Insigne was a guest of Napoli president De Laurentiis for their game against Inter. Obviously this doesn’t mean anything but hopefully he finds a new club while he’s over there.
Insigne was a guest of Napoli president De Laurentiis for their game against Inter. Obviously this doesn’t mean anything but hopefully he finds a new club while he’s over there.
Yeah, I shake my head at the "Herdman only likes Canadian players". Because he's only selected Canadian players to his squads and always talked about how those players were doing for the last 12 years (male and female)..... It's not like he had a choice. It was his job to only deal with Canadian players. I'm sure he would've loved to bring in some other nationality players, but you know, you can't with international footy.
Or the, he's loyal and always brings in the same guys. When you're not training the squad day in and day out, and basically have a couple days to train before a game, it's hard to bring in a whole new squad. You need some continuity. But he still managed to bring in new guys over his tenure into major roles (Buchanan, Kone, Eustaquio, etc). If you actually view it like a club season (ie. take the last 30 games and pretend it happened over eight months rather than 3 years), where tweaks happen every so often, but feel minor (a new guy in today, a formation shift next game) it's fairly comparable, rather than saying it took him 3 months to make that change and take that guy out of the lineup with the national team (those 3 months might have included all of 3 games, which is comparable to a two week stretch at club level, where you might write off a poor performance as a one-off and give a second chance, at national level, sometimes that second chance only happens two months later because that's when the next match it).
PS. I get this might sound a bit mish-mashed and be confusing and not make a whole lot of sense. The idea made sense in my head, but couldn't figure out how to properly explain it in words
For those out of nowhere Dorsey truthers.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/mlsnetwork/status/1731785609411215832?s=20
I mean he did talk Akinola into committing to Canada over the US.Originally Posted by OgtheDim
Has Herdman talked about Akinola since joining TFC?
Sorry if he has, but I see a LOT of "Herdman likes x" takes based on the last years of the CanMNT experience - I do have to stop following Waking the Red on twitter
I haven't heard anything myself on him though, but don't think he'll be starting him either.
IMO, I do think it would be best to loan him out to a CPL squad (York?), where he'll likely get minutes in a competitive environment as opposed to maybe just sitting on the bench at TFC.
Last edited by SilverSamurai; 12-04-2023 at 05:42 PM.
If anything, it shows how Herdman is the anti-Bob Bradley. Shows how Herdman values asset management, by his interest in getting anyone and everyone he could to commit to Canada and then cap-tie them immediately, and not let a major rival get their hands on them. For example, Akinola, Kyle Hiebert (via long term residency), Zac McGraw were all guys who could commit to either Canada and the USA. They're second-tier players on either side, but he locked them into Canada in case they have a sudden explosion in upside, so he could control those assets. Plus guys like Ike Ugbo and Victor Loturi with other nations. None of those guys are part of the Canada-core, and all have minimal number of caps, yet he locked them all up as Canada-only assets. Meanwhile, Bob just tossed aside proven assets like Auro, Pozuelo, Kemar Lawrence, Delgado, etc for pennies on the dollar rather than to maintain those assets and even gave them to other MLS sides (Herdman wanted to prevent the US (a fellow continental team) from any possible Canadian dual if he could, BB just straight up gave them to fellow league sides).
Last edited by rydermike; 12-04-2023 at 07:34 PM.
He has been posting the past few days about him training in the gym, tagging Toronto FC and saying getting ready.
99% he is coming back next season.
Berna on the other hand I think is looking for any exit available.
Given the situation, I expect Herdman will give Akinola a few months, and see if he can work his way into the lineup. Herdman has been involved in a lot of reclamation projects (Laryea and Adekugbe spring to mind)
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Insigne posts remind of Defoe's during the off-season before he was sold
Akinola could use the confidence (and therapy) Herdman is promoting. That stuff probably wasn’t coming from Bob.
Yeah, I could see him as a young player being out of rhythm with injuries and then have the added issue of trying to understand what Bob wants (or rather how to achieve what Bob wants).
That certainly hit the press before with snippets of guys being confused or looking for more direction in training. And Bradley’s justification seemed to be “I won stuff before and worked with Mo Salah. My methods must work”
True but we shouldn't forget that Akinola was shit before Bob and also remained shit after. You remove that MLS is Back tournament and he's 2023 Sappong but for many more years.
Fat! And uncommitted! Been saying this for a long time. In general TFC scouting is Lazy and uncommitted. Let's start there.
That should help his reclamation, haha. TFC scouting over most of its existence = what scouting??
Akinoka was highly thought of… not sure it was a lazy pick, especially. But he never adequately made the transition that Vanney asked of him - mini Jozy. I’d like to see Herdman use him in the position he has most success in his youth days on the wing. But that’s not Herdman’s style most likely… he’s overloaded with ineffective wingers… but maybe simplifying things for Akinoka will help him. Getting the most out of a player involves putting him in places that he’s capable.
Yeah I agree. He had one good run with MLS is back and maybe 45 minutes with Canada where I thought he looked good.
There was an interesting comment after the last Manchester United game, that Man U didn't have a single player on the pitch who had won a league title or major European championship. Not sure how accurate that was, and I wasn't about to chase down the information to verify it. But if true, it's an interesting deficiency in their team. Just thinking about how that applies to TFC. When we're looking at players, especially within MLS, getting some character players who have won in the leagues is important I think. Wonder who is available or who might be a good target?
tbf, i wouldn't look at things like that.
last year we had:
johnson (MLS Cup winning captain)
bradley (MLS cup and more winning captain)
insigne (euro 2020 champ, big part of that team)
bernardeschi (euro 2020 champ, multi serie a champ
petretta (swiss cup x 2 and swiss league winner)
osorio (MLS cup and more winner)
diomande (MLS supporter shield winner)
Kaye (supporter shield winner)
the only player from our team from last year who hadn't won anything is laryea, and he was our best player. lol
Lol, fair.
Could we add "recently." Like since 2020 at least?
Well that at least leaves our two best veterans for leadership and onfield contributions; Insigne & Bernardeschi.
That stat about Man U says more about their turnover & lack of actually winning anything lately.
i.e. Same as any other team that hasn't won anything in 5 years.
BTW, I would remark that the 2020 Voyageurs win is a trophy...tainted..but still a trophy.
I think it makes sense that if we're adding players from within MLS we should look to players who have been through the wringer of winning in MLS.
The Man U stat is also that they sign losers.
Our 2017 didn't have much by way of players winning recent major trophies (Generally that'll be a league or continental cup win), off the top of my head maybe Seba but he was a bit part player so not sure I'd count him, Drew Moor maybe 7 years prior? I'm sure I'm forgetting some other obvious ones? I'm not sure it means all that much. I'd buy a player based on fit and if they've a history of winning, great, but if they're the right fit I wouldn't turn them down if they didn't
It is going to be interesting to see the roster shakes out as we get into January and closer to the start of the season. This team is currently at 22 players including a handful who would have say have no future here. This is a rebuild in my eyes but to do that there will have be some deletion just to improve things. Right off the bat Luke Singh , has to be the final year of his deal, has been loaned that last two seasons to the CPL.
Goalkeepers (2): Luka Gavran, Sean Johnson
Defenders (6): Kobe Franklin, Aimé Mabika, Shane O’Neill, Raoul Petretta, Sigurd Rosted and Luke Singh
Midfielders (5): Latif Blessing, Alonso Coello Camarero, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Jonathan Osorio, and Brandon Servania
Forwards (9): Ayo Akinola, Federico Bernardeschi, Adama Diomande, Lorenzo Insigne, Deandre Kerr, Cassius Mailula, Hugo Mbongue, Prince Owusu and Jordan Perruzza
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Singh is signed through 2025
https://www.torontofc.ca/news/toront...der-luke-singh
We need, overall, several very effective players and in just about every area of the pitch.
Most extremely we have no wingbacks (though it sounds like JMR might be a left wingback under Herdman with Petretta our CB left in the back three).
At the other extreme, we are set at keeper. Between the two, certainly one of our best, or even our best set of keepers ever. Not that this is saying much, hah, but there is one position that doesn’t need upgrading.
Anyone know how he did during his last loan?
Only tangible assets with upside are Coello and Kerr, with Franklin being extremely raw who was not ready for full time on the field. Even then they are nowhere near top tier enough at the moment. In other words bright future but should be considered now as depth players who would develop with talented players around them.
Insigne and Berna cannot help with this group of players. Actually, not that they cannot help, they are not willing to help. I say this because if you watch them live you see they do not have any passion to work harder to offset others around them.
Solution, 2024 a write-off unless this happens.
1) Insigne/Berna hopefully leave without TFC (us as ticket holders) pay any salary. Highly unlikely.
2) Remove Oso as a DP and sign him to a cap friendly amount. Nostalgia over.
3) Get rid of as many contracts as you can. Tough task, almost impossible.
4) Say prayers. Lots of them.
Year 1 season ticket holder. Not many of us dinosaurs left. Last year was almost as bad as the worst Mo Johnson years. Told my rep this is not acceptable from top down. I am willing to give next year a chance to see a rebound under Herdman.
How the heck did he get signed to a 5 year contract, did they really think he could turn into something they could sell on?
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Team was just handing out 5 year deals to everyone that month. Team beat Leon on agggregate, Singh had a good game on his short term loan. Him, Ali Curtis, and Bill Manning all got 5 year extensions
No 4th DP.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/tombogert/status/1733205092931948917?s=20
Honestly if given a choice I think alot more TAM and/or just raising the base salary cap by alot would do far more for the standard of football than a 4th DP, and do it in a way that'd help preserve parity
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