General Discussion on CMNT

[Unnamed Trialist]

17 hours ago, TOcanadafan said:

Some ESPNFC CMNT propaganda.

 

Both were really vacuous. 'mericans are all about stats, not a word about actual play.

Canada has to push over the line, we need to play NL final, we need to get past the States or Mexico in GC semis. We need to feel we can dominate phases vs stronger teams. The goals are even clearer now than at the World Cup.

[Kadenge]

If JH is focused on NL...we are in the semis facing Panama with a reasonable expectation to get to the finals... then I really hope we use the GC to blood a number of players that  have emerged over the last year. The performances of Kennedy & Cornelius in the last 2 NL games should reassure the coaching staff/fans that we do have players that can step up when called on. There are several players in MLS and Europe that are having decent performances. It's time to expand our squad base.

[Bigandy]

57 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

If JH is focused on NL...we are in the semis facing Panama with a reasonable expectation to get to the finals... then I really hope we use the GC to blood a number of players that  have emerged over the last year. The performances of Kennedy & Cornelius in the last 2 NL games should reassure the coaching staff/fans that we do have players that can step up when called on. There are several players in MLS and Europe that are having decent performances. It's time to expand our squad base.

I want to expand our squad base too but with which newcomers (unless you are referring to giving more minutes to guys in the program like loturi, heibert etc)? 

Shaf - probably deserves a call
Nelson/Colyn/Ahmed/Farsi/Rea/JMR/Saliba/Choineirre - close but who do they replace?
 

[Kadenge]

1 hour ago, Bigandy said:

I want to expand our squad base too but with which newcomers (unless you are referring to giving more minutes to guys in the program like loturi, heibert etc)? 

Shaf - probably deserves a call
Nelson/Colyn/Ahmed/Farsi/Rea/JMR/Saliba/Choineirre - close but who do they replace?
 

After a taxing WCQ campaign, WC, condensed Euro leagues, NL and  new club teams for some there are starters that will need time off to reset for next season. 

[BearcatSA]

15 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

After a taxing WCQ campaign, WC, condensed Euro leagues, NL and  new club teams for some there are starters that will need time off to reset for next season. 

And with that, I am guessing that the GC will feature more of a roster flux.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Bigandy said:

I want to expand our squad base too but with which newcomers (unless you are referring to giving more minutes to guys in the program like loturi, heibert etc)? 

Shaf - probably deserves a call
Nelson/Colyn/Ahmed/Farsi/Rea/JMR/Saliba/Choineire - close but who do they replace?
 

The bolded I think have the best shot.

Choniere is on the bubble for me, as MTL is having a rough season. That pushes down Rea and Saliba for me too.

Ahmed I just haven't watched. I know he's a highly rated fullback and he's gotten himself a goal. I also know we are super deep at fullback/wingback and Farsi I imagine would be the priority, given he's the Canadian leader in MLS minutes for a good Columbus side. Algeria is also sniffing around, so we should lock him up during the Gold Cup. 

There are other players here worth mentioning too. Petrasso at Orlando, Baldisimo at San Jose, Bustos in Sweden. I limit this to in season players, which is one reason why I don't consider Colyn here, but if we want to expand our scope, we could make a case for Tabla to return or bringing in Paton now that he's back playing at Motherwell - and of course Abzi in Ligue 2. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Obinna

[Bison44]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

The bolded I think have the best shot.

But the harder question is who do you drop?  There will prob be 1-2 injuries etc that will take themselves out, but you'll need to drop a few to make room.  For me unless Akinola improves his form, he and Brym could get dropped easily, bring back Shaff.  I'd still like to see them make a push to bring in Jebbison, get him to commit.  Rotate that 3rd keeper spot bringing in someone new.  Throw Heibert, Zator, Waterman in a bag and shake them, pick one to bring to NL, another for GC.  And how do you keep Farsi out, he deserves a call.   

Its getting tough, not in last window but looking to get back is Piette, Hoilett, Cav, Ugbo, Wotherspoon/Henry (both done for us?), Liam Miller. ZBG, Edwards, Crepeau etc.  Lots of competition.  

[Obinna]

8 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

But the harder question is who do you drop?  There will prob be 1-2 injuries etc that will take themselves out, but you'll need to drop a few to make room.  For me unless Akinola improves his form, he and Brym could get dropped easily, bring back Shaff.  I'd still like to see them make a push to bring in Jebbison, get him to commit.  Rotate that 3rd keeper spot bringing in someone new.  Throw Heibert, Zator, Waterman in a bag and shake them, pick one to bring to NL, another for GC.  And how do you keep Farsi out, he deserves a call.   

Its getting tough, not in last window but looking to get back is Piette, Hoilett, Cav, Ugbo, Wotherspoon/Henry (both done for us?), Liam Miller. ZBG, Edwards, Crepeau etc.  Lots of competition.  

Agree with most of that. The fate of the guys we are talking about like Shaff, Nelson and Farsi probably depends on who decides not to play more than anything. I think Herdman will pick an A squad, just like last tournament, and some players will choose to skip out (David for instance), just like last tournament.

As you mentioned, there are 5 maybe 6 core players who should be coming in for Brym, Heibert, Loturi, Zator, Akinola and McGill. None of the guys we are talking about coming in are core guys, so it will be interesting to see what happens for them, if anything. 

What's interesting as is that at least two "core" guys (Ugbo and Miller) were healthy and dropped. Maybe these guys (or some other core guys) get dropped again for Gold Cup, which is easy to do when they are out of season. 

[Bigandy]

3 hours ago, Kadenge said:

After a taxing WCQ campaign, WC, condensed Euro leagues, NL and  new club teams for some there are starters that will need time off to reset for next season. 

I think we have a huge buy in for the GC. We are going for it and thats why hutch is not retired yet. 

But even so, lets say 5ish guys decide not to come. We still would need to drop some regulars 

1. David
2. Ugbo
3. Larin
4. Cav
5. Brym
6. Akinola
7. Millar
8. Buchanan 
9. Corbeanu
10. Davies
11. Hoilett
12. Kone
13. Hutch
14. Staq
15. Kaye
16. Spoony
17. Piette
18. Oso
19. Loturi
20. Kennedy
21. Miller
22. Vitoria
23. Heibert
24. Waterman
25. Cornelius
26. Laryea
27. Adekugbe
28. Johnston
29. Fraser
30. St Clair
31. Borjan
32. Mcgill/3rd choice GK 
33. Henry

So we have a regular pool of about 33 players.  Spoony, fraser, Henry and akinola may be dropped because of quality. Now we have 29 regulars for 23 spots. That means 6 of our regulars need to drop out to make a 23 man squad. (take out loturi, heibert, Corbeanu, Brym, Waterman, Cornelius   - the guys who are relatively on the outside of the program) 

Now we can say a guy like David isnt coming to the gold cup because he transfers. Are we going to ignore brym and akinola to bring in a new face? Unlikely

Vitoria is aging so he doesnt come. Are we ignoring waterman, cornelius, heibert for a new face? Unlikely

Any CM doesnt come and we can right away bring in loturi, fraser or spoony. 

I am really wanting to blood fresh guys, but its hard to see many guys not being committed and even harder to see their replacements being the guys who are a few rungs down on the depth charts.  

I can easily see a few fresh faces like nelson and shaf but its hard to imagine a significant change to the roster. 

[Shway]

It will be interesting to hear what Herdman has to say about the coming summer. We win NL and guys might want to run it back at the GC. 

For me, the only guys I don't want to see take a break (but would understand) is Davies, David, Staq, and Buchanan.

I also think we may be overstating this "break thing" when its just another 2 match window. 

[gigi riva]

The best part of our Current National team set up is we have guys competing for spots. Compared to 10 years ago  where we really did not have that much depth . Hopefully down the road this will make more solid teams .

[An Observer]

Personally, barring injuries or drop outs, I would take mostly an A squad.  Where there are gaps, I would fill those spots with players such as Brym, Heibert, Loturi, Zator, Akinola, Nelson, Shaff and Farsi depending on how they perform between then and now.  Fringe starters or spot minute players in the MLS like Ahmed, Saliba, Petrasso, Rea should in my view stay at their clubs for the GC as they are likely to benefit from much more minutes with all the other players off to the GC which is better for their development in my opinion than getting a few garbage minutes in the GC.

[CanadaFan123]

I said this earlier but in my mind the choice to call Akinola and Brym last window over Ugbo and Cavallini was due to the fact that the latter pair will be relied on at the gold cup. I expect one or both of Larin/David to bow out. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

A-Squad to Nations League. If you win it, they'll all be thrilled. 

Then you can rethink GC.

If you don't win but a players wants in, great, but some of the guys whose seasons start earlier, others with injuries, may legitimately want to think it through. 

I'd be flexible on that, especially if we have Crepeau/St Clair ready then Borjan could opt out; if the guys going deep into Cup competitions need a break, like Staq, Buchanan, Davies; the guys playing summer leagues and in season. Larin may be looking for a new club. 

I am in favour of going all in for Nations League, then deciding in function of how that goes.

[dyslexic nam]

So it started out as an extremely promising morning.  Davies playing for Bayern, David for Lille, Larin in La Liga and Jebbo playing ManC in a big cup game.  
 

Davies blew his hamstring.  
David missed a bunch of chances for a draw.  
Jebbo gave up a PK to make a tough job tougher.  
 

Let’s hope Larin sees some success.  

[BearcatSA]

Akinola shouldn't be in any conversation regarding NT selection for this summer.

[sebdeserio]

23 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

Akinola shouldn't be in any conversation regarding NT selection for this summer.

 

[BearcatSA]

I'm not going to write him off.  Yet.  But you gotta to be thinking that this management is trying to get him moved because it seems pretty clear he's not in their plans.  Heck, Peruzza is ahead of him.  

[RS]

7 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I'm not going to write him off.  Yet.  But you gotta to be thinking that this management is trying to get him moved because it seems pretty clear he's not in their plans.  Heck, Peruzza is ahead of him.  

To me it seems less that he's not in their plans and more that he hasn't shown enough in the opportunities given.

He was signed to his current (big) contract under this management. I feel for Akinola because it seems as though he's not the same player after that ACL injury. Not writing him off yet but he has to go from showing glimpses (which he has the season) to putting together full, solid performances.

That also means scoring goals, even garbage goals.

[BearcatSA]

9 minutes ago, RS said:

To me it seems less that he's not in their plans and more that he hasn't shown enough in the opportunities given.

Well, yeah.

And that usually results in fewer opportunities given.   If high wage guys are showing "glimpses," even they get more opportunities to try to find their form (look west at Dajome and White with the Caps as relevant examples).  

Teams sign guys to long term deals and find out that they erred in that commitment on many occasions.  This is likely one of them.

[RS]

6 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

Well, yeah.

And that usually results in fewer opportunities given.   If high wage guys are showing "glimpses," even they get more opportunities to try to find their form (look west at Dajome and White with the Caps as relevant examples).  

Teams sign guys to long term deals and find out that they erred in that commitment on many occasions.  This is likely one of them.

You could be right. It's looking like a bad gamble from a team that has made quite a few of them in recent years.

[dyslexic nam]

And not to overthink it but I remember the interview he gave when he signed his first contract.   It was a really personal story but it also kind of projected the idea that he had made it - not that this was the first step in what is still a long journey.  I remember thinking at the time that it wasn’t necessarily a great way to look at it because you need to be constantly striving to achieve the next level to sustain success.  

Definitely could be reading too much into a throwaway comment but in light of his failure to progress from the potential we saw in the MLS Is Back tourney, there may be some truth to it.  
 

[BearcatSA]

1 minute ago, RS said:

You could be right. It's looking like a bad gamble from a team that has made quite a few of them in recent years.

It's a tough spot to sign anyone long term coming off a serious knee injury but the club's medicos must have felt very confident about his return, otherwise that type of contract wouldn't have happened.  And if he is showing snippets of what he can do, then why not play him more?  Is he poor in training?  Is he poor in following coaching direction?  The guy does not seem cardiovascularly fit but he doesn't have the technical ability to fall back upon, either.  So what are you left with.

And yet, I see him on the lists of an NT "B" team thread.  Really?  Based on what, at the moment?  

You can't score any type of goals (garbage or golazos) while sitting on the bench.

[narduch]

I remember the Whitecaps were poking around when he was a 'free agent'.

Did TFC overpay to keep him?

[CanadaFan123]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

I remember the Whitecaps were poking around when he was a 'free agent'.

Did TFC overpay to keep him?

Here’s where I’ll throw TFC a bone. The club is under pressure by people, myself included, to develop players through their academy to the first team. There aren’t many who fit that bill. Akinolas contract was coming off a time when he scored some goals and was coveted by two nations - he had leverage and TFC was right to bet on him. All the signs/odds were there and he’s just blown his opportunities. 
 

It’s wild that he was thrown a call up for Canada and a guy like Choiniere can’t even get a cap in a friendly.