CF Montreal - 2024 Season Thread

[costarg]

2 hours ago, El Hombre said:

I'm a little worried about what this means for Saliba.  If Renard is doing this without a head coach in place, does this indicate a transition away from youth and towards more veteran players for more immediate success?  That would be a terrible shame as I think Saliba is one of the best projects in the pipeline.  I'd hate to see him nailed to the bench for some 28 year-old journeyman.

I don't feel Renard or CFM is moving away from the development project.  Pretty sure this is just them doubling down on the project.  Most likely he felt they wouldn't be making enough profit on ZBG, Assi or Rea in the short term.  I'm not too worried about Saliba, Zouhir.....

 

[El Hombre]

3 hours ago, Big_M said:

assi we could say is doing ok in cpl and isnt going to be an mls player anytime soon if ever

What a wild take on a kid that turned 19 a few months ago when elsewhere people are wetting their pants about someone like Ahmed who got his first real professional minutes at the age of 22.

[El Hombre]

2 hours ago, costarg said:

I don't feel Renard or CFM is moving away from the development project.  Pretty sure this is just them doubling down on the project.  Most likely he felt they wouldn't be making enough profit on ZBG, Assi or Rea in the short term.  I'm not too worried about Saliba, Zouhir.....

 

 

4 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Hmm, I look at this the opposite way.  You cull the herd, if Rea or Assi are not what fits, let them go and focus on Saliba, Vilsant, Zouhir or the next round of academy kids.   Only so many can be worked in at once and they dont need to stockpile the kids like TFC if they arent going to realistically get games.  I hate to see them cut, but it might be for the best for everyone.  

Hopefully you guys are right.  It does make room for Zouhir, which is good.  

We'll see how the rest of the roster shapes up over the next two months.  Still seems like a curious move without a coach in place.

[Obinna]

7 hours ago, El Hombre said:

Ouch.  Cutting bait on Rea and Assi seems super premature.  WTF are our MLS teams doing?

And ZBG?  Bad decisions abound.

 

Montreal has been the best of the 3 when it comes to finding loans for young players - but here it looks like they have let 2 good young players and a solid MLS fullback go for nothing. Ideally these players would be sold and not cut, so Montreal need to get better and have work to do.

It's great they did business with Celtic, AZ and Watford, and they deserve credit for that, but the next step is to move on those lower value pieces.

I think the problem here is that USL and CPL don't generally buy players from MLS clubs, so if you are loaning players to San Antonio or Ottawa, there's no chance those players get bought at the end of the loan. If they join these lower clubs it's because they were released, not sold. CF Montreal should still use USL and CPL to offload and develop players on loan, but ideally they wouldn't simply cutting them for nothing. There needs to be a step between USL/CPL loan and being "MLS ready" 

Maybe the solution is Scandanavia. Toronto actually seems to be attempting this, though they haven't gotten it right yet.

They loaned Rocco Romeo to HB Koge in Denmark, but he didn't stick. He was then loaned to Valour, then signed on permanently, but only after he was cut. Look at Thompson at Lillestrom, was loaned out but he didn't really break in over there and wasn't purchased. So it hasn't come off for them yet, but I can see what they are TRYING to do, and now they've gotten in on the CPL game too (Perruza at Halifax, Singh at Ottawa). And as for MLS, mixed results with Schaff going to Nashville and Akinola (I assume) returning to Toronto. 

Maybe we just need one success story to build up a Canada-to-Scandanavia pipeline....because even if these MLS clubs sold a player like Rea on for 100K, that's better than letting him go for nothing, isn't it?

And someone please correct me if I am wrong, but don't Montreal now have the right to renegotiate another contract?

Maybe they don't really try and sell these guys for cheap because they are too focused on re-signing them for cheap?

Maybe the players would rather try and re-sign somewhere else in league instead of being sold to IFELLONMYKEYBORD FC?

[phil03]

I think this one is less about the club's philosophy broadly speaking and more circumstances specific to each player.

Pantemis has the potential of fighting for a number one spot in MLS but Sirois is just better, one the elite goaltender in the league at 21 and someone who might just play in a top-five league and be Canada's long term number one down the line. Hell, I'd go as far as to say that if we had last year's Sirois in 2022 we would now have a star on top of our crest! 

Pantemis need to go to a club that has the space for him. My main beef is that we should have traded him sometimes last year, both for his own sake and to get something in exchange, but IMO him moving on is for the best.

ZBG is in a similar situation, having been stuck behind first Johnston and now Herrera. The one key difference is that there was a stronger argument to keep him around as a high-value sub last year as we were pushing for the playoffs, even if it meant letting him go away for nothing. 

Rea... I know he is highly valued in this forum but honestly, he has struggled to adapt at the MLS level and his vocally complaining in the middle of a game, with the camera on him, about being subbed off has not done him any favor in a club that, for better or for worse, still does have the whole Tabla mess in the back of its collective mind and has seen what tolerating stuff has done to TFC. There are also been rumors that there were more behavior issues behind the scenes.

Assi seems like a pure calculation of costs vs potential benefits, with MTL deciding that continuing to pay him MLS wages while he is developing on loans just isn't justified by the odds of him contributing to the team directly or being sold elsewhere. As others have said, we need a pipeline to some kind of middle ground for players from MLS academies who can peak above CPL level but who are unlikely to ever directly contribute to their senior teams.

In toto the only thing that I am actively disliking here is that we didn't get anything for Pantemis.

Edited December 2, 2023 by phil03

[BearcatSA]

21 hours ago, costarg said:

I don't feel Renard or CFM is moving away from the development project.  Pretty sure this is just them doubling down on the project.  Most likely he felt they wouldn't be making enough profit on ZBG, Assi or Rea in the short term.  I'm not too worried about Saliba, Zouhir.....

Within the parameters of the ownership, he looks to be doing a good job at developing local talent.  Unfortinately, he whiffed on Nancy's replacement so he needs to make a statement with the new hire.

 

[Stoppage Time]

14 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Within the parameters of the ownership, he looks to be doing a good job at developing local talent.  Unfortinately, he whiffed on Nancy's replacement so he needs to make a statement with the new hire.

 

He whiffed when he lost Nancy who is now in the MLS Cup game.

[An Observer]

4 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

He whiffed when he lost Nancy who is now in the MLS Cup game.

I think that was on Saputo and not Renard 

[BearcatSA]

6 hours ago, An Observer said:

I think that was on Saputo and not Renard 

I think so, too.

[Shway]

https://x.com/NiltonJorge/status/1732215911312982523?s=20

(its not doing the Twitter post thing)

But apparently Bev Priestman has put her hat in the running for the CF Montreal coaching job. 

I for one don't know what the affinity is with women coaches, refs, etc wanting to be excepted into the men's game, rather than advancing the women's game like Emma Hayes. 

I simply just don't get it. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Shway

[dyslexic nam]

10 hours ago, Shway said:

https://x.com/NiltonJorge/status/1732215911312982523?s=20

(its not doing the Twitter post thing)

But apparently Bev Priestman has put her hat in the running for the CF Montreal coaching job. 

I for one don't know what the affinity is with women coaches, refs, etc wanting to be excepted into the men's game, rather than advancing the women's game like Emma Hayes. 

I simply just don't get it. 

 

I am no social justice warrior but I don't really see a woman expressing an interest in coaching a men's team as a big deal (sort of like them officiating men's games).  If they are good enough to do it, I don't really care about the plumbing.  We accepted someone who coached women's teams as our national team coach, so I don't see a ton of difference. 

Not saying she is good enough or deserves to be hired - that is for the folks doing detailed research into candidates to determine.  I am just saying that there isn't anything particularly outrageous about the idea.   

[Shway]

33 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

 

I am no social justice warrior but I don't really see a woman expressing an interest in coaching a men's team as a big deal (sort of like them officiating men's games).  If they are good enough to do it, I don't really care about the plumbing.  We accepted someone who coached women's teams as our national team coach, so I don't see a ton of difference. 

Not saying she is good enough or deserves to be hired - that is for the folks doing detailed research into candidates to determine.  I am just saying that there isn't anything particularly outrageous about the idea.   

I'm in no way being a sexist, and I don't see them putting their hat in as an issue as well. I'm just curious why it always seems like a search for validation from men. 

I get when it may feel like you've exhausted all your challenges amongst the women's game and feel like you want to try something new (Becky Hammon is a perfect example). But a lot of the times, it seems as if they are unqualified and they want the job for more of a social moral win, rather than actually being someone fit and accomplished for the job.

I say this because the women's game is at its biggest growth opportunity, and it needs the best women's coaches, the best women referees, the best women management teams to better promote their product to who their target fan base should be women. 

This is a convo for different thread, but I have the same opinion about social/poltical moral wins for BIPOC, BAME, or whatever clever acronym they come up with. 

[Bigandy]

5 hours ago, Shway said:

I'm in no way being a sexist, and I don't see them putting their hat in as an issue as well. I'm just curious why it always seems like a search for validation from men. 

I get when it may feel like you've exhausted all your challenges amongst the women's game and feel like you want to try something new (Becky Hammon is a perfect example). But a lot of the times, it seems as if they are unqualified and they want the job for more of a social moral win, rather than actually being someone fit and accomplished for the job.

I say this because the women's game is at its biggest growth opportunity, and it needs the best women's coaches, the best women referees, the best women management teams to better promote their product to who their target fan base should be women. 

This is a convo for different thread, but I have the same opinion about social/poltical moral wins for BIPOC, BAME, or whatever clever acronym they come up with. 

Wouldnt the obvious answer as to why a woman wants to coach in the MLS is the pay (with a side of glory). 

Given the choice of coaching an MLS team where salaries range between 100k-1.4m vs NWSL at 45-75k, I think the answer is pretty obvious. Priestman is roughly the exact same qualifications as herdman. It makes sense she wants a payday.

[phil03]

Honestly, it might be even simpler then that: she likes it in Canada but wants to try her hand at the club game and we don't have women's pro teams here yet...

Honestly, as an Impact fan I don't hate it. She would be an atypical candidate for sure, but she lead her team to an Olympic gold medal, which isn't nothing, and I am willing to give her the benefice of the doubt re the last World Cup considering the federation's financial mess. We could do worse.

And on a woman coaching a men's team, why not? Nobody question it when a women's team hire a man so if the female coach in question is qualified for the job...

[Shway]

4 hours ago, phil03 said:

Honestly, it might be even simpler then that: she likes it in Canada but wants to try her hand at the club game and we don't have women's pro teams here yet...

Honestly, as an Impact fan I don't hate it. She would be an atypical candidate for sure, but she lead her team to an Olympic gold medal, which isn't nothing, and I am willing to give her the benefice of the doubt re the last World Cup considering the federation's financial mess. We could do worse.

And on a woman coaching a men's team, why not? Nobody question it when a women's team hire a man so if the female coach in question is qualified for the job...

Because there simply just wasn't/isn't enough certified female coaches. With time, this is changing drastically and I'm all for those jobs being available to women first before anyone else. 

I just think why not be the female Pep, or SAF, before being the "first women" and it last 6 months but "she was first".

By all means, Bev can go to Montreal, I would love to watch that show...she won gold yes, but subsequently bombed out of the more important tournament. 

[Bigandy]

13 hours ago, Shway said:

Because there simply just wasn't/isn't enough certified female coaches. With time, this is changing drastically and I'm all for those jobs being available to women first before anyone else. 

I just think why not be the female Pep, or SAF, before being the "first women" and it last 6 months but "she was first".

By all means, Bev can go to Montreal, I would love to watch that show...she won gold yes, but subsequently bombed out of the more important tournament. 

Would you want to be the female pep and move to a new country so that you can make 50k a year and never get any glory and when/IF you become pep you cap out at 80k or would you pick to stay in the country youre settled in, at least double...if not 3-4x your current salary and if you become even somewhat close to a pep level, youll 10x minimum your salary. 

Forget gender for a second and look at which business/job opportunity makes sense. Which would you choose? Its soooo abundantly clear that the mens side offers vastly better incentives. 

[Shway]

26 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Would you want to be the female pep and move to a new country so that you can make 50k a year and never get any glory and when/IF you become pep you cap out at 80k or would you pick to stay in the country youre settled in, at least double...if not 3-4x your current salary and if you become even somewhat close to a pep level, youll 10x minimum your salary. 

Forget gender for a second and look at which business/job opportunity makes sense. Which would you choose? Its soooo abundantly clear that the mens side offers vastly better incentives. 

And for the bolded part you are correct. 
Can't even argue from that aspect. It's not about the social win, but the financial gains. 

[MtlMario]

Another person trying to jump ship from HMS CSA?

[narduch]

1 minute ago, MtlMario said:

Another person trying to jump ship from HMS CSA?

If she is actually putting her name out there publicly for other jobs I'd already be looking for her replacement 

[narduch]

 

 

[Big_M]

lol the edwards tour continues...this time he returns to montreal

CF Montréal acquires defender Raheem Edwards from LA Galaxy

[BearcatSA]

Renard doesn't have a new head coach in place yet so it seems to me that he's driving the bus (or getting varying degrees of direction from ownership) with the player acquisition for the set up he wants on the field.  

So, I wonder who he puts in the technical area box for the season?

[masster]

$400,000 for a fringe starter? Seems like an over pay to me.

[Big_M]

looks like they will start the season with a number of away games before starting their home schedule at saputo stadium in april

 

[HochelagaFC]

https://x.com/niltonjorge/status/1735397451589132318?s=46&t=qeFBufCAdLCdWsL5EnETqQ

Rumor has it Laurent Courtois could be the next Impact head coach. 
 

Seems like a good choice. He has a good track record at developping young talent and winning. Ready to test himself at a higher level. 
 

Better choice at first than Losada who came in with a lot of red flags and not a huge track record of development.