been hired a long time ago. It's been obvious for some time that Winter was incompetent, they had over a year to come up with a back up plan. Instead, we get Mariner. I see your point, I'm just voicing my frustration over 6 years and no good leadership at any level of this club.

[ManUtd4ever]

The point I'm trying to make, is that a real coach should have been hired a long time ago. It's been obvious for some time that Winter was incompetent, they had over a year to come up with a back up plan. Instead, we get Mariner. I see your point, I'm just voicing my frustration over 6 years and no good leadership at any level of this club.

No argument there.

[Jcm144]

New coach isn't going to do anything. The struggles will continue and continue. I just want TFC to look like a competitive team out there that will fight for the rest of the season.

[Shakes McQueen]

Remember your own Peddie analysis: the guy returned 5% annually and they revere him. From their perspective, Anselmi has quadrupled the value of their franchide and made them a hell of a lot more than 5% each year. Why would they get rid of him? From the bottom line perspective, he's gaining far more than he loses.

This is why I think we should focus on getting him removed from oversight of Toronto FC, not necessarily overreach and try to get him fired completely. That won't happen.

With new owners though, I could absolutely see them reacting to a public display of fan unrest towards Anselmi. All we want is better fortunes for our club - I don't care if he keeps drawing a paycheque.

- Scott

[ag futbol]

^ I don't think it would necessarily be for us, it could just as easily be for themselves. The real money will be made on TFC when it can sustain decent TV ratings and bring in more advert dollars. Lucky for us the content is streamlined all the way through to the people who sell the ad space. They'd be pretty pissed if some shit-poor product prevented them from a potentially large advertising stream in Canada's largest market. And that's where Captain Douche's job just got a whole lot more complicated.

[glaze]

we're in a lose-lose-lose situation this year. We can't cheer against the team, but the only way massive changes will be made is if they have a season so horrible that MLSE can not ignore it. If they show even a moderate improvement for the rest of this season, then we are stuck with Mariner for the next 2-3 years. Ticket prices will keep going up. Heck, JDG may even get an extension.
If they lose out, we could see a roster and front office overhaul, but the fans may also leave. And I don't think MLSE will have as much patience as an owner of a team that loses money. The fans will not support a total rebuilding project.
I think all we can do from here out is hope for s ome good weather, some entertaining games, and hope for another CCL run.

[Macksam]

Right, so I'd agree with you in a sense that academy players have too large of a role in the first team currently.

BUT if you look at why they have their roles in the first place... it's not by design, it's because TFC didn't get the talent they need out of signings that were designed to be first team. Just because they are playing too much doesn't mean they shouldn't be on the roster.

Nothing more needs to be said than what ag says right here, and this shuts down any argument Pookie has over there being too many Canadians on the roster. We are starting academy guys like Morgan and Heny because they are the best we currently have. If they still need time to develop, TFC should cut guys Harden (American), Aaron Maund (American), Logan Emory (American), Aceval (Chilean) and replace them with better players.

[Shakes McQueen]

Hey Macksam, how about explaining why you think Pookie is wrong without calling their argument "retarded". Thanks.

- Scott

[Macksam]

Well, as of right now that Academy talent is essentially in our starting 11. Whereas Canadians on Vancouver's roster see 0 minutes of game time, ours play. As an example, Henry has more minutes that Frings. Granted, injuries to Frings have impacted that but the point is that they are taking on significant minutes. The point is that a very young Henry is being thrust into a role that he may or may not be ready for.

Again, like ag pointed out, this does not mean Canadians shouldn't be on our roster. Canadians not being in our starting lineup, maybe. However, Pookie clearly is using this as an argument for not having Canadians on the roster which doesn't make any sense. We should remove Canadians from the team because we have a few young ones starting for us? Where is the logic?

I take a slight issue with the robust local soccer community comment. We are talking about the GTA almost exclusively. 13 year olds aren't having their parents drive them in from London, Ontario 3 x a week. We are talking about plucking talent from an OSA development system that has fed the national team to the point that we have achieved the ranking of 75th in the world.


Why not pluck them from the USA where they have collectively reached the height of 14th in the world at one point?

What is he trying to say here? Should we stock our academy full of American kids? Is he talking about our senior roster? If that's the case, our roster isn't exclusively from the GTA. Also, our ranking has nothing to do with how TFC can develop players considering the team's academy is relatively new. TFC developing players will be their own doing and will have nothing to do with our current FIFA ranking.

Sadly, we are also talking about a hockey mad hotbed of development where the best "athletes"... perhaps directed by their parents... are playing hockey to the point where 208 current NHLers come from this Province. The hockey leagues in and around the GTA are serious business.

Sure, a lot of our athletes in the GTA choose hockey. However, a lot don't. I will say this though, a lot more top Canadian athletes will choose the sport in the future than top American ones per capita. Count on it. In essence, this argument works against you.

I think the Academy is a great development initiative. I think that you might identify players from here who could have a shot. The brochures sound terrific but I wouldn't bank on this as the system that will feed the first team exclusively for years and years. Not scouting for talent is a huge mistake.

Who said it exclusively would? I think a big source of talent in the future will come from developing within the GTA, but that doesn't mean TFC won't scout for foreign talent.

I agree and I'm not sure if you see the correlation. Let's walk with that scouting example.

If there is an available roster spot and there is a choice between promoting an Academy player and an American player how do we know we are making an informed decision if scouting is awful? Maybe the fact that we see Stinson (or Dunfield for that matter) is because no one has been anywhere in North America to see what's available.

I highly doubt you know that.

I go with you if we were talking spots 20-24 on the roster. But we aren't. We are talking about starters or active subs.

I am not at all confident that we have identified the strongest roster available.

Yeah, we need to get rid of some of the Americans on the team like Harden and Maund, and replace them with better players.

Is that better Scott?

[Shakes McQueen]

Your first post was fine, aside from the extraneous insults. But yes, that is fine too - it's not exactly rocket science. You can disagree, without being disrespectful to the person.

- Scott

[Macksam]

Your first post was fine, aside from the extraneous insults. But yes, that is fine too - it's not exactly rocket science. You can disagree, without being disrespectful to the person.

- Scott

Acknowledged.

Yeah, the Voyageur in me got too emotional.

[Shakes McQueen]

It's all good. I appreciate it.

- Scott

[Fort York Redcoat]

Well, as of right now that Academy talent is essentially in our starting 11. Whereas Canadians on Vancouver's roster see 0 minutes of game time, ours play. As an example, Henry has more minutes that Frings. Granted, injuries to Frings have impacted that but the point is that they are taking on significant minutes. The point is that a very young Henry is being thrust into a role that he may or may not be ready for.



I take a slight issue with the robust local soccer community comment. We are talking about the GTA almost exclusively. 13 year olds aren't having their parents drive them in from London, Ontario 3 x a week. We are talking about plucking talent from an OSA development system that has fed the national team to the point that we have achieved the ranking of 75th in the world.

Why not pluck them from the USA where they have collectively reached the height of 14th in the world at one point?

Sadly, we are also talking about a hockey mad hotbed of development where the best "athletes"... perhaps directed by their parents... are playing hockey to the point where 208 current NHLers come from this Province. The hockey leagues in and around the GTA are serious business.

I think the Academy is a great development initiative. I think that you might identify players from here who could have a shot. The brochures sound terrific but I wouldn't bank on this as the system that will feed the first team exclusively for years and years. Not scouting for talent is a huge mistake.



I agree and I'm not sure if you see the correlation. Let's walk with that scouting example.

If there is an available roster spot and there is a choice between promoting an Academy player and an American player how do we know we are making an informed decision if scouting is awful? Maybe the fact that we see Stinson (or Dunfield for that matter) is because no one has been anywhere in North America to see what's available.

I go with you if we were talking spots 20-24 on the roster. But we aren't. We are talking about starters or active subs.

I am not at all confident that we have identified the strongest roster available.

Between Ag and Mack they've made some bang-on statements but I appreciate you raising some talking points, pook. These unpopular questions must be asked since if the opposite were happening we Voyageur types would be snarling that this Academy is being wasted.

And in a sense you made the point that our Academy will quickly turn into a meat grinder if we force any kid that's close to talented onto the first team to make up for dropping the ball trade-wise.


I hope one thing we can agree on is that the potential for Canadian kids hinges on recreating an CHL-like pipeline where the most amount of kids from all over can find their ways easily to compete for spots they deserve.

[Pookie]

Again, like ag pointed out, this does not mean Canadians shouldn't be on our roster. Canadians not being in our starting lineup, maybe. However, Pookie clearly is using this as an argument for not having Canadians on the roster which doesn't make any sense. We should remove Canadians from the team because we have a few young ones starting for us? Where is the logic?

That isn't my argument at all. My argument is to use the MLS roster rules effectively. We must have 3 Canadians on the roster. We must have at least 13 other players from either the US or Canada. Why not expect those 13 to be the best available?

What is he trying to say here? Should we stock our academy full of American kids? Is he talking about our senior roster? If that's the case, our roster isn't exclusively from the GTA. Also, our ranking has nothing to do with how TFC can develop players considering the team's academy is relatively new. TFC developing players will be their own doing and will have nothing to do with our current FIFA ranking.

I'm saying that marketing information aside, the Academy will draw players from about a 100 km radius of Toronto from an OSA system which to this point has contributed to our world ranking. It provides a glimpse of the quality of players available locally relative to the players that would be available in other parts of the world. The OSA is changing and in 2014 there will be a new development league that will start for U13 players. In 10 years, perhaps the story changes. Ready to wait 10 years?

This team has money. We should have the most robust scouting department in the league to supplement the odd player that will come through the Academy and be ready for an MLS spot.

Sure, a lot of our athletes in the GTA choose hockey. However, a lot don't. I will say this though, a lot more top Canadian athletes will choose the sport in the future than top American ones per capita. Count on it. In essence, this argument works against you.

So, I highlight that we live in a hockey mad market and you highlight that you think it will change in the future and therefore your feeling discounts the argument? Not sure I buy that.

Soccer participation rates are growing whereas hockey is declining. That's an objective fact you can bring forward to support your view. How many of those are recreational though? How many will play at a high level? And how many will have the support of their parents to forgo a college education to pursue a dream job paying $40k per year? Oscar Cordon was the poster boy for TFC-A a year ago. Used in their brochures and Anselmi stated they hoped to develop more like him. He's in the CSL, without an education to fall back on and may never see that $40k paycheck ever again.

Who said it exclusively would? I think a big source of talent in the future will come from developing within the GTA, but that doesn't mean TFC won't scout for foreign talent.

I highly doubt you know that.

Oh, I'm pretty sure that we aren't scouting the US in any significant fashion considering that our former North American scout told me so. I'm also pretty sure that the current TFC-Academy scouting program essentially amounts to a few Club Head coaches funneling their players through with contacts to our part time scouting network in order to prop up their clubs. BTW, if you live in Brampton you have a great shot at getting your U12-13 player into the system based on contacts.

Yeah, we need to get rid of some of the Americans on the team like Harden and Maund, and replace them with better players.

Yes. We need to manage our Domestic roster much better... including the US portion.

Happy to carry on this conversation if you want to talk about objective measures and not get into a Canadian vs American national debate. Objectively speaking, this is about roster management.

MLS Rules State that you must build your team with 16 Domestic Players, 8 International Players and of those, 3 can be Designated Players (give or take given that some slots are tradable). It further states that Canadian teams must have a minimum of 3 Canadians on their rosters and for the US teams Canadians count as International.

If you were building a team those are the rules of the league in which you operate. We are always asking how come we haven't been able to get results, well, how we compose our roster is an objective factor that must be looked at.

Let's look at the Domestic make-up of our roster:

3 Canadian Slots
1. JDG
2. Cann
3. Morgan

13 Remaining Domestic Slots

4. Dunfield (Canadian)
5. Henry (Canadian)
6. Stinson (Canadian)
7. Cordon (Canadian)
8. Lindsay (Canadian)
9. Makubuya (Canadian)
10. Roberts (Canadian)
11. Avila (USA)
12. Emory (USA)
13. Hall (USA)
14. Harden (USA)
15. Maund (USA)
16. Silva (USA)

Now, we have effectively said that players numbered 4 - 10 are better than any available US option. Henry maybe. The rest?

Hard to say. Now let's look at the use of the USA portion of that domestic rule. Avila, Hall and Silva are arguably the best out of that bunch. Are they the best USA players available? Hard to say since Nick Dasovic was our NA Scout last year and he told me he was more of a frequent flyer than a scout. He replaced Tim Regan who is no longer with the club.

Look at Houston's roster since we play them next. Look through that domestic roster and you'll see names like Bruin, Davis, Ching. Their one and only Canadian, Andre Hainault is arguably better than any of ours. He better be because he counts as an International slot.

Which makes stockpiling Canadian assets... given the roster rules... a curious and risky move. We have made close to 70 roster moves (trades, releasing players, etc) since we began. Of those, only 6 moves involved a Canadian being moved to a team south of the border. In fact, of the 16 MLS USA based teams in the league only 8 Canadians in total are employed.

That means that based on the way we opted to build our roster, we only have a few tradable assets. Hall, Harden, Emory, Avila, Maund, Silva. They don't take up an international slot. If we were to trade one of our Canadians, who is tradable? Morgan. Perhaps. Cann? Perhaps. Henry? Perhaps. Do any of those 9 players listed, our most tradable assets, fetch you anything of significance to build your roster?

Set aside the Domestic rule, look at our 3 DPs.

Are they they best use of that slot?

I'd argue that a healthy Frings and a healthy Koevermans are indeed amongst the best DPs in the MLS. However, a big part of that argument relies on their health and they haven't been healthy. Frings has just 40 mins more than Aceval and Terry Dunfield has over 100 more minutes that Koevermans. Ryan Johnson has more minutes then both of our DPs combined.

I won't even touch the use of the DP slot on JDG. Hasn't worked out.

On the International front, we do ok here. Johnson (Jamaica), Plata (Ecuador), Soolsma (Netherlands) and perhaps Eckersley (England) have been solid contributors.

Trade value is limited to available international spots on other teams.


Look, I'm open to other views. Convince me that the 3rd Most Expensive Roster is effectively managed considering Domestic and International Rules. Convince me that we have flexibility to move forward and bring in new assets via trade and player identification. Convince me that our scouting department is bigger in the entire US than it is in the GTA? (hint, it isn't). Convince me that while other MLS teams belong to wyscout.com (along with big name International Teams) we have decided not to be a part of that International network because we have a better way to identify international players. Convince me that when our 3 DPs leave in 2 years or retire due to injury, we have a back up plan in place?

I want to believe. Show me.

[Just One Man]

Man does that stadium ever look impressive on television (and in real life as well I presume).

When you get a nice tight shot of the supporter's end, it really looks like a Premiership quality stadium.

[jrober38]

That isn't my argument at all. My argument is to use the MLS roster rules effectively. We must have 3 Canadians on the roster. We must have at least 13 other players from either the US or Canada. Why not expect those 13 to be the best available?

I want to believe. Show me.

This is a fantastic post that pretty clearly outlines many of the problems with this team, and the way it's been built.

Canadians aren't valuable in MLS because they're not valuable to American teams where they count as valuable international players. However, for some reason, we've built our roster around Canadian players, which in other words means that we've built a roster with a bunch of players no one else in the league wants.

On top of that, I think we've gone after the wrong type of DPs. As you pointed out, Kooevermans and Frings are useful if they're on the field, but their health hasn't allowed them to play. Then there's JDG who simply has been a disaster.

In a league of limited financial resources, we've invested our assets into a bunch of players we can't trade, and DPs who don't help us score or keep the ball out of our net on a regular basis. In a league where reliable goal scorers are worth their weight in gold, we have arguably the most offensively inept team in the league, mostly because we've invested almost all of our money into 2 defensive midfielders who don't create any offense.

Our roster is quite simply a disaster that needs to be totally blown up and rebuilt from the ground up. We need a reliable goal scorer whose fitness can be counted on, a play maker who is capable of making everyone else around him better, and a defensive leader to solidify things at the back. Until we get those things, and a better group of role players around them, TFC will remain an MLS bottom feeder.

[Fort York Redcoat]

Our roster is quite simply a disaster that needs to be totally blown up and rebuilt from the ground up. We need a reliable goal scorer whose fitness can be counted on, a play maker who is capable of making everyone else around him better, and a defensive leader to solidify things at the back. Until we get those things, and a better group of role players around them, TFC will remain an MLS bottom feeder.

Totally. Blown. Up?

DK has been hurt. Now he's better. His scoring rate. It's reliable. That's a DP if he stays healthy. You don't drop that.
Frings has moved all over the back and the mid. It's not like he doesn't know where to play. He's trying to strengthen those around him. Leadership. You don't drop that. That's a DP.

[Pookie]

Totally. Blown. Up?

DK has been hurt. Now he's better. His scoring rate. It's reliable. That's a DP if he stays healthy. You don't drop that.
Frings has moved all over the back and the mid. It's not like he doesn't know where to play. He's trying to strengthen those around him. Leadership. You don't drop that. That's a DP.

I don't think you blow it up. I think you compartmentalize it and look at it as 3 categories:

Domestic, International and DP

Our International component is ok. We could get getting more out of the slot taken by Aceval. Another question is whether we can find a reliable Domestic keeper since Frei and Kocic are International. Doing so would free up 2 International slots which could be used for "out" players. These are easily solved through scouting and player identification.

Domestic roster blow up is where I think we need to focus. Our US contingent is not strong at all relative to the size of the US talent pool. Canadian contingent is not strong relative to the Canadian talent pool. Honestly, if we are required to have 3 Canadians they should either be the best available (ie. Will Johnson-like) which makes them both effective and tradable. Or occupy non-starting roles if they can't beat a US player for the job. We also do not have as many scouts in the US as we have in the GTA working for the Academy. That's wrong. We cannot hope to identify the best available players for spots 4 through 16 if we don't know what's out there. Poach unsigned MLS Academy 18 year olds, scour the NCAA, look at US (or Canadian) players playing overseas for lower division teams. Leave no stone unturned.

On the DP front, this is in need of review. Healthy yes, 2 great players. But if they aren't healthy, would it be better to find a younger player who could fill these roles?

[jrober38]

Totally. Blown. Up?

DK has been hurt. Now he's better. His scoring rate. It's reliable. That's a DP if he stays healthy. You don't drop that.
Frings has moved all over the back and the mid. It's not like he doesn't know where to play. He's trying to strengthen those around him. Leadership. You don't drop that. That's a DP.

They haven't stayed healthy.

They're 35 and 33 years old, and are both on their last legs. If you can't rely on a DP to be on the field, then they shouldn't be a DP. In a league where talent is limited by financial restrictions, you're at a massive disadvantage relative to other teams in the league if their DPs are consistently on the field and ours are consistently in the trainer's room.

This team desperately needs offense, and none of our DPs provide that on a game to game basis. Again, because of financial restrictions, and how hard it is to find reliable goal scorers that earn < $300k a year, the big money signings need to be on guys who score goals regularly or create chances for lesser talents to score goals.

[Fort York Redcoat]

I don't think you blow it up. I think you compartmentalize it and look at it as 3 categories:

Domestic, International and DP

Our International component is ok. We could get getting more out of the slot taken by Aceval. Another question is whether we can find a reliable Domestic keeper since Frei and Kocic are International. Doing so would free up 2 International slots which could be used for "out" players. These are easily solved through scouting and player identification.

Domestic roster blow up is where I think we need to focus. Our US contingent is not strong at all relative to the size of the US talent pool. Canadian contingent is not strong relative to the Canadian talent pool. Honestly, if we are required to have 3 Canadians they should either be the best available (ie. Will Johnson-like) which makes them both effective and tradable. Or occupy non-starting roles if they can't beat a US player for the job. We also do not have as many scouts in the US as we have in the GTA working for the Academy. That's wrong. We cannot hope to identify the best available players for spots 4 through 16 if we don't know what's out there. Poach unsigned MLS Academy 18 year olds, scour the NCAA, look at US (or Canadian) players playing overseas for lower division teams. Leave no stone unturned.

On the DP front, this is in need of review. Healthy yes, 2 great players. But if they aren't healthy, would it be better to find a younger player who could fill these roles?

Yes. No pills needed here.

The smallest problem has the biggest price tag. I think we keep our 2 outta 3 DP and will love if it's a CB so we can see Full-Tilt Frings that isn't always feeling he has to look behind him. DK will last until we address the larger part of our raster that costs a lot less.