There seems to be some optimism that things will finally improve for TFC. The defense at last looks settled if not yet perfect. Passing still needs improvement but the mid field generally shows some cohesion but is not yet an engine for the team. My fear is the attack. It does not look good enough. There is not enough creativity, not enough speed and not enough bite. We are after all a team being rebuilt and Rome wasn't made in a day so I can't expect perfection. However the season is not far away and it is vital to get some quality forwards signed on if they are to learn the team plan and the players who will be making chances for them. You can't put a new player on the field and expect instant understanding with his mates. Game 1 is 15 days away. Several times new signings have been promised, suggested and expected but no one has been put under contract. Now is the time to show us the "meat".
Two preseason games are far too little to judge the performance of fc so far. As for the signings, Payne is clearly building for the long term and not necessarily to have a full complete starting 11 by the beginning of March, so imo it's not the end of the world if don't have signings in by day 1.
The great thing about being that terrible last year is that they could win two of the first ten games and we could say that they're twice as good as last year.
There really is very little to be optimistic about. What moves have they made that can make anyone say that they're better today than they were last October? And please don't use getting rid of Mariner as a reason. The back line might be the best TFC has had in seven years but so what? That's not going to stop them from losing the possession battle or make smarter passes. Maybe they'll concede less goals in the final 15 minutes....at home but what does that mean? Has the bar dropped so low that we should be happy with a draw at home? At the other end, who's going to score goals? Koevermans? No, he's out half the year. Braun? Dude hasn't scored since 2011. Wiedeman? Please. Silva? Welshman? Bekker? Frings? Frei? One player isn't going to fix all of our problems, but it would be nice if we could pick up a few pieces along the way that could be promising. Drafting Bekker was good but who else have they brought in that can start and make a difference? The Peralta rumour, regardless of the fact that he's a defensive player, got me excited. The Lopez rumour was even better but that seems to have fizzled out. Both rumours were from last month. Not only have there been no signings but there have been no rumours...and yes, in the absence of signings I'd like to be fed rumours just so I can be suckered into thinking that this team will actually get better (or as Mariner put it, "half decent"). I'll even take Owen H...wait nevermind. The point stands though that less than two weeks from the start of the season, not only is the current roster incomplete, but there's plenty of holes. Alright, so maybe I'm being unfair to Payne and he needs more time. I'll put off any comparisons to the years of Mo when the same thing happened. I'll even accept having 3 unfilled spots on the roster going into the first game. I'll even go as far as saying that having a 28th player lacing their boots on the way to BC Place is accpetable, depending on the player. I just want to see some evidence of the front office picking up their pace in the meantime.
I think it is going to be tough, I think the squad is stronger than what we had the end of last season but with the roster at the current way hard to see us really fighting for a playoff spots. I see us stapled to the basement of the east, maybe we can pull off a another Canadian Cup and have another run in the CONCACAF Champions League. I think for us to become competitive it will have to result in Braun finding his Chivas USA form, Silva building on top of the good rookie season, Kovermans/Frings staying fit and playing majority of the season and Nelsen figuring out to organize back-line. One thing I am looking for is for Henry and Stinson to take their play to the next level and show they belong in the MLS, especially Henry who has physical tool to success at this level but have the head for it.
My expectations for this season have not been high for a long time now. What I am looking to see by seasons end is that Nelsen is quickly coming into his own as a coach and that the team is headed in the right direction. I also think that it's reasonable to have the expectation that we will not finish last in the league overall.
i think you are exactly right-- with payne and nelsen, TFC will have brighter days from mid-season on and especially for 2014-- the fans truly deserve this-- a stable and knowledgeable leadership team building a good squad which will start this season
I agree with Polygong and Sportie1 above. My expectation for 2013 is that I want to see signs that this team is taking the right steps to build this team for 2014. If they somehow squeak into the playoffs or win the CCL this year, I consider it a bonus. For those of you expressing disappointment in how TFC looks this offseason, I have one question: What were you expecting? Did you seriously think that TFC would just bring in new management, bring in a new coach, sign a few players and then all of a sudden turn into a contending team? Because, that's what they've done essentially in years one through six and it hasn't worked out then, why would it work out now? What TFC needs now more than anything is stability and a long-term vision. I'm hoping that they have the latter, and that the former is starting to happen. As I've said before, I'm not bothered by the fact that they haven't signed a whole lot of players in the offseason. One of the unfortunate things about the MLS season is that most players come available in the summer transfer window (unless you want to pay transfer fees, which the league does not). While TFC has cap room, DP spots and roster spaces available now, there's no point in rushing out and signing the next Ali Gerba simply because he's available and we need to fill a spot. Because then in the summer you won't have the cap room or roster spaces available to sign the players you need to sign.
2013 is going to be rough. It'll probably be like 2011, with a terrible first half of the season but a better second half. I just hope Nelsen makes steady progress in his second year instead of crashing and burning like Winter did. I don't think enough people realize that it's going to take lots of time until TFC can actually compete for trophies. We're not making the playoffs in 2013, no chance. We might not make it in 2014 either. I just hope we're consistently making progress instead of trying to be too good too fast, losing nine in a row and starting over again
There's an old poster from wartime Britain that reads "Keep Calm and Carry On" that has seen new life in the past couple of years and the meme is to make variations on it. The crown in the post above is from that poster, it just happens to look somewhat like the crown from the Marlies logo.
I actually think the fact that the Keep Calm crown looks like the one in the Marlies logo fits perfectly, even if they have been decent recently
Well, I hope so ... but I don't expect it will be. We just blew the team up, replacing the GM and coach. Both have said it's a rebuilding year ... there shouldn't be any expectation this year of anything more than a 9th or 10th place finish. And at the same time, it doesn't look like we'll have any DPs available to play. It's unfortunate we've gone this route again so soon. Hopefully if we finish last again this season we can avoid the hysterics from some of the fans, as really, there is little more to expect this season.
And that's what makes it so difficult for both the fans and new management. We've gone through so many rebuilding years that being told to be patient for yet another year is frustrating for fans, yet the cold hard fact is that turning the team around requires patience, there's no quick fix. For the new management, despite the fact that they can't reasonably be expected to change everything right away, they know full well that there's a fan base out there growing more and more impatient and that they've got to be able to demonstrate very quickly that they're on the right track.
I'm really looking for some meaningful improvement they can build on. Hopefully Nelsen gets the back line organized, and can instill a winning attitude. Anything above that is gravy to me.