TFC 2021 player in-season roster discussion

[MightyDM]

To be fair though, there is likely no one in this world willing to take on Altidore at his current wages, short of tfc making an arrangement where they still pay the majority of his wages.

AND more importantly, the $600,000+ in salary budget space he would take up on any team in MLS, taking into consideration his current productivity rate and injury issues.

Let’s assume you are right. We know a transfer was almost completed early in the year but failed at the very last second, because he was held out of the USMNT and the USMNT coach said it was because of a transfer. Rumour confirmed by KJ was it was to Mexico. Given that transfer failed, if you were TFC would you a) bench your best striker knowing that it would be very difficult to transfer him and that you were going to have to eat his wages either way or b) discipline him some other way and at least get him on the field so you got some value out of him?

The answer is obvious. Plus you have the example of Arsenal's treatment of Ozil - look how disastrous their season was. But they sure made a point with him, eh?

And in our case, all to protect an already failed coach? Terrible judgment. The only good judgment here is Jozy who was maintained silence. Good for him.

[Bushmancan]

^EXACTLY THIS.... he may have flaws but this is the guy that brought it home, as part of the greatest Team play (5 passes) ever. Shame on management.

In any other Toronto team sport this would never be allowed to happen Leafs, Raptors even Argos imagine if a couple of no names did this to Pinball. It is so below MLSE.

[Ultra & Proud]

The only good judgment here is Jozy who was maintained silence. Good for him.

This is the most surpising deveopment from TFC thus far in 2021.

[Canary10]

Let’s assume you are right. We know a transfer was almost completed early in the year but failed at the very last second, because he was held out of the USMNT and the USMNT coach said it was because of a transfer. Rumour confirmed by KJ was it was to Mexico. Given that transfer failed, if you were TFC would you a) bench your best striker knowing that it would be very difficult to transfer him and that you were going to have to eat his wages either way or b) discipline him some other way and at least get him on the field so you got some value out of him?

The answer is obvious. Plus you have the example of Arsenal's treatment of Ozil - look how disastrous their season was. But they sure made a point with him, eh?

And in our case, all to protect an already failed coach? Terrible judgment. The only good judgment here is Jozy who was maintained silence. Good for him.

Not only did Arsenal have a bad season, they are still reportedly paying a lot of his salary. I don't see any benefit of sitting Jozy like this (didn't Curtis and/or Manning say there would be a resolution to this weeks ago?). It's funny how often a new coach comes in then sticks it to a player to make some kind of point (Arteta with Ozil, Mou with Deli Alli, Tuchel with Pulisic).

[Ultra & Proud]

(didn't Curtis and/or Manning say there would be a resolution to this weeks ago?)

I know we use it as a running joke but the 'two weeks' gag is a real thing.

[Canary10]

I know we use it as a running joke but the 'two weeks' gag is a real thing.

Totally.

[MightyDM]

I know we use it as a running joke but the 'two weeks' gag is a real thing.

Yes.

[MikeForbes]

Borré signed with Frankfurt.

[RealG-TFC]

Probably nothing but I really don't love the past tense in Poz's instagram post for Soteldo

[jloome]

We have so many roster issues.

I suspect having a really good first six or seven
players for five straight years has blinded us to the increase in roster depth around the
league.

If I compare us to competitive teams in MLS we have the equivalent of:
— one starting quality winger (Soteldo)
— one starting quality attacking mid (Pozueloj
— two starting quality central mids (Osorio typically, Delgado less consistently, Bradley less consistently
— two starting quality fullbacks (laryea, Lawrence)
— one starting quality Center half , mavinga.

arguably, given his age and size, q isn’t really an ideal starting keeper but he’s proven himself in the past

we’re one deep to compete for starting slots at every position. Literally no one in our second string looks ready to COMMAND a first team place. Ayo is closest but seems inconsistent as a finisher. Shaffelburg is really raw and moving too fast; Auro, Omar, zavaleta etc are all too mistake prone to be regular starters.

so we have no players pushing, and in fact arE often filling in with guys who aren’t up to the standard any more or never were

Our youth aren’t ready, our bench has zero depth. I love the game effort and without a slew of early career injuries Mullins would’ve been a hell of a forward, but…

Deleon makes ten-cent decisions, morrow is 35 and beginning to look it.

Whether we keep Armas or not, this team will not be competitive without a second proper starting winger (Richies intensity lags badly when he only plays wing forward), without a proper line leading Center back, and without first-choice backup guys with enough potential to really challenge starters.

that’s where Seattle and Orlando and Portland are right now. The league has changed again. Without depth we won’t compete.

[reggie]

jozy is in london watching tennis,maybe a loan to spurs
im sure the club will say he has been in orl training and jus left this morning

[Bushmancan]

jozy is in london watching tennis,maybe a loan to spurs
im sure the club will say he has been in orl training and jus left this morning

Is that verified.... if so, fuck me. Someone needs to explain, he would have to have permission or he is AWOL. Neither is a good thing.

[reggie]

Is that verified.... if so, fuck me. Someone needs to explain, he would have to have permission or he is AWOL. Neither is a good thing.

yes saw him in the stands on the tsn broadcast today

[OgtheDim]

Permission - he did the same thing last year BTW.

[Richard]

yes saw him in the stands on the tsn broadcast today

Is that verified.... if so, fuck me. Someone needs to explain, he would have to have permission or he is AWOL. Neither is a good thing.

Did a quirk twitter search, Jozy's soon to be wife is playing at Wimbledon. Makes sense if TFC has no intention of reconciliation.

[Bushmancan]

Permission - he did the same thing last year BTW.

But he wasn’t supposed to be playing on the Saturday. So if management gave him the pass, that says everything… #curtisout

[reggie]

Permission - he did the same thing last year BTW.

permission? it that a fact,or he or the club dont give a crap anymore,ir only been 6-7 wks or 2wks in ali weeks

[spe18]

Along with not scoring, Austin just lost their second starting striker Danny Hoesen to hip surgery. Their other starter, Aron Schoenfeld, is out injured as well.

And they have an open DP spot.

Jesus, how do they not roll this one over the line?

And speaking of Austin..........they have now signed a forward - Moussa Djitte - a Senegalese youth international. Of note is that he is being signed using the league's u-22 initiative.

So now I'm reminded that the number of DPs you have also affects the number of U-22 players (under that initiative) you can sign. It appears this is the route and strategy Austin FC has chosen to take, which is quite contrary to the route tfc is taking. I'm also pretty sure that benching one of your DPs and not playing them doesn't actually reduce the number of DP slots currently filled on your team lol.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/austi...ns-this-summer

[portu]

Probably nothing but I really don't love the past tense in Poz's instagram post for Soteldo

Can you imagine they package Poz and Jozy together in a trade so that a team is willing to pay Jozy's full salary lol

(Will NEVER happen, financials can't possibly make sense on this)

[Ultra & Proud]

So now I'm reminded that the number of DPs you have also affects the number of U-22 players (under that initiative) you can sign. It appears this is the route and strategy Austin FC has chosen to take, which is quite contrary to the route tfc is taking.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/austi...ns-this-summer

They also picked the way that provides no goals. Being cheap always has it's cost in the end. Not to defend Armas/Curtis but Jozy is about as productive now as the half price DP junk Austin can't score with either.

[spe18]

They also picked the way that provides no goals. Being cheap always has it's cost in the end. Not to defend Armas/Curtis but Jozy is about as productive now as the half price DP junk Austin can't score with either.

But if "being cheap" means having a younger roster, who can eventually grow together and have the right chemistry to make a playoff run, then that's probably a much more efficient way of managing a roster, especially with the roster constraints in MLS, and especially in the long run.

Plus this gives you the ability to add more players later on to "plug the holes" as you go along, along with adding more quality depth to your team.

Remember also that Austin FC is a typical expansion team (meaning I exclude Atlanta & LAFC from this), so bumps in the road are expected.

This is something that tfc does not have the luxury of doing.

It's also been suggested that this team is just a few pieces away from been a contender again, and that only a small amount of positions are in question, as long as you keep the rest of the core intact.

But the problem that I see in this is, what if some of the core pieces ends up leaving early, especially through a transfer (Laryea jumps out at me)? Is there enough depth at each position where the core is intact, that someone else can jump right in and make the same type of contributions should the same occur?

Personally, I feel this team is going to have roster management issues, especially as it relates to the salary budget, into next season, and possibly the one after as well.

[Ultra & Proud]

Personally, I feel this team is going to have roster management issues, especially as it relates to the salary budget, into next season, and possibly the one after as well.

Getting the Altidore, Bono, and DeLeon contracts off the books will help a lot. That's about $1.3 to $1.4M in cap space on players who shouldn't or aren't playing at all.

[jloome]

But if "being cheap" means having a younger roster, who can eventually grow together and have the right chemistry to make a playoff run, then that's probably a much more efficient way of managing a roster, especially with the roster constraints in MLS, and especially in the long run.

Plus this gives you the ability to add more players later on to "plug the holes" as you go along, along with adding more quality depth to your team.

Remember also that Austin FC is a typical expansion team (meaning I exclude Atlanta & LAFC from this), so bumps in the road are expected.

This is something that tfc does not have the luxury of doing.

It's also been suggested that this team is just a few pieces away from been a contender again, and that only a small amount of positions are in question, as long as you keep the rest of the core intact.

But the problem that I see in this is, what if some of the core pieces ends up leaving early, especially through a transfer (Laryea jumps out at me)? Is there enough depth at each position where the core is intact, that someone else can jump right in and make the same type of contributions should the same occur?

Personally, I feel this team is going to have roster management issues, especially as it relates to the salary budget, into next season, and possibly the one after as well.

Yup.

No depth, youth aren't ready, and the second stringers are being paid too much almost to a man versus playing time and performance.

I believe this is Curtis' fourth season as gm, right?

We still haven't replaced Drew Moor (and anyone who thought it would be Omar, who wasn't playing a whole lot any more in Mexico and was seen as dubious value as a DP in LA -- where his performances cratered without Delagarza as his partner -- was kidding themselves. Curtis obviously pays zero attention to what is actually going on in players' careers).

[Kamp Berg]

Yup.

No depth, youth aren't ready, and the second stringers are being paid too much almost to a man versus playing time and performance.

I believe this is Curtis' fourth season as gm, right?

We still haven't replaced Drew Moor (and anyone who thought it would be Omar, who wasn't playing a whole lot any more in Mexico and was seen as dubious value as a DP in LA -- where his performances cratered without Delagarza as his partner -- was kidding themselves. Curtis obviously pays zero attention to what is actually going on in players' careers).

It seems like Curtis is all about how things look on paper, sometimes that’s good, like Pozuelo, more often is says more about how a player used to be, like Gonzalez.

[spe18]

Getting the Altidore, Bono, and DeLeon contracts off the books will help a lot. That's about $1.3 to $1.4M in cap space on players who shouldn't or aren't playing at all.

Do we know how much longer the Bono and DeLeon contracts are for? And Gonzalez as well?

[DavemTFC]

Gonzalez was genuinely good in his first half season for us then fell off a cliff afterwards (possibly in part because of the injury that caused him to miss most of the playoffs that year). That he dropped off so quickly isn't entirely a surprise for a player entering his thirties whose best asset was always his athleticism, but let's not pretend he didn't look the part early on

[reggie]

i think mavinga s game has dropped off also he is better suited on the left side of a back 3 with a vocal guy like moor in the middle

[Ultra & Proud]

Do we know how much longer the Bono and DeLeon contracts are for? And Gonzalez as well?

You could probably trade Bono & DeLeon for a little bit of allocation just to get them off the books. I think Gonzalez contract ends this year.

[ag futbol]

Gonzalez was genuinely good in his first half season for us then fell off a cliff afterwards (possibly in part because of the injury that caused him to miss most of the playoffs that year). That he dropped off so quickly isn't entirely a surprise for a player entering his thirties whose best asset was always his athleticism, but let's not pretend he didn't look the part early on

Ehhh, I don’t know if he looked the part as much as teams didn’t have the tape. Once it became clear how to get him out of his comfort zone, we kept seeing the same thing over and over.

[spe18]

You could probably trade Bono & DeLeon for a little bit of allocation just to get them off the books. I think Gonzalez contract ends this year.

I was going to suggest that with these ideas, you can at least start to rebuild after this season. But then I also saw it posted that it's suggested that they'll just resign Gonzalez rather then going out to look for a new CB.

Frankly, I'm now convinced that upper management will have to take a deep look at how this team is run, from the president's level down. And then likely do what the Whitecaps did - which was to go on a months long worldwide search using a consulting firm to look for a their new sporting director. I strongly feel that tfc needs to take a similar approach.

Now, when I say "upper management", I mean those that are above Manning. Of course, we all know that all those people, has virtually 0 soccer IQ. Go figure!

Speaking of Manning, I feel that he should be moved into a new role - that being leading the business side of it. I get the sense that this is where his expertise - not on the tactical side. I've noticed that when he does radio interviews, he likes to talk about when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles as some sort of high end member rep.

But as I had also previously suggested, this can be perceived as a demotion and may not be interested in such.