TFC player 2024 in-season roster discussion

[Bushmancan]

Manning (#firemanning) is the worst thing that has happened to the Toronto FC Organization on player selection alone... this keeps it relevant to the TFC 2024 in-season roster discussion. Our hands are tied.

1) We cannot sign players this year or have to make ridiculous contortions because of the lack of proper oversight on his prior two GMs and that does not include the All-In bet below, unfortunately for injuries and the rest of the team selection has not proven right.

Remember his quotes about the signing... sorry LI, I actually like you and you have been class but the $15MM really sticks out like a sore thumb. There were no contingencies for Manning and TFC , so many unchecked bad contracts, so many young potential prospects discarded and every subsequent decision he has made in the last three years just made it worse. Manning has to be gone now, buy out the rest of the 5 year deal and #firemanning.

Pelley & MLSE need to do the right thing. Maning has been here long enough. TFC can be turned aroured much quicker than their other problem children (Raptors and Leafs).

[los sonadores]

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but it almost seems like the league pushed Curtis and Bradley to TFC to ensure there wouldn’t be a non-American dynasty.

That is amusing! Since when has TFC ever had non American direction? And if we want Canadian and competent that would be even more difficult to find in our past (Tom Anselmi was as clueless as they come). At the beginning, there was the very not American or Canadian Mo, and he was among the worst of all. The Americans have been better at times. At least we have Liewike, Bez and Vanney to thank for our moments of success.

I should add that our initial identity, our red, crest, etc. was fake Liverpool. There was never any intention that we be a Canadian club except for the fact that we happen to be in Toronto. And even a little bit of understanding of that tradition would have had us in blue and white, the city’s traditional colours.

[OgtheDim]

Memories of InterToronto would like a word....we were going to be blue and black.

[Kamp Berg]

That is amusing! Since when has TFC ever had non American direction? And if we want Canadian and competent that would be even more difficult to find in our past (Tom Anselmi was as clueless as they come). At the beginning, there was the very not American or Canadian Mo, and he was among the worst of all. The Americans have been better at times. At least we have Liewike, Bez and Vanney to thank for our moments of success.

I should add that our initial identity, our red, crest, etc. was fake Liverpool. There was never any intention that we be a Canadian club except for the fact that we happen to be in Toronto. And even a little bit of understanding of that tradition would have had us in blue and white, the city’s traditional colours.

My issue isn’t with Americans in general, it’s with the American flunkies derailing what was the greatest team in MLS history. Which I’m sure MLS would prefer is not a Canadian based team, regardless of who’s running them.

[JoesphNdo]

My issue isn’t with Americans in general, it’s with the American flunkies derailing what was the greatest team in MLS history. Which I’m sure MLS would prefer is not a Canadian based team, regardless of who’s running them.

Toronto FC derailed what was the greatest team in MLS history. The call is coming from inside the house.

We forced out key figures involved in that team for one reason or another, pretending they wanted to leave.

Roster construction went from a competent GM with now an incredible track record of winning MLS trophies to a moron who, to this day, does not know how to build a winning roster beyond 'this signing will be nice fan service and make people happy for a week, hopefully the long term just sort of figures itself out'. Despite years of abject failure, and I mean league history defining abject failure, we have choosen to keep this man employed.

We kept throwing money at players long after their prime for nostalgia instead of, you know, trying to build a roster that wasn't complete dogshit, see point above.

There's no conspiracy here. Toronto FC choose to put an utter moron in charge, oust the only people with brains running the show, and despite failure after failure, keep that moron in charge.

The league can't stop us taking a shotgun to our foot, reloading, and aiming at the other one.

Yeah, Bill Manning is American, but honestly the fault isn't him, it's with the Canadian institution who keep him employed. If Microsoft put a hamster in charge, is it actually the hamsters fault when things start to go downhill fast? The accountability lies with the Canadian company looking at this and saying "Yep, this is fine". I'd also point out it was Americans, in Vanney and the two Tims, who made us the best team in MLS history to begin with.

I also don't really see any reason why MLS would care where their champion is from. Toronto is a giant market. Financially, they'd prefer us dominate than one of the smaller US markets, and I'd hazard a guess that their thinking starts and stops with financial. Apple would certainly rather us win than just about anyone (Miami aside), as we're the largest uncontested catchment area in the league (Or, at worst, joint largest, depending on how you define it). If anything, the incentive on the institution side is to see us do well, if you assume winning equates to a % of your market getting Apple subs. If we weren't so shit, the conspiracy theories would be *about* us.

[los sonadores]

From CP article published this afternoon:

“Toronto FC fullback/wingback Richie Laryea and New York City FC defender Strahinja Tanasijevic have both been fined and handed an additional one-game suspension for their role in an ugly post-game melee at BMO Field last Saturday.

While Laryea is recovering from hamstring surgery, the league said he had served the first game of his two-match suspension Wednesday. Laryea was seen taking part in the portion of training open to the media Friday but won’t return to action until next weekend at the earliest, according to Herdman.

The league didn’t immediately provide an explanation as to how an injured player can serve a suspension.

Tanasijevic was fined for violent conduct while Laryea was sanctioned for violating the league’s “mass confrontation policy.”

Video of the incident Saturday showed Laryea going after New York coach Nick Cushing in the melee following the final whistle.”

Looks like Ensco is right - I’m expecting Richie in Rotterdam for the match on the 6th….

[OgtheDim]

Richie injured and getting into it with a coach who went after one of our players



CLUB LEGEND CONFIRMED


Look this team still has lots of issues in various places

BUT


they give a crap, for the first time since "Effin team works effin hard"

I'll take that

[los sonadores]

My issue isn’t with Americans in general, it’s with the American flunkies derailing what was the greatest team in MLS history. Which I’m sure MLS would prefer is not a Canadian based team, regardless of who’s running them.

Competent, excellent American (flunkies) made us great and Manning let them walk (more or less) and replaced them with totally the wrong people, also Americans who led us back to mediocrity. Manning has often exhibited poor judgement, as has been much dissected on this board. I don’t see any conspiracy in that.

Americans have often run the club for better or worse with the exceptions of two inept, possibly corrupt Brits, and we might perhaps also include one totally inexperienced and naive Dutchman.

Now that you mention it, I suppose the incompetent Brits, the Dutch, and the Canadian manager (leaving poor, woeful Dunfield out of this) did not much better than the incompetent Americans and certainly much worse than the competent Americans. What has been mostly missing are Canadians (players aside). We live and die by Brits and Americans like typical Canadians and we don’t seem to trust ourselves to hire Canadians.

[ensco]

From CP article published this afternoon:

“Toronto FC fullback/wingback Richie Laryea and New York City FC defender Strahinja Tanasijevic have both been fined and handed an additional one-game suspension for their role in an ugly post-game melee at BMO Field last Saturday.

While Laryea is recovering from hamstring surgery, the league said he had served the first game of his two-match suspension Wednesday. Laryea was seen taking part in the portion of training open to the media Friday but won’t return to action until next weekend at the earliest, according to Herdman.

The league didn’t immediately provide an explanation as to how an injured player can serve a suspension.

Tanasijevic was fined for violent conduct while Laryea was sanctioned for violating the league’s “mass confrontation policy.”

Video of the incident Saturday showed Laryea going after New York coach Nick Cushing in the melee following the final whistle.”

Looks like Ensco is right - I’m expecting Richie in Rotterdam for the match on the 6th….

I was just coming on to say this!

We all know who Richie is. What a stud.

[MikeForbes]

So, we'll see Richie back for one, maybe two games and lose him for another month.

[jloome]

So, we'll see Richie back for one, maybe two games and lose him for another month.

Yeah... but France, Netherlands and Argentina. Canada's never had such a glorious run of games.

Jesse Marsch is sure getting stuck in at the deep end.

[ensco]

Listen, I get that this seems crazy for any TFC hardcores that don’t care about Canada. But Canada has never had a month like the one coming up. Ever. Epic run of games coming here!

It's all hands on deck time for the CMNT, and there isn’t much to say beyond that.

EDIT: just noticed jloome post, saying same thing. What he said!

[MikeForbes]

Listen, I get that this seems crazy for any TFC hardcores that don’t care about Canada. But Canada has never had a month like the one coming up. Ever. Epic run of games coming here!

It's all hands on deck time for the CMNT, and there isn’t much to say beyond that.

EDIT: just noticed jloome post, saying same thing. What he said!

I care a ton about the CMNT and know that Richie is gonna have a big role to play. But, from the TFC perspective, we will be without our 3rd DP for over half the season.

[Mr. Inbetween]

That is amusing!… I should add that our initial identity, our red, crest, etc. was fake Liverpool. There was never any intention that we be a Canadian club except for the fact that we happen to be in Toronto. And even a little bit of understanding of that tradition would have had us in blue and white, the city’s traditional colours.

Memories of InterToronto would like a word....we were going to be blue and black.

FWIW, ironic? ‘Prior to adopting the all-red look, Liverpool wore a red jersey and white shorts, paired with a variety of sock colors over the seasons from white to black to red to red-and-white hooped socks. Shockingly, the club wore blue and white halved kits from their founding in 1892 through the 1896 campaign’.

[ensco]

Paul Beirne spoke about the Liverpool thing in about 2009 at some sort of club eventthat I attended.

He claimed that going “red and white” was mostly about having a Canada identity (he had been part of rebranding the Raptors to red from purple a few years previously, for the same reason) and that people were overdoing the Liverpool thing.

He said the main Liverpool thing they had stolen explicitly was the “FC” part, which was new to MLS then (and variants of that have become, as it turns out, rampant)… but that they had tried to go out of their way to not alienate fans with historic British loyalties (most of whom support other teams.

I thought it sounded right then, and still does now

fwiw

[GMoneyTalks]

I care a ton about the CMNT and know that Richie is gonna have a big role to play. But, from the TFC perspective, we will be without our 3rd DP for over half the season.

At least we're not playing during the June Int. window, we would be losing a ton of guys there. Only losing guys to Copa, I think (Oso, Laryea, SJ). We losing anyone to Euros? Long?

Even though not missing games, how many of our guys are gone on int duty? Etienne, Oso, Flores, SJ, Laryea, Spicer. Long? Anyone else?

[GMoneyTalks]

Woops. Ireland never made Euros. Nix that.

[jloome]

Jaycen Russel Rowe with a f'ing great goal tonight. Bah.

[Ultra & Proud]

Jaycen Russel Rowe with a f'ing great goal tonight. Bah.

As a great football mind once stated "If all a forward can do is score a lot of goals but not play fullback, what use is he?".

Paraphrased.

[Yuushalinsky]

As a great football mind once stated "If all a forward can do is score a lot of goals but not play fullback, what use is he?".

Paraphrased.

If Fede can do it, why not a bunch of rookies?!?!?

[jloome]

After all our years of overpaying for players, it probably needs to be said: Long and Gomis are underpaid. Long should be on at least 350K, and Gomis should be on at least 200K. I'd say based on their skill level and performances that that would be true at any club.

For Gomis to be on league minimum seems genuinely wrong. Long's making decent coin, so I can't knock it. But for his pedigree and performance levels, he's a little low.

[ag futbol]

It’s funny, after sweating about all the holes we have to cover it seems this team has players at almost ever position that kind-of, sort of work.

A can’t miss striker, guy who plays behind the striker, or a RCB feel like they could all be useful but nothing is written in stone.

[JoesphNdo]

After all our years of overpaying for players, it probably needs to be said: Long and Gomis are underpaid. Long should be on at least 350K, and Gomis should be on at least 200K. I'd say based on their skill level and performances that that would be true at any club.

For Gomis to be on league minimum seems genuinely wrong. Long's making decent coin, so I can't knock it. But for his pedigree and performance levels, he's a little low.

Longstaff is a fucking steal, too, based on his performance - I think I read his cap hit is 200k!? I'd almost forgotten that it felt like to have players whose performance outstrips their cap hit, except for all the ones Bob dumped.

[jloome]

Longstaff is a fucking steal, too, based on his performance - I think I read his cap hit is 200k!? I'd almost forgotten that it felt like to have players whose performance outstrips their cap hit, except for all the ones Bob dumped.

Yeah, he's a very solid midfielder. Doesn't really make a mistake positionally, reads the game brilliantly, passes and tackles solidly.

I'd have to say if not for the injury, he'd have stuck at Newcastle. I saw a fan comment over the weekend that "we kept the wrong Longstaff," which seemed a bit harsh, but goes to how well-rated he was by fans before his loans.

[MikeForbes]

Yeah, he's a very solid midfielder. Doesn't really make a mistake positionally, reads the game brilliantly, passes and tackles solidly.

I'd have to say if not for the injury, he'd have stuck at Newcastle. I saw a fan comment over the weekend that "we kept the wrong Longstaff," which seemed a bit harsh, but goes to how well-rated he was by fans before his loans.

From what I gather from Newcastle fans, Sean Longstaff is basically their whipping boy.

[MikeForbes]

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/mlsnetwork/status/1792652787999764945

[rydermike]

There will be no summer of Perruzza

[jloome]

Shame about Jordan, never turned his TFC II success into more.

Fede wins player of the day:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/toron...f-the-matchday

[OgtheDim]

Move needed to be made

&

Guys been around TFC since 2013 as an academy kid - this is going to be a rough time for him.

[benito]

Wishing Jordan some future success. Hopefully he finds a team that he gets more playing time, establishes himself and continues his professional career.