Mavinga flew back to Toronto with his wife and daughter. Marky flew back with his fiance. Oso's family is here. OG's family is here and based on Instagram his family stayed the winter. Morrow's wife works for a Toronto company. Richie is from the area. Akinola's family is likely here. Pozuelo's wife and kids stayed behind in Spain, although she's pregnant so may have preferred to have support from their broader family.
This is just our starting lineup, ignoring a lot of the youth/academy players who I presume also have close family ties to the area.
EDIT: The players aren't robots. I'm sure its nice to be in the comfort of their home (particularly for players who have been in Toronto for a number of seasons), be able to get food from their favourite restaurants, have all their belongings close by, and train in a familiar place. MLSE has invested a ton of money in the training ground that our facility is likely better than any other facility we would rent temporarily. There's a lot of things we can get mad about with how the team is run, but I think this decision to train in Toronto is more than justified.
Last edited by noxx98; 02-18-2021 at 09:47 AM.
OK I hear all of you. peace. It's not the biggest opinion on my part. I get the human side might be better for more players than I said.
Re full size pitch, teams train on multiple pitches at once in outdoor settings.
Let's table this for later.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Counterpoint: if you’ve spent millions on a roster and one that has proven to be relatively competitive, does tailoring to Chris Armas’s vision make sense? He’s not exactly a name brand coach or someone we’re investing lots of money in.
Rather than his own vision, maybe his job should be to get the most out of the group? Of course certain tweaks can be made over time as roster turnover occurs but otherwise... maybe he shouldn’t have the expectation of coming in with a grand vision and implementing it.
I have nothing against this pressing style of play but I’m a little bit miffed the go-forward setup for this club is being benchmarked against the footballing equivalent of McDonalds. Not sure what makes Red Bull so special or why that’s the best fit for TFC as a club. Just seems to be what the management team knows, which is why it is so great.
Last edited by ag futbol; 02-18-2021 at 10:53 AM.
I think it's a solid argument either way sort of. The main thing the club should be securing for wherever we play out of this year is actual housing.
I'm sure it would make a big difference to the players and mitigate the downside of not being at home if they rented them houses instead of hotels.
About those hamstring issues
MIGHT be heading south to LAG - will have to watch
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/NeilMDavidson/status/1362427393479180291
Jim Liston leaving is another big plus. Going to keep an eye on how the Gals do with muscle injuries now compared to us.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 02-18-2021 at 11:47 AM.
They seemed to have let all that department go
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/NeilMDavidson/status/1362459882188865538
We won't know the details of how this went down but our tendency to have leg injuries was becoming an open joke in the league. Could have been practice sessions & training related or could have been sports science related. Both variables are gone/changed now so its either on the players or something from before is being maintained.
The approach to sports fitness and science can differ greatly from team to team based on their philosophy to it based on whom is overseeing it. Remember Paul Winsper from back in the day, a true fitness guru who left TFC for Nike, having also worked for Newcastle. There does have to be oversight on any endeavour a team takes on and its the GM and or President who is responsible for it if things go sideways. it also comes to simply recognizing the specific needs of the players you currently have.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
I don't think backroom staff should be responsible for this besides doing the hiring (if it's their call and not the manager's) and firing. If it goes sideways, like ours did, then it should 100% be on the manager as it's his job to monitor the players and how they're performing on a daily basis and what should be required. Next in line for blame should be the fitness department. They should really be working together very closely on a daily basis.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 02-18-2021 at 02:58 PM.
I don’t think this is entirely straightforward. Could be a number of other things (all speculation):
1) signing injury prone players
2) vanney’s penchant for playing a first choice lineup until someone falls over and dies, even when guys looked to be on-the-mend.
3) ignoring the advice of our trainers.
4) Fatigue from extra travel.
Fair. Not to go back entirely on what I said but I think as long as he compromises in some areas he should be fine.
We can’t be too idealistic until some of the roster changes. Not sure how you play a high line with Omar, for example.
But we have a decent number of players to work with who could, in theory, play the press. That’s the good news.
Yes. A lot depends on The General too - will he be mobile again? We don't quite have the roster to play a press but it is possible to play it at moments and be effective. I got a good felling from the interview in the sense that Armas is genuine and motivated. Effective will be the next question...
By the way, I think it’s super interesting to see that Orlando didn’t have to make Pato a DP to get him. Jozy and Pato are almost exactly the same age and, in different ways, are kind of comparable. I thought Jozy himself might be going to Orlando
In the market for older strikers with questions, the bottom has fallen out. This episode tells me that TFC would have had to eat $5M (mor?) of Jozy’s $6.3M salary to move him. Which makes no sense for TFC. So he isn’t going anywhere.
Last edited by ensco; 02-18-2021 at 07:32 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Armas has used the word verticality a lot - even put in a "get it forward" throwing motion once in the presser when he used the word. A passing sequence of Omar to Mavinga to Bradley to Auro to Omar isn't going to be allowed, I suspect.
Auro in particular is going to have to step up his game significantly because he is the king around these parts of "slow it down".
Jozy's deal is apparently front loaded. Paul Tenorio mentioned it on a podcast around the time of transfer rumor in the US Camp. The 6.3M was 2019 salary and there was no salary release in 2020. Guess we will find out if he's still here when/if the salaries get released this season.
Can't remember if it was Wheeler or Jack or someone else but that has been confirmed on a recent pod that this year's salary is substantially less. The impression that I got was it was in the 4M range but I could be making that up.
At the risk of getting my hopes up too much, the good news is even under Vanney we've pressed at times, albeit selectively. I remember rewatching the 2016 playoff run a few years back and noticing how surprisingly effective we looked with Oso, Seba, and Jozy (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) finding a few short windows in each game to suddenly pressure the hell out of the other team's backline during buildup.
Seriously, I'm not joking, there's film of Altidore pressing. And while I don't think 2021 Jozy can do that as a starter, maybe there's a chance he can as a sub?
Selon Radio-Canada, le #CFMTL a proposé au Toronto FC de disputer un match amical afin d'aider son “rival” a préparer la finale de la Coupe du Canada, qui devrait avoir lieu entre mi-mars et fin mars.
Translation:
According to Radio-Canada, the #CFMTL offered Toronto FC a friendly match to help its “rival” prepare for the Canada Cup final, which should take place between mid-March and the end of March.
im sure they will announce morrow and zava soon,jus 5 more interviews,curtis wants to make sure they are good character guys