Alert: Aron Winter out as Toronto FC head coach; Paul Mariner to become interim head coach

No, that was Chris Cummings.

MLSE likes using the 'interim' tag a lot. It gives them an easy excuse to dismiss another poor season.

Dasovic was the interm guy for the rest of the season after Preki got fired

Right. Cummings. Forgot about him. Thanks....I'm getting old...can't remember what happened last week anymore

I could see positioning/formation adjustments, for sure, but I'm also curious to see what is in store during the summer transfer window (if anything).

Cummings and Daso were both interim guys.

It was just Cummins. It was not Cummings. no "g".

So after the Netherlands game at euro today, clearly getting rid of Winter really was the right decision after all! Tom, you genious

So let's say Mariner plays a formation like this:



and let's presume that Plata would only be used sporadically - sometimes not even making the bench, Soolsma would only be a sub, the team's tactics are simply to clear the ball when there's even a hint of trouble and to send the ball long to Koevermans....

...would anyone complain if it worked?

My post was tongue-and-cheek, I know the Netherlands game really has nothing to do with TFC. If the Netherlands end up not going through, I really wouldn't be surprised to see Anselmi start boasting and saying this proved he made the right decision or something stupid like that

The ironic thing about that is that a lot of Danish players play or played in the Eredivisie

if the team plays like that I would stop watching. IMO Kick and run is not the same sport as football and therefor is not worth watching even if our kick and run team is winning

Not sure about Soolsma as a sub. Would like to see him on the pitch as much as possible

There seems to be this notion/fear that it's going to become "kick and run" all of a sudden. I don't see that happening. I certainly don't see that happening with a basic formation change (4 mids compared to 3) and I certainly don't see a return to a Carl Robinson hoof up the field in the general direction of Dichio taking place, not with the skillset of the players that are at the coach's disposal.

I didn't watch enough of Nicol's (and, by extension, Mariner's) NE teams play but apart from Shalrie Joseph bossing the middle of the park, or Twellman snatching key goals, how did those squads play? Were they launching the ball forward Stoke City style every match?

Molinaro:
Winter a class act
http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/06/10/molinaro_tfc_aron_winter_mls/

Not that I'm opposed to 4-4-2, but it would be a better 'half way' formation if we went with a 4-2-3-1... but I know thats not happenin

There is no way we're switching to a long-ball system with a midfield built around players like Frings and JDG, and featuring the likes of Avila, Lambe, Plata, and Soolsma available on the wing.

The formation appears to be 4-4-2 at training yesterday. No word on tactics.

Rumour floating around #CANMNT pre-game was that Mariner had #TFC set up in a 4-4-2 in training today.

— Kurtis Larson (@KurtLarSUN) June 11, 2012

What I'm actually more interested in than what formation we'll play is what players he'll rate. Will he rate Burgos? Will Stinson and Cordon make their way into the team? Different coaches rate players differently and look at different skills

I may have to review the tape of our last match (the league win) but I recall all of the conversation at half time in our section was about how much "route 1" football the team was playing against Philly and how it seemed we were willing to forgo holding the ball in midfield if that's what it was going to take. Philly, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to move the ball forward with series of short passes.

A Torsten Frings 30 yard pass may seem to have more purpose than a Carl Robinson one....but in the end the style looked very familiar......and that was before Winter was shown the door.

Well its been a couple days since I heard of the firing, and I was really disappointed by the news. A couple euro cup matches in, and I finally came on here to see what you guys have been saying.

Like some of the guys on here, I totally believe that letting go of Winter this far into the season was oneof the worst moves TFC could have done. When the Winter era began, we were told to be patient with him, and the players. Its not like we havent been patient for the past 6 years, but the difference I saw this year was that it had seemed we had finally found our style in the total football style. Unfortunately some our players arent suited for that system, so our lack-luster record shows that. For the first time, I saw the potential of a young team playing hard, and learning a lot. One player who I believe who has been growing and shining in this system is Ashtone Morgan. Hes become more solid at the back line, with the ability to move up the flank, and move the ball to our midfielders. Soolsma, a player who Winter brought in due to the system was also one of my favorites. His ability to cut in the top part of the field was great, and had many chances to cross into our strikers. Unfortunately for Johnson, the same cannot be said. Although he has scored some key goals in the CCL for us, and a winner in the league.. hes just terrible. Hes as useful as a post in the middle of the field, hoping you hit it and bounces into the net. Having start most of our matches, I expected more from him, even though Danny K should have been in that role. We really need a striker who will finish. There were way too many clear cut chances this year that went unscored, that could have gotten us some points. In years past, our defense was the horrendous, if not atrocious. This year, I actually thought we had improved a lot. Especially when Frings was on the pitch.

That being said, I though we had finally started to find our way in the last 3 games. Kovermans was back, and started giving other players some more confidence in playing the ball in the final third (lambe). Why did we have to make this about Winter? I thought with Brennan on the bench beside him, we were finally getting somewhere. Obviously a 9-1 record isnt what as fans want, but what do we expect when we dont have the tools to do better?

Leaving a team this far into the season will have a big negative impact on the players. Why couldnt we wait until the end of the season, and take another look at where we needed to go from there, then? Watching some the TFCTV videos with Mariner makes me cringe. I heard the word 'fun' a couple times inthe videos.. yeah, because what our team needs now, is to go out there and have fun! Enjoy the rest of season lads 4-4-2 kick and run, here we come!

Its a shame that all the work that was put into this team, is now being thrown into trash bin before we even got to see what the end product could have looked like.

Anselmi, I hope you choke on some chip butty.