Entirely disagree. I was at the game today and didn't even notice he was on the field. Poz off, and does Oso step up? Of course not...Originally Posted by MightyDM
Entirely disagree. I was at the game today and didn't even notice he was on the field. Poz off, and does Oso step up? Of course not...
I don’t agree with Oso and I think it’s not a fair view of his seasons work. BUT
Totally agree with this:
Curtis' recent interview was vomit-inducing, and does not leave me with any hope for next season if he is still around
Yeah I feel a bit bad for Perez but that's not a good quote either. Not sure what they're all smoking in the coaching & management circles.
Ok, I've missed quite a few games in the last half of the season and a lot of discussion and behind-the-scenes news so I may be missing some info, but here's my take on the season starting with grades for the squad:
Morrow (C+) A class act as always. Should arguably have played more
Zavaleta (F) He is who he is. At least we're only paying him league minimum to defend like this now
Bradley (D+) I think he's still good enough to be a contributor and even starter, but he hasn't been a play-every-game guy for a long time now. Hopefully this season is the start of him actually accepting that.
Dunn (D-) Probably harsh since he's been injured all year, but (despite being poor today) our only young CB who seems like he can contribute at this level. Deserves at least a look next year even though I don't think he'll ever be a regular starter
Dwyer (0) One of many who I've given a score below F. Utterly fucking useless
Marshall-Rutty (D+) He was considered the best player his age in North America just 2 years ago, and while I don't think he's quite that good, you can see glimpses of his talent and game sense. Needs to be much braver with the ball next year
Delgado (F) By far his worst season for us - in previous years he'd make up for his deficiencies on the ball with his defending and ground-covering but he even struggled with that at times this season. I'm certainly not against keeping him but Priso's emergence means for the first time since 2016 we can afford to trade Mark(y) away
Gallardo (0) Wait, why is he still here?
Pozuelo (F) Playing like 100 games in 2 years caught up to him this season and even when he was healthy he was rarely at his best. It may be the best to move on from him, sadly, as I have a feeling his prime abruptly ended at the end of 2020
Nelson (F) Still a one-dimensional dribbler with limited end product and almost non-existent game sense. Is it realistic to expect a kid who hasn't improved in 2 years to ever grow into an MLS-level player?
Mullinho (D+) He's obviously really limited but he'll at least compete and be somewhat of a goal threat
Okello (D) I actually thought he improved a lot in the last 2 months of the year. I thought his defensive awareness and effort were shocking in some of our earlier games but he hasn't been that kind of liability more recently and he's obviously got game with the ball. He's already 21 though so he'll need to keep improving fast
Westberg (D-) As much as I think he ultimately showed he's our best keeper currently, he also showed why Bono got the not so often - definitely another player who's past his best
Altidore (0) Time to go. In typical Jozy fashion, he at least saved one of his few bright moments for ruining Montreal's season
DeLeon (0) He's inevitably going to miss games due to his disdain for public health measures and he's really not good enough any more (or ever) to justify that
Akinola (C-) Despite his early season struggles, he was scoring and rounding into form before the Gold Cup injury. Clearly our main #9 going forward
Osorio (C+) He had his struggles but at this point he's our best midfielder, and one of the most well-rounded players in MLS (he even added through-balls to his game this year!)
Laryea (B-) Wasn't at his best for TFC, but like Osorio, his performances with the MNT show his quality. He's still one of the league's best fullbacks and one of our most consistent attacking threats
Mavinga (D) Wasn't that bad tbh - he was always going to get burned due to having to put out so many fires and covering defensive chasms as our only halfway competent CB. Might be a decent time to move him though - it's a major risk to keep a 30-year-old CB around who still relies so much on speed
Shaffelburg (A-) Pretty obviously the player of the season and a game-changer in that he's actually quick and direct in a team where most of the players are the opposite
Bono (F) Still a pure shot-stopper with awful distribution and organization and it doesn't look like he'll improve. We need a new #1 keeper next year
Singh (F) May be harsh, but I really don't see much potential in a CB who can't even defend in USL-1
Soteldo (D-) His G/A numbers were actually very good and the talent is obvious, but even though he's 23 and still developing, you expect better decision-making from a DP. Couple that with the murmurs of being a negative influence behind the scenes (not an enormous surprise from a guy who throws a full-on tantrum every time he deservedly gets subbed off) and it gets tougher and tougher to justify bringing him back
Endoh (D+) Meh, does he still take an international spot? If not, he's a useful guy to keep around for a few hundred minutes
Gonzalez (0) He's done. Like as a professional athlete. Somehow being one of our best attacking threats really doesn't make up for having one of the worst individual seasons I've ever seen defensively in MLS as TFC's main job each game became about covering for OG
Perruzza (D+) Solid in limited minutes (should have been on at half time today). Deserves more chances next year because he's proven he can score
Silva (F) A USL-level player brought in as a third keeper. If you can't play a single minute ahead of Bono and 2021 Westberg, you can't be any good
Lawrence (C) Solid contributor at LB and CB, where he looked like a more level-headed Mavinga. Maybe he's actually part of the answer there next year
Auro (D+) He's not game-breaking but he's a solid enough fullback who can give you starter minutes and if Lawrence stays at CB then we'll need him next year
Priso (C+) Really too bad he got injured. One of the trio of academy graduates alongside Shaff and Ayo who's actually well-rounded and mature enough to be a dependable starter (or at least regular in the 18) and not just a prospect. Offers some of the same things as Delgado but is a much better footballer. The fact he almost never went 90 minutes is a major concern though
Achara (C) Another pleasant surprise, still raw but always useful. I don't think his ceiling is high, but he should absolutely be kept around
Romeo (N/A) Permanently on loan and never convinced as a starter anywhere he's been, and he hasn't been playing in exactly top-level leagues. I don't see a future in MLS for him
Fraser (N/A) I think it's best for everyone if he stays in Columbus, I don't think he fits well into our squad and he's playing well there
Perez (F) Had the team playing decent at the beginning and end of his reign with a style that actually suited us, but the middle was just as about as bad as the Armas days and while a lot of that was the squad's shortcomings being impossible to compensate for, quite a bit was self-inflicted. Most damning is his substitution patterns where he would often barely change anything and still seemed to think we were only allowed 3 changes. Just today he had two very obvious half-time subs to make: Dunn for Morrow and a switch to a back 4, and Dwyer for Perruzza (or Dwyer for anyone, really), and he instead kept bunkering until he had no choice. Probably one of the better non-Vanney coaches in TFC's history, but not good enough for us going forward
Armas (0) He's actually not the worst coach in MLS history. But he's probably the single worst coaching hire in MLS history
Curtis (0) Any benefit of the doubt I've given him before 2021 is gone. All the poor signings and roster decisions he's made have come back to bite us this year as our aging DP's and TAM players have fallen off a cliff, but the decision to hire Armas and the inability to find ANY physio for the entire off-season are inexcusable, fireable offences on their own. Priority #1 right now is Curtis out
Manning (0) I'll give him some slack since his Argo duties means he's basically working two jobs (which I think a lot of people forget) but he arguably deserves just as much of the blame as Curtis for hiring Armas and not hiring a physio, and some extra blame just for trusting Curtis this long. He needs to prove he can actually rebuild a team and front office, and while I don't find it easy to trust him, he has shown if he gets the right people he'll let them do their job (Lagerwey/Kreis, Bez/Vanney). I have extra concerns with him which I'll detail below, but I don't think MLSE is going to get rid of both him and Ali, so like it or not Bill should be the one to stay
Medical staff (0) We need multiple replacements here, because our struggles with muscle injuries have been going on for more than just a year. Something has to give.
Our priorities for the off-season:
#1 Get Curtis out and hire a real GM
#2 Hire a real coach. Bob Bradley would be fine, as long as he can tell his kid to sit sometimes. And while I think they should have a GM who would concentrate on the salary cap like Bez did, Bob should have some involvement in building the team too (just not as much as he did in LA)
#3 At least one starting-quality CB. Such a glaring and obvious roster hole to patch, it's more important than any other player-related move we make, even the DP's
#4 Figure out who our DP's are. Jozy out should be a no-brainer, and probably one of either Pozuelo or Soteldo will leave too. Whichever one of those two we keep we need to actually build around and complement, and if none are good solutions going forward we need to start a full rebuild now.
#5 Get rid of deadweight like Slomar/Dwyer/Antivax/Gallardo and any others we can get good deals on or who aren't committed, and start filling out our roster from there
One last note: we still have some good players, good enough to get back to MLS cup pretty soon with the right moves, but the main reason we took such a nosedive in 2021 is that our coaching/FO situation is truly abysmal, and there's a VERY simple, straightforward answe as to why.
In 2017, we had arguably the best GM in the league in Tim Bezbatchenko. We had arguably the best coach in the league in Greg Vanney. We had arguably the best assistant coach in the league in Robin Fraser. In the space of two years between 2019 and 2020, all three of those guys left for free. And they were replaced with significant downgrades by the club president who, let's remember, only arrived at TFC after all of those three did.
This is Bill Manning's biggest failure and the biggest point in favour of getting rid of him. Whether the 2020's are a return to the TFC of five years ago or the one of ten years ago depends will depend on what Manning does this off-season, and that's kind of terrifying.
When discussion of the buyout comes up, journos all say it should be used on Gallardo. I kinda get it as he takes up a lot of cap space.
BUT
A DP who plays is way more valuable then whatever that cap space can get us.
*******
Agree with many others that say the medical/physio staff needs to be overhauled - either they are messing up in detection or they messing up in load management but something has been wrong since 2018 & things gotta change.
Never rooted for us to lose someone in the expansion draft before. But I definitely feel like it would help us this year.
"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
Key word is excellent “MLS” player. If Oso was able to step up, he would have already left for Europe.
It’s time to sell Oso and open a spot for our young midfielders to fill in and compete.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1462606096623886342
Here we go!
I’ve seen a few people attributing Jozy’s last minute illness to this decision. Please don’t tell me our management is so bad they decided to drop this on him before the game today.
He didn't travel with the team yesterday. I wonder if he asked if they were going to buy him out, TFC said yes and he refused to play.
Based on Jozy's demeanor for the last few months, I think the possible exit strategies were all discussed back in August.
I doubt Jozy was the only one.
Silly season is upon us
I will bet a beer that Curtis didn’t want him on the field, Dwyer was a better call. Say what you want …Legend!!! If senior management had anything to do with Jozy not getting his last game with TFC… MLSE time to step in and fire Curtis!!!
Last edited by Bushmancan; 11-21-2021 at 10:00 PM.
https://twitter.com/TransfersMLS/sta...19221196398607
Gazzetta - L'unica offerta reale per Insigne è del Toronto. L'Inter è in stand-by, lo prenderebbe ad una sola condizione https://www.informazione.it/a/6C7B0B...ola-condizione
Insigne isn’t about good leadership or scouting. It is about mediocre management with lots of money. These guys are so brutal, crazy how both of those releases come out one after another. You win with a team, not with these clowns…. “All for One”
It’s really disappointing Jozy didn’t suit up for one final game. We really needed him today.
Pure spec
Zavs wasn't there today because he was told & indicated "Guys, I'm tired from the WCQ anyways, give a slot on the bench to somebody else"
Jozy - I think the flu thing was real.
Zav was taken out in the last game with El Salvador after 38 due to injury. https://www.wakingthered.com/2021/11...ovember-window
“Terrence is a player that we’ve tracked for years during his time with the U.S. National Team and in Germany,” said Toronto FC General Manager Ali Curtis. “He is an experienced, attacking player that is capable of scoring goals in MLS.”
Do I need to post anything else why Curtis should be fired. We haven’t talked about this one in a while.
Sucks that it had to end this way, but Jozy and TFC have long been headed towards divorce. This is the right thing for both club and player.
Right move but could this have been handled better like by a club announcement. Bush league stuff this way.
Could the reason why there hasn't been a club announcement yet is because this has not been finalized yet??
Jozy deserves the farewell Justin Morrow got. I hope somebody somewhere understands this.
"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
100%
Sadly we won’t get that chance now.
Instead, it'll be handled with cold vindictiveness because they blame Jozy for their buddy and ex-teammate Armas crashing and burning.
This pair will be entrenched there like a pair of cancerous tumors until fans in Toronto start protesting visibly.
This wouldn't be the first time when a team makes a decision about a player & is beginning to wind up the "its time but man those memories" machine only for a journo to get wind & put the news out there early.
i.e. TFC didn't plan that tweet
*********
My Dad died of cancer - no staff shenanigans ever can be compared to that.
Yeah, I guess you are right. That would involve a real PR plan and execution of it, remember we have seen Curtis holding a GAM shirt as his idea of a good tweet.
Oh this is soooo painful, when the only thing that motivates players to come to your team is money and not trophies, you get mercenaries. (trophy winners still get paid good money, but put the team is first).
MLSE take the checkbook away and blow this and the front office up. Do something decisive, Manning you are walking one step closer to the door. I would rather watch kids lose with a solid front office, than watch that shit yesterday. You can tell by the way the players turned it on in the last 7 minutes they have the talent but not motivation as a team.
You cannot win in football without a team. If your front office is incompetent, players eventually turn…. We have seen this live over the past year.
I bet you they won't.
They'll do up a touching video with his goals and maybe a snippet of the speech from the victory parade and plaster it all over their social media. This is season membership sales time so they'll use this as a commercial. Sends a couple messages; first it's a nice warm, feely good thing about a club legend and secondly and more importantly, getting it out there that we have an open DP spot and the FO are going to do something.
None of this means they'll select the right player or any of that but moreso that we've gone back to the middle ages of TFC where advertising and seat sales trumps all.
I'm really starting to get the feeling that like half the roster is going to be turned over next year.
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