It certainly could improve that part of his game going to play in one of the mainland european leagues with the style is more technical. I just don't see how going to the team joint bottom of 2nd tier in england would improve that part of his game. It's kind of survival mode right there now.
Last edited by jabbronies; 01-06-2020 at 12:14 PM.
Doyle had another roster thing today. Given there isnt much happening, have at it...
Toronto FC
The Offseason So Far: I was talking with a friend this weekend and explaining my "Toronto FC actually shouldn't make any big signings this winter" stance. My point was this: Seattle have proven, again and again, that you can save money, find a wider variety of quality and turbo-charge your playoff push if you just wait until the summer to make big signings.
I framed it as a Seattle thing, all the while forgetting that... yeah, Toronto FC did that last year as well, didn't they? TFC were pretty good at the start of 2019, then struggled when everybody left during the Gold Cup. But then they went out and got Omar Gonzalez, Nicolas Benezet and Erickson Gallardo (three TAM guys) in the summer and sure enough, they were the best team in the Eastern Conference the rest of the way.
The natural response should be "why not go out there and get a DP now and be the best team in the East all season long?"
My rejoinder to that is "what if you don't have to?" Or even "what if you shouldn't?" Consider the following:
- What if Alejandro Pozuelo, Jonathan Osorio and Michael Bradley really can't all be in the same three-man midfield?
- What if Pozuelo's more cut out to be a playmaking winger in MLS?
- How good is Gallardo? Will we ever get to answer that if you immediately get a DP winger to start over him?
- How good can Canadian youth national team wingers Jacob Shaffelburg and Jayden Nelson be?
- What if Jozy keeps getting hurt?
If Pozuelo, Osorio and Bradley can't all play together, then... yikes, probably should've spent that DP slot on a No. 8 or a No. 6. Same if Pozuelo's cut out to be a playmaking winger. And if that's the case, and if there's another DP winger on the roster, then the Reds will never give enough minutes to Gallardo, Shaffelburg and Nelson to develop them. Being aggressive and pro-active in the winter will have painted TFC's brass in to a corner in the summer, one in which their assets are depreciating instead of the opposite.
The Jozy thing is the biggest thing, though. When he's healthy Jozy is as lethal and complete a No. 9 as there is in the league, but he's played over 2000 MLS minutes exactly once in his entire career. What if Toronto get to mid-season, and he's hurt again, and there's a 19-year-old Colombian youth national team center forward out there looking for a new home? Wouldn't it make more sense at that point to spend the DP slot there than on yet another winger?
Because as we saw last year in the postseason, the Reds have padding on the wings. You know that between them, veterans Nick DeLeon, Tsubasa Endoh and Richie Laryea, along with help from Osorio and Pozuelo, can hold down those slots for at least half a season. That group is good enough to win games and give Gallardo/Shaffelburg the platform they need to perform (Nelson's probably still too young). What they don't have is padding at forward, or a clear succession plan. It's not wild to think that, come summer, they'll need both.
Underpinning this: there's no CCL for Toronto this year so they won't have any life-and-death games this spring. They can take their time, focus on the regular season and just try to figure their personnel needs out.
If they do all that and July rolls around and Jozy's healthy and some combination of Pozuelo/Osorio/Bradley/Marky Delgado/Noble Okello/Liam Fraser is holding down the midfield, but you just need a little bit more oomph on the wings... then that's the time to go for it. Go out and drop a bag on Brian Lozano or something.
But don't do it this winter. It's counterintuitive, but I think burning the DP slot now would decrease TFC's flexibility and margin for error. This team should just add a little bit of defensive depth (left back in particular) and roll with what they've got until the summer.
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Or, well, I guess... never mind. TFC haven't done much this winter except shed some depth, create some cap space and get Bradley down from DP to TAM. Looks like there may be more and bigger things to come – soon.
Doyle's whole thing is: save the DP for later when you know more. He asked a lot of what if questions but how about this. What if TFC didn't have the great fortune they did to win into the finals. What if NYC bounced them? Would waiting for the summer window have been all that great then? Because all the talk until they got hot was how Seba and Victor leaving screwed up the season. What if they can have the best lineup with Jozy healthy early and bank huge points? What if you can save yourself the trouble, find someone great right now and crush this season with the money you only have because the Captain did something amazing for his team? Spend the money.. stop the madness.
I might be wrong but I thought I saw that because Bradley went down to a TAM contract that they are required to sign a DP in his place for similar salary. Do they have a timeline by which this needs to be done? Could it be anytime before or during the following season?
There is a lot of merit to Doyle's argument when you consider that we really don't know if Poz/Oso/MB is a functional midfield. More important, is the point on Jozy. The market is also pretty dry right now and because of that decent DPs are going to cost even more than the usual January premium. If the club is looking for a long-term guy they may be better off waiting until the summer.
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/KristianRDyer/status/1214266063938031622[/URL]
Unless you get a kings ransom in return IMO you don't deal Bono. Q is definitely the answer now but at his age he's not he long term solution. i want to see a motivated Bono this year going balls to the walls to win that job back.
Snap their hands off while unloading $400’000 salary sign Carducci or similar.
Q is good for the next two years +.
Bono is no better than Bendik was.
This is a self advertised “Jets and Rutgers” beat reporter. I wonder who the source is.... hmmm....
https://twitter.com/kristianrdyer/st...072386048?s=21
"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
Doyle makes a good point, though he's missing one thing: any DP we're targeting, Vanney wants someone who could play out wide OR as a striker. That's why he doesn't want Balotelli.
If we get someone versatile like that, we can get him now and it's fine. But if that guy isn't available, sure, wait until the summer - the team we have can hold their own.
@ManuelVeth
Mario Götze will leave #BVB on a free transfer this summer (Bild)
"multiple sources"!?
Or a great DP on a full year loan even.
Everything we have heard from the team has been they want to make that DP purchase this month. All the post cup pressers, all the info about where people were going in December - it all points to them wanting to bring in a player in late January to work with the team in training camp & into the new year. They want to dominate the season again - none of this going into August and needing to put on a big run stuff.
If TFC don't get a DP in January, its not because somebody thought it better to wait - it will be because none of their targets panned out. From what I've seen, this brain trust is going to have a plan A, B & C for January - a summer DP signing is Plan D.
I also would be very surprised if we have heard who the target is yet - as much as I like the names being mentioned, I suspect the secrecy on this to be tight. Genk/Pozuelo was a very unique situation where Seba leaving when he did left the team with little to no time to get somebody. That isn't what is going on now.
This brain trust knew a year ago that a Bradley non-DP situation was very likely going into this year. Yes, they would be adjusting to the strengths of the squad as shown last year so the targets might have shifted. And, yes, there is a certain amount of "Well we found out through sources that x player might be interested" that can happen. But if TFC didn't have at least 8 targets in their minds back in October that were being whittled down over the last 3 months, then they were not doing their due diligence.
That is why I put little stock in the "well they don't need somebody now" theory. This team WANTS somebody now. The last 2 spring campaigns is a sore spot in management's minds - they want to do whatever it takes to be a contender from game 1.
Last home game of the season Manning sat on the mezzanine level of the East Stand holding court with a "Town Hall" with Wheeler and came right out and said that they knew their biggest shortcoming and that it was going to be addressed in this window. He said it was a lack of depth in putting the ball in the back of the net. He said Jozy needed quality help and he was going to get it. If they don't sign a goal scorer this window it won't be for a lack of trying ... his words not mine ...
Good read/analysis
https://www.wakingthered.com/2020/1/...market-in-2020
I think Bono is better than Bendik but agree with your overall point.
This guy has to go from putting his long passes into the second row to being a lot more fluid if he is to keep up with how Vanney wants to play and the direction the game is going in general.
My suggestion would be to bring in Carducci as the backup and consider turfing the goal keeping coach. We’ve seen a lot of guys improve considerably once leaving TFC.
We've been focusing on a DP signing, but the Superdraft is coming up January 9. TFC has the 19th & 25th picks. Anyone think that TFC can pick up some useful cheap depth that far down the list? Anyone following the college game have any ideas about potential picks?
I've been saying to can Conway for years. Not only do keepers improve when they leave, they visibly get worse the longer they're here. The worry this year is that Conway starts to ruin Westberg.
Irwin was great for one year then degraded. Then Bono had a good year and a half run then degraded. There is a pattern here and it's not being addressed.
SuperDraft is useless, not even worth the forum space to talk about it.
I expect TFC will get no one of value, TFC2 filler at best. If they do manage to get someone - bonus.
As for who looks good - it doesn't matter, Curtis is a "Build from the academy" guy and probably has his list of things he's looking for - something he hasn't really shared with any media as of yet. So who knows.
It is interesting, both the traditional combine and having the draft at the national coaches convention have been scrapped as the league and teams decided it was too time consuming and costly for what was producing diminishing returns. With the amount of money the league is spending on the international market good teams just not need to rely on cheap talent like they did in the past. Plus in the Reds case in recent years how many draft picks have contributed at all Who knows if they keep their picks what it may produce if anything at all. There will still be some diamonds in the rough to be found though.
https://www.soccerwire.com/news/sour...weekend-event/
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!