The Reds' work

The earliest MLS training camp of all-time is almost here. Is TFC ready?

Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash

The thing about the holidays is that they can cause us to lose touch with reality for a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be fun to binge watch Netflix and have Skittles for breakfast, but that can make for a shock when you emerge on the other side.

Yikes! What do you mean there’s all that work to do?!?

I’m imagining a scene at the Bradley’s home sometime this morning. In my mind, Bob is sitting at the kitchen table sipping his tea (he seems like a tea drinker to me) and reading the Sporting News (Paper copy, obviously. Old school) when Michael comes downstairs in his red TFC onesie and exclaims “Dad! what are you doing? It’s January!! We have to work again!

AND I WANTED A KEEPER FOR CHRISTMAS!!1!!!!1!1!”

Ok, I might have an overactive imagination here. Or just wanted to make you imagine Michael Bradley in a TFC onesie. Regardless, there are some…troubling holes in the TFC roster right now. Holes that might have been less terrifying on Dec. 1 but are now looking like they will force TFC to start a second straight year with an incomplete roster.

Not as incomplete as last year, but this is also supposed to be the first season under Bradley where they are competing for a title.

Normally, I will preach the need for patience when it comes to the roster build. It’s far more important to get the right signing in MLS than it is to make moves that you aren’t sure of — there simply isn’t the same ability to get yourself out of a bad signing in MLS as compared to other leagues.

I’m not going to not say that now either. I was there from 2007 to 2013. I’ve seen what the lets-figure-it-out-later strategy results in.

However…I WANTED A KEEPER FOR CHRISTMAS TOO! And a fullback. Also, some depth.

This is a TFC team that, as it stands, is going to need to add pieces just to put a team out.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at what they have so far and what they might be thinking as we enter the last stetch before the season starts.

Forwards

1. Bernardeschi

2. Jimenez

3. Akinola

4. Nelson

5. Marshall-Rutty

6. Peruzza

7. Mbonque

The biggest question here is what to do with Jimenez and what to expect from Akinola. The former seems to be a journeyman that has a limited shelf life. His refusal to travel with the team last year after the playoffs were off the table was a huge red flag that makes the goals he did score in the first half of the season hard to focus on.

He was good in that first half, if should be noted. However, once the Italians showed up, Jimenez never really looked the same.

Akinola’s injuries make it hard to determine what to expect. If you can spin that potential into an MLS trade of value, I think you do it — for both the player and the club’s sake.

As for Marshall-Rutty and Nelson, there is promise, but…where are the minutes going to come from?

The two depth pieces are just that.

Bottom line? There are other areas that need to be addressed first before you can really think about improving the forwards, so you cross your fingers and hope Bernardeschi stays healthy. If he does, he is capable of an MVP-like season.

Midfielders

1. Insigne

2. Osorio

3. Bradley

4. Kaye

5. Vasquez

6. Thompson

Ok, this is a damn good midfield. It really is. I know some people are always going to find fault with Osorio and, especially, Bradley but, well, you’d be guilty of not putting those two players into the context of “MLS players” if you are finding fault.

Osorio is criminally underrated and was outstanding (when healthy) last year. Bradley is still an average MLS player with a velvet touch on the ball — no one in MLS sends a 40-yard diagonal pass like MB.

Kaye will surely bounce back from a tough season last year to give MB more room to do the stuff he is good at, without having to haul his old ass back to cover for a defensive error that he would get blamed for.

Vasquez is old, sure, but he still has something to give in a back-up role.

It’s a damn fine group. I haven’t even mentioned Insigne.

Bubble wrap them because there is zero depth. Outside of MB, there are injury concerns with every single one of them.

Bottom line? When you go all in, you can’t very well be timid. They need to find depth — and you might get some through the NextPro program, or via low level trades — but this is the group that will lead you to glory. Or prove the experiment a failure.

Defenders

1. Hedges

2. Leyrea

3. MacNaughton

4. O’Neill

Deep breath.

Signing Hedges was a great move. Absolutely necessary. But, my God, that is currently a terrifying depth chart.

I mean, there’s only one fullback. They are going to need at least one more. Where are you going to find one? I suspect they are relying on an internal prospect stepping up. That could happen. It also very much might not.

I think MacNaughton is a decent player that could develop further into a very good player. O’Neill is a solid No 3 guy. So, again with the bubble wrap.

Bottom Line? Maybe throw an ad up on Kijiji? Seriously, this is a big question. A question that probably won’t be answered until we see them kick a ball in anger.

Keepers

1. Romero

2. Ranjitsing

The longer it goes without the signing of an established No 1 the more I think Bob Bradley wants to hand the job to Romero. There’s simply no way to know whether that’s a good idea, but it would be a risky choice.

Sean Johnson still hasn’t signed anywhere. That’s the other possibility. Fingers crossed.

Bottom line? They probably can only make one more “significant” signing so the question is whether you use it for a defender or a keeper? The answer to that depends on where you think there’s the best chance for a TFCII player or a minor signing (i.e. CanPL, draft pick, MLS trade, or other smaller league) might be able to step up.

Bottom, bottom line?

There are the bones here of a very good MLS team. So, don’t panic.

But, also, if you’re Bob Bradley, don’t sit back and drink your tea. the holidays are over. Time to get to work.

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