Gerba might leave Montreal / Saputo thinks critics are very harsh (?!?!?!?!? x 2)

[the biologist]

Gerba pourrait quitter Montreal

Frédéric Lord

Radio-Canada Sports

NEW YORK - Il a sauvé l'équipe une fois, il pourrait ne pas avoir l'occasion de le faire une deuxième fois.

Radio-Canada Sports a appris mercredi que le meilleur marqueur de l'Impact de Montréal, Ali Gerba, pourrait quitter l'équipe d'ici la fin de la période des transferts à la fin août.

Plusieurs équipes de la MLS seraient intéressées à ses services en plus de quelques clubs européens. On chuchote même que New York serait une des villes à s'intéresser à l'international canadien.

Le personnel technique de l'Impact aurait indiqué à l'agent du joueur qu'il ne s'opposerait pas à un transfert du Montréalais d'origine camerounaise.

Ainsi, il semble de plus en plus évident que le personnel technique du onze montréalais utilise la stratégie de la terre brûlée pour combattre les affres de 2011.

Après avoir liquidé deux de ses trois joueurs recrutés au camp des invités en janvier, l'organisation serait sur le point de couper les ponts avec le Québécois qui avait fait un retour au jeu remarqué la saison dernière après un passage tumultueux au Toronto FC.

À son retour - pour la quatrième fois - en 2010, Gerba a eu besoin de quelques matchs pour retrouver la forme, ayant été inactif depuis un peu plus de deux mois.

Mais après quelques matchs, il avait explosé pour 12 buts et avait sorti le onze montréalais de sa torpeur, récurrente, à l'attaque.Malgré tout, on lui avait préféré Philippe Billy à titre de joueur de l'année.

Depuis plusieurs semaines déjà, Gerba joue avec un genou amoché, le même qui avait perturbé son séjour avec l'équipe canadienne à la dernière Gold Cup.

La cote de Gerba auprès de la direction du club a pu être entamée par sa méforme du début du camp, qui l'avait forcé à abattre quelques heures supplémentaires aux abords du terrain d'entraînement.

Qu'à cela ne tienne, Gerba n'aura jamais pu profiter d'un service adéquat au cours de la saison. Il fait les frais, comme plusieurs anciens porte-couleurs, d'une indigence offensive qui est souvent confondue pour un système de jeu.

À l'approche de son entrée en MLS, l'Impact va aussi se départir d'une figure locale populaire qui a souvent manifesté - même si certains y voyaient de la flagornerie - le vif désir de jouer... et de gagner à Montréal.

-----------------

"Les critiques sont très sévères" -Joey Saputo

Frédéric Lord

Radio-Canada Sports

HARRISON, NJ - « Des fois, il faut regarder plus loin que les erreurs qui ont été faites. Trouver des gens qui sont passionnés par l'équipe comme lui, il n'y en a pas beaucoup. »

Accoté à une table tout juste à l'extérieur de la loge de son équipe au Red Bull Arena, Joey Saputo se permet quelques minutes pour revenir sur les critiques formulées à l'endroit de son directeur technique Nick De Santis.

« Ma relation avec Nick De Santis est excellente, explique-t-il. Si une personne aime l'équipe autant que moi, c'est lui. »

« Tout ce qui est dit sur Nick, ce n'est pas juste. C'est quelqu'un qui a l'équipe à coeur. Oui, on fait tous des erreurs, mais il bâtit l'équipe pour le futur. »

« Les critiques sont très, très sévères. Comme entraîneur, il a une fiche excellente (NDLR : 63-20-29), ajoute Saputo. Et de dire que les équipes qu'il a menées, ce n'est pas lui qui les a bâties, ce n'est pas juste non plus. L'équipe qui est allée loin en championnat canadien, c'est lui. »

Le regard est direct, franc, on sent la passion de l'homme et l'affection qu'il porte à son directeur technique qu'il connaît depuis toujours.

« L'affaire Bernier »

Le président s'est aussi permis de revenir sur les déclarations de l'international canadien Patrice Bernier quant aux canaux de communications inexistants entre les deux parties.

« Peut-être n'y a-t-il pas de communication entre Patrice et son agent, suggère Saputo, parce que nous avons répondu à son agent hier (mercredi) et nous lui avons dit que nous le considérions.

« Je ne suis pas quelqu'un qui négocie à travers les médias, ajoute-t-il, mais de la façon que ça a été fait, je ne crois pas que c'était juste envers Montréal. Et si tu veux avoir une relation avec une équipe dans le futur, ce n'est pas la bonne façon de commencer. »

Montréal vers le haut

Au moment où le match des étoiles est sur le point de commencer, que ses partenaires d'affaires sont rassemblés pour les cérémonies d'ouverture, Joey Saputo accepte de rester quelques minutes pour discuter de son club.

Pour lui, c'est une façon d'être transparent envers les partisans, un mot qui reviendra souvent.

Au moment de la démission de Marc Dos Santos, il avait aussi parlé de pression. Et d'où vient-elle, cette pression?

« La ville veut avoir une équipe gagnante, dit-il. Moi, comme propriétaire, je mets de la pression parce que je suis quelqu'un qui n'aime pas perdre. Les autres équipes professionnelles comme le Canadien et les Alouettes ont des traditions de gagnants. On veut s'assurer d'en être une aussi. »

Pour cette raison, il souhaite redresser la barre d'ici la fin de l'année en NASL, pour s'assurer d'avoir un erre d'aller pour l'entrée en MLS.

« Quand les choses vont bien et que tout est positif, ça ne peut pas faire de mal, assure Saputo pour souligner sa lucidité face à la situation actuelle. Mais pour moi, je veux vraiment finir l'année en beauté pour commencer l'autre du bon pied. »

[the biologist]

First article says Gerba might leave the team before the end of the transfer window by the end of August. Many MLS clubs are interested in Gerba and some euro clubs as well. There are rumors that NYRB is one the MLS teams interested in his services. Technical staff has told Gerba they wouldn't object to his transfer. Then follows a brief history about his comeback and his recent injury. Lord adds that Gerba might have fallen out of the club's management favor because he wasn't fit like they tought he should've been at the beginning of the training camp. Thy told him at this time to do some overtime work on the training field. Lord finishes in pointing out they would lose that way a local guy who told many times he was eager to play for MTL in MLS.

NDS, f*ck you. Oh, and your wife as well. Yeah. Just go f*ck one another and leave us alone.

[youllneverwalkalone]

What? Ali Gerba not in top physical condition?!?

That is news.

[the biologist]

Second article

About NDS

"Sometimes, you must look further then the mistakes that have been made. Try to find people as passionate about the team as NDS is, there's not many."

Sitting at a table just outside the team's box at Red Bull Arena, JS takes some time to talk about critics that have been directed to his technical director NDS.

"My relationship with NDS is excellent [personally totally surprised to hear this...]. If there's a guy who loves this team as much as I do myself, this is him."

"Everything that has been said about him is unfair. He's a guy who loves this team. Yes, we all make mistakes, but he's building this team for the future"

"Critics are very, very harsh. As a coach, his record is excellent. And to say the teams he lead weren't built by him, that's unfair as well. He's the guy who built the team that has gone far in the Canadian Championship [CCL maybe ? You know what it is Joey, don't you ?]"

His look is straight and we feel JS' passion and affection he has about his technical director who he knows since forever.

About Bernier

JS also wanted to reply to the declarations made by Bernier about the non existing communication between both sides.

"Maybe there's no communication between Bernier and his agent because we answered back to his agent Wednesday and told him we were considering hiring Bernier."

"I'm not the one to negociate through the media, but the way that's been done [about Bernier saying to CKAC he wasn't seriously approached by the team], I don't think that was fair for Montreal. And if you want to start a relationship with a team for the future, that's not the way to go."

About the club

At the moment the ASG is about to start and his business partners are reunited for the opening ceremonies, JS accepts to stay with journalists for a few minutes to talk about his club. He considers that's a way to show transparency, a word that will often come out. [Wow, now that part really makes me want to puke.]

When MDS resigned, JS was talking about pressure. What pressure was he talking about ?

"The city wants a winning team. I put pressure as the owner because I'm someone who doesn't like to lose. The other professional teams like the Habs and Als have winning traditions. We want to be sure to be one of these as well."

For this reason, he looks to right the ship before the NASL season ends to be sure to get on a roll in time for when they enter in MLS.

"When things are going great and everything's positive, it can't hurt anybody." says Saputo to highlight the fact he's well aware of the current team's situation. "But what's important for me is really to finish the year in a good way to start to other one on a good note."

[Jeremy]

Joke joke joke. What a bunch of buffoons. What wasn't fair for Montreal? Man, you really have to wonder sometimes... ''Yes, we all make mistakes but he's building this team for the future'' For how long has he been building for the future? When is the future? Do they have a secret plan that will give the Impact 10 league titles in a row in 15 years?

And someone should tell him that loving his job is not a valid reason for not firing an incompetent employee. I love the club very much, and am also looking for a career plan. They should hire me.

[the biologist]

^ What you said.

Here's a TSN (Noel Butler...) article on Joey's plan for a successful MLS debut for the Impact:

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=372676

[Keano]

To be fair, Gerba does suck again. Maybe they want to replace him with Occean next summer. Then all would be forgiven. *eats more mushrooms*

[loyola]

To be fair, Gerba does suck again. Maybe they want to replace him with Occean next summer. Then all would be forgiven. *eats more mushrooms*

Occean has signed a 3 years contract with Furth (until 2014). I can't see OO playing in MTL soon if he continues his good form in Germany.

Gerba is an enigma. Last year he was on fire and this year he's been really bad. Maybe MTL should stick with him, but at some point Ali has to take care of himself. He should look at OO who's in great shape and can run 90 min.

[Grizzly]

Occean has signed a 3 years contract with Furth (until 2014). I can't see OO playing in MTL soon if he continues his good form in Germany.

Gerba is an enigma. Last year he was on fire and this year he's been really bad. Maybe MTL should stick with him, but at some point Ali has to take care of himself. He should look at OO who's in great shape and can run 90 min.

Obviously Gerba has some attitude problems that it would be better if he corrected. On the other hand it is equally obvious that if you want Gerba to perform well, the last thing you want to do is to stick a player with a selfish and difficult attitude in a team that is totally unprofessional and run like a circus. We saw that with TFC and we are seeing that now in Montreal. Gerba may or may not be an idiot, I have never met him. However, putting him with coaches who are idiots like Preki and Nick DeSantis is not the way to get him producing idiot or not.

[youllneverwalkalone]

^Has Gerba been playing a regular 90 match-in, match-out, or his he being benched?

Personally, I would just play him for 30 games a season and take the goals he'll yield. It's not that complicated. If you want him to be Russell Teibert, you're kidding yourself. No matter how fat he gets, he's still pretty fast and pretty athletic. Some people are just big boned.

[Keano]

^Has Gerba been playing a regular 90 match-in, match-out, or his he being benched?

Personally, I would just play him for 30 games a season and take the goals he'll yield. It's not that complicated. If you want him to be Russell Teibert, you're kidding yourself. No matter how fat he gets, he's still pretty fast and pretty athletic. Some people are just big boned.

He has been injured almost the whole season.

[Nick Sabetti]

Ive gotten a good look at Gerba in practice over the last two weeks. He looks out of shape and disinterested. Hes far from being fit enough to play.

[Grizzly]

Ive gotten a good look at Gerba in practice over the last two weeks. He looks out of shape and disinterested. Hes far from being fit enough to play.

I don't doubt it but on the other hand the majority of the team looks disinterested in games not just Gerba. In a properly run sports organization the one who signed the players and is supposed to motivate them would be fired. It is the manager's job to hire players with good attitudes and the coaches job to motivate those players, good attitude or not. NDS can not even get the guys with good attitude to play well let alone the difficult guys like Gerba. Playing in this organization and under Nick does not motivate the bad attitude guys but instead demotivates the good attitude guys!

[the biologist]

Gerba responded to the article this afternoon on CKAC:

"Je suis heureux à Montréal pour l'instant"

There's also an audio part from Gerba that goes along with this article if you understand french.

Translation

Striker Ali Gerba only has one thing in mind: come back on the field and help the team salvage their season.

In reaction to the rumors of a possible transfer, Gerba says he hasn't heard anything from his agent nor the team about that.

"My heart is in Montreal for now. My intention is to concentrate on what I can bring to the team so we can manage to finish the season well."

He added that the organization has always treated him nicely and that he really feels he's a part of the team.

Gerba, who's gonna be back on the pitch Sunday against the PR Islanders, says his knee is completely back to normal.

"When you're injured, you can't be in perfect condition for sure." said Gerba about his team's critics about him. "It's been now two weeks that I'm training hard and I'm ready to help the Impact."

Gerba hopes fans won't lose any hope when it comes to the end of the season and that the PR game on Sunday will become a turning point for the team.

Finally, about the possible addition of Patrice Bernier for next year's debut of the team in MLS, Gerba would be very happy for his friend.

"He's a proud Montrealer and he could bring many things to this team. Patrice has a good vision on the field. He frequently helped me score goals on the international level."

[the biologist]

My opinion about Gerba is why in hell would we get rid of him before next year ? As Grizzly effectively pointed out, MDS had no clue under NDS' management of the club. And now with NDS having all the powers, it looks like it's worst. Yes Gerba has been injured almost all season long (and not very fit, OK) but c'mon, the way he's been badly served by the MF makes me think he wouldn't have fared much better had he been completely healthy. It looks like management don't give a sh*t about how to help him produce more. He must do the job all by himself almost continuously and then NDS says he's fatty and that's his fault. Well, breaking news for you NDS, everytime he's been effective in his career, it never was because we was 100% fit. You take him for what he is. That's all. He scores goals when served adequately. Period. But when served effectively, wow can he deliver. And he's a local boy. And french is his first language on top of that, never hurts when you're looking to rejuvenate your fan base in MTL. Just ask the marketing department.

Now next season there's gonna be a new head coach in town. A new coach in the top flight level in your hometown craving for hometown heroes = perfect conditions for Ali G.

Then, and only then (let's say after at least past the halfway point in the season), if he's still fatty AND he doesn't score any goals AND he just doesn't give a sh*t about what's happening, let's give him his walking papers. But not before geez...

[montrealjuventus]

My opinion about Gerba is why in hell would we get rid of him before next year ? As Grizzly effectively pointed out, MDS had no clue under NDS' management of the club. And now with NDS having all the powers, it looks like it's worst. Yes Gerba has been injured almost all season long (and not very fit, OK) but c'mon, the way he's been badly served by the MF makes me think he wouldn't have fared much better had he been completely healthy. It looks like management don't give a sh*t about how to help him produce more. He must do the job all by himself almost continuously and then NDS says he's fatty and that's his fault. Well, breaking news for you NDS, everytime he's been effective in his career, it never was because we was 100% fit. You take him for what he is. That's all. He scores goals when served adequately. Period. But when served effectively, wow can he deliver. And he's a local boy. And french is his first language on top of that, never hurts when you're looking to rejuvenate your fan base in MTL. Just ask the marketing department.

Now next season there's gonna be a new head coach in town. A new coach in the top flight level in your hometown craving for hometown heroes = perfect conditions for Ali G.

Then, and only then (let's say after at least past the halfway point in the season), if he's still fatty AND he doesn't score any goals AND he just doesn't give a sh*t about what's happening, let's give him his walking papers. But not before geez...

This is all good. But the new coach will be Preki... and we all know the relationship between Gerba and Preki. So i am not really surprised that they are looking to get rid of him.

This biggest problem is that the impact refused a 500k euro bid this past winter for Gerba from a topflight Turkish club. For F***sakes, when should an NASL club ever refuse this type of offer...Never! The impact is so clueless that they think they are Real Madrid or something. The obvious decision would have been, sell him and pocket the $$$ and run the organization for what it is(Develop and Sell). Like AJAX and most other clubs around the world. Not those few clubs that actually buy players because they have so much money!!! I guess the key is the word "develop", something that this club is not able to do. Especially with this management.

[yomurphy1]

^ Out of curiosity, what Turkish club bid on Ali G?

[montrealjuventus]

^ Out of curiosity, what Turkish club bid on Ali G?

I am not sure which club. But i am good friends with Tony Marinaro from the Team990(radio), and he said it was basically a done deal.

Ribeiro, another guy that i know well, said that the impact reraised and asked for 1 million euro. The turkish club basically told them that they were crazy...

[Free kick]

This is all good. But the new coach will be Preki... and we all know the relationship between Gerba and Preki. .

Wow.... Thats an interesting, under a Preki coached team, i dont know how you can convince fans in Montreal that MLS is supposed to be a higher league than USL/NASL. He he is anti - talent. Likes players who run hard, tackle hard, battle for every ball etc. Games have no flow and no sustained possesion by either side. Five yards and a cloud of dust. He brought in Players at half back like the Latvian whose name no one can spell and Usanov who was a red card waiting to happen from the first moment i saw him on the pitch in his very first game. Lots of wreakless challenges. . Guevarra, the best TFC player ever, bolted.

[the biologist]

But the new coach will be Preki...

Wow if THAT happens, we should organize something in order to put a dead horse head in the bed of NDS. Seriously...

[montrealjuventus]

Anyways, if it is not Preki it is Collin Clarke. Martin rennie pulled out. Plus, NDS has to find a coach who will do what he says. He will never hire a european coach. I am thinking that because MDS and Rennie are such good friends, MDS gave Rennie all the info he needed. It will be really tough to find a good coach when NDS wants to control everything. Gerba last year was a phenom, this year he is the worst player. NDS is so stupid, that he changes his mind on players, like i change my underwear.

[ThiKu]

Unless someone pays a transfer fee they have to keep Gerba until MLS starts and see how he does there. Play a 4-4-2, or 4-5-1 (some variation of that) and give him some proper support/service/talent. Bernier signing is a must but I know he won't be a "service" kind of guy. So they need to bring in some talent who can deliver goals. MTL needs to go experienced offensively and try to score goals next year because after this season the fans won't have much patience. Signing Bradley Sr. would be a good start.

[Keano]

Gerba had a good game yesterday, if you are willing to applaud industry and overlook 0 goals out of 4-5 good chances. Without hard evidence to the contrary, I'm willing to believe he was hampered by injury and is finding form now.

[shawn_strat]

The P.R. goalkeeper had a horseshoe up his butt. Against most other NASL goalkeepers Gerba would have had at least 2 goals yesterday.

[Grizzly]

If Rennie has pulled out I think that is good because I like him as a coach but I think he would be in the same position as MDS, a young coach without a name that would have a hard time to stop Joey and Nick from interfering in his job. Clarke and Preki should both be able to have more power and authority and run the team the way they would like. However, Preki is just as incompetent as Nick so it would be terrible to choose him. The idea is to get someone competent running the team not just to remove NDS. If it is true that he is under consideration it would just further the idea that they do not know what they are doing. How could they choose him after what he did at TFC? Clarke would be an excellent choice though.