The Montreal Impact and their struggles

Discussion in 'Montreal Impact' started by Jossed, May 22, 2011.

  1. Jossed

    Jossed Member+

    Apr 23, 2011
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    I thought this was an interesting article about the current sorry state of the Impact. Really, outside of that Edmonton game, they have been horrible. Now some are questioning if they are ready for MLS.
    http://the11.ca/2011/05/22/montreal-loses-again-impact-is-nowhere-close-to-being-ready-for-mls/

    So what happened? There were suppose to be the team to beat.

    You can argue that the players might be sleepwalking through the season. Against the Red Bulls, they were a much different team and showed life. But the article seems to portray the team as not very talented compared to Impact teams from the past.

    Both Portland and Vancouver used their last year in D2 as a tune up for MLS. Always looking at different players. But it sounds like the Impact might have to change their entire roster for next season. Hopefully Saputo can afford three high priced French DPs and a few Canadian national team players.

    Perhaps the RailHawks should take their place? :p
     
  2. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    While a fan can dream, both of his team getting the nod and of thuggish play not being rewarded with advancement... we have a 7600-seat stadium. We cannot do MLS right now, realistically.

    Now, wait a few years for the Town of Cary to finish expanding WMSP, and then I'm totally for it.
     
  3. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On-the-field, the team they have now has nothing to do with the team that will be fielded in 2012. So talking about the team on the field right now as a problem for next year is wasted breath.

    It only becomes an issue if attendance declines and Joey Saputo runs into money problems.
     
  4. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The way they're playing right now, anyway.
     
  5. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Regardless of how they're playing. They are subject to the drafts, and have to build from the ground-up.
     
  6. gcg1510

    gcg1510 Member

    Oct 3, 2010
    im pretty sure wmsp doesn't hold 7600.
     
  7. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    WMSP has 6,883 permanent seats. Do they have general admission for the berms when not using temp stands?
     
  8. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sorry, I had that backwards - meant 6700, not 76. (And you're right, it's a tiny bit larger.)
     
  9. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Other teams have kept some of their old players on board, which is important for building fan identification with the new team. And they can certainly keep their same coaching staff, although the way this season is looking I doubt they really want to.
     
  10. thomas19064

    thomas19064 Member+

    Apr 29, 2008
    Delco
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    questioning if they are ready for MLS? really? the team is going to be dramatically different aside from a few players.....
     
  11. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And some key people like manager Adam Braz and technical director Nick de Santis, two of the prime instigators in the whole "hey guys let's go beat up the officials" incident. Change the rest of the roster, and I still don't believe they'll play a clean game of football.
     
  12. WhiteStar Warriors

    Mar 25, 2007
    St.Pete/Krakow
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm wondering if Portland,Vancouver,Seattle had winning seasons before the jump to MLS?
     
  13. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    True, but any players they want to keep have to be signed after all the drafts. The point I was trying to make is that the article assumes that this very team is what Joey Saputo wants to play with in MLS.

    Last year in USSF D2, the Whitecaps were 2nd in NASL division (10-5-15) and the Timbers were 3rd in USL division (13-7-10).

    The Sounders won the USL First Division the year before their last (2007), and the Whitecaps won two years before their last (2008). The Timbers won the Commissioners' Cup in 2009.
     
  14. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I read it as casting doubts on his ability to field a strong team - it's not like he's dealing with a lower salary cap or something keeping him from hiring top players right now. But both interpretations make sense, and you're right that assuming he wants to keep this roster or something nearly identical to it is hooey.
     
  15. stevebeau

    stevebeau Member

    Apr 23, 2009
    Montreal
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    As an Impact supporter I have to say it really sucks to see the team play with a total lack of heart..

    But they'll bounce back eventually, they always do. They tied Vancouver 1-1 in a competitive match in the Canadian championship and almost won, hitting the post twice in extra time. The talent level is there and to suggest that this year's team is the less talented fielded in recent years shows a high level of ignorance of past Impact teams.

    On paper this team has more talent and players with a more impressive background then the 2009 championship team. However there seems to be some kind of mental/psychological thing going on, because when you watch them play it's almost as if 3/4 of the team don't even care. Some of them probably think a spot is waiting for them in 2012, but if they keep this up they will be sadly mistaken..Hopefully the last few games in NASL forced the players to eat some humble pie and they'll rebound this weekend in Fort-Lauderdale .

    And just something to point out, Seattle brought only 4 players from their D2 squad up with them and made the playoffs in their first MLS season, so to make these doom and gloom predictions for the Impact in 2012 is well..stupid. The only players I think are almost sure to make the jump are Gaudette, Philippe Billy and Ali Gerba plus maybe 2-3 younger guys..
     
  16. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agreed even as a very much non-supporter - although I have to say it's really nice to see them play with a total lack of fist.
     
  17. longballer

    longballer Member

    Aug 10, 2005
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    OK, but didn't the coach last year go and ridicule the players in the media to light a fire under their butts? If I recall, he was threatening to fire the entire team and start over with fresh players. This is not the behavior of a well-run, professional organization. If this continues, you'll rue the day the Impact joined MLS and you'll make TFC look half-assed.

    (Why isn't this thread in the Impact section?)
     
  18. stevebeau

    stevebeau Member

    Apr 23, 2009
    Montreal
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Trust me i'll never regret the day the Impact joined MLS. I won't have to worry every off season if my local team has a league to play in and against who.

    I'd rather have the Impact at the bottom of the table in MLS then win the title in whatever version of D2 exists at the time. The Impact is Joey Saputo's baby, he won't stand for mediocrity for very long..
     
  19. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Really? Not in my memory. Out of 25 guys, maybe 4 make the cut and maybe one of those gets more than token minutes.

    The roster in Montreal is a bunch of dead men walking, and they know it. They know that if they want to keep playing, they're going to have uproot themselves yet again and move somewhere else next year.
     
  20. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Portland: Kevin Goldthwaite, Bright Dike, Kalif Alhassan, James Marcelin, Rodrigo Lopez, Ryan Pore, Adin Brown, Steve Purdy, Mamadou Danso. (They've also got two of last year's Timbers U23s on the roster as well.)

    Seattle: Taylor Graham, Sebastien Le Toux, Roger Levesque, Sanna Nyassi, Ben Dragavon, Chris Eylander. (OK, those last two have only played one MLS game each, but they were on the 2008 and 2009 rosters.)

    Vancouver: Alain Rochat, Terry Dunfield, Wes Knight, Greg Janicki, Philippe Davies, Nizar Khalfan, Jay Nolly, Blake Wagner, Davide Chiumiento, Alexandre Morfaw, Gershon Koffie, Russell Teibert, Mouloud Akloul.

    All of these teams have at least a couple players who made the jump and were starting regularly, and I think it's fair to say that if you're a big-deal player on the D2 team there's a spot on the MLS roster for you if you're willing to not be as huge a star as you were at the lower level. In fact the only thing stopping Vancouver from starting a side composed entirely of players from last year's D2 roster is the fact that they wouldn't have any forwards; they've got plenty of people making regular appearances for the team who were with them last year. Seattle only kept four field players and the goalkeepers who rode the team up from USL have only made one appearance each since, but Le Toux played 28 games in his single season with the MLS Sounders. Portland's definitely getting a lot of mileage in MLS out of Alhassan and Pore, though none of last year's team is playing every game.

    If Montreal takes only four players from NASL to MLS and uses them all only very sparingly, then this will be anomalous.
     
  21. paulomoraes

    paulomoraes New Member

    May 29, 2011
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Well, the article has a point when it comes to results.
    It also has a point when it comes to the team's performances so far this season.
    Yet there's the fact that this is a transitional season - I think that solid performances are more important than results.
    It's naive to think that Montreal Impact will not struggle during its first MLS seasons. It's another tournament at a whole other level.
    I have some questions (yes, I want to build some controversy here):
    - Since when has the Impact had a strong offensive? It has always been good in defense with an excelent goal keeper.
    - Why isn't anybody criticizing Ali Gerba? I didn't see him playing well during any match (he scored some lucky goals , but so what?).
    The guy positions himself horribly. He can't head any ball from crosses.
    He doesn't runs diagonally to create space. He's a horrible passer.
    I don't see why people talk about him as if he were a good player - because so far this season he's done nothing to deserve it.
     
  22. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That may be, but truly solid performances don't lead to losing more games than not.

    Has it? Then this season something has changed. Looking at league play this season, I see that Montreal's opponents have averaged a little more than a goal per game. Of the Impact's three clean sheets (not a bad record; I'm not claiming your back line is horrible, just that it's not exceptionally strong) the first was against FCTB, which has turned out to be the lowest-scoring team in the league save Atlanta - and, as bad as Tampa Bay's offense is looking, they still managed to score on the Impact four times in the other two times they've met. I'm not impressed.
     
  23. paulomoraes

    paulomoraes New Member

    May 29, 2011
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    I agree with you.
    My point is: the Montreal Impact has played good defense in the past seasons.
    Offensively it has to start from scratch.
    Aron Winters is doing a good job in terms of transition and attack maneuvers at Toronto FC yet deffensively his players seem to not have a clue when it comes to positioning themselves and intercepting the lines of passing.
    What one team has the other has not.
     
  24. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oh, yeah. No argument there.

    I'm used to Impact games being rough, physical, and low-scoring. Usually, you've had a pretty solid back line and competent (but not noteworthy) offense. This year, things have gone downhill, which bodes seriously poorly for a team planning to jump to a higher division.
     
  25. LyotoM

    LyotoM Member

    Apr 1, 2011
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    montreal should get and use in mls... some edmonton youngsters, carolinas goalie, and whoever else makes the cut for depth

    no dps in yr 1...try to get rochat, chumiento,
     

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