Toronto FC - 2011 Roster

[Pookie]

^ I want Frei too but I'd be curious to know if there were other teams (in other leagues) interested.

If a transfer is likely in his future, moving him for allocation money might be a good strategy. Assuming there is a plan to use that allocation money.

[woolly]

Neither of our DP's is running above 61%.

That can't be good.

[TFCREDNWHITE]

At Depor, he was a Classic DM. Here, he has to be a DM an AM and a Central Midfielder!! I mean come on! who can do all that!?? LaBrocca, Peterson, Nane, Saric etc... Create such inconsistent flow/pass/protection/control That DeGuz has to try and pick up those pieces!! Its bullshit. The rest of the Midfield needs to be severely UPGRADED. Without upgrading it who the hell is going to service DeRo/Barrett/Mista/Maicon !!!?????? NOBODY. Thats why everything falls apart....

[Bars92]

Ibrahim is the second coming of Lombardo.

[Northern Soul]

Keepers:
Frei

Defenders:
Attakora
Cann
Gargan

Midfielders:
DeRo
JDG
Labrocca

Forwards:
Barrett
Santos

I didn't hit the checkmark for Santos, but I'd keep him for sure. Otherwise, this is who I'd keep.

[ag futbol]

I'm not going to both going over the garbage list because it's too long. It's like 2/3 of the guys on there.... yet again.

So of the guys we probably want to bring back i see the following potential problems:

- Frei - most likely going to be sold. TFC would be foolish not to, we'll get a big cheque.
- Attakora - europe or no? Can we get him back at a more expensive yet reasonable price?
- Barrett - Portland bound ? How many guys of the quality of Santos, Barrett etc do we want to carry?
Sanyang & Gomez - are they 21 or 28? Do they warrant being kept around longer. The draft and an off-season will provide us some time to identify more young talent. Are these the guys we want?

[brad]

Maybe different leagues require different skill sets. Spain is more highly skilled and not as physical and the players are smaller. Maybe JDG was a great DM in Spain, but isn't in MLS.

Very true. The other thing needed by a DM in Spain is the ability to read a highly tactical game and shut down World XI caliber playmakers. Very different to chasing around a ball on in a tactically naive, physically hard league. You can also make it with a limited range of attacking skills and passing as you will always have an option to make the short pass to the more creative attacking players.

Makalele was one of the best DM's in that league and couldn't complete a pass over 10 yards.

It was no coincidence that JDG was dominant against Cruz Azul - small team, and a tactical game that he was able to read.

[brad]

Sanyang & Gomez - are they 21 or 28? Do they warrant being kept around longer. The draft and an off-season will provide us some time to identify more young talent. Are these the guys we want?

Gomez deserves a look I think - he showed promise, but has been injured. Sanyang isn't good enough.

[ag futbol]

JDG has put together (for a the most part) a pretty good run of games lately. I'd be fairly confident that if we had better players around him he'd be giving us a lot of synergy.

Now does this justify paying a defensive mid DP money? not by a long shot. But he's playing his spot more than well enough to justify being included in the squad.

He's taking the bulk of this criticism because people are expecting him to do what he did in the gold cup in 2007. He's not that player, never has been at club level.

[TFCREDNWHITE]

Maybe different leagues require different skill sets. Spain is more highly skilled and not as physical and the players are smaller. Maybe JDG was a great DM in Spain, but isn't in MLS. Can you see him as a DM in the Premier League for instance? He'd get flattened like a pancake. I've seen him get bossed off the ball and thrown around too much this year. At the end of the Chicago game, he let Castillo walk right by him at the top of the box(he already had a Yellow Card at that point), Gargan then fouled Castillo and we nearly lost the game on the last kick of the game because of it. A DM has to make or at least attempt a tackle there.

I agree the supporting cast sucks. Losing Guevara hurt us badly, he was the one midfielder who consistently provided good service. JDG would look better with better midfield support, but I still don't think he's an MLS type DM.

One of the Greatest coaches can give you a little insight:

1. A great defensive midfielder is most important to Mourinho
.
For those who hope Mourinho’s Real will tilt the field and bombard the opposition, prepare to be disappointed. The Portuguese tactician is methodical and opportunistic; he prefers patience to panache. That is why the role of defensive midfielder will become a position of interest during his reign as manager.
The holding position behind the attacking midfielder(s) and in front of the central defenders is crucial to Mourinho because, even if he oscillates between possession-driven and counterattacking styles, he will expect that player to be the first point of transition. At Porto he had Costinha; at Chelsea there was Claude Makelele; and at Inter Milan it was Esteban Cambiasso. Each man played well over 25 games every season under Mourinho.
At Real, Mourinho has a number of players that can play that role: World Cup stars Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira, Royston Drenthe, Mahamadou Diarra, Lassana Diarra — even versatile defender Pepe can be relied upon. So in the first few weeks, after the roster is thinned a bit, Mourinho will likely conduct myriad auditions.

[brad]

^^ What's needed tactically at the highest levels of football and what's needed in the MLS are not always the same. When winning trophies depends on shutting down players like Iniesta or Snjeider, I agree with the above.

The rapid transition to counter is also true, but that also requires a level of tactics from the surrounding players that I've not seen in the MLS

[Pachuco]

Neither of our DP's is running above 61%.

That can't be good.

And the funny thing is, I've been accused of being one of 4 people who make up the camp that would rather not have JDG on this team. Hey, I'm glad people see the truth now.

JDG is a terrible attacking midfielder and a so so defensive midfielder in the MLS. We've played him in both roles this year, and it's obvious he's just an average MLS player. He's overrated because he's Canadian by most people who still support him. I have no doubt if JDG was American he would have 10% of the support on this board.

I also am a bit curious about his performance with Canada against Peru. Same old shit, nothing impressive. I may have had this wrong in thinking it could be the league, his level of play could very well have dropped.

He was on his way down when he left Depor and he cashed in.

Nothing dissapoints me more then his performance with this club, I really thought he could come in here and make a much bigger impact.

We can't keep waiting around for Mo to build Barcelona in order for JDG to look good, we need DPs who are going to make the rest of the team look good.

[canadian_bhoy]

Speaking of 2011 - wonder what the new kits will look like.

I wish our away kit looked as nice as this (IMO - way better than our white or our grey)

[ag futbol]

He was on his way down when he left Depor and he cashed in.

That's not true, he called his club out on owing him un-paid money and was subsequently blackballed + nailed to the bench. He wasn't the only one but he got it the worst. He was one year removed from being player of the year for the club and was generally considered a useful piece up until the point where he didn't re-sign. Depor is deep with talent so they can let him rot on the bench if they want to. Easily could have gone back to Germany, but we have a crazy manager who likes to burn money so he came here.

This team doesn't suck because of JDG. It sucks because we have no wingers, no top level striker, and our go to option at left-back is a guy who has to stand 5 yards off the attacker to make sure he doesn't get beat. Outside of that, most of our players are technically deficient and struggle to receive and make simple passes.

I would never in my life pay him the money we did, but if someone simply asked the question "do you want him as your DM?" i'd say yes.

[Pookie]

I would never in my life pay him the money we did, but if someone simply asked the question "do you want him as your DM?" i'd say yes.

If the question is do you want him as your DM, I'd agree. Better than anyone we have.

But the question is do you want him as your DP? One of just 3 slots available to build a team around. Is he the best DP option we have?

When he played the role of Sweeper in the closing minutes of the must win DC game, I can say with certainty that no, he is not the best use of that available DP roster spot

[algieb]

[ quote=Bars92;1127700]Ibrahim is the second coming of Lombardo great comback so true llf

[algieb]

That's not true, he called his club out on owing him un-paid money and was subsequently blackballed + nailed to the bench. He wasn't the only one but he got it the worst. He was one year removed from being player of the year for the club and was generally considered a useful piece up until the point where he didn't re-sign. Depor is deep with talent so they can let him rot on the bench if they want to. Easily could have gone back to Germany, but we have a crazy manager who likes to burn money so he came here.

This team doesn't suck because of JDG. It sucks because we have no wingers, no top level striker, and our go to option at left-back is a guy who has to stand 5 yards off the attacker to make sure he doesn't get beat. Outside of that, most of our players are technically deficient and struggle to receive and make simple passes.

I would never in my life pay him the money we did, but if someone simply asked the question "do you want him as your DM?" i'd say yes.

this man is shit to small no pace spends a lot off his time on the ground gets needles bookings a master off the square pass and loves to play triangles with dan gar, labrocca and we loss the ball 90 off the time

[algieb]

That's not true, he called his club out on owing him un-paid money and was subsequently blackballed + nailed to the bench. He wasn't the only one but he got it the worst. He was one year removed from being player of the year for the club and was generally considered a useful piece up until the point where he didn't re-sign. Depor is deep with talent so they can let him rot on the bench if they want to. Easily could have gone back to Germany, but we have a crazy manager who likes to burn money so he came here.

This team doesn't suck because of JDG. It sucks because we have no wingers, no top level striker, and our go to option at left-back is a guy who has to stand 5 yards off the attacker to make sure he doesn't get beat. Outside of that, most of our players are technically deficient and struggle to receive and make simple passes.

I would never in my life pay him the money we did, but if someone simply asked the question "do you want him as your DM?" i'd say yes.

i would say cut our losses

[algieb]

JDG has put together (for a the most part) a pretty good run of games lately. I'd be fairly confident that if we had better players around him he'd be giving us a lot of synergy.

Now does this justify paying a defensive mid DP money? not by a long shot. But he's playing his spot more than well enough to justify being included in the squad.

He's taking the bulk of this criticism because people are expecting him to do what he did in the gold cup in 2007. He's not that player, never has been at club level.

degusman came here with a big rep amid who was going to replace guevera and robinson ,i may be missing the point here but a lot off the guys he has been playing agst in the mls are just out off f uni, i want more from a guy on this money with his so called pedigree

[KezmanCCCC]

i only voted for dero, cann, JDG, attakora, barrett, santos, frei, kocic, usanov, gargan and sanyang....

[Oldtimer]

Very true. The other thing needed by a DM in Spain is the ability to read a highly tactical game and shut down World XI caliber playmakers. Very different to chasing around a ball on in a tactically naive, physically hard league. You can also make it with a limited range of attacking skills and passing as you will always have an option to make the short pass to the more creative attacking players.

Makalele was one of the best DM's in that league and couldn't complete a pass over 10 yards.

It was no coincidence that JDG was dominant against Cruz Azul - small team, and a tactical game that he was able to read.

That's what makes JDG the wrong choice for DP (as skilled as he is) if our goal is the playoffs. The right DP for MLS is always an attacking striker. (He would be OK as a secondary DP to a decent striker DP).

However, he is absolutely the right player if we want to win the CCL and play in the Club World Cup.

[maninb]

Is JDG guaranteed money for 2011? if not then offer him a Non-DP contract or else let him go....We could certainly get far more punch for $1.7M, including a A-ONE attacking MF...

[ManUtd4ever]

Very interesting results thus far. Certain player votes were predictable and others are somewhat surprising.

At this point, if the core of TFC's squad next year was to be selected by the majority it would consist of the following 11 players:

G- Frei, Conway

D- Attakora, Cann, Gargan, Harden

M- DeRo, JDG, Labrocca

F- Barrett, Santos

[Carefree]

Definite YES
S. Frei
A. Cann
D. DeRosario
C. Barrett
M. Santos

On the fence, maybe keep as bench player
J. Conway
N. Attakora
D. Gargan
T. Harden
M. Usanov
N. Labrocca
M. Saric
F. Ibrahim

Hell NO

N. Garcia
R. Hscanovics
J. DeGuzman
J. Nane
A. Sanyang
G. Gala
J. Peterson
Mista
O. White

The others I don't know enough to say.

[Alarius]

I don't understand why Frei is 98%.. it should be a 100%

[DoubleUp]

YES
S. Frei
A. Cann
D. DeRosario
C. Barrett
M. Santos
R. Hscanovics
J. Conway
N. Attakora
D. Gargan
T. Harden
M. Usanov
N. Labrocca
J. DeGuzman
J. Nane
A. Sanyang


No..Go
M. Saric
F. Ibrahim
N. Garcia
G. Gala
J. Peterson
Mista
O. White

[Fushida]

19 people voted for OBW... WTF? This isn't golf man... we actually need to score some time.

[Carefree]

19 people voted for OBW... WTF? This isn't golf man... we actually need to score some time.

He's up to 21 now.

What I can't believe are the 10 people who voted for Peterson. A more useless player I have never seen.

[woolly]

Carefree, meet Nick Garcia. Nick, meet Carefree.

He's up to 21 now.

What I can't believe are the 10 people who voted for Peterson. A more useless player I have never seen.

[MKR]

it doesn't even matter who on that last is back. Everyone on that list is replaceable.

but the more important thing for me is that i'd rather see some of those guys gone than see anyone in particular return.