Poll - Do we make the playoffs?

[PizzaEatingYeti]

Let's see how optimistic/realistic and footy knowledgeable we are?

5 possibilities to chose from in this poll.



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As of today, Monday, August 9:

We are dead last in the 27 team MLS.

Our goal-diferrential is catastrophal (-15), it is also the worst in the league. It's because we have by far the worst defense in the league!
The next worst defense of the league (Cincinnati) has conceded 8 goals less than us.

The next team right above us in our Conference (Cincinnati) has 1 point plus on us and 1 extra game in hand, in the other Conference the bottom team (Vancouver) has also 1 point plus on us and 1 extra game in hand.

[mowe]

Nah, we’ve dropped too many points at home and our defense is atrocious.

[tfcfans]

We won’t be close - this is 2018 all over again - we keep waiting for some switch to flip (like in 2019 from August onwards), but there is no switch to flip....the bonus as a STH this season is we aren’t stuck buying a lot of meaningless end of season games on Fall weeknights for a team unlikely to be competitive at the end - so frankly it’s a win for my wallet too....

The truth is after being a fan of Toronto based teams my whole life I can’t complain if I’m being objective about the last 6 years — 3 Finals appearances since 2016 and a dream season in 2017 with a great CCL run to follow (no Toronto team has made three finals in a league of more than 20 or so teams), two horrendous seasons (2018/2021) and one very good regular season followed by a playoff disappointment (2020)......no other local (Toronto) team has done that - the Jays from 1989-1993 is the only “better” run as they capped it off with two Championships instead of one (I’m not including a 6 team NHL where 1/3 of the league makes the Finals or the 8-9 team CFL which also can be won by a 9-9 team - although 96-97 was great too with Flutie doing his thing)....in MLS, outside of Seattle, who has really had it better than us over the last 6 years?

[tfcfans]

Look at the Leafs (or don’t), no playoff success in like 17 or so years...

Jays did nothing from 1994-2014 - 20 years of nothing - followed by August 2015 - October 2016; then another 3-4 years of basically meaningless baseball and now this August feeling like 2015 a bit again....

Raptors has the longest run of continued success recently but it still resulted in one title in 2019 (the one dream season like in 2017), and one Conference Finals Appearance in which LBJ basically did what he wanted and we were never going to win that series (4-2 is very deceiving as none of the games we lost were even competitive).....

I want to complain, it’s easy to complain (Bradley who I love needs to transition to a lesser role, the Jozy contract is an albatross on this team, Omar is way past it and vastly overpaid, the need for a CB is obvious as well as a DP level striker up front who can play 30 games a year, Bono and Westberg make way too much combined salary for the performance we are getting.....etc...) — but the truth is the 2014-2021 era is done and we need to transition to the next era of TFC - it will unfortunately not be a rousing success from Day one — but, Pozuelo is a nice piece, Soteldo is a nice piece, we have some young players that look pretty good - this is where we are.....

.....don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened....we went from being “the worst team in the world”, to one of the model franchises in the league - every team (outside of Seattle who apparently can do no wrong), has made mistakes and had crappy results, but I’d rather be where we are, and where we’ve been recently, than in a lot of other MLS cities.....

[ag futbol]

Nah, we’ve dropped too many points at home and our defense is atrocious.

Agreed. This season is over.

All the more reason to give players like Priso as many minutes as possible to help development.

[Ultra & Proud]

I say we keep up the fight for the wooden spoon until the end. We will most likely finish somewhere between 30-35 points.

[MikeForbes]

All these draws lately have given us basically no chance of playoffs. I expect the team to continue getting results, but we are way too off the pace at this point.

[jloome]

We're nine points out of a playoff spot with 18 games to go. The East isn't that strong.

NYFC is easily the best team in the east over the last two months, and we walked all over them in the second half, with the right lineup.

It's really all down to whether change is accepted, and to what degree, and how well younger players adapt to pressure. So the probability isn't great

But it's certainly not over already. I remember RSL getting in on the last day of the season due to our losing 5-0 to the Red Bulls... which got them a title.... which gave Manning a winning credit in RSL... which led to us getting Manning... which led to us getting Curtis...

It's like New York hates us or something.

[ensco]

There are numerous examples in MLS of teams ripping off 5 game winning streaks to turn their season around in the second half.

I didn’t vote because I have no opinion on how we would do if we got there. Single game knockout crapshoots are only fun if you are TFC 2019.

[Joe Kool]

"Why can't we be great" - TL

[Richard]

I wish North American adopted relegation. The only thing owners understand is money, and if that's threatened they'll actually starting giving a shit, or get exposed.

Voted "No", our defense will continue to be our undoing.

[Oldtimer]

I wish North American adopted relegation. The only thing owners understand is money, and if that's threatened they'll actually starting giving a shit, or get exposed.

Voted "No", our defense will continue to be our undoing.

It's not about money. TFC tops the league in spending. It's about competence, or Curtis' lack of it.

[Bushmancan]

^ exactly in hindsight I am more angry at Curtis than anyone. And Manning is becoming a close second if he doesn't lay the law. After NER, our schedule is mostly the bottom half of the east until Philly the 3rd last week. We were very fortunate last time we played them and surprised them. They won't be sleeping this game.

[leedsandTFC]

probably not, but stranger things have happened.

perez has averaged 1.43 ppg over 7 games, 5 of those vs top 5 sides in the east.

need to see how he does against some of the weaker sides.

[jloome]

It's not about money. TFC tops the league in spending. It's about competence, or Curtis' lack of it.

We're actually second to Inter Miami, but just barely, less than a million difference.

Only five teams spend more than $15M on salary per year: Atlanta, Toronto, Miami, LA Galaxy and Cincinnati.

Four out of five are at or near the bottom of the league.

No depth, no competitiveness. Older DPs. Same problem in each place, building a roster as if it were 2012 and DPs were a relatively new thing. Trying to win it in a year (which worked for us and Atlanta, to be honest, but clearly isn't sustainable.)

But let's be honest: take off Jozy's $3.6M and Gallardo's 500K and we're not in the top 10 in spending anymore. It makes that much of a difference having that anchor around our necks, relative to overall value.

[jloome]

probably not, but stranger things have happened.

perez has averaged 1.43 ppg over 7 games, 5 of those vs top 5 sides in the east.

need to see how he does against some of the weaker sides.

Hard to count that as indicative, though. I think he made a very, very bold statement in the last game, and it wasn't because he just then happened to notice that Michael can't cover ground or react quickly enough any more.

If he reverts and tries to keep him and Jozy out there as starters, we're fucked. But the decision might not be up to him, and you KNOW Curtis isn't going to figure this out based purely on performance. He'll be trying to placate, and he just went through banishing Altidore. There's every chance he's going to fuck this up by telling Perez he has to play them.

[Red CB Toronto]

Too much is not going right for this team right now. They are just not very consistent in the right way as of now.

[Richard]

Hard to count that as indicative, though. I think he made a very, very bold statement in the last game, and it wasn't because he just then happened to notice that Michael can't cover ground or react quickly enough any more.

If he reverts and tries to keep him and Jozy out there as starters, we're fucked. But the decision might not be up to him, and you KNOW Curtis isn't going to figure this out based purely on performance. He'll be trying to placate, and he just went through banishing Altidore. There's every chance he's going to fuck this up by telling Perez he has to play them.

If that conversation is happening I hope Perez tells him to fuck right off.

Anyone with two eyes saw the immediate difference in play.

[leedsandTFC]

Hard to count that as indicative, though. I think he made a very, very bold statement in the last game, and it wasn't because he just then happened to notice that Michael can't cover ground or react quickly enough any more.

If he reverts and tries to keep him and Jozy out there as starters, we're fucked. But the decision might not be up to him, and you KNOW Curtis isn't going to figure this out based purely on performance. He'll be trying to placate, and he just went through banishing Altidore. There's every chance he's going to fuck this up by telling Perez he has to play them.

i agree. that 2nd half was the best we've played in years and it's no coincidence that it was without jozy and MB on the pitch.

if we pick a team based on performance, not reputation, i think we have a better shot than people think.

if not, we might as well call it a season now.

[ag futbol]

If that conversation is happening I hope Perez tells him to fuck right off.

Anyone with two eyes saw the immediate difference in play.

Not a bad power play. Eating your lame-duck boss is a time honoured tradition.

[Richard]

Had to be done.

[noxx98]

We're actually second to Inter Miami, but just barely, less than a million difference.

Only five teams spend more than $15M on salary per year: Atlanta, Toronto, Miami, LA Galaxy and Cincinnati.

Four out of five are at or near the bottom of the league.

No depth, no competitiveness. Older DPs. Same problem in each place, building a roster as if it were 2012 and DPs were a relatively new thing. Trying to win it in a year (which worked for us and Atlanta, to be honest, but clearly isn't sustainable.)

But let's be honest: take off Jozy's $3.6M and Gallardo's 500K and we're not in the top 10 in spending anymore. It makes that much of a difference having that anchor around our necks, relative to overall value.

Not to nitpick, but we were second before adding Soteldo and Lawrence. Their salaries would put us in first.

Also Gallardo is on 331k, not 500k

[jloome]

Not to nitpick, but we were second before adding Soteldo and Lawrence. Their salaries would put us in first.

Also Gallardo is on 331k, not 500k

Eek, you're right. When you include them we're $5M over anyone else. Brutal.

[reggie]

this is the worst cap managed team in the mls.jus on D we have 3 mil. 800 k in keepers.overpaid mids and a overpaid striker,ali is pretty dumb for such a smart guy
he also has 3 intl spots to 2 usl caliber players and 1 to a college kid with 2 acl injuries,but thats ok he hired armas and got a new contract.

[Auzzy]

Had to be done.

Thanks! Came here to look for that video, was going to have to post it myself otherwise.

[Blindside16]

I voted no. I think we make a good run but fall short. We would need to average around 2 point/game to have a realistic shot based on previous years. We only managed that once before

[Ultra & Proud]

Even though our opponents were good over the past few weeks, the 'back at home' bump should have got us up the table somewhat. Instead it sunk us to the bottom. Realistically I don't see us as a wooden spoon level team but it's obvious we're not playoff quality either. I believe if we embraced some of the kids, played Westberg, and made some hard roster choices (remove Bradley & Altidore permanently from starting), we could make a move to be at least competing for the last spot come September.

I am not sure Perez has the stones to do what's necessary though. It's a big ask.

[Joe Kool]

Also Gallardo is on 331k, not 500k

I keep forgetting he is on the team. Pretty bad for a player earning that wage.

[noxx98]

this is the worst cap managed team in the mls.jus on D we have 3 mil. 800 k in keepers.overpaid mids and a overpaid striker,ali is pretty dumb for such a smart guy
he also has 3 intl spots to 2 usl caliber players and 1 to a college kid with 2 acl injuries,but thats ok he hired armas and got a new contract.

Other than Bradley, which MF is materially overpaid? When Bradley re-signed we were all happy it was for TAM rather than DP. If you go back to the forums from that time, I think the signing was received relatively positively. Our use of international spots has also not limited any signings. If anything, we're in such a good position because many of our top players are domestic and as a Canadian club we don't need to use international slots on Canadians. You could argue TFC could have flipped an international spot for a small bit of GAM.

Lots of bad moves that Curtis has made - just want us to actually focus on those rather than call every single move he made wrong.

[noxx98]

I keep forgetting he is on the team. Pretty bad for a player earning that wage.

Yes, was a deal gone wrong. I wish he was on $200k per year and wasn't pegged as a "TAM winger" when he was signed. He was a lottery ticket signing and should have been advertised as a project rather than someone who's ready to make an impact on the team.