Every Friday, Sportsnet.ca will chat with Sportsnet soccer commentator Paul Dolan—a former Canadian national team goalkeeper—about the big stories and issues in Major League Soccer.
Last week you said you thought Didier Drogba would be a good signing by the Montreal Imapct. How do you see the Ivorian fitting in there? What tactical or lineup changes, if any, will Montreal have to make to accommodate him?
The first thing I think the signing will do is invigorate his teammates who will see that the Impact are serious about improving their team. The players also know they need to raise their game to create chances for Didier Drogba and show they belong on the same field as one of the best number nines of all time. I don’t know that coach Frank Klopas will necessarily make any tactical or formation changes to begin with as he prefers a lone striker with three in midfield to support the attack.
There will be even more onus on Ignacio Piatti though to carve out the chances for Drogba to finish but players like Dilly Duka, Domenic Oduro and Andres Romero will need to pose enough threat of their own to try to free up space for Drogba to operate. Marco Di Vaio was able to score goals in a similar system with similar support players at the same age and I think Drogba still has all the attributes to do the same. He also poses more of an aerial threat which the Impact could incorporate more into their style of play to give them a few different looks to their attack.
Saturday programming alert: Watch New England Revolution vs. Toronto FC on Sportsnet 360 at 7:30 pm ET. || Sportsnet NOW || Broadcast schedule
You were in Columbus last week for Toronto FC’s 3-3 draw. What did you make of the team’s defensive problems? What type of players do they need to add to make the back line stronger?
I think the Columbus game needs to be taken into separate consideration with the change in formation Greg Vanney employed. There were definitely some struggles getting everyone on the same page with the 3-5-2, especially in the first 50 minutes of that match where the Crew exposed Toronto’s left side for all three goals. It’s understandable that a change like that would take some adjusting to with communication being the key, when to go forward as a wing-back and when to drop off in defensive transition.
I think communication will be very important the rest of the season in defence and is one of the reasons the club is so high on newcomer Ahmed Kantari. He brings a wealth of experience, speaks several languages and is a very intelligent defender who can communicate well with his teammates which is so important in any back four. Vanney stressed the importance of defensive organization at half-time in Columbus and that will be the single most important thing they can do to improve the back line and the rest of the team’s defensive shape going forward
August is going to be a busy month for the Vancouver Whitecaps with eight games between MLS, the CONCACAF Champions League and the finals of the Amway Canadian Championship. How do you see Carl Robinson rotating his squad to handle all these commitments?
The Whitecaps have never won the Canadian Championship and they’re tired of hearing about it but their main priority this season continues to be success in MLS, including the desire to host a playoff game. That doesn’t mean they won’t do all they can to win the two-leg series against Montreal to finally lift the Voyageurs Cup. But my guess is they will continue to play their best starting 11 in their league matches starting Saturday in Seattle and then use a more secondary lineup integrating just a few new players for the re-match Wednesday in their first group game in the CONCACAF Champions League against the Sounders.
I think Carl Robinson will do everything he can to ensure very strong lineups in the upcoming Canadian Championship against the Impact but not at the risk of losing the league games sandwiched in between those matches. The encouraging thing for the Whitecaps is that they have never had a deeper squad to handle so many important games in such a short period of time. It gets very confusing to keep track of the various competitive matches in three different competitions in August but despite wanting to emulate Montreal’s success in the Champions League this year I think MLS remains the Whitecaps top priority followed by winning their first Canadian Championship.
The league’s best players won against Tottenham in the MLS All Star Game midweek in Denver. Is there value in MLS staging such a game? What about the format? Do you like it? Or should they go back to East vs. West?
I have no real interest in watching all-star games across any of the pro sports leagues because they mean nothing in the standings, but then I always tune in to see how the games turn out, especially when a foreign team is involved. If anything, I believe that variable of including well known foreign team at least provides a rooting interest where the East vs. West concept holds absolutely zero interest for me.
No matter how little the final result seems to mean to the players involved, at least when the MLS all-stars play foreign opposition, there is a degree of pride on the line and despite not playing their best 11 usually the opponent is still not wanting to lose as many of the players are playing for first team minutes ahead of their season openers. I think they should leave it as it is and try to bring in the best-drawing opponent they can. The East vs. West format would mean even less intensity with nothing at all really to play for.
Soccer Central podcast: SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by John Molinaro and James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues. To listen and subscribe to the podcast, CLICK HERE.
