Also I only count 28 players on our 2018 roster. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/toron...-roster-352087
EDIT: Also I count 23 players who were on our roster on opening day or around there.
Also I only count 28 players on our 2018 roster. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/toron...-roster-352087
EDIT: Also I count 23 players who were on our roster on opening day or around there.
Last edited by noxx98; 09-08-2022 at 11:06 PM.
never had 37 at the same time on the active roster as rule is 30
Yeah, I count 23 also. That includes Lawrence who never played and the last minute additions of Chung and Thompson. So it was 19 down to the wire.
Not much experience at all and zero left backs, maybe no right backs either. Only about ten players with prior first team regular starting minutes. I don’t think management was thinking of competing. Not until after the summer window. And if we had an average keeper we might well have snuck in to the playoffs.
Last edited by los sonadores; 09-08-2022 at 11:51 PM.
I have (no Kemar):
- MB
- Jesus
- Bono
- Nelson
- Oso
- Petrasso
- Thompson
- MacNaughton
- O'Neill
- Mavinga
- Poz
- Salcedo
- Akinola
- Kerr
- Shaff
- Westberg
- Chung
- Rutty
- Priso
- Okello
- Perruzza
- Achara
- Ranjitsingh
Chung was rumored to be signing for a week+ before we signed him, and we were close to bringing Criscito on around then too. We weren't the only club making decisions around that time. It makes sense that we'd be evaluating youth players to determine which ones were best suited for the first team, and BB & Co decided Kosi was the one. I think the team knew they were going to bring in a few signees over the summer (Insigne, Criscito, +?) and needed to leave space for it. Agreed on the point about if we have a more consistent keeper we're in the race - I'll echo some of the thoughts that Oldtimer has shared about why we were stuck with Bono/Westberg.
and what is the end goal of that exercise? this year we had 35 in total
2018 was actually 36 because deleon was included in that but joined after the season...he didnt play with tfc in 2018
so 36 in 2018 vs 35 up to now in 2022
There is no exercise. what are you talking about? I just noted that we had 37 one year. I also alluded to the fact that rosters seem much smaller now.
It's a fan site, a discussion. It doesn't have to have a larger purpose.
THe larger point, however, is that we had a short roster all season, 26 men, and most of the league used their full contingent.
I don't think anyone would argue there are games when we seemed tragically short of depth.
So it bears asking the question of whether they even intended to be competitive this season, or just use the "rebuilding" tag to explain not even filling out the roster.
For 2018, Hasler was traded for Bakero. Aketxe was loaned out with Janson coming back in. Daniels was loaned out. Mino was cut after one game. Taintor was an academy callup. Spencer was cut part way through the season. Dunn and Akinola were on the roster but I think they were mostly loaned to TFC2 (can't remember for sure). That brings the roster count down to 29 which is closer to what we have this year (I'm too lazy to reconcile with my link above that has it at 28).
If the only way to fill out a roster is to bring in people just to fill a space with contracts that go on longer then 1 year, then no...you don't fill in said roster.
I don't think the plan was to contend at all. If it happened, bonus but otherwise it seems the plan was to trial the youth and sink or swim with them. I figure they didn't want to tie up any roster spots or take on any bad contracts until they saw what they had first (and give reasonable opportunities). This is probably why BB changed his phrasing on becoming a good team to 'we're a few players away' instead of just 'we're on our way'.
Drum-roll please...
TFC off season window Free Agent Target #1 - GK Sean Johnson?
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/MLS/status/1567995827498487808
And Ranjitsingh loaned immediately back to TFC 2. So in effect 22. There were injuries early on and I seem to remember there weren’t many guys available to play. Either not physically present or not practicable given the positions/experience. We were paper thin.
I don’t think, given our roster, there could have been much hope of being a top team. It was probably simply what was possible after an extreme turnover and without signing veterans and journeymen as might be done if you were looking for more wins. I expect, based on the press conferences at the time, that Bradley was hoping for a bit better results but hanging in there was probably the goal.
Having no outside backs and playing exclusively young guys with little experience overall, no experience at the position and little aptitude for those two positions (and sticking to this) seems to me one of the most cruel experiments at this club. Not only were we terrible to watch but it’s difficult to say that it was of any help to any of the players involved. Petrasso maybe added something to his game but he still looks better on the wing.
Blake is better at marshaling a back line....
Ranjitsingh only played 6 games with TFC2 and has mostly been with the main squad. Every team has a third keeper that barely plays. The Union have two keepers who haven't played a minute of MLS time.
Agreed though that we are shorter than other teams. As OG mentioned, the team didn't want to bring in vets on multi year deals to take up future roster spots/budget space and very few players are willing to take 1 year deals. I don't think Zavaleta or Endoh (the level of vets who would accept a 1 year deal) turn the season around for us.
Johnson is on a team that is making playoffs for the 7th straight season and won MLS Cup last year
Blake is making 870k and is playing on a top team that could still win the Shield and Cup this year
In terms of keepers, Ranjitsingh is signed for next year (with a team option for 2024). So, he'll be at least the #3 keeper, if not the #2 next year. Since 2018, Ranjitsingh has played 5 MLS games (11 Goals against) and 6 MLS Next Pro games (14 goals against). I know some of us (including me) are looking at signing Luka Gavran as a possible #2/3 since his MLSNP stats look great. But, I feel it's imperative to get a clearcut MLS caliber #1 since Gavran/Ranjitsingh are really lacking in high level pro experience, which is a risk. Gavran's stats look great in MLSNP, but no idea how that would translate moving up to the top level going from basically U22 reserve teams to pro teams with DPs.
I’m not sure where the discussion about keepers started (or stopped) but I think there have been a lot of keepers we played this year who are clearly better than Bono.
Portland and NE in particular have guys on minimal money who are pretty capable in my estimation. Think it makes more sense to go after two guys on smaller money and have competition / rotation / depth rather than throw heavy money at Andre Blake or similar.
There are other spots on the field where it’s very hard to picture us fixing the problem (midfield, striker, CB) without spending at least TAM dollars. If GK problems can be solved for less dollars, I suggest we do it
I watch at least some of all the weeks matches during the week and to my eye I haven't seen a consistently worse GK than Bono. I was saying before last weeks Montreal match over a beer how I am usually jealous of every team we play for their GKs. Usually they're on about 1/2 of what Bono makes and play 10x more solid.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 09-09-2022 at 01:50 PM.
Ranjitsingh was loaned back to TFC very early in the season but you’re right he played only 6 matches for them.
Zavs or Endoh wouldn’t have turned things around. It was the RB and LB situation that was the biggest problem.
There is a very clear and muscular way that things are being done. I don’t think there are any unusually large blind spots for Bradley about what he’s doing/trying.
I don’t see why Bradley couldn’t do here what he did in LA. at first. And they were a joy to watch (including our Beitashour). Does his approach get you an MLS cup? Maybe not, but the playoffs are always a compromised crap shoot and I’d be happy with a season of consistently good football.
Of course, Bradley had no GM responsibility there (as he does here) but it’s not clear whether that helped or hurt him. A keeper issue seems to be in common. It’s not clear if Bradley was okay losing Zimmerman. To me at the time that spelled big trouble, but Bradley seems to favour ‘forward mobility’ above all in defenders so maybe he didn’t see it.
Anyway, lots of interest and intrigue to be found in the coming season. We’d have to be extraordinarily unlucky to be anywhere as bad as we were before the summer window.
Since the summer window we've been over .500 so even as is, we would be in the playoff places but that's really not good enough.
We need to fix some things because at our current payroll being okay isn't good enough. We need to be elite for what MLSE is putting out so now it's up to Sporting Director BB to come through with the goods.
Those TFC2 loans aren't "true loans". Anytime they want to send a player to play with TFC2 to play a game for the first time, they write a press release calling it a loan. They did it for all the young guys - Chung/Shaff/Priso/Perruzza/Antonoglou/etc. In all those cases, the guys were right back in training with the first team the next day, as evidenced by photos posted by the first team of their practices (including Ranjitsingh, you can see him in 1st team practice pictures during those 'loan games')
i'd be surprised if sean johnson wasn't here next season.
prior and good relationship with bob, ability to challenge for titles + increase wages.
With latif blessing right behind him.
And as much as both those guys could be useful parts I’m a bit worried our scouting universe is limited and we’re defaulting to the path of least resistance in each case.
I’m not particularly thrilled with how the Salcedo situation planned out or with Kaye arriving while being (mostly) injured. Everything has a valid reason (Kaye’s injuries aren’t long term, Salcedo’s family situation unforeseeable) but the more bumps in the road there are the more I’m skeptical as opposed to accepting of the short term outcomes.
Latif Blessing as a utility midfielder would be incredible. Sean Johnson replacing Alex Bono is the biggest upgrade the team can make though in terms of MLS free agents though.
Hey Amir, sorry, unclear to me, which way are you leaning? Blake or Johnson? All the points you highlight for both are valid, positive and enticing.
In short, so far, with some community input and consensus...
Sean Johnson:
MLS: Tied leader in shut out performance this year w/ 13 clean sheets!
U&P: Is a free agent.
Amir: Has helped team make playoffs for 7th straight season and won MLS Cup last year.
MrInBtwn: Johnson is 33 yrs old. He is making 550k.
Andre Blake:
MLS: Tied leader in shut out performance this year w/ 13 clean sheets!
OtG: Blake is better at marshaling a back line. Agree.
Amir: Blake is making 870k and is playing on a top team that could still win the Shield and Cup this year.
MrInBtwn: Blake is 31 yrs old. Had contract extension in Y21 throught to Y24 with Y25 as an option year. Highest paid MLS Caribbean Player?
leedsandTFC: Johnson has a prior and good relationship with Bob.
My expectation is Johnson is a Red next season.
Outlier... Maxime Crepeau's option is not engaged.