Could you smell it? Could you hear it? Did you feel it? Yeah, I’m talking about the first home game in Stade Saputo for CF Montreal. The team was finally back home after a long (and horrendous) road trip across the continent and arrived battered from nearly two months away from their comfort zone. There’s only one problem, CF Montreal didn’t come back the same team that left on that 7-road trip: different coach, different formation, different starters. As a matter of fact, a lot of these players haven’t even really been able to consider Montreal home yet after spending most weeks sleeping in hotels as they tried to settle in. But that’s not the story here. We’re talking about the game Andy.
It wasn’t a full house, but the fans brought the energy and Saputo Stadium was on fire on a cold rainy night. Everything was in place for an epic night for the fans, there was only one problem once again… the players didn’t get the memo. The team came out flat in the first half of the game against a very conservative Charlotte FC side and spent the rest of the game trying to give themselves the chance to come back but were unable to come out on top. Let’s dig in!
Goalkeeping
Jonathan Sirois had a fairly quiet game which for goalies can be good news. I don’t really think the score reflects the kind of work he put on because to this day he continues being one of the key pieces. Ever since Marco Donadel has taken over the team and changed the formation to a back four, we’ve seen Jonathan Sirois go back to being a much more conservative which has seen be les involved in the buildup unlike his role with Laurent Courtois and the infamous back 3. The reality is that 8 games in Sirois has conceded a total of 12 goals, 3 less than last year. Has he improved? AT 23 years and 3rd year with the team, is it normal for him to be expected to be making strides this season? From my part, I definitely expect him be a louder voice to his backfield and to make the stops he’s expected to make. He definitely seems more comfortable in a role that asks him to be mostly focused on being a shot stopped. Sirois has still had the tendency to make errors that can be at times head scratching as we saw against Charlotte FC when he passed the ball down the middle to a Charlotte player which led to a shot which he blocked, but still, you have to ask yourself, how patient is Donadel before he calls on the replacement? Does his exceptional shot blocking ability justify the other parts of his game? I have been very critical about his long distribution ability, and it looks like the staff is asking him to less of that in this new scheme which works out for both parties.
Back Four
Saturday night, CF Montreal lined up Joel Waterman as a back right with George Campbell and Fernando Alvarez as center backs with Luca Petrasso as a left back. Read that again. Joel Waterman as a right back? What’s going on? Has Waterman something we haven’t seen in his time in Montreal to deserve giving a shot as a right back? Why is Donadel testing out a centerback as a right back instead of using a natural right back in Dawid Bugaj in this formation? I understand that Joel Waterman’s game in general is very important with this team, he is clearly a captain that knows this squad and is also very agile, but why are we positioning him in a position that he is clearly not natural and as matter of fact got him injured. Waterman was 0 of 3 in crosses which is the stat that most stands out to me in his game because of the low number of crosses and the success rate. Would Bugaj have been better? It’s hard to tell since we’ve barely able to get a decent sample size of him since his signature last summer. In this new back four scheme, who’s your best candidate to be a right back? Joel Waterman? No as we saw against Charlotte. Aleksandr Guboglo? Not yet. He was trained as a wingback all throughout the academy and was clearly uncomfortable against Columbus. Dawid Bugaj? Natural position but it’s so hard to tell at this point. Jahkeele-Marshall Rutty? Nah. Honestly concerned about what a failure of a signing he might turn out to be. So, who does CF Montreal have as a starting right back? Who’s backing up Luca Petrasso on the other side? Does CF Montreal need to delve into the transfer market before its closing next week?
In the center, you had George Campbell teaming up with Fernando Alvarez. Let me tell you, the way Campbell has been playing all season makes anyone else playing alongside him like an amateur. George Campbell has decided to tackle any assignment that has been given to him every single game since the start of the season. On Saturday he was assigned to make Charlotte’s Patrick Agyemang disappear and he could constantly be seen coming very low on the field to look for the ball. He had his chances too, but Campbell limited his opportunities to 3 shots, 2 off target and 1 on target. However, on the other side there was Fernando Alvarez who simply looked like the game was going on a different speed then he was used too and all too often looked confused as to what he was supposed to do in his role. It’s not secret, it was his gaffe that led to the only goal of the game. This was Alvarez’s opportunity to show that the spot was his and he failed miserably. Hes been with the team for 2 years and a half now and he seems to have regressed in many ways and especially when playing a formation that is more natural to him. He seems constantly misplaced and didn’t know with all the space Charlotte FC gave him in the back to build the attack. Jalen Neal is knocking on the door as he makes his way back from injury, and I think fans will be happy to see the long-awaited offseason signing show his ability. This is supposed to be Fernando Alvarez’s season to make that leap to the higher leagues. So far hes been disappointing and hes quickly falling down the pecking order of the squad. 4 out of 9 in long balls is a decent stat for his attempt at building off the back but 12 lost possessions are way too high for a defender staying back.
Theres very little to say about Luca Petrasso, he’s simply done everything right at left back and has continued demonstrating that the spot is his to lose. It doesn’t look like he’s got much competition with Tom Pearce being left out of the game sheet on his birthday. He continues to show a tremendous progress in the positions and could be the true surprise of this season after having come in as a trialist after failed stints with Orlando SC and Toronto FC. At 24 years old, hes at his prime and might be able to give CF Montreal or another team no choice but to sign him to a nice contract.
Midfield
The midfield with Nathan Saliba and Samuel Piette seems to have been the most consistent part of this squad for the past 3 years with both of them having their fair share of absences but are still constantly paired up when healthy regardless of the coach or formation. It’s no secret that both CF Montreal and Nathan Saliba have the goal for Saliba to end up in the big leagues in Europe by either this summer or the end of the season. However, since the start of the season we’ve seen inconsistent performances from Nathan Saliba. In the new scheme he’s expected to roam a lot higher up the field to help out the attack and the press which hasn’t always brought the results expected. He is still very talented and clearly belongs on the pitch compared to all the other midfielders I the squad, but I believe his attacking ability and decision making is becoming a liability to the team. He clearly doesn’t have the natural instinct of a offensive playmaker or a deep playmaker. If this phase of his game can improve drastically this season, there’s no doubt in my mind that Saliba’s name will stand out more in the stat sheet hence attracting attention from bigger clubs. 4/8 duels won simply wont cut it with 2 shots off target. His passing ability is clearly crisp with a 93% accurate passes percentage.
The case of Samuel Piette. This is simply the best formation and position for Samuel Piette given his natural tendencies and also his age. At the beginning of the season I noticed that it seemed like Piette had lost a step in his game and many younger and faster midfielders were running circles around him. This scheme allows him to play alongside the centerbacks and even sometimes lower than them which is clearly where he is most comfortable. The problem? He has to deal with bigger bodies down there. Samuel is short in stature, but there is no denying his defensive instinct to be able to break up plays with his reactions on point. It’s hard to imagine any other midfielder in the squad being able to replace Piette and fill those tremendous shoes. He does the dirty work that won’t always pop out in the stats sheet. With 4 of 5 successful long balls and 2 clearances and 2 interceptions, his role of deep lying defensive midfielder was on full display Saturday night.
Caden Clark is clearly a ball of energy and at time needs to slow himself down to not wear himself out of the game. He is one if not the only midfielder that ahs shown a natural reading of the game that understands how to properly set up an attack and maintain this team challenging up front. But he can’t do it all. He was 3 of 7 in ground duels and had 10 possessions lost and the way I saw it these stats mostly reflect Clark playing at times desperate to make something happen. The way Charlotte FC played Saturday with such a low block, CF Montreal needed 3 other Caden Clarks to be creative and find ways around a defense that wasn’t giving much space. I don’t want to blame this loss or lack of goals on Clark because of the lack of moving pieces around him. As mentioned before, Saliba struggled mightily on the offensive side which obviously didn’t let Clark create much going forward. He hasn’t had the start of the season that many CF Montreal fans were expecting to see, and the change of formation hasn’t clicked enough for CF Montreal to see the best version of Clark. Clark will be a very important piece for this team going forward and might be the player that sets up the attack between the wingers and strikers. Something CF Montreal fans have been expecting from Bryce Duke since 2023…
Attacking Front
Up front there was Prince Owusu as a striker and Date Sealy and Victor Loturi(?!) as wingers. Yeah…. Loturi as a winger.. I almost want to do a copy past from the Joel Waterman section… why? Why put Loturi in a position that he clearly isn’t natural when you have other players in the roster that clearly are closer to natural wingers than Loturi is. Clearly a failed experiment that must never be tried again. Why isn’t Donadel putting a Mahala Opoku instead? Whatever CF Montreal had envisioned for Loturi’s role to do on Saturday night failed miserably except for one exceptional nutmeg that led to a cross by Petrasso, it was clearly a position that Loturi seem to be learning as he played. In this scheme, clearly the wingers are expected to display a bravery of going 1 v1 against defenders and be creative with the ball. Something that Loturi lacked terribly. He actually finished the day with 100% accuracy on his passes, but you have to keep in mind that the majority of these were negative passes, 1 of 4 in ground duels (going back to being brave in challenges and successful as winger). Donadel did great in recognizing that the experiment simply didn’t work and quickly made the change at the half.
Prince Owusu continues doing Owusu things. Great around the box but doubtful leading the attack. He was constantly caught offsides and right now seems a strike that is overthinking his every move. He ended the night with 4 shots off target and 0 for 3 in successful dribbles. He is clearly talented and could be a very special player for CF Montreal but right now we are seeing someone whose confidence keeps getting lower with every passing week. The return of Giacomo Vrioni from injury might be a breath of fresh air for the attack. The Vrioni effect might unintentionally lift pressure off of Owusu’s shoulder and allow him to play more at ease? 1 for 5 in duels is very uncharacteristic of a player that we saw being dominant in duels in the past. With every game you can tell he understands his role more and more, but his lack of confidence and self-doubt is clearly impacting the little details of his game that make him a decent MLS striker.
Dante Sealy (similar to Luca Petrasso) cam in as a trialist and continues to impress with his progression as a natural winger with his speed and ability tog et out wide and cut inside. The only big issue for is what happens after that whole pat. One of the things that stood out to me on Saturday night was Sealy’s heavy touch, he finished the night with 25 lost possessions. Were they all his fault? Absolutely not. But if you observe him closely he does have a very heavy first touch which I believe catches him by surprise a lot of times and he finds himself having to chase after the ball. In the case of the game of Charlotte FC, they played a might tighter defense which didn’t give much space for these heavy touches and caused turnovers. He still has a very interesting attacking vision compared to the other side of the field but there’s that little detail that can stall any attack. Sealy will need to improve this phase of his game in order to be that complimentary productive attack with Caden Clark. He finished 5 of 17 in crosses which is not a pretty number, but this stat is also a moment when he team was desperate to create anything and in his case had 1 big chance created and 5 key passes. I’ll take that but not so much the turnovers.
The Subs!!!
I’m not going to lie, I was very excited of seeing those in the bench, just the fact of having the likes of Giacomo Vrioni, Jalen Neal and Hennadii Synchuk available on the bench was enough to make one believe that something exciting was brewing for Saturday night.
Lets start with the 45+ minutes of Synchuk who replaced Loturi (let’s not get into hat again), he displayed a bravery to take on Charlotte’s defenders one on one and never hesitated to continue moving the offense up the field. He was a nuisance to Charlotte defenders deep in their territoya nd a few times came away with he turnover. He is clearly a young player that has that curious bravery to test his limits in this team and league. He brings a flare that we haven’t seen in a long time, and it will be interesting to see how he meshes with his teammates with every passing game. Who does he find the closest connection with? Who in the squad understands best his tendencies and how much could this change the CF Montreal attack? These are all very exciting questions that only more game time will answer. In his 45 minutes he had 2 key passes and 7 of 10 ground duels won with 1 shot off target and 9 possessions lost. A nice mix that you want to see from someone that is looking to revive an offense.
The next sub I want to talk about is Giacomo Vrioni who was making his first appearance for CF Montreal. I observed in practice during the week, and he thoroughly impressed me by his level of understanding on how to use his body to manipulate defenders and build the attack. Last year we would see the same thing from Josef Martinez except with less physical implication. Martinez would make the runs and have defenders follow him and use his position as a dummy to set others up. Instead, what I saw from Vrioni was a player that was fearless in going up against any defender and was also willing to take matters into his own hands when setting up the attack. He understands the effect of having him on the field and how defenders will lock in on him allowing him to free up the wingers and give space to the attacking midfielders. On Saturday, we saw him play alongside Owusu and he took on the role of being the aggressor and let Owusu do the heavy lifting against the centerbacks. Nonethless his scoring and shooting instinct were in full display as soon as he subbed in on the 68th minute. Stats don’t lie. 1 shot on target and 2 shots off in 20 minutes and 1 for 4 in duels with 4 possessions lost and 2 offsides with 10 touches. That’s a lot of action for the newly crowned father. He definitely gave the fans a very nice sample of what they should be seeing the rest of the season barring any setbacks.
Bryce Duke came in the 78th minute and he played some very Bryce Duke 10 minutes. A lot of running but nothing more than that. I think Bryce Duke needs to move on before he gets to old so that teams are no longer willing to take a chance for him. I believe that if he can’t crack the starting line-up with this new formation, then he has no place in the squad. He’s essentially becoming a filler of a spot. I think for his future and that of the club, Duke should be looking to get a fresh start before next week’s game.
I won’t say much about Jalen Neal’s performance since it was such a small sample but let’s hope we can see more of him in the upcoming weeks.
Some storylines developing outside the team sheet:
-Why isn’t Tom Pearce on the bench? He was supposed to be a product of the Bologna FC-CF Montreal synergy that Gabriel Gervais had spoken about so highly, but he doesn’t seem to have been part of Laurent Courtois plans after a few games (and also apparently one of the many reasons he was fired) and doesn’t seem to fit in Donadel’s either. Is the club giving up on this project? He hasn’t had any remarkable performances and might be victim to a change of philosophy on the field where he doesn’t have a defined position. Could another MLS team see the value of adding Pearce to their squad?
– Similar to Pearce, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty has seen his minutes reduced or been completely omitted from the game sheet. Another signing that was expensive and was linked to Corey Wray, is the club ready to call this project a bust? Does he also not fit with the new scheme? With Sealy’s quick rise, contribution, and flexibility it’s hard to imagine that JMR has been able to do the same.
-Sunusi Ibrahim needs a change. Simple as that. He is being wasted away at such a young age
– Jules- Anthony Vilsaint’s season will pass a lot faster if he doesn’t fin a way to keep himself healthy and on the field. Next week, CF Montreal’s matchup vs. Orlando City SC is crucial to get their season back on track. With the help of the home fans, the team will quickly need to find ways of winning. The losses are piling up and the busiest part of the season is fast approaching. Donadel’s men need to continue challenging him when picking the line-up and one has to wonder how many more times we will se players being experimented in weird positions. Will management get fed up with the inconsistencies in positions?
Andy's Impact Zone 
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