What an exciting week it has been to be a TFC fan.
Dero is back, English international striker Jermain Defoe is coming and seeming out of left field, US international centre-mid Michael Bradley has signed with the club.
So that leaves a couple questions:
First off: What to to with Matias Laba?
He's currently under a DP contract but obviously the arrival of Dafoe, Bradley and, Gilberto this off season means that Laba is the "odd DP out". Ryan Nelson mentioned this week that he really wants to keep Laba so maybe TFC will need to use up some allocation money and an international slot on him? The rules of MLS are very hard to follow but I believe that, if Laba agrees, this should be possible.
Second: What formation do we play?
4-4-2 is very popular in MLS. There's no point in TFC trying to stray too far from that.
The problem TFC current has is their strength at mid comes from the middle and the attacking mids. Maybe TFC considers going 4-3-1-2 and having Dero and Osario split time as the attacking mids who can be the bridge between Michael Bradley at centre mid and the strikers? Maybe a 4-4-2 diamond that looks more like 4-1-2-1-2? That would mean that Bradley would sit back and Dero/Osario would sit up further. Is that the best use of Bradley though as we know he can score too. The formation situation is my biggest question going into 2014. TFC clearly has firing power now but they can't play everyone forward.
Third: Filling the holes:
Just so you get an idea this is what the current roster looks like position by position:
Goalkeepers (3): Joe Bendik, Chris Konopka, Quillan Roberts
Right Backs (3): Mark Bloom, Ryan Richter,
Left Backs (3): Justin Morrow, Ashtone Morgan, Jonas Elmer
Center Backs (3): Steven Caldwell, Doneil Henry, Gale Agbossoumonde
Center Mids (5): Michael Bradley, Jackson, Kyle Bekker, Jeremy Hall, Matias Laba
Left Mids (0):
Right Mids (2): Alvaro Rey, Reggie Lambe
Attacking Mids (3): Dwayne De Rosario, Jonathan Osorio, Manny Aparicio
Forwards (6): Jermain Defoe, Gilberto, Bright Dike, Andrew Wiedeman, Emery Welshman, Jordan Hamilton
So there are clearly to very big holes for Toronto at this point. Left mid and right back.
The easiest solution would be to continue to splash the cash (obviously to a lesser extent) and try to find a proven MLS player to fill the holes.
The other, is the draft (which just started at noon today) but that may not yield a player who is ready for starting 11 minutes.
Finally, TFC might have to consider trading some of that surplus at forward. I'd hate to see Dike go, he just came to the team late last season and he was a nice addition who went forward and added a little punch to an otherwise weak attacking game. That said, he's a good MLS player who might get you a good piece back in return. Clearly he won't be playing nearly as much with Dafoe and Gilberto in the team now so maybe he is a piece that they need to use.
So...that's where we are at.
On paper, this team is MUCH better than last year and I can not wait, but that being said this club is not yet complete.
