Better players. Thanks for reading!
If only it were that simple. Although better players help, of course, it’s our contention that the problem at TFC has never really been a talent one – not on an absolute level anyway. The sheer amount of TFC players that have gone on to excel elsewhere suggests that they have had guys here that were better than they played in the TFC system.
Let’s call this the Jacob Peterson Rule.
Most TFC fans remember Jacob Peterson as a God-fearin’, ESPN lovin’, gun tootin’ (I assume) patriot of the goddamn United States of America. MERICA!
HELL YA!
But, what fans forget is that, more importantly, Peterson is an eleven year veteran of MLS. He’s a perfectly serviceable MLS midfielder that has played an absolutely average game for more than a decade and has done so for a cap friendly less than $100,000 a year throughout his career. He was on just $80,000 last season.
He doesn’t sell tickets. In fact the only place that Peterson is of note at all is here in Toronto, the one city that ran him out of town for being exactly what he is (see above).
Now, dear Jacob made himself an enemy of the Toronto fans by being, well, a bit of a douche, on his exit. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be all that noticed when he scores his annual goal against TFC (did it again this year – his only goal of the year). However invisible he might have been the reality is that he still would have been cast aside for no particular good reason (he was traded for Ryan Johnson, a player who actually was an above average MLS player that was still run out of town in a trade that landed Joe Bendik, who is likely about to be run out of town – and this is one of TFC’s better trade cluster histories). The Jacob Peterson Rule is not named so because Jacob hates curling, beavers and non-Vermont produced maple syrup, but rather because Toronto failed to recognize just how valuable MLS average players are and especially how valuable MLS average players being paid below average MLS wages are (it’s also called the Jacob Peterson Rule because it’s fun to make Jacob Peterson MERICA! jokes, but let’s focus on the less amusing factor for now). That inability has led to a very real problem on TFC’s roster throughout the years, and one that was particularly insane in 2015 – there’s no balance. For all that people want to remember otherwise, TFC has had some good top end talent. DeRo, Amando Guevera, Danny Koevermans, Michael Bradley and, most of all, Seba Giovinco are/were brilliant players that are/were among the best in the league when with Toronto. They’ve been surrounded by guys that are sometimes junk, but who mostly were just average talent that was never given the chance to grow together.
Under Tim Bezbatchenko the Reds have tried to address the constant turn over and have to a certain extent. Fixing TFC now requires him to continue that trend.
If you’re calling for TFC to overhaul its roster yet again you’re not following the Jacob Perterson Rule – you’re demanding that TFC repeat the same mistake it’s made over and over and over and over and over…you get the idea. Yes, Jackson is a flawed player that’s no better than average, but he’s OUR flawed player that's no better than average. If you dump him you have to waste time replacing him before you can address actual below average slots in the roster.
Most of us understand where the flawed spots are – clearly when you’re last in the league in goals against you have to address that – so there’s little point belabouring that here (signing a top centreback and a defensive midfielder--if Bradley can’t be convinced to fill that role--are the top priorities. Wingers after that, although there could be solutions there in the system at TFC2).
The biggest point to stress is that TFC isn’t miles away from the top teams. In the first part of the season review we talked about how the Reds had become a real club. Real clubs aren’t miles away. From here, like every other real MLS team, it’s about tweaking things to close the razor thin lines that separate good MLS teams from average ones. Closing that gap is actually easier than closing the terrible to average gap that Toronto has finally, mercifully done.
It’s here that many TFC fans will be yelling at their screens telling me I’m being too easy on them. So, let’s put this in numbers.
Specifically, three and five.
Three is the amount of fewer losses the Columbus Crew had to TFC and five is the amount of goals less that they allowed. The Crew and TFC were tied in goals scored and wins.
That’s the difference between another off-season of fear and loathing and, according to the odds on the day I type this, an 81% chance of hosting the MLS Cup.
Does making up five goals and three loses really require an entire roster overhaul?
No. Even if it means keeping a few Jacob Petersons around.