Anyone else watch Don Garber's interview with TSN last night? He doesn't seem at all interested in expanding the number of DPs, noting not all teams are even using them.
https://www.tsn.ca/soccer/video/~2499286
Truly disappointing to see this lack of ambition even after signing the new deal with Apple.
Fun fact, Mavinga and Criscito overlapped in Russia. When there teams played against each other Mavinga wasn’t in the lineup however. A fun little connection!
Fun fact number II, Mavinga and Michael Bradley overlapped in the Premier League; in 2011, Michael had a short loan stint with Aston Villa but they didn't bite. Chris was promoted to Liverpool's first team for the 2010-11 season and appeared in an exhibition game but did not make an official first team appearance, being sent back to the Premier League 2 side when Benitez was let go.
Zimmerman...
He's 'well spoken and witty' as a Youtube poster comments.
I wholeheartedly agree.
If it is to be consideration of a DP CB... than the leading MLS / in-house candidate has to be Walker.
Given this interview, I think he comes across as being able to easily fit into the evolving TFC team mindset.
Not sure about his relationship/past with BBradley?
Only a couple of ways to make it happen this off-season!
A MLSE transfer 'bag of money' or an asset trade with sell on clause; JMR.
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 08-12-2022 at 03:49 AM. Reason: Grammar
Well, well, well... the Belotti sweepstakes may have taken a left turn or maybe even a u-turn!!!
Supporters site Voce Giallo Rossa article indicates Roman newspaper Il Tempo suggests Roma seems less likely.
Move on options of Nice, Monaco as well as Turkiye Clubs; < Galatasaray >.
Of most interest to us / TFC... statement... paraphrased... translated...
'It cannot be excluded that Belotti may accept an offer from abroad to return to the pitch.'
https://www.vocegiallorossa.it/primo...tasaray-228957
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 08-12-2022 at 03:29 AM.
TFC ( back?) in the top 5 of attendance this season!
Might just be able to move up a spot if all goes well by the end of the season?
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/CJSmith91/status/1557830816843141123
I have to say the DP spot for me (presuming we stay at 3 spots for each team), has to consider whether Osorio stays or not. Not that he should be a DP, but if he leaves we are left with a midfield 3 of Kaye, Bradley and ???. Not burying Bradley yet, but that is not the type of quality that will win a Championship. If Oso stays I predict they go with a DP striker. If he leaves they HAVE to find an 8 that can cover ground and link with the forwards. Zimmerman is good but it wont matter if we're completely over-run in the midfield. For me you find your next Mavinga or Moore with TAM and hold the ball way up the pitch.
This plus raise the floor a good deal.
If they insist on using allocation money instead of increasing the actual cap then they should drop a bunch going forward. Realistically the entire starting XI's of the top teams (as in the ones with ambition) should be near or preferrably above the max cap threshold. Raising the TAM max from $1.5M to maybe $2.5M would make a difference too in terms of possible players to acquire.
The tricky part with raising the cap too high too fast is that you could end up over-inflating the value of MLS players OR MLS players end up getting left out because they are not worth the $ that could be spent on Internationals. Not a huge deal, but I'm sure it's something that needs to be considered.
But I agree with your above statement, although the TAM thing is interesting. I don't know what to do with that one. Is raising that the answer? or is there something else that could be done? More of those slots maybe?
Yeah, this is something the league really should do. Players Unions always tilt towards existing players so nobody thinks overly about the minimum. Doesn’t matter if you’re the NBA or NHL and are already paying significantly more than the competition.
But for MLS, if they don’t properly compensate those spots, young players in particular will look elsewhere.
I would like to see transfer fees not counting towards GAM dollars.
Technically there are no spots, just money. If you wrangled enough allocation money you can have 2/3rds of the starting XI over $612.5K like LAFC are doing and Atlanta did earlier but the problem is that's it's short term. Once that $$$ is gone then they will have to trade the good ones for more GAM or dump until they're cap compliant. I get that developing homegrowns can offset the cap contraints but I still think most of, if not all the XI should be in the allocation money zone and if a team can develop homegrowns well hen maybe some of the bench could have impact players at higher rates.
I added in the percentage of available seats used for each team, just to put some perspective on potential.
Quite a few spots of worry, but mainly New York and Miami, given their relative market strength or potential. Seems MLS still has not broken down the euro snob factor.
- Atlanta United - 48,946. /71,000 68%
- Charlotte FC - 35,479 /75412. 47%
- Seattle Sounders - 33,724/72,000. 46%
- Nashville SC - 28,247 /30,000 94%
- Toronto FC - 24,125/33,150 72%
- Portland Timbers - 23,493/25,128 93%
- LA Galaxy - 22,912/27,000. 84%
- LAFC - 21,944/22,000 99%
- FC Cincinnati - 21,930/26,000 84%
- Austin FC - 20,738/20,738 100%
- Real Salt Lake - 20,419/20,213 101%
- New England Revolution - 19,476/65,878 29%
- Minnesota United - 19,442 /19,400 100%
- Columbus Crew - 19,347/20,371 94%
- Sporting KC - 18,517/18,647 99%
- NYCFC - 18,169/ 47,422. 38%
- Philadelphia Union - 17,912/18,500. 96%
- Orlando City - 17,206/25,500 67%
- FC Dallas - 16,551/20,500. 80%
- Chicago Fire - 16,073/61,500. 26%
- New York Red Bulls - 16,063/25,000.
- DC United - 16,023/20,000. 80%
- Vancouver Whitecaps - 16,005/54,500 29%
- Houston Dynamo - 15,826/22,039 71%
- CF Montreal - 15,212/19,619. 77%
- Colorado Rapids - 14, 521/18061. 80%
- San Jose Earthquakes - 12,995/18,000 72%
- Inter Miami CF - 12,305/18,000 70%
League average: 20,854
I haven't been able to watch in a while because I've left the country.
Could someone please give an update on Bradley and the RCB position which I think MacNaughton plays? I would presume these would be the two weak spots on the roster so I'm wondering if their good enough at those positions to make a run. Everywhere else seems set?
MacNaughton generally looks okay. After an initial adjustment period, his form has drifted between what I would call dependable backup or borderline starter.
With Joel Waterman improving exponentially for Montreal (another former CPL player who plays CB), I wouldn’t be surprised if management rode this out. But I think I clear #1 “leader” CB is still a requirement regardless of who you paid that individual with. Mavinga not a sure thing at LCB either.
I will let someone else comment on Bradley
This.
It's what happened in the NBA a few years ago when they had a huge cap spike. Average players started getting eight figure annual salaries and nine figure contract amounts. We'd end up with guys like Richie/Osorio getting 2-3 million, guys like Akinola getting 1-1.5, just because teams would need to spend the floor money, then it becomes the growing rate and then your cap is full of these bloated contracts and in a couple years there's a guy you want to add but you can't because there's no space. I think right now the cap (technically "salary budget") is 5 million (not including Allocations/DP overages). I've seen some people pushing for floors like 15 million. That would just create huge inflation on players as lower spending teams would need to spend.
Bradley has quite a big upside, and some downside too. He is having statistically one of his best seasons. He’s hooking up the back line and frontline, the wings and the back line. Mostly, he’s transitional passing and holding up the ball, and he’s completing about 85% of his passes.
He’s averaging two tackles a game but that’s partly because he’s staying more tightly rooted to the area of the field he’s transitioned to (playing his zone tighter), which means he’s tackling when it’s prudent rather than trying to catch up to guys. So he’s not getting the five-to-seven you might get a game from a good anchor, but he’s doing okay.
In an ideal world, he would probably be more of a role player and not ninety minutes. He has trouble defending in transition against some of the speed he faces. I’m not sure that hasn’t always been the case, past his first two seasons. He was never much of a natural number six.
When our shape breaks down — either from kids doing too little or older players trying to do too much, typically — he becomes a liability, as he can’t shift zones quickly enough in quick transitions, and since shape breakdowns lead to gaps in coverage, he’s not really able to adapt and fill those gaps. I’d say from our limited view the same is also true of Mimmo Criscito, who has had to have coverage behind him several times already.
A lot depends on team interplay. Both guys are pretty mammoth when the team is holding shape, moving the ball quickly, and supporting each other defensively. Both will be a problem if someone figures out how to stop us doing that.
But given the rest of the first team’s quality, I’m not sure how much of a problem that will be. A lot depends on first team players staying healthy.
I would say McNaughton is firmly starting quality. He had NINE aerial clearances against Nashville and hasn’t been beaten on the ground in a while.
Last edited by jloome; 08-12-2022 at 01:51 PM.
“He has trouble defending in transition against some of the speed he faces. I’m not sure that hasn’t always been the case, past his first two seasons. He was never much of a natural number six.” This. It’s been a very long time since we played with a natural 6. Also, he’s still very capable of getting forward when the opportunity presents itself. The recent goals were pretty typical of him.
Mcnaughton, I say, was looking like an okay bench player at first but has been solid starting quality lately. Small sample size but given that he’s making the transition from the CPL and you’d expect that would take a while, I wouldn’t be surprised if he keeps it up. He came late to football in general which suggests a pretty good natural talent.
Last edited by los sonadores; 08-12-2022 at 03:26 PM.
bmo field has a capacity of around 30K, giving us over 80% attendance.
i reckon that the tickets sold is close to 90% too, we just have some fairweather ST holders who sit out the winter unless the team is dominant.
atlanta also ridiculously inflates their numbers, last game they said they had 68K in a 72 K stadium yet pictures of the crowd at the game showed it probably less than half full.
https://twitter.com/gerardochina/sta...80776974802944
Last edited by leedsandTFC; 08-12-2022 at 03:27 PM.
Matt Doyle thinks two three match weeks is going to be too much to overcome but has this to say about TFC:
“They just put together one of the most remarkable transfer windows in league history. It’s not just that they added five new starters, including two of the most expensive DPs ever. It’s that Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Bernardeschi, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Richie Laryea and Domenico Criscito are all capable of being the best in the league at their respective positions. I think in the case of Insigne and Laryea, I literally expect them to be.“