TFC - 2022 Season Thread

[narduch]

 

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[SoCalTransport]

Overall TFC looks a lot better than they did. They don’t look like a CPL team anymore. It shows if you’re willing to spend, you can be competitive 😜

[SoCalTransport]

8 hours ago, narduch said:

 

 

I think Belotti has been linked to every team in Europe, but I’m pretty sure if TFC pays him close to what bernardeschi makes, he is coming. I don’t know if TFC is interested in that move, they probably won’t even make the playoffs and they didn’t qualify for CCL.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

...A TFC source told the Sun that they have followed Belotti for close to a year...

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[narduch]

They followed him for a year means Manning looked him up on Transfermarket.

Big deal.

Still the laziest FO in MLS. 

[SoCalTransport]

6 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 

...A TFC source told the Sun that they have followed Belotti for close to a year...

 

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it hard to believe that TFC would pay double to get a player after what they’ve  already spent. If it’s true it almost feels like a vanity project to get the whole Italian national team playing for them.

[jonovision]

22 minutes ago, SoCalTransport said:

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it hard to believe that TFC would pay double to get a player after what they’ve  already spent. If it’s true it almost feels like a vanity project to get the whole Italian national team playing for them.

I don't know about a vanity project, but I don't think that anybody would deny that overspending on well-known Italian players is at least to some extent a marketing exercise.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

29 minutes ago, SoCalTransport said:

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it hard to believe that TFC would pay double to get a player after what they’ve  already spent. If it’s true it almost feels like a vanity project to get the whole Italian national team playing for them.

...or they would rather have the stadium full with MLS Cup hostings very much on the agenda again leading up to the World Cup games in 2026 than risk having under 5000 actual rattling about inside it as was happening last season.

If TFC have been following him for a year it's no doubt been through Andrea D'Amico rather than transfermarkt. All Manning used the latter for was to compile a list of possible targets with strong links to the Azzurri team who would be out of contract at the end of the 2021/22 season for the former to get in contact with on their behalf. Andrea Belotti fits that profile to the extent that it would be more surprising if they haven't sounded him out about a possible move.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Gian-Luca]

Belotti only makes sense if they are going to trade Jimenez before the deadline as well. Maybe they could make a trade but I'd be more interested in Ayo if I am an another team. There are just too many gaps in Jimenez's game, he's poor at holding the ball up, poor in the air and doesn't have any speed which includes not just break away speed but very little in the way of pressing/closing down. He's not a bad passer and can link up well with players who are close to him and he has an accurate enough shot from in close, but not sure that's really enough to compensate for the other deficiencies.

[jonovision]

4 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Belotti only makes sense if they are going to trade Jimenez before the deadline as well. Maybe they could make a trade but I'd be more interested in Ayo if I am an another team. There are just too many gaps in Jimenez's game, he's poor at holding the ball up, poor in the air and doesn't have any speed which includes not just break away speed but very little in the way of pressing/closing down. He's not a bad passer and can link up well with players who are close to him and he has an accurate enough shot from in close, but not sure that's really enough to compensate for the other deficiencies.

What has Ayo shown so far that would get another team interested? All I've seen of late is a guy who seems to be on the late-career Altidore fitness and diet plan at age 22. Even in these sub appearances he often seems gassed.

Edited July 31, 2022 by jonovision

[Kadenge]

56 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Belotti only makes sense if they are going to trade Jimenez before the deadline as well. Maybe they could make a trade but I'd be more interested in Ayo if I am an another team. There are just too many gaps in Jimenez's game, he's poor at holding the ball up, poor in the air and doesn't have any speed which includes not just break away speed but very little in the way of pressing/closing down. He's not a bad passer and can link up well with players who are close to him and he has an accurate enough shot from in close, but not sure that's really enough to compensate for the other deficiencies.

I'm surprised no one else has raised the poor play of Jimenez over the past 10+ games. He seems to have lost his scoring boots and while Ayo hasn't done much recently he did look a lot better than Jimenez when he subbed in for him. Would like to see Ayo start in the next game. Perhaps his speed and physicality will open up more space for the two wingers

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Latest tweets from the Italian media seem quite downbeat about Belotti going to TFC:

 

 

[narduch]

We'll know by the end of next week (August 4 transfer deadline) if he isn't coming. 

Guessing they don't have any back up plans.

[Kadenge]

4 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

...or they would rather have the stadium full with MLS Cup hostings very much on the agenda again leading up to the World Cup games in 2026 than risk having under 5000 actual rattling about inside it as was happening last season.

If TFC have been following him for a year it's no doubt been through Andrea D'Amico rather than transfermarkt. All Manning used the latter for was to compile a list of possible targets with strong links to the Azzurri team who would be out of contract at the end of the 2021/22 season for the former to get in contact with on their behalf. Andrea Belotti fits that profile to the extent that it would be more surprising if they haven't sounded him out about a possible move.

I agree with your comment re selling out BMO field but hosting MLS cups is way premature. There's no guarantee that over spending for players past 30 based on their previous achievements is going to translate into trophies.  Are the Italian players going to give 100%, will they mesh with the team and will they deliver? Early days but Insigne blew a penalty yesterday which would have given TFC the win with their playoff hopes fading and is still looking for his first goal. To date none of the 3 former Azzurri players have looked as good as Seba did when he joined TFC.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Bear in mind that I'm describing how MLSE bean counters probably view it and not necessarily my own opinion of how things are likely to pan out. Doubt they are expecting much out of this season beyond getting most of the way there on the rebuild. 

[BearcatSA]

6 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Would like to see Ayo start in the next game. Perhaps his speed and physicality will open up more space for the two wingers.

 

7 hours ago, jonovision said:

What has Ayo shown so far that would get another team interested? All I've seen of late is a guy who seems to be on the late-career Altidore fitness and diet plan at age 22. Even in these sub appearances he often seems gassed.

I have the same opinion of Akinola as @jonovision.  I wonder how long he'd last as an effective presence in a starting role?

[BearcatSA]

They could use another defensive mid type who can do a pro's job in place of Bradley.  Okello isn't it.  A vet like Scott Caldwell is what I have in mind.

[kacbru]

Akinola scored a bunch in that "pre-season" MLS is back thing, but hasn't done much beyond that, albeit with many injury interruptions.  I don't see much of a role beyond filling out a MLS roster, but would be happy to be wrong.

[Kadenge]

first season back after a serious knee injury after almost 8/9 months out. Sometimes it takes a whole season to get back from an injury like Ayo's. His skillset is limited for sure, but Jimenez has done nothing  for the past several games including playing btw two highly paid DPs. 

[maccaliam]

I always thought it was strange to give Ayo such a big contract after such a serious injury. They must have thought he was going to come back flying.   

[Gian-Luca]

14 hours ago, jonovision said:

What has Ayo shown so far that would get another team interested? All I've seen of late is a guy who seems to be on the late-career Altidore fitness and diet plan at age 22. Even in these sub appearances he often seems gassed.

You could say the same thing about Shaffelburg for this season, but the reports coming out of the US soccer insiders (rather than the usual Canadian gang) have mentioned that teams are inquiring after both Shaff & Ayo, probably both based upon their youth and the promise they have shown in previous seasons where they have done well & been productive, while also seeing both as being under-used this year.

But in any case, my hypothetical was based upon another team wanting to bolster their attack with a guy who might make an impact off the bench, an assumption that most teams already have a starting striker that they are happy with or happier than they would be with Jimenez as their starting striker. I don't see Jimenez as a guy who will make an impact off the bench for all of the reasons I have stated re: the gaps in his game. If you need a guy to break lines late with speed for a deadly counter attack if you are up a goal, that isn't him. If you need to hoof the ball up in the air for a guy to win it, that isn't him. If you need a guy who can hold the ball up well or closing defences with speed so that the ball doesn't keep relentlessly coming back into your end, that's also not him.

Which MLS team right now do we think would do a straight-up swap for Jimenez as a lone starting striker? I am not sure any club in the league would make such a trade, which is also an argument that TFC have the weakest #9 in the league even though I am sure that he's got a few more goals than some other so.   But I can't see anyone wanting him at that salary to be a low impact sub off the bench. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe other trades or injuries will open up a spot on another team, but as he's a Bradley signing I suspect he isn't going anywhere.

[BearcatSA]

12 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

You could say the same thing about Shaffelburg for this season, but the reports coming out of the US soccer insiders (rather than the usual Canadian gang) have mentioned that teams are inquiring after both Shaff & Ayo, probably both based upon their youth and the promise they have shown in previous seasons where they have done well & been productive, while also seeing both as being under-used this year.

I don't put a lot of stock in what those bloggers spitball, either.

Back to Akinola, it boils down to what another MLS team is willing to exchange in return.  Based on now and not on pre-injury?  Hard to say

I do agree about Jimenez benefitting from being a Bradley signing but Bradley also shelled out a lot of dough for a playmaker in Kaye whose stock in trade is hitting those slide rule passes to strikers hanging off the shoulder of the defender and then sprinting onto them, which is the only thing Akinola can still do well at the moment because the other areas of his game aren't very good.  

[Gian-Luca]

12 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

I don't put a lot of stock in what those bloggers spitball, either.

Back to Akinola, it boils down to what another MLS team is willing to exchange in return.  Based on now and not on pre-injury?  Hard to say

I do agree about Jimenez benefitting from being a Bradley signing but Bradley also shelled out a lot of dough for a playmaker in Kaye whose stock in trade is hitting those slide rule passes to strikers hanging off the shoulder of the defender and then sprinting onto them, which is the only thing Akinola can still do well at the moment because the other areas of his game aren't very good.  

For me it depends on who is being talked about. If it is the likes of Tactless Manager then I agree, but Tom Bogert has a pretty decent track record at this stuff (even if nothing comes of these alleged inquiries) and no clear biases or agendas that I'm aware of that would lead me to suspect him that he's making stuff up to drive traffic to a YouTube channel or because he favours a particular team. etc. - the kind of stuff that makes me skeptical of scoops reported by the likes of Tactical Muppet & his ilk.

[narduch]

Saputo indirectly fucking over TFC.