Judge Curtis after his second transfer window. The first he was getting his feet wet and trying to land Poz. Add to the fact after the Poz deal, the timing was shit to try and get players in. If he doesn't land quality needs in the second window, roast away.
This makes it sound like Curtis had never been a GM before, that Pozo wasn’t a primary target even before he came in, and that the rest of the FO was completely incompetent when they previously weren’t.
Saying give him a chance because they were blindsided by numerous players leaving at the same time and they didn’t expect it is a different story (but still shows that the FO is inept).
Toronto will not support a rebuild.
Look at the Jays crowds this year.
He needs to make a move to make this team remain competitive this season and beyond.
I think everyone knew we weren’t as good as our record, and we were really a 500 team- I am actually not that distressed.
I am OK with the summer strategy, I have always felt like it actually makes the most sense (the market is clearly better then). Even if it's the game plan because of incompetence.
My main concern is that we don’t have any reason to have faith in Curtis, and I think Manning needs to return 100% to TFC. To be fair I actually don’t understand Manning's division of responsibilities with Curtis right now, none of us do... but whatever it is, Manning needs to be calling all the shots right now. Curtis hasn't earned any independence.
Manning seems a bit asleep at the switch here. If if we have two straight years of non playoff flameouts, with this salary level, all of Manning, Curtis and Vanney could go.
"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
If anyone needs to go it's Curtis. Vanney asks for the players and Curtis needs to sign them.
When Bez left he did not take the entire scouting book with him, the club had targets they wanted to acquire when he was here and should have continued to pursue them and get them signed when Curtis got here.
Vanney wanted reinforcements at the start of the year and it's a failure on Curtis's part to not be able to sign Vanney's targets.
Likewise: I’m fine with waiting until the summer window to acquire players, but if they’re just the signings they’ve been pursuing since the winter window it will be a bit disappointing.
The thing I don’t understand is maintaining radio silence while only breaking it to make things up or deny rumors. The other thing is that they didn’t need to make brilliant signings; they needed some depth players who are actually decent too. Ciman was a logical signing, Deleon makes sense too, but there are still some pretty big holes to fill.
If we’re going to sign players >30 just bring in Dani Alves.
I don't see that happening though plus Vanney hasn't been able to correct the issues from last season.
With what we've see so far with our style of play and how the players are approaching each match does anyone think a TAM winger and a CB would really change anything? Would one or two players make us more dynamic, faster as team, more direct? I think a very good wide player could get us some more goals but the problems will still be there. I just think we need some rotation in the roster. It's stagnant. We need some new faces with new ideas.
And by that last line I mean new players in as well as current players out. Not just signing guys. We need some addition by subtraction.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 05-19-2019 at 09:38 AM.
Is anyone surprised? Argos were always going to be the priority once they were added to Manning's duties. They are a more important media property, at least in the large Boomer demographic.
TFC is once again the poor cousin to MLSE's more valuable properties, just like prior to Tim L.
Hopefully Curtis (or his replacement) will be able to manage without Manning being very involved, although Curtis has shown no sign of it so far.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 05-19-2019 at 01:56 PM.
A RB and a winger will allow our players to play to their strengths. Curtis publicly at least doesn’t seem to recognize where our weaknesses and strengths are and what is needed to improve the roster. And I guess I’m still stuck at “we are taking another run at the cup this year, we just need a couple more pieces” pre VV and Seba going and VdW implosion and “we are bringing in one for sure hopefully two in the next week or two” in the trade window. Everyone is saying summer window is better but that’s not what we were told was the strategy. Twice.
Last edited by MightyDM; 05-19-2019 at 06:07 PM.
Manning doesn’t do much for the Argos, Jim Popp is making all the decisions over there.
I blame Vanney for some of the bad decisions more so than Curtis who is too new to really blame.
Zavaleta shouldn’t be on the roster. He stuck with Bono for far too long. Delgado is not a starter on a good MLS team. There are a few Canadians who could easily do more than Boyd and cost less out there. Drafting Griffin Dorsey from Indiana was an obvious Vanney move, they could have traded Buchanan a Canadian who has at least done something this year or Montgomery a good young CB prospect. Derek Cornelius would have been a good signing over Ciman but they let Vancouver get him. Max Crepeau has been really good for Vancouver but we got Westburg who isn’t awful but hes older and probably not as good as Max. Loaning Telfer was dumb when you have no speed on the wing.
The maxim is you give a coach 3 transfer windows to see what kind of team he can put together. I think the same rubric should be applied to GMs. I'm willing to wait until the beginning of next season before I start making judgements.
It's a number of things - this isn't a black and white situation like you seem to want to make it. it's about all the other shit as well:
Getting his feet wet means:
- Coming into a new club and really looking at all the assets the clubs has - Not just the first team, but the academy as well.
- Getting to know the coaching staff - not just the first team - and what they think of the assets they have and where their needs are and how to attain them.
- Getting familiar with the process of the club.
- Add to that he had to deal with a draft within a week of being on the job
He wasn't blindsided by anything. He just came into a situation that would've been handled better if the CLUB wasn't in a transitioning phase. This all to me is a case of people just not looking at the bigger picture and factoring everything happening with the club right now.
As I said, give the guy/club the benefit of the doubt.
They said teams abroad didn't want to part with assets so close to the deadline and that they could get those assets during the second window because contracts were expiring. Doesn't sound far fetched to me. But as I said, they'll need to make those signings once the window opens.
I’m okay if we are 500 this year but what’s the plan to get better and why haven’t we been faster to solve the issues?
The problems are occurring at twice the rate it takes the front office to solve them. We didn’t address our CB issue properly and have no FW, then VV and Gio leave. Marky looks like he’s in a permanent slump and Bradley occasionally looks dicey. RB has never really be adequately addressed post Beitashour.
The only solution to all of this so far has been Pozuelo. Well great, but we can’t live on that alone. Montreal has been shit for a long time with Piatti on their roster so let’s not assume just because we have a fine player everything else will work out.
I would be less frustrated with Curtis and Manning if I didn't have to listen to " a signing within the next 2 weeks" for 3 months. I am willing to give him the secondary window before I start calling for his head. Another noteable signing that slipped through the cracks was the money we are wasting on Ciman
If picking up Boyd for Ricketts is what we're going to be seeing from Curtis, this team is going to become a bottom feeder. Boyd can't even play at this level. One of the worst player decisions since Preki brought in his squad of "D team" eastern European cast offs or Mariner bringing in Freddy Hall.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 06-01-2019 at 06:54 AM.
No way. This squad is better than performances indicate. If Vanney can't produce with this squad then he needs to go. At the same time Ali needs to bring the players in necessary to making us a contender. If he can't do that then we have an issue. I give Curtis till the end of the summer window. Vanney keeps this up and he won't last to the beginning of that window.
I'm pretty sure Boyd's performance matched his limited skill set. That's not just coaching.
Where Vanney's limitation is is being willing to adjust his tactics to a mediocre squad. However it's on Curtis that we don't have any decent signings last window, apart from Pozuelo.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 06-01-2019 at 10:52 AM.
Did someone release what he was on? I must have missed it; I just assumed it was an MLS minimum.
If he’s making $200+k then it’s even more egregious than Nephew making whatever he makes this year.
How hard could it be to find a player who has at least played in the past few years and scored a couple of goals? Ricketts was never a world class player but he’s a known quantity even if he has slowed down. He’s scored 7 goals in Lithuania and I’m not even sure Boyd could accomplish that at this point.
The salary figures havent been released yet
The union hasn't released salaries, but the MLS website released his salary.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...-terrence-boyd
So yes, he's making wayyy too much money.
I thought Boyd was Bez's move.