A Recap of the Past 2 Games
Before I dive into the League’s Cup game this past Saturday at Saputo Stadium, I would like to say what was going through my mind as I began planning my analysis for the past two games (vs. Toronto FC and Orlando City). First off, when I left Saputo Stadium on that hot Saturday night after the 1-0 defeat to Toronto, there were a million different thoughts and feelings going through my mind as I drove back home. For example: What did I just watch? Who was that team out there? Whatever happened to home advantage? What happened to this rivalry? I was angry, sad, but most of all disappointed. “Oh, but Andy, you are so naïve! This team will always disappoint you for X reasons!” I know. I am very aware. That doesn’t matter to me. As a matter of fact, I have been a passionate fan of teams that have constantly broken my heart into a million pieces (Miami Dolphins, Peru’s National team, Miami Hurricanes, Bayern Munich, etc..) and then broke it again as it was being stitched up. Maybe this is why I’m married. Anyways, I digress. The point is the game against Toronto was an opportunity for this team to show the fans that they still played for this city. There were 5 Quebecers that played that night (Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Jonathan Sirois, Nathan Saliba, and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint), and from my understanding, if you are raised in Quebec or move here as an immigrant there are two key things you need to do to fit in: 1) eat poutine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 2) hate Toronto in every sport. The game wasn’t lost because of the 5 players I mentioned, instead we were defeated as a collective. The only reason I mention that fact is because most of them are leaders of this team, and you would have expected them to lead by example to the rest of the newcomers in the squad and make them understand that the Toronto match at Saputo Stadium is a different one. It needs to be played with a little bit more passion and will than any other game you’ve played all season. I mean Toronto FC understood that message when CF Montreal played them on May 18th at BMO field and handed them a 5-1 beating that left many fans in Montreal hungry for revenge. However, the CF Montreal team that showed up on July 20th was a team that clearly didn’t get the memo (even after having listened to the message from the supporters group the day before) and was treating this game like “another day at the office”. I did re-watch the game after my emotions dissipated and I was ready to give my analysis, but then I thought… why? What is there to say? The analysis was simple. No one showed up, but the fans. There was one player the showed up, and it was Raheem Edwards. And guess what? HE’S FROM TORONTO!! Again, my intention was to do the analysis, but then I remembered the scene after the game where the Toronto players took their time to celebrate with their fans in the away section while the Montreal players walked around the stadium. It was at that moment that I realized; the Montreal players don’t get it. This is the one game of the year, whether in MLS or Canadian Championship that the fans get to live through CF Montreal and showcase their pride for their city. So, the analysis was simple. Toronto wanted it more than Montreal. I wasn’t going to spend more time and energy thinking about that game because it was a disappointment from top to bottom. I don’t know what message the club sent about the importance of that weekend, but the players and staff didn’t get it.
As for the first Leagues Cup game versus Orlando, I tried to analyze the game and pinpoint what lessons we could learn for future games. For example: which player had a good or bad game? What has improved from the past? Despite all the hope for a change and the “breath of fresh air” as the coach put it, the team came out so flat and showed no fight or will to get their act together for the competition. There wasn’t one performance to point out as either good or bad. It was a collective bad! Honestly, it felt like the players were waiting for the League’s Cup run to end to go on break until August 24th. It felt like the players and staff quit on the fans, their teammates, and themselves.
Moving on To Athletico San Luis
Before the game on Tuesday night, I was convinced that we would get a little bit of the same thing that night that we had seen in previous games. Same formation, heavy rotation, tired legs, and a general disinterest from the squad. I decided not to get my hopes up for the match. Of course, me being the over optimistic person that I am, I was hoping the leaf had turned, the team had a lightbulb moment during practice, or maybe it all came together during the last few practices and we would see a finished product! Today, I can tell you that there was a shift in the team’s attitude, intensity, and cohesiveness on the field on Tuesday night. A wise man (Victor Wayama) once said in pre-season, “Once this team figures it out, we will be lethal!” That’s what Tuesday night felt like, it felt like a team that had figured it out and were clicking as a unit instead of focusing on personal achievements. Laurent Courtois said in his post-game press conference that there were no adjustments made for this game, there was simply more will from the players. Throughout the game, there were many instances of build-ups from the back that included short one-time passes, run-ups the mid-field and flanks, and crosses that gave us opportunities! There was “grinta” in every challenge and a clear will to want to give themselves opportunities to score. I can honestly say I hadn’t seen this team since the FC Dallas game at the beginning of the season, which coincidentally was the last time we had a convincing victory on the road. However, once again, this feels like a case of too little too late, which has been the theme for the season. Our fate for the tournament no longer lies on just our will, it depends on Sunday’s game of Athletico San Luis vs. Orlando City. If we do end up going through the next stage, I hope to see a continuity and improvement of what we saw in this game. I want to see an intelligent and aggressive squad that knows when to pick their battles and is not afraid to face anyone. I want to see a team that continues to give themselves opportunities but ACTUALLY CAPITALIZES ON THOSE GIVEN CHANCES (including and not just limited to penalties). A suivre…
The Forwards
In this formation, we had Matias Coccaro, Josef Martinez, and Bryce Duke as the front three. As we’ve seen throughout the season, these three positions are interchangeable and you can see all three take their turns being the 9-up top, but Duke prefers playing at a lower role naturally, but at times can be seen trying to break the lines. In the past few games, we’ve seen Laurent Courtois experiment by having Martinez and Coccaro play off of each other on top, and the results have been mediocre. Granted, in this game Matias scored a goal and missed a penalty, and in the last game Martinez had the same identical result. But when will they both click? It seems like right now we have an abundance of talent at the striker position, something that we couldn’t say 2 months ago or last year, and yet we are struggling to make them work together. If you observe them both throughout the game, they are both using their instincts to do the run that will provide the opportunity to score, but only one of them seems to want to take on the role of facilitator of the attack. Can you guess which one it is? Martinez always seems to want to have the attack go through him and be able to provide opportunities by dragging defenders with him and letting the ball go to the next guy. However, when you watch Matias, he is making runs solely to score and will get upset when these passes don’t go to him, even if it’s to give someone else a chance. Of course, some of you will say, “Andy, why are you so naïve? Strikers are selfish players that like the attention!” Fair. Maybe. But the only way this scheme can be successful is if there is collaborative work from all the pieces in the field. That means the striker(s) need to play defense and while in offense need to look for the best opportunity to score, which doesn’t always imply that it’s necessarily them. This kind of scheme takes a special kind of personality (Sunusi Ibrahim), a humble player that will take the opportunity if given and will make it a point to pass the ball to the open man to continue the attack instead of forcing runs at the defense. I like Matias Coccaro and he is incredibly talented, but I believe that if he doesn’t adapt quickly to this scheme or league, he will find himself out of this team sooner rather than later. Martinez had a rough game during his 68 minutes of play with 1 shot off target and 73% accurate passes, he was 0 for 2 in duels and 7 possessions lost with 18 touches. These stats would seem like a bad day at the office, but if you watch the game, you can see the impact Martinez brings to the game. I’ll be the first one to tell you that he has had some big misses the past few weeks, but he continues demonstrating a high IQ on the field using his body to drag defenders out of position and allow his teammates to take chances. This won’t show in the stats sheet and it’s what makes Martinez a key part of this team and scheme. He is the facilitator of the attack. Matias Coccaro ended the day with 2 shots on target and 2 shots off, 1 penalty won and missed, 79% accurate passes with 35 touches and 7/18 in duels with 8 possessions lost. Again, with that amount of touches you want to expect more accurate passes, assists, or shots.
Bryce Duke was a key part of the victory on Tuesday night with his ability to spread the ball and help the midfield regain possession. In the first goal, it was his pass and run on the right flank that allowed Tom Pearce to take the shot from the other end of the field. When Duke is able to find the space between the lines, his passes become lethal for this team, but of course he can’t do this alone, the runs need to be made and he needs to be quicker to decide which action he will take. I think Courtois has found a way to make Duke’s abilities flourish in his scheme, but he can only thrive if there is the proper talent around him. There have been too many instances where he has held on to the ball too long and it was taken away by the opponents. He was also a lot more decisive with the ball in his feet including taking a few shots at goal, which we haven’t seen recently. Duke finished the day in 90 minutes with 1 assist, 1 shot on target, 1 shot blocked, 0-2 crosses, 2-3 long balls, 1 big chance created, 2-5 ground duels, and 13 possessions lost with 52 touches and 86% accurate passes.
The biggest question for this team is: Why do we keep benching Sunusi Ibrahim? He is this team’s leading scorer with 7 goals in all competitions and does all the things that most of the strikes in this team won’t (or can’t) do. He receives the ball and spreads it around; he gives this team opportunities to score and his positioning on the field leaves defenders confused because he has a quick short speed that allows him to place himself in threatening positions in front of the goal. If you watch the replay of how he positions his body during a set piece, he maximizes his ability to get the ball and aim at the goal. His development this season has skyrocketed which makes his benching even more confusing to the fans.
Sunusi finished the game in 22 minutes with 1 goal, 1 shot on target, 2 shots off target, and 100% accurate passes, 1 key pass, 1-2 duels won with 15 touches. These stats don’t even show the runs he makes around the top to confuse defenders and how he goes back down to help the midfield as well. I will say it right now. Something is not right about this case.
Mahala Opoku continues giving us mediocre contributions as a substitute and has missed many opportunities for this team when we most needed him. I have said it before and will say it again, this player has the ability and tools to be a star in this league, but he seems to be dealing with a lot of doubt with the ball in his feet. He either needs to play higher on top or needs to play a full 90 minutes. We’ve seen strikers here lose their confidence quickly and regain it back in other teams and that’s not something I would want to see happen to Mahala. Opoku finished the day with 1 shot on target, 0-1 dribble attempts, 1 big chance missed, 1-1 long balls, 0-2 ground duels, 6 possessions lost with 18 touches and 82% accurate passes.
Midfield and Flanks
I will start by talking about the homegrown kid that wants out of the club, Mathieu Choiniere has been a liability for this team throughout the first part of the season, constantly putting up mediocre numbers and performances that constantly made me and fans question: why does Courtois continue selecting him to the starting line-up when his head is clearly somewhere else (justifiably so!). When you are in a contractual dispute, where your hometown team disrespects you with their contract offer saying that it is a “final” offer, and then come back with another offer…. How can you trust them? This is why, when I saw the way Choiniere was playing in this game, my first thought was: “Did he sign a new contract that hasn’t been announced yet?” Choiniere was all over the field and showed the grittiness and fire that we have all come to love and appreciate from him during the past seasons. He brought an “in-your-face” attitude to each duel and even retaliated whenever any San Luis player would try to push his buttons. Where was this in the Toronto game? He covered every part of the field throughout the game and was instrumental in organizing the attack. I would rather this version of Mathieu for the rest of the year, even if it means he’ll pick up a few yellow cards along the way. Choiniere finished with two key passes, 2-5 crosses, 2-3 long balls, 1-1 dribble attempts, 3-7 ground duels, eleven lost possessions, 1 blocked shot, 1 interception, 1 tackle, with 91% passing and 60 touches.
Nathan Saliba had a mediocre game, but I can’t give him a fair evaluation for his performance in the first half because he was “apparently” playing with a concussion. This is not good. Anyone who has had a concussion or has known someone while they had a concussion knows that the person simply isn’t themselves because their brains are shocked. Decisions are hard to make, simple things can be foggy, and the easiest tasks can become confusing. In any case I believe Saliba should have been taken out of the game after that collision and I think the MLS should look into what happened with the doctor’s recommendation for Saliba to exit the game. Especially in a time when head injuries are becoming a major concern in sports. A 20-year-old Saliba, full of adrenaline and bravery will want to continue playing, but somewhere in the commanding order from the doctor, to the athletic trainer, to the head coach, someone needs to be able to tell the player they can’t go in and that’s the final word. The risks that they run of having mental and physical issues in their later years can be fatal if they receive another hit on the head. Therefore, I will not evaluate his performance for this game.
Samuel Piette came in as a substitute for the second half and had a decent performance, given the fact that he’s barely returning from a supposed injury. I do believe that the first goal, which was a penalty caused by Joel Waterman, started at midfield when Piette missed a diving tackle, and the San Luis player was able to move the ball upfield. Beside that, Piette had a below standard performance from what we’ve come to expect from him. He finished the day with 2-3 long balls, 0-7 in duels, 3 fouls, 5 possessions lost, 3 dribbled past, 1 blocked shot, 1 interception, 2 key passes with 87% accurate passes and 35 touches.
At the flanks we had new signings Tom Pearce and Dawid Bugaj, each starting opposite from the other. The performances were significantly different for both, with Pearce showing a lot more maturity with the ball at his feet and with his positioning as well. Pearce gave the fans something to look forward to with his performance by providing us a promising home debut. Many people questioned his signing because he came from a lower league in England, but like Lassi Lappalainen, he showed a lot of potential when he was younger, but his progress and career have been sidetracked by his inability to stay healthy. Let’s not forget, he played for Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United. His crosses to the middle were something that we haven’t seen since the Alistair Johnston-Kamal Miller days, with great accuracy which made the task of scoring easier for our forwards. Pearson also displayed great movement with the ball at his feet which he used to beat his defender and move the ball up. Like any debutant in any team, they must get their match fitness up, and we saw after halftime a much slower version of Pearce that was lacking the speed we had seen at the beginning of the game. It should be exciting to see him play for a full 90 minutes. Pearce finished the game with 1 goal, 1 assist, 2-3 crosses, 2 key passes, 1 shot on target, 1-1 dribble attempt, 5-6 duels, 7 possessions lost, 2 clearances, 2 tackles, with 73% accurate passes and 33 touches.
I believe it will take Bugaj some time to get adapted to the style of play in the MLS, and to be very fair he is also young which could mean we will see a lot worse performances before it gets better. He showed flashes of what he can do with his speed and his tactical ability. Bugaj was once a prospect for Borussia Dortmund’s academy and even went on trial with them (ultimately not receiving a contract offer), but it goes to show that he is seen as a player with a high ceiling. He showed that he is fearless to move the ball past midfield and use his speed to run back to defense. He finished the game with 3-5 duels, 1-1 dribble attempts, 0-2 long balls, 2 interceptions, 6 possessions lost, with 77% accurate passes and 23 touches. These two players seemed to have been signed to the club with the intent to develop them in the long term, but it will be very interesting to see their dynamic grow as they continue playing matches together.
Both of these wingbacks were replaced by Ariel Lassiter and Ruan, who both showcased what we’ve come to expect from them since the beginning of the season. Lassiter continues his mediocre play on the flank, as one of his passes in the box led to the second penalty, which could have been easily avoided had he just cleared the ball. Something I noticed from him as well was that he had a preferred passing target in Martinez whenever they were on the pitch together. You saw Opoku making the runs that were closer to Lassiter and it almost seemed like Lassiter would see right through him and instead choose Martinez as the target. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this scheme only works if all the pieces work for one another, they have to work for what’s best for the next guy. I understand friendships and being old colleagues can win you some favors, but in the spirit of competition we need to see past that, and which option is going to be the easiest to score. I have given up on the Lassiter project this season, and I don’t know what Courtois sees in him as a player, but I must be missing what he brings to this team. Besides the assist to Ibrahim in the goal during the set piece, Ruan did a lot of running but nothing that really posed a threat to San Luis. At the time that he came into the pitch, the team was looking to close the victory so his instructions were more defensive than to threaten the goal. Lassiter gave us 0-1 crosses, 1-2 long balls. 1-1 ground duels, with 21 touches and 81% accurate passes in 30 minutes. Ruan finished the day with 0-2 in ground duels, 0-2 ground duels, 100% accurate passes! And three possessions lost.
Defense and Goalie
In what seems like this season’s jingle: “Jonathan Sirois had an excellent game, but his defense failed him”, CF Montreal once again gave up goals due to a lackluster performance by the back three. How many times are we going to continue seeing this headline until we start seeing consistency from this unit? Is this the unit that you can trust to carry CF Montreal in the last part of the MLS season? If we make it into the playoffs, do you trust this unit to perform in crunch time when the team’s season is on the line? I don’t. Not today. It’s baffling how Courtois can’t seem to keep the same starting back three for more than 2 games for X reason. To be very honest this unit has probably been the one that has remained the healthiest throughout the season and yet they can’t seem to put 2 or 3 games of convincing performances that define any of the combination of players as undisputable starters. I believe that when you watch and then re-watch the game you can see the lack of chemistry between each defender and their goalie. It has led to some very lopsided games. Each game, you hope that this is the game where they are all coordinated with one another, but it hasn’t been the case the past few months. Where is George Campbell? Why do we keep subbing out Fernando Alvarez? Why can’t we keep the back three together for 90 minutes? This can easily affect a player’s self-confidence in their ability because of the lack of clarity of what the coach’s standard of a good game is. I have heard through the grapevines that the players are not receiving clear reasons why they are being subbed out, even after they believe they’ve provided a good performance throughout the game. One of the things that Laurent Courtois was most praised for before his hiring and up to the beginning of the season was his ability to communicate with his players and how clear his message was to every player in the squad. What happened to this clarity? Has communication gotten quieter? Are the players still listening?
In this game we had Alvarez on the left side, Waterman at center, and Gabriele Corbo on the right side. Alvarez was subbed out in the 59th minute for Joaquin Sosa, which made no sense to me. Let’s start with Alvarez who has played in the left side for the majority of this season except when Waterman was playing for Canada during Copa America. Boy, was he stellar during that stretch, but now Waterman is back and he just hasn’t been the same since he got back. He was a game changer before the international break and was a solid leader of the line. Since his return, Waterman has always seemed one step slower in his blocks and his changing of positions. Back to Alvarez though! He had a decent game given the circumstances, given he was trying to find a connection with Tom Pearce and making up for Pearce’s lack of fitness and adaptation to the scheme. This meant there were incomplete passes, some blown coverages, and various other mistakes that exposed that right side that opponents love stacking players in. I know it sounds like I’m making excuses for his performance, but the reality of it is that things didn’t get any better when Sosa came in. More on that later. If Pearce and Alvarez can develop some kind of chemistry and understanding quickly during the next few weeks, I strongly think this side could be lethal for our attack and defense. Alvarez finished the game with 4 clearances, 1 interception, 1 tackle, 1 error leading to a shot, 2-3 in duels, 4 possessions lost with 78% accurate passes and 25 touches. Fernando Alvarez is a key part of this defensive line, and he should not be substituted out or left out of any game. His progression this season has taken leaps and bounds since he was given the responsibility to take control of the line last month.
Joel Waterman also had a decent game despite the two penalties that he caused, which I don’t believe were fully his fault. The first one, was a one and one encounter with the San Luis player, which Waterman could have been more careful and less aggressive in to give no reason to believe there was a penalty, but the player did run right through our midfield and Piette missed a slide tackle that gave the San Luis player a clear path to the penalty box and our defense which is a recipe for disaster. The second penalty was clearly Ariel Lassiter’s bad pass inside the box that put Waterman in a terrible position to act quickly and defend the San Luis player. Again, at that point in the game you might want to stay cool headed and be less aggressive in the box because it is simply not necessary. Any player in the world will react poorly to being put in an uncomfortable position while defending in the box. Something that I noticed as well was that it was Waterman who ran to the opposing box that set up Matias Coccaro to draw the penalty. I really hope he can find his form that we’ve grown used to seeing since the beginning of the season to be able to properly lead our line in the tail end of the season. He finished with 1-7 in duels, 6-11 long balls, 4 fouls, 10 possessions lost, 5 clearances, 1 blocked shot, 4 interceptions, 1 error leading to a shot, 2 penalties with 83% accurate passes and 68 touches.
Oh, the case of Gabriele Corbo on the right! Sometimes you love him and other times he makes you cry! Oh Corbo, when will you give us a solid game? I am a big fan of Corbo’s offensive capability and his vision to distribute the ball, but sometimes his defensive work rate and position leaves a lot of question marks as to if he is clear as to what his role is in the line. I could also say that he was trying to find a connection with Dawid on the right side, but Corbo has had trouble finding playing time under Courtois. Tuesday’s performance wasn’t one that convinces that he merits another start over George Campbell, who unfortunately has also given up-and-down performances the past few months. Corbo finished the day with 4 clearances, 3 interceptions, 2-7 long balls, 0-1 crosses, 1-5 ground duels, 3 fouls,8 possessions lost, with 37 touches in 90 minutes.
Joaquin Sosa came in as a substitute in the 59th minute to replace Alvarez on the let side and try to create a connection with Lassiter. That did not work. For neither one of them. Every time I watch Sosa play in games, he seems to drift between a center back to a wingback but the reality is that I can’t really tell which of those positions he’s natural at. He has an awkward positioning and speed that doesn’t really allow him to fully play any position. I don’t know what is going to be the result of this loan move from the “synergy” with Bologna, but I am not sure if his future in with Courtois’ scheme. The one thing that stood out to me when I watched the game Tuesday night was a cross that he sent to the center the went over everyone all the way to the other end to no one, and I remember that being one of the praises I had for him at the beginning of the season. He also had a very poor head clearance to Lassiter that led to the 2nd penalty. Sosa finished the day with 1 clearance, 1 interception, 1 tackle, 0-2 crosses, 0-1 long balls, 1-2 in ground duels, 5 possessions lost, 1 foul in 31 minutes and 27 touches with 89% accurate passes.
Finally, the goalie! Don’t forget the goalie! The difference in goalkeeping between Sebastian Breza and Jonathan Sirois is massive. The way Sirois carries himself in front of the goal is the equivalent of comparing a man to a boy. This is Sirois’ second year in the MLS, but he carries himself like a 5 year veteran and positions himself so well when he’s in front of the goal. He has saved us over and over again this season, that I think a lot of us fans are starting to take his weekly stops for granted, until he takes a game off. He has a lot of work to do to become an elite goalkeeper in this league but he is another player that has shown growth this season, albeit a different scheme and position. Tuesday was no different, he was very present in the box and commanded it very well. He had 4 saves, with 3 of them being inside the box. His long distribution continues being a problem, but this is something that goalies in general will master later in their career. He was 5-16 in long passes with 61% accurate passes and 45 touches.
That’s it folks! I really felt the need to write, I guess. I guess it’s therapeutic for me. Let me know what you think…
Andy's Impact Zone 
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