A week ago, before the Reds smashed Orlando, TFC fans were the ones looking over their shoulders. Now, it is likely the Lower Canadians who have reason to be concerned. Montreal dropped a very winnable home game to Philadelphia last week. Their new big signing, Didier Drogba, failed to ignite an offence that has not found the net in three of their last five games. Drogba hasn’t travelled to Toronto, but the rest of the Impact lost to Vancouver in the Voyageur’s Cup final in midweek and have had to fly back from the west coast.
With a loss or draw Montreal could see themselves out of a playoff position by the end of the weekend. The bottom of the Eastern Conference may be a quagmire, but when there are four teams below within a mere two points, it will only take one of them finding a result for the Impact to drop in the standings. Yes, the Impact will still have a healthy number of games in hand, but any TFC supporter can tell you how little those can amount to.
So, logically, everything has set up for another one of those TFC home disappointments that have come at the most inopportune times this season. It used to be that you could count on Toronto FC to disappoint most of the time. These days they seem to pick the moments when it shouldn’t be expected.
It should be remembered that the Reds’ defensive issues are still yet to be sorted out. On the one hand, Chris Konopka’s return to goal last weekend saw Toronto record their first clean sheet since June. Orlando came out with a defensive game plan, however, and still managed to create danger on counterattacks until Rafael Ramos’ red card. Assuming that Montreal keeps 11 men on the field, it’s likely that TFC’s defence is just the sort of opportunity they’re looking for to kickstart their offence.
Formationally, TFC also seem to be in flux. Head coach Greg Vanney heeded calls to move away from a diamond midfield against Orlando, instead choosing to pack the centre of the park with five players. Arguably, none of those five would even qualify as wingers based on their natural tendencies.
On its face, the change was successful, as the Reds were generating opportunities even before the five goal rout in the second half. How much of that was down to formation, versus how much was Orlando letting Toronto play, is not so clear. Sebastian Giovinco certainly doesn’t have the look of a player suited to a lone forward role and leaving Jozy Altidore on the bench to start games seems like a horrible waste of resources. The American forward has been criticized since returning from the Gold Cup but is, by some margin, the team’s second leading scorer after Giovinco. Sitting a designated player takes guts, and Vanney should be commended for making that call. Yet, at the same time, part of his job is to get the most out of his best players.
Fortunately, Toronto FC don’t have to figure out all the answers this weekend. While they will need to win games to guarantee themselves a home game in the playoffs, being ready for that game, should it come, is just as important. With ten games left in the season, Vanney still has a little range to experiment, particularly as he integrates Herculez Gomez into the squad. Do that successfully, and some wobbles during the run-in can be forgiven.
But beat Montreal.