The World Cup completely exposed Atiba. He can come on a league minimum, one year deal. Bring me Lewis O'Brien.
The World Cup completely exposed Atiba. He can come on a league minimum, one year deal. Bring me Lewis O'Brien.
There’s a difference between facing off with Croatia / Belgium / Morocco and an MLS midfield. But, I agree with you in the sense that he’s not the solution to our problem (no pace in MF). He’s done well to have such a long career but I can’t see what roll he has here outside of depth in a box-to-box sort of capacity.Originally Posted by MikeForbes
atiba on a one year league minimum transitioning to coaching role after the season would be good.
we still need someone else in there tho.
Bring Atiba home! Always wanted him in TFC red, don’t care how old he is.
Would he be the oldest ever to play for TFC? How old was Rick Titus in that game?
I think a player of his age and lack of speed will always do better in a technical, tactically disciplined league like Turkey than in one predicated in athleticism and one-on-one duels like MLS.
Steven Vitoria is still doing well in Portugal to this day but he looked like a statue at Philadelphia. And that was a few years ago now. Slow defenders get absolutely murdered here. Remember Mattheus in New York, Marquez in New York, Nesta's last year in Montreal? And we're talking about a midfield anchor. Not a good idea.
He was 39 when he suited up for the Reds in 2008 vs. Chivas. Think he is the oldest player in TFC history.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
What? He was excellent in the Belgium game, and had a decent game against Morocco.
Not sure he fits when we have MB though. They are kind of similar players.
EDIT: I know this is a hallucination … but, pass me the bong, what if MB went upstairs now or some such, and signed Atiba…?
Last edited by ensco; 02-16-2023 at 10:49 PM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Any O’Brian news since the possibility of a court challenge?
I wonder if Forest would send him to us if he wasn’t likely to play a lot? Micheal probably won’t sit more than one out of every three and Oso and Kaye are Bob’s guys… that means occasional duty while waiting for an everyday spot to appear due to injury.
All depends on how Kaye has looked in preseason. If he looks like he did last year, he is the obvious man out. Regardless, in a 5 sub world, O'Brien is playing every game.
If Bradley played people based on the past alone and didn't weight how they were training, he'd deserve to be fired. I would fully expect him to platoon the players, because he has to give MAK playing time for consistency later in the season. But I highly doubt he'd be insane enough to routinely start MAK over Lewis O'Brien.
He's well above MLS quality. He could probably play regularly in the premiership, and he was certainly one of the best midfielders in the Championship, which is still above MLS generally.
I know KC fans don't think he's up to much anymore, but Uri Rosell's DM numbers were okay in limited minutes last year. He's only 30, he passes at above an 80% clip most seasons. He's a purely defensive player, really, but he's not going to lose the ball in transition, typically, either.
And he's available on a free. Given that we're just looking for experienced depth at this point....
Any other midfielder suggestions? The consensus seems to be waiting until the midpoint of the season to get a 'name' is not a good strategy. But we might find O'Brien ends up goign to Blackburn anyway, if the court for arbitration in sport allows it.
Even if we get him, we need depth for later in the year.
I'd have to assume there must be someone else be under-used in MLS, or playing below their level in USL or the CPL, who still hasn't been tapped. Or maybe a parallel-ish level league like Switzerland or Scotland?
@joshuakloke
Friday afternoon tidbit: Toronto FC academy product Joses Chukwu is currently training with Hertha Berlin, per source.
Chukwu, a centre-forward, has been playing up a year in the #TFCLive academy and was called into Canada's Under-17 team last year.
the lack of info that comes out of this club is embarrassing.it seems like they wanna hide this kinda of info
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They seem to want to hide all info. All we get is whatever Bob says in his infrequent pressers, which isn't much.
I just don't understand the approach. They're treating communications like they're a panicked government department in the middle of a scandal.
They should be using the press to seed the public with stories that promote the club, its stories, its culture and history, the players, the product.
It's just not that hard.
I liked Rosell’s game last I saw him. Seems ideal to fill in as needed.
I get all that which is why I’m waiting for the news with bated breath… except that I think Bob likes his current midfield and may want Micheal, Oso and Kaye as his regular starters. When he’s asked about depth he consistently responds “a little bit at midfield”. O’Brien’s a whole lot of midfield depth, so much that he’d have to often start - in fact not really depth at all.
Agree with your characterization of TFC's lack of information sharing; not very progressive nor professional in the corporate messaging of relative successes. Player development and experience aside, the club connect alone is interesting and may have future value? Ever more so since they are in the relegation zone.
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 02-17-2023 at 06:22 PM.
This does not bode well:
"I think in the early part of the year we’re going to be able to play with any team in the league and then we’ll see how we can strengthen our depth. But I think we’re going to be good. "
Manning does not sound particularly worried about being deep to start the season.
https://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/mls/toronto-fc/toronto-fc-will-add-depth-over-the-next-three-years-says-president-bill-manning
(Ignore the headline, a result of an editor not really paying attention. He said we'd have a good starting ix over the next three years, and add depth, not that it would take three years to add depth.)
But he does sound like they're going to wait until later in the year, which isn't good.
And he doesn't sound optimistic on O'Brien.
I would say (and take this with a grain of salt because its friday night, I'm 3/4 into a bottle of rose & just left my past job)
since Bob's brother came on to run TFC communications, they have erred on the side of not giving us information without a real story to tell.
[QUOTE=jloome;1979502]I know KC fans don't think he's up to much anymore, but Uri Rosell's DM numbers were okay in limited minutes last year. He's only 30, he passes at above an 80% clip most seasons. He's a purely defensive player, really, but he's not going to lose the ball in transition, typically, either.
I guess we'll see Rosell tomorrow - he's on trial with LAG...
I don't take this as a bad thing. It just means they need to deal one of Jesus or Ayo to be dealt to open up the space.
Well, does seem to suggest that 'two weeks' now really has become 'two windows'!
Did Shane O'Neill experience a knock like Oso, Kaye and VV? Did he miss the last match; was not included in the line-up? I noticed in one of yesterday's clip releases that he may have been training away from the team; on the sidelines of the pitch?
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 02-18-2023 at 05:36 AM.
Jeff Bradley used to be director of communications but I believe he retired. Web site now shows Alejandra Rueda in that role. Don't know what this person does as essentially there is no communication from the club.
Given that Osorio can't seem to stay healthy O'Brien is probably starting more than half the games.
Manning states "What I’ll say is, there isn’t a whole lot of cap space, so any deal like (Lewis O’Brien) would have to involve kind of multiple things happening, unless a club just says, ‘Here, you can have the player.’ Which never happens." So... most likely either Perruzza, Akinola or JJ on the move; or some combo of?
So, I am less worried about our depth than others are. Here's why.
Forwards:
Insigne, Bernardeschi, Jimenez, Diomonde, and Ayo are all capable, proven goal scorers. Each of them have shown they can start and score in MLS. Some are more streaky than others, but the talent is there.
Midfielders:
This is where is gets a bit tricky. Bradley, Osorio, Kaye, and Vazquez are the four key midfielders, but I believe Jimenez is our 5th midfielder. Kerr can also play some important minutes. I am hoping for a big year from him.
Defenders: I actually think we are fairly solid here. Hedges, Rosted, O'Neil, McNaughton, Laryea, Petretta, JMR, and Kosi.
Goal: Johnson and Romero
This is what I believe will be our opening day 18:
Starters: Insigne, Bernardeschi, Diomonde, Osorio, Kaye, Bradley, Laryea, Petretta, Hedges, Rosted, and Johnson
Bench: Jimenez, Ayo, Vazquez, JMR, O'Neill, Kerr, McNaughton, Romero.
I am optimistic. This team can win.
We might win a lot. We might have three injuries in the first month and, with no depth, miss the playoffs again.
Really, we have a ton of skill up front and a good back line, and a good midfield with a few holes (Michael's slow, none of them are good in the air, a significant issue in any midfield, MAK may be inconsistent).
If everyone stays healthy we're challengers. But we all know where the tensions lie.
I'm not sure JJ is a midfielder. He's never played that position before. Asking someone to adapt to zonal movement and coverage at that speed in a new position, as a fifth option? Usually that kind of experimentation does not go well. Mind you, it is MLS, and athleticism can m ake up for a lot.
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