Asunto: Canada Senior NT Discussion

Today is the big day. Please have a thought for NT playing in Uruguay. Can we make up for a horrible international season?

I'm very disapointed and very sorry to see us out of WC.

We miss it by one point. We got very unlucky today. Outshooting Uruguay 9-2 didn't let us do better than a 1-1 draw. A late, heartbreaking, goal ( 87' ) from Argentina gave them the win they needed to qualify. And we'll stay home.

This has been an awful season. I made one mistake when I forgot to change roster before game vs. Israel, but there was no consequence to this mistake since we won 7-0. I've probably made bad decision. I tried a lot of things, it didn't work very well as we only won 1 official game, vs Israel. Maybe I should have sent Frenette from the beginning against Argentina. Probably I should have gone full power vs Indonesia since our 239 OTS vs. their 185 didn't give us 1 ST. We lost WC qualification on those 2 games.

So be it. Next season will require changes. We have lots of old players, with bad CL. We've been unlucky with bad CL drops, I don't know what it will look like next season. Dillon Carroll, Jobson, Dawdy are all CL3 at 23 or 24. Does that mean there are other players who could get better than them? To be verified... Terrence Jean, Maximo Bridges, Darrick Connelly, Drew Cleaver, are all players who should probably graduate as early as next season while Harvey Patry is poorly trained and Borden, Breton, Hines, Roberge, Koyle, Howard are all CL2. Should they still be there in 2 seasons? All good questions.

I hope some managers will be interested in solving those problems. It's unlikely I'll run for another term after the poor results we had. It's time for other people to jump in, and hopefully get more success.

Good job Alex. Don't second guess your calls. The team is just cursed.

I disagree, it is not your fault. You did a good job and were snakebitten by bad luck. Don't second-guess yourself bud, we want you back next year!

I agree with canucks, it isn't your fault. You've done a great job but the luck was not with you. And we want you next year for sure!

Thanks for the kind words. I won't let the team down. But I think it's the chance for a new manager to step in. If asked, I can be assistant for the next season to help.

If we don't have any experienced candidate as NT manager, we'll advise.

There is a foreign manager interested, I can vouch for his reliability and experience.

kokio86 is the guy I am talking about. He helped me test some tools I've made for PPM too. If there is no local viable option, I have faith in him. Obviously, alex is my first choice.

Hallo to all Canadian managers

I want to introduce myself.. I`m editor of Slovenian PP magazine. Slovenia is a small country in Europe.. with beautiful nature.. underrated destination. www.lonelyplanet.com/slov...

Let's get to the point I sign up on elections for general manager of Canada senior NT. I`m motivated to bring your team to better results. I want to be active on the forum and be as NT coach close to you guys. More about my candidacy here: soccer.powerplaymanager.c... I apologize for my grammatical errors.. my english is not perfect, but I will learn from my mistakes

If alexfrantz decides to candidate again I will cancel my candidature. I respect his decision.

Welcome in the forum. I see you're Pro Pack owner, involved in PPM as magazine editor and your track record is great. That's more than enough for me.

As I already mentionned, knowing there are great candidates, I won't be candidate for another run. Good luck with the election!

I would love if you were assistant for the first season, at least so he can get fully familiar with the players and teams here in Canada.

I have already asked and he agrees. Thx alex. I'm happy about that.. As you said he can help me a lot.

If anyone has any questions I'm available

I read the presentation from NT candidates. I'm glad to see enthousiasm and promises for a better future.

But I can tell you that IMHO, the problem with NT is not defense. Actually, we have qui some depth at this position. Elton Lai and Lucas Grebe gives a strong CD, and we can have Arsenault, Mcrorie or Borden for a decent 3rd RD. Beauchemin is coming in 1 season. RD are awesome with Gagne and Monnington (soon Maximo Bridges), while LD is getting better with Brooks (and soon Terrence Jean). Logan and Roberge can still help for 1-2 seasons as they're Universal.

The real problem we have is CF. If Frenette doesn't play, we don't score, period. Hudson Young is also great and will get even better, and Jair James and Jobson are okay, but that's it. And Frenette is only still around for a few seasons. We're in trouble there. CM is also a problem, as we have old guys there and few prospects. Drew Cleaver is coming, but he's OK not great, and won't replace Tery anytime soon.

That's why we've spend the last 2 seasons playing largely defensive while I set so many games in 5-4-1. Problem is it overtaxes Frenette, which I had to bench for some games in order to keep him fresh for WC. Well, didn't work as expected lol, that killed us eventually. Anyway, for the record, we lost our 3 qualification games by 1-0.

Defense is not really the issue here, quite the opposite, it is our strength, with great keepers as well. And it won't change for a while...

My opinion at the moment - after my quick review:

I'm trying to learn all about Canada team as quickly as possible. Alex already help me with that and I also started to scouting. Just in case if I'm elected I want to be prepared as good as I can. Of course everything takes time. Right now I will not talk about the future of the team, eg 4 seasons ahead, such an analysis requires more time and more information. My first goal is to raise the team to a higher level. If there will be good results it is much easier to include younger players - with less pressure.

Each team has its own specifics. Strengths and weaknesses. My goal is to optimize the team power. There is always way to the win - no matter who is on the other side. Defence is not a problem as Alex said. My solution to improve efficiency in attack? I plan to play a lot with the formation 433. It is a risky formation, but I test it for many seasons. I use it in my club and in U20 national team of Slovenia. Strong defence is one of the main reason way. Canada also have strong side midfielders which is in that case more than welcome. In attack Hudson Young can play important role. He is very useful also at LF/RF - depending on the weaknesses of the opponent's defense. I like to play with strong defence and strong attack. Canada has that possibility. And I want to use it. Of course that doesn`t mean I would play always in the same formation. Analysis of the opponent is always an important part of the preparations for the match. But in most cases: 442 / 433

It`s a privilege to have Frenette in the team. It would be a disappointment to retire with the feeling "we had one of the best strikers in the world but team didn`t use its full potential". He is a born leader.

Next big tournament is INTERCONTINENTAL CUP - third in PPM history. Canada goal must be a medal. And my wish is that Canada is a host nation. With official website, prize games, interviews, articles and so on. It`s all about having fun. And to do a good publicity for ppm soccer is this community.

We basically have 2 great forwards: Frenette and Hudson Young, and very few alternate options: Jair James, Nathan Jobson, Bobby Holmes. Wesley Howard is close to retirement. We haven't much in the pipe: I don't know if Gilbert Szczechura will ever make the team, and Taurean Fairchild is promising but only 19.

Don't you think playing 4-3-3 while we have few quality forward will put a lot of pressure on those guys? Wouldn't they would burn energy during qualification games and get exhausted before the tournament begins? That's basically why I played 5-4-1 since we have more options on defense, and save energy for forwards... Other reason is that Frenette is so much better that when he plays with other, weaker forwards, he gets less shots, and other players are not as effective as Frenette to score. Hence playing Frenette alone in 5-4-1 or 4-5-1 ; while playing Young + James in 4-4-2.