2015 Impact Season

[Ruffian]

Tissot gets the start. Great news! Hopefully he will get starts in about half the games this season and can potentially lock down a starting position.

[lazlo_80]

from twitter seems like he had a good game too.

[Dub Narcotic]

He did, especially after his not-great showing on Wednesday. Overall a good point for the team despite CCL fatigue, two injuries and a red card. Ciman was particularly good, as was Toia (great pickup by Klopas). Mcinerney is not a lone striker, Montreal is going to have to make a move at that position soon with Porter and Oduro out.

[Keegan]

That result yesterday could hurt.  That was about as big a gimme game you'll get all season... up 2-0 on an expansion team with 4 subs.

[Soccerpro]

3-0 loss to Houston in the 80th minute tonight. The CCL run might be magical, but the impact look terrible in MLS. I don't see how they're not in the conversation for last place this year.

They knew they needed a DP striker up front and didn't have a backup plan when they lost out on Gilardino/Rivero. Inexcusable on management's part.

[Keegan]

3-0 loss to Houston in the 80th minute tonight. The CCL run might be magical, but the impact look terrible in MLS. I don't see how they're not in the conversation for last place this year.

They knew they needed a DP striker up front and didn't have a backup plan when they lost out on Gilardino/Rivero. Inexcusable on management's part.

 

There's no such thing as early predictions in this league.. take it day by day.  Whitecaps won't win the Supporters Shield and Toronto won't miss the playoffs.  Montreal has a good squad, they were unlucky in the first half and paid for it.  

[Soccerpro]

There's no such thing as early predictions in this league.. take it day by day.  Whitecaps won't win the Supporters Shield and Toronto won't miss the playoffs.  Montreal has a good squad, they were unlucky in the first half and paid for it.

Claiming they have a good squad is where you and I differ.

[rightback]

I'm surprised there's nothing on the forum about yesterday's game in Montreal. 62,000 in the Big O. Anyway, I thought Gerry and Craig were great last night, bringing up the problem with Canadian players in MLS, the fact that only 2 Canadians made the field in the dying moments, and finally some good barbs against Mexico's football results given their immense resources (kind of sore loser stuff, but I appreciated it). 

[Obinna]

You can likely find some discussion in the voyegeurs cup/CCL part of this fourm

[shermanator]

And the Impact have now waived Nicht. Surprise! Over to you, Indy.

[rightback]

You can likely find some discussion in the voyegeurs cup/CCL part of this fourm

Doh, thanks.

[mtlfan]

Blake Smith put on waivers.

[Soccerpro]

Blake Smith put on waivers.

a good example of how poorly the Impact have drafted since they entered MLS.

[Dub Narcotic]

Smith always looked pretty dangerous and was very good in NASL on loan, he's just in a position of strength for Montreal. I'd be surprised if someone doesn't pick him up immediately. I think Eric Miller will be a starting FB sooner rather than later, and they did a great job picking up Callum Mallace late in draft. On the other hand, Wenger was sure a whiff, and Williams this year doesn't look like much. I don't think that's so bad, two starters from four or five drafts. Vancouver is about as successful, with Manneh/Mattocks essentially being starters/first subs and Dean, Parker and Hurtado as depth, with both Dean and Parker looking like future starters.

[Grizzly]

Smith always looked pretty dangerous and was very good in NASL on loan, he's just in a position of strength for Montreal. I'd be surprised if someone doesn't pick him up immediately. I think Eric Miller will be a starting FB sooner rather than later, and they did a great job picking up Callum Mallace late in draft. On the other hand, Wenger was sure a whiff, and Williams this year doesn't look like much. I don't think that's so bad, two starters from four or five drafts. Vancouver is about as successful, with Manneh/Mattocks essentially being starters/first subs and Dean, Parker and Hurtado as depth, with both Dean and Parker looking like future starters.

 

You are forgetting this year's 3rd round pick, Cameron Porter, who scored the goal that got us past Pachuca and looked like a bona fide MLS starting striker before having an unfortunate season ending injury. Not sure if that was good scouting or just a lucky pick but hopefully Porter can fully recover from the injury because he looked very impressive up to then.

 

I also would not be surprised to see Smith catch on at another MLS team or be a starter in NASL. He always looked pretty good when he played but was just not necessarily better than the players we have on the wing. And in the end they decided Tissot was a better and more useful player than Smith so I am not disappointed to see a Canadian win a job over an American even though I liked how Smith played. Usually we are complaining here about average American MLS players taking Canadian players spots so here is an example where the Canadian beat out the American.

[Blackdude]

I also would not be surprised to see Smith catch on at another MLS team or be a starter in NASL. He always looked pretty good when he played but was just not necessarily better than the players we have on the wing. And in the end they decided Tissot was a better and more useful player than Smith so I am not disappointed to see a Canadian win a job over an American even though I liked how Smith played. Usually we are complaining here about average American MLS players taking Canadian players spots so here is an example where the Canadian beat out the American.

 

I'm wondering with Oyongo coming in (a younger better winger) as well in the next week or so had something do to with the waive. I don't think that anyone was surprised of Smith being waived, because he wasn't injured and he never featured for the first team or Montréal FC as a unused sub even.  The writing was on the wall for him.

[tmcmurph]

Congrats on your first win of the season. 

[Vince193]

I'm wondering with Oyongo coming in (a younger better winger) as well in the next week or so had something do to with the waive. I don't think that anyone was surprised of Smith being waived, because he wasn't injured and he never featured for the first team or Montréal FC as a unused sub even.  The writing was on the wall for him.

Oyongo is an LB.

[BuzzAndSting]

What was the attendance for Saturday's game? Couldn't have been more than 10k?

[Grizzly]

Attendance was announced as 12000. That might have been tickets sold but actual people in the stadium was probably around 7 or 8000. Supporters section was about half full and was the only section in the stadium that was above 50% full. Some sections were almost entirely empty. NASL era level of attendance.

 

If the team keeps playing like they did yesterday that should improve attendance but the low attendance shows a few things:

 

To state the very obvious, it is bad when the team owner allows his friends to run the team, we are still suffering a lot from both the poor results and poor unprofessional image of the NDS years.

 

Big events like Champions League/Beckham/Friendlies against big clubs don't produce very many regular fans and are merely one offs.

 

This team from Day 1 has fundamentally misunderstood how to market to the Montreal market and build a fanbase which is exacerbated by being in a real "American style" league. Cheap hotdogs and other family promotions don't create real fans in Montreal anymore than the big events do.

[BuzzAndSting]

Attendance was announced as 12000. That might have been tickets sold but actual people in the stadium was probably around 7 or 8000. Supporters section was about half full and was the only section in the stadium that was above 50% full. Some sections were almost entirely empty. NASL era level of attendance.

 

If the team keeps playing like they did yesterday that should improve attendance but the low attendance shows a few things:

 

To state the very obvious, it is bad when the team owner allows his friends to run the team, we are still suffering a lot from both the poor results and poor unprofessional image of the NDS years.

 

Big events like Champions League/Beckham/Friendlies against big clubs don't produce very many regular fans and are merely one offs.

 

This team from Day 1 has fundamentally misunderstood how to market to the Montreal market and build a fanbase which is exacerbated by being in a real "American style" league. Cheap hotdogs and other family promotions don't create real fans in Montreal anymore than the big events do.

I hope the Impact have a good run soon because winning will definitely bring more fans out. Are there rumblings about the poor attendance in the Montreal media? The last couple games combined with the announcement of poor season seat sales at the start of the year is becoming very concerning. We all know the Saputo family has a ton of money to keep this going regardless but is there questions about the desire? Or is this really Joey's toy and what it costs are irrelevant?

I'm not trying to provoke anyone with these discussions, my curiosity is genuine and after waiting so long for three top flight football teams in our country I would hate to take a step back.

[Dub Narcotic]

I've already heard Montreal being called 'Chivas North' a few times on reddit. I don't think it's that bad, but this year's league turnouts have been shocking. Montreal's roster is much better this year and the East is poor so hopefully they can sneak into the playoffs. 

[Blackdude]

Oyongo is an LB.

 

Oyongo played as a winger for Red Bulls and he wasn't bad. That was my point. Oyongo was a better winger/outside midfielder than Blake Smith. Could he play at left back? Yes, but he can play at Smith's position which doesn't hurt him.

[Obinna]

This weekend: Bad attendance, great result. Never caught the match but 4-1 against RSL is never shabby even if the Utah side are still finding their feet.

Was Tissot not in the 18 or something? JGL made the bench which is a rarity. Is that why?

[Grizzly]

Tissot was not on the bench and I suspect he is either suffering some ill effects of the head injury in Toronto or they decided to leave him out as a precaution so JGL replaced him.

 

It was a pretty dominating performance against a mid-table MLS team, the question being whether it bodes well for the future or was just a one-off. I do think the Impact have a much better roster than many people think. The problem now is we have an incredible number of injuries with Porter, Cooper, Toia, Cebrara, Mapp and Camara out (not too mention the long term injury to Lopez) and possibly Tissot joining them. That is 4 to 5 regular starters out. I think now that Champions League is over and the Voyageurs Cup is over until August league results will get better as that took a lot out of the team both physically and mentally. 

 

As to Oyongo, Blackdude is correct that he played both as a LB and mid in New York. However, I don't think Smith was a direct casually of him coming in at his position as I suspect Oyongo was primarily brought in to be a defender for us. Salary cap consideration may have played a role though in cutting Smith with Oyongo coming in.

 

As to attendance, one can really see that both the Impact and MLS do not understand the Montreal market and have failed to build a fanbase. If they win or have big events people will show up but when they don't play well you see how small the real fanbase is. Now they are doing lots of food deal and family ticket promotions to sell tickets. Families have their place in the stadium but they have gone after the families/soccer mom crowd for about 2 decades now and it hasn't built them a fanbase. And MLS is a disney like corporate league that wants everyone to conform to their version of imitating soccer stadium ambiance with smoke machines and club approved tifos, no swearing and supporter groups who will be the first to report anyone breaking any rules to security. That formula may work in some cities but it is not working in Montreal and I suspect there are a few other cities where it will not work. If soccer fans in Montreal wanted that type of atmosphere they would go to a Habs or Alouettes game. A particularly pathetic marketing ploy was the club's "pyro show" before the TFC game. Laughable.  

 

It is hard to say how long the Saputos would be willing to fund the team if attendance continues to be poor. They can certainly afford it and it also gives the Saputo brand major marketing worth but the Saputo family really does not like to lose money.

 

Given the weather though the 12000 may have been accurate as to number of tickets sold even if there were certainly less people in the stadium so we are certainly not at Chivas level yet.