[QUOTE=OgtheDim;1916641]Less goals and never really had a breakout season.
Its a risk - I'd say its a little more probable then Mavinga, Auro, Aketke, & VDW but less then Vasquez. More importantly, this confirms that the team is being built around Poz now, not Bradley/Jozy. I fully expect a midfield of Fraser/Bradley, Oso/Delgado & Poz.
good point on midfield and MLS in its overview of this years teams ask the all important question , can this midfield work together ? Their reasoning is Bradley of past is no longer viable . He’s slower and at the back , as we have seen can be beat . Pozuelo is asked to cover up everyone . Imagine ruling the mid ? It’ll take a strong give and take from Osorio . This is the year we find out if he is overpaid .
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good point which brings up the question , who are our scouts? How do we find you DP’s without important connections . I get a feeling they had a timeline to get it done and took the last available , simply to get back to business . This is where mgmts cost cutting would show up .
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Does this Friday thing really apply anymore in this social media and 24 hour news stations age. With the the raptors win streak and the leafs playoff push TFC was never getting attention anyway. If this deal fails we get a new dp this next year, that's what I like about it.
Just catching up on this thread.
Cannot understand the posters jumping all over people like me who are puzzled by the way the club handled this announcement.
He could be brilliant - an excellent pedigree. And I am excited to see him on the pitch. In fact I am wearing my RPB scarf right now, coincidentally.
But the club deliberately tried to minimize the news. That makes me wonder why, and the conclusion of others is one I share.
But there is nothing negative or wrong about raising these questions. That’s why we have these boards.
Last edited by MightyDM; 02-08-2020 at 02:57 PM.
I am with the folks wondering why we are not talking about the player, rather than the way he was announced. He ticks the boxes that Vanney has been talking about: Winger. Scores goals. Pacey. Can provide a backup at striker. He will help us play the 4-3-3 that Vanney thinks will be successful.
It is true that he has injury risk, but we have done reclamation projects that have worked before (Altidore, Vazquez, etc., and yes, I know there have been ones that haven't).
If he can stay healthy, then I think Piatti will make us a much better team. We were never going to get a first class winger like Willian, who is a starter at Chelsea. As much as I love TFC, we are not the next step for folks like that when they are done playing on a world class team.
First the FO was criticized for not signing someone in 'two weeks." Now they are criticized for making an announcement on a Friday afternoon for a player who comes with some risk, but tons of upside. I am all for criticizing them when they underperform (the Bradley injury certainly looks like it could have been handled better), but we improved a team that made it to MLS Cup last year. Yes, it was with some close, even lucky, wins, but that is what great teams do--play entertaining football most of the time, and grind out the wins when they need to. And I think that with Piatti, we will be even better positioned to play some pretty football and win.
End of story for me.
Man there is a lot of negativity on here. Thought I’d try to pass on some optimism for some of you to consider.
Looks like we’re settling into a 4-3-3 so only need one striker on the field. Yes Jozy will get injured but successfully used Pozuelo during those stretches last year. We’ve kept a large portion of the roster and we all know how important consistency is.
By adding Piatti we’ll have another creative force on the field which will only open up more space, even if Jozy is not playing.
Many have been clamouring for our academy to produce talent. Fraser is going to get great minutes this year, and for whatever reason I’m feeling optimistic for Nelson and Marshall-Rutty getting some minutes too. It would be amazing to see some more local kids grow.
Let’s also not forget Gallardo. The guy had great speed and I can definitely see him push for minutes this year. He also scored today in their friendly so that’s always a good thing.
We all wanted someone signed prior to the season beginning and we got that. I can definitely see more signings in the summer as we’ll get a chance to see how this team performs.
Seems Terique Mohammed may have a shot at a senior contract as the backup LB, he played LB today with the rest of the substitutes roster in a friendly vs. Colorado.
And Piatti right to California today
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/TorontoFC/status/1226253331745660928
Must be nice to have a good amount of players on the team speak spanish
*Edit: a word
Last edited by sn0re; 02-08-2020 at 05:23 PM.
I've gotta say I'm quite confused with the negativity around this signing. We all know Vanney is an extremely detail-oriented coach and he's probably salivating at the opportunity of having someone as competent and skilled as Piatti manning one of the wings. The combination play between Bradley, Pozuelo, Osorio, Piatti, and Altidore is gonna be really good, and if whoever ends up playing RW is up to snuff (Gallardo?) this team can be really exciting in transition as well as in possession.
I think we're also underestimating how comfortable this guy is gonna be with Poz given they both speak Spanish and are of the same pedigree. He also has no attitude problems that we've heard of (no VDW syndrome) and I'll put money down that he's not gonna fail like Aketxe did because he's already proven it at the highest level. My prediction is that a lot of people are gonna be wanting to see that +1 of the contract extended by the time this season is over
I think they worded it that way to bring some of the more skittish owners on board. It gives them an escape clause they can press MLS FO to enact if they can garner enough support. I bet there's a lot of politicking going on in the background - some reporter should look into that.
Note the CBA is up at the end of 2024. At that point the new media deal will have been in effect for 2 years and MLS will probably have announced teams 31 and 32 (and hold at that for a couple of years) with a good idea of revenue they can expect going forward. I'm sure they'll want the league to be a good as it can be when everyone's eyeballs are turning to NA as the World Cup approaches. I expect the training wheels will well and truly come off at that point.
TFC just signed a "load management" guy when one star player already can't stay on the field and another is out for the first third of the season. We're all hoping this reaches its high ceiling, of course, but damn is the floor low. The club MUST balance this roster better to mitigate the risk.
I'm content with the Piatti signing. He has pedigree and will fill an important void on the roster. The contract is low risk as well.
So mr Manning has just told media that they plan a Kuawi type load management system with Piatti from M . Leach on Twitter ???
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I'd suggest they minimized it to some degree because a) it had already been widely reported and commented on and b) because of his age and history, he's seen as a transitional player. They have several talented young players behind him at left wing in Gallardo and Shaffelburg, so this gives them a year or two of extra dev time. If they're ready when Piatti is done, they step into that role and the club creates a positive financial situation for itself. If they don't, they won't be tied down with anything long-term and can look at a younger player.
It also recognizes that Piatti, like Vasquez, is talented enough that if he's producing for two straight years, he won't stay; he'll take his final years in Qatar or Saudi for the most money.
The issue is pace and whether he has any. If not, this will be, as Ensco suggested, Laurent Robert part two. Although, it could be argued Robert also had a crappy, negative attitude for most of his career.
I'm not going to say we're depending on Patrick Mullins this season, but...
Realistically, it looks like they're planning another rotational player management system this year, which means they anticipate losing players for a period or periods, and in this league we know that is more common. So he's probably going to to start five to 10 games this season, sub in on a bunch more. We probably need him to have a Tossaint-ish six-to-10 goal season.
Unless they acquire another player. I'm not saying he won't, with regular playing time, as American strikers tend to get better and smarter as they age. But his injury history and past doesn't suggest it.
So either one of the kids goes wunderkind for us, or we need another striker. Are Jakheele or Jayden Nelson ready to contribute anything?
They've commented about using Pozuelo as a false 9 again already. It will probably be that and Mullins as options 1A and 1B when Altidore is hurt.
I think Nelson is more of a winger. I would expect Mullins or Akinola if they want to play with a true striker.
If we do add a striker it's going to be in the summer window. Probably looking at either a striker or a CB in the summer I would guess, depending on which is more pressing by then.
If we are needing a CB in the summer, it means 1 of Mavinga, Gonzalez & Ciman has flamed out or 2 of them got injured.
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There was an All for One about the Piatti signing put out tonight. Yes, its Pravda but the guy sounds & looks mature about it all. Shows him & Jason Hernandez going over a video of California training.
OK, he's been injured - but it will be nice to have another football intelligent person on the pitch.
Was he #7 when he was at Espanyol?
Excellent comments Ensco, and let's debate about it, you always have a good pro or con stand on any signings, they are what I call objective comments,
some folks do seem to have this stand that management don't know what they are doing and could do better themselves which is ludicrous because if they could do better they would be on staff at a professional football club, not some computer game.