All I remember Acquah for during his Torino years was being a high-energy guy. That alone would be useful, but would Papa Bradley sit his boy enough to make this worthwhile? Priso needs minutes too, though I wouldn't be opposed to trading Okello.
All I remember Acquah for during his Torino years was being a high-energy guy. That alone would be useful, but would Papa Bradley sit his boy enough to make this worthwhile? Priso needs minutes too, though I wouldn't be opposed to trading Okello.
I know im hoping for more signings by now but it might be good and suffer a little early and get the right signings then to rush and have to redo everything over, so i just need to learn to be patient
Last edited by gracos; 03-08-2022 at 10:36 PM.
I think we all need to temper our expectations. My expectation is to grow the players and TFC won't be making the playoffs this year. If they do, that's just gravy. But I *do* expect that they will win the Canadian Championship and be poised to contend in the 2023 CCL. For me, that's what will make a successful season.
Loss of points and setbacks are hopefully temporary. Getting hamstrung with bad contracts and making the wrong moves lasts much longer. We are in a salary capped league with restrictions on buyouts and spending. Our ability to spend out of our problems is not the same as a big club in Europe. We also have no threat of relegation.
I am in favour of immediate small tweaks / cheap vets on short term deals to shore up competitiveness slightly and help the kids develop. But any concept of “do it all right away otherwise the club is offending us as fans” doesn’t feel right to me.
Give it enough time to be thought out and be done correctly.
I am sorry missing the playoffs would be a bad season in my eyes. A new coach, new star player aside! We at least need to challenge for the playoffs. If we dont with 3 DPs, 2-3 TAM players and possily 1-3 U22 Players then what do you really think is going to change next year? Well know what this team is by game 8-9 I reckon!
I'd rather find out now which young players aren't good enough for MLS or need more seasoning. (mid-season CPL/MLS loans maybe?)
Oh, and btw - welcome to the forums! Things may get a bit heated sometimes, but pretty much everyone on this board is understanding and tolerant of differences of opinion, even when those opinions are wrong.
Playoffs or at least legitimately challenging for a playoff spot is a minimum for me. Anything less than that is a failure IMO.
Bob Bradley should have ways to get results with the players he has. He is setting up a system that should only get better with time and when mid-season hits, he will get reinforcements to really be able to execute his plan properly.
I read Beezer’s article today about the kids and he observes that coach Bradley has no choice to play them because that is what management has provided. But isn’t that a touch ingenuous? Isn’t Bradley also management? Isn’t that what a sporting director is? I understand if manager Bradley has to take off the management cap in order to get on with the season but I’d like to know if this is a philosophy or just running out of time to sign more experienced players who might play in their usual/natural positions?
Maybe there is no difference here, but it’s very new for this club and I’m not sure that it’s been articulated as a philosophy. Have we simply fallen in to it? We’ll play them for a few months and see sounds a bit haphazard to me. Maybe that’s all that’s possible when most of the roster has been let go or ousted.
I don't think it's haphazard. I think it was an opportunity to try something different. We needed to turn over a chunk of the roster and it's unrealistic to expect to replace all the positions open with reasonable, short term contracts in the winter window so it set up perfectly to try out the youth. Also it won't be lost on them that that's something the supporters have been complaining about for years and also could lead to some sales abroad. Plus as it's a transition year we really shouldn't be at the point of questioning FO motives or Bradley's roster building after matchday #2.
We were always coming to this point with this roster and it should’ve happened last year.
The expectation that we’re going to be a winning side is quite lofty considering all the changes we’ve made this off season. We are going to have many more games like the one last week but I’m all for it. We have the chance right now to allow the kids an opportunity to learn and fail. This is when we as supporters need to be supportive through this learning phase rather than jumping all over 17 and 19 year olds for their poor performances.
I’m trying to take the positive out of this and we will see how the kids can adapt with more regular minutes. If we can get into the playoffs that would be fantastic but for the most part I want to see this team be competitive in every match. The effort has to be there and I think it will be.
The fact that this thread is dead and the club is so thin is kind of concerning.
We're thin for sure but I understand what Bob is doing. This is a full rebuilding year but the first half of the season will be a real trial by fire but it's the right way to go. If you go back and listen to his interview about the 2022 season he said we would be in a good place by July when reinforcements come in. At first I read into that as we'd be okay in the standings but now I think he meant that we would have a good base of players that knew how to play his system so when the new pieces arrive they can slot right in.
A few people posted that this season isn't about 2022 but rather 2023 and I agree but it will be even more broken down into an ugly, hard learning first half 2022 and then growing into a peoper team in the latter half of 2022. Only been three weeks but I am noticing some improvements in the youths and if that trend continues then we should have a good, domestic, cap exempt base heading into 2023.
https://twitter.com/tombogert
BREAKING: Minnesota United are finalizing the acquisition of Jamaican int'l left back Kemar Lawrence from Toronto FC in a trade, per sources.
Lawrence, 29, won two Supporters' Shields with RBNY, was a finalist for Defender of the Year in 2018 and moved to Anderlecht in 2020.
Going ham and acquiring GAM.
Gimme Dayne St Clair
Trade Shaff and JMR next. I wanna make history.
All joking aside, we have far too many left sided options and not enough right sided ones.
Nelson, Shaff, Petrasso all fighting for time, plus we have LA coming in who is going to get first priority on the left wing.
I think at least one should be traded. Good for their own development and the team’s balance. I’d see if Mtl would accept someone in return for Brault-Guillard who is only sometimes starting this year.
Some news sources in Minnesota are saying Kemar is being acquired at a "bargain" price. So we shouldn't expect much here I think.
https://www.twincities.com/2022/03/1...emar-lawrence/
"Minnesota is only paying a portion of his salary, which was $340,000 last season, per MLS Players Association figures, and Toronto FC has to pay the remainder of his transfer fee, the source said." Yikes! Does anyone understand what is going on with him or did I miss something...