Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko aren’t going anywhere despite the team’s disappointing sixth-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the MLS regular season and its early playoff exit.
That was the clear message from new club president Bill Manning as TFC held its year-end media availability on Tuesday morning at its Downsview training facility, giving local reporters one last chance to talk to players, coaches and management before the start of the off-season.
Installed as club president only two weeks ago, Manning said “Vanney deserves the opportunity” to prove himself, and shot down suggestions that he would reach out to Jason Kreis, who on Monday was fired as coach of New York City FC. Kreis served under Manning when he was president of Real Salt Lake where the pair enjoyed a great deal of success working together, including winning the MLS Cup in 2009.
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Manning explained he felt TFC improved under Vanney this season, and that it isn’t necessary to make a coaching change, especially given the team’s track record of hiring and firing managers over the past nine years. Vanney took over from Ryan Nelsen last August. This was his first full season in charge of the Reds.
“I’ve thought about it a lot. I’ve thought about the future of this franchise and the history of this franchise. We’ve never had the same coach two seasons in a row… I think Greg deserves the opportunity to continue what [he’s] started here,” Manning stated.
For Manning, maintaining stability ahead of the 2016 campaign is vital, which is why he plans on retaining Vanney and Bezbatchenko in their current roles after the Reds clinched a playoff berth for the first time this year.
That might not sit well with fans calling for Vanney’s head after the club posted a 15-15-4 record and the dreadful manner in which it bowed out of the playoffs. But Manning explained he stuck by Kreis who endured some tough years early on at Salt Lake when fans were similarly calling for him to be fired. Manning’s patience paid off in the end, as RSL became one of the best clubs in MLS, while Kreis established himself as one of the league’s top coaches.
“Sometimes it’s easy to say to fire someone, get rid of someone. Had I fired Jason Kreis in 2008 or 2009… RSL wouldn’t have had the history [of success] they had. I look at this scenario and I find myself in a very similar scenario, and I say [Greg] deserves the opportunity to continue,” Manning said.
“If we don’t get to where we want to be going forward then you look at options. But I like to think with another season with the group that we’ve built and fine-tuning it a bit [that] Greg can be a very good coach in this league.”
Manning explained the major off-season priority for TFC is to address the defence, which hardly comes as a shock after the Reds conceded a whopping 58 goals this season. Manning said he has set goals of 50 points for the 2016 season (they had 49 this campaign) and less than 45 goals against.
“Number one priority without a doubt is improving the team defensively. [We] have to. You can’t concede 58 goals and expect to compete for a championship,” Manning stated. “I told Greg next year we can’t give up more than 45 goals. It has to come from our coaching staff and it has to come from our top players. We need to be a team that can win games 1-0, and we need to be a team that can win 4-1.”
In a bold statement, Vanney declared “I know for a fact we’ll be a better defensive team next year.”
Vanney set up his team in a number of different formations over the year. The side played in a 4-4-2 (both flat and in a midfield diamond), a 4-2-3-1, and 5-3-2. Often times Vanney’s hand was forced due to injuries and international absences. Still, the lack of tactical continuity made it hard for the team to gel, as players were often played out of position or asked to take on new roles.
“We need to find [a single formation] we’re going to play and stick to it,” forward Jozy Altidore offered. “Overall, we have to be tougher to play against. That comes from forming an identity.”
For his part, Vanney admitted this season was a learning experience for him, and he acknowledged he will have to make adjustments to his coaching style.
“I’m looking at myself and our approach to the [past] season—our training day-to-day and what areas we need to get better in,” Vanney said.
As for Bezbatchenko, Manning wants to have the same working relationship with him as he had with former GM Garth Lagerwey in Real Salt Lake, where Bezbatchenko will oversee player acquisition and building the roster, and not be as involved in the business side of the franchise.
“I want Tim to focus on just soccer,” Manning said. “I want to give him the tools to be successful.”
A consistent criticism of TFC in 2015 was its lack of roster balance, that it was top-heavy. Brilliant in attack, the Reds scored 58 times, and Sebastian Giovinco won the Golden Boot award as the league’s top scorer with 22 goals. But on the other side of the ball they were poor and finished tied for the worst defensive record in MLS. Getting that balance right is something the GM will have to address this off-season.
“It’s fair to say we were unbalanced when you talk about conceding 58 goals,” Bezbatchenko said.
Manning didn’t mince words when talking about the club’s 3-0 loss to the Montreal Impact in the first round of the playoffs last Thursday.
“I was embarrassed. It’s not something that was acceptable for me in terms of going forward,” Manning stated.
Bezbatchenko felt TFC “laid an egg” in Montreal.
“For me the performance simply wasn’t good enough,” Bezbatchenko said.
Captain Michael Bradley added: “Nobody’s happy with going out in the first round of the playoffs. Not even close. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth and that’s not something that’s going away any time quickly.”
Manning revealed he expects TFC to start the first eight games of the 2016 season on the road due to construction at BMO Field, and has set a goal of eight points for the team during that stretch. That puts a lot of pressure on Vanney to succeed coming right out of the gate, but Manning makes no apologies for setting that specific benchmark.
“It comes with the job. We all have the pressure. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals,” Manning said.
