Hello friends and welcome back to my latest update from the MLS Experiment featuring Toronto FC. Up until now we haven’t had much luck both on and off the field so lets see if things have improved over the summer months. I’ve broken this report into two segments those being competitions and player activity as this post is not a match by match analysis.
Competition: MLS
We started off the summer portion of the season in terrible form throwing away games in the dying minutes and thus suffering a variety of 1-0 and 2-1 defeats which was disheartening to watch and also affected the player morale. With the training sorted out earlier in the month (Thanks Johnny) our fitness was beginning to improve however my 4-4-2 left flank tactic was still not showing any promise even though my players were well suited to it.
For the last game of July against Eastern Conference leaders Kansas City I decided to switch to a 4-3-3 set up and ended up trailing 1-0 at half time. “Oh you of little faith” I said to myself and went back to my familiar 4-4-2 after the interval and ended up 2-1 winners!! That was the confidence boost we needed and went on an unbeaten run through August with a victory and a draw against New York and finished up with another come from behind win at home to Salt Lake City.
Standings
Competition: Canadian Championship
In the Canadian Championship we ended a very poor showing with another loss to Montreal and finished bottom of the table without winning a single game which was quite humiliating for the club. The 18,000 fans on hand at BMO Field were left stunned by the lack of competitiveness not only in this game but the whole campaign.
Standings
Player Activity:
July 1st was the deadline for waiving any players that we no longer required so I let two of our Mexican defenders go, those being Serrato and Gonzalez who never really fitted into the team. This brought my squad back down to 22 players and opened up two international spots.
Several of my players were attracting attention from Europe and in particular Dutch Clubs. I did manage to persuade DRC Nana Attakora to re-sign for us, but lost GK Stefan Frei to Heracles and DMC Nick LaBrocca will be off to the Mexican League.
I made three new signings before the August 15th transfer deadline, the first Michael Harrington who had been released by Kansas City and looks ideal for my left flank tactic having some good pace and dribbling attributes. The second, Cameroon international Alain N’Kong who lacks in the tackling department but certainly makes up for it everywhere else and should be a solid midfield player. Lastly Canadian Kevin Harmse can play a bit of both midfield and defence and will therefore make a good utility player. The age of these players was a bit of a concern but finding non Brazilian youngsters for free has been a bit of a challenge. There are plenty of boys from Brazil to choose from but I’m trying to keep the squad more “North than South American” if possible.
Having said that it is Brazilian Moreno who heads up Toronto’s top 5 players over the summer though O’Brian White has suddenly found his form and the back of the net too.
There are just nine games left to play to complete the regular season so there’s still an outside chance of making the play offs but we will need to get off to a good start with wins over Dallas and Chicago before facing much stronger teams
That completes this update so thanks a lot for reading and as always I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.
Darren Smith
3 апреля, 2011 at 10:42
Hey Kevin, well you still seem to be struggling with Toronto. If only you could turn some of those late goals conceded into late goals scored. I reckon that would see you in the play-offs. Still a real chance of that though and I’m routing for you. Good luck mate
Laxeyman
3 апреля, 2011 at 13:02
Hi Kevin, well, you’ve turned your form around in the last few games, hopefully that can carry on, and then you might be able to sneak a play off place. Your new signings luck decent, they should help improve your form. Good luck!
Vaibhav C.
3 апреля, 2011 at 13:26
Hey Kevin,
Great run there, if it was earlier, maybe you could get promotion or is it too late?
CsAtlantis
3 апреля, 2011 at 13:41
You might not make it to the playoffs this season Kevin, but Toronto aren’t one of the best teams in the MLS, i think they have not gotten over 30% win rate in their past 3-4 seasons, so you’re not doing too badly
Getting 7 wins, 7 draws, 7 losses is kind of an interesting statistic though :P
There is always the MLS draft to look forward to, so you can always look towards next season to boost your squad
Sears
3 апреля, 2011 at 14:51
I think your doing well Kevin. Your still adapting and hopefully your good run continues. I wish you the best of luck.
Ana Garcia
3 апреля, 2011 at 15:59
You have definatly improved in the last five games and you have made some good signings so hopefully they can improve your team a bit.
Good luck Kevin!!
Kevin
3 апреля, 2011 at 19:38
Hi Darren
Those late goals have been my downfall but I’m feeling more positive at having an outside chance of post season action.
@Laxeyman
I think those new signings have stabled the team somewhat and hopefully they can improve too :)
@ VaihhavC
No promotion or relegation in this League just the top two in each Conference go into the play offs….I think :) Good point about having the form earlier in the season.
@CsAtlantis
You are right. Toronto haven’t been exactly contenders in the MLS since joining so i’m not doing too bad then! We may evn get the number 1 draft pick too :)
@ Sears
Thanks for the good wishes…appreciated!
@ Ana
Thanks. I’m hoping those new players will certainly help in a last minute play off push.
Lye
4 апреля, 2011 at 01:40
Hi Kevin,
The confidence of the players is back after unbeaten for the last five games. This could make or break your season for the rest of the games. You are not too far behind. Another good run will surely see you forcing into the the play-offs. Those signings will be helpful too. Hopefully your left flank will be solve with the signing of Harrington. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
4 апреля, 2011 at 07:30
The recent run surely improves your chances of reaching the playoff but the important thing is that you managed to turn things around. Even if you don’t grab a playoff spot you will surely do a lot better next season so I’m looking forward to that.
Excessive
4 апреля, 2011 at 10:37
Made some great signings their Kevin, especially with the loss of Frei and LaBrocca. Glad you managed to hang on to Attakora though, he is a decent player.
Hope you can get into those illusive playoff spaces, only a few points in it so if you carry on with this run of form you never know!
Good luck for the remainder of the fixtures :)
kevin
4 апреля, 2011 at 13:05
Hello Lye
I think we are definitely in with a chance if we can continue with this form.
@ Johnny
The team is beginning to take shape now so as you say we could be a lot more competitive next season.
@ Excessive
Attakora is key to a solid defence. I jus had to keep hold of him at all costs.
hils
4 апреля, 2011 at 18:33
Hi Kevin,good run of form there!!!!!!!!!! Good signings there!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin
5 апреля, 2011 at 08:52
Thanks hils!!!!!!!!!!