It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it.
Loser: CF Montreal
Another one bites the dust. CF Montreal decided to part ways with Marco Donadel after just seven games this season, following the club’s 2-1 loss to Philadelphia Union on Saturday. Now, to be fair, that’s two whole games more than they gave Laurent Courtois before axing him last season. Hooray for restraint?
While it’s true that Montreal have started the season with just one win and six loses, to judge Donadel’s seven game non-interim tenure purely on that record ignores some important context.
First is the fact that Montreal opened the season, as they usually do due to weather, with six straight away games. In a league where home field advantage matters, that’s a tough way to start a schedule. Next is the fact that this roster just isn’t very good. There were maybe three players in Saturday’s lineup that would start for any playoff level team in this league. There might be another four players who could be counted as contributors for moderately good MLS teams. This roster is bad, straight up. If it’s not the worst in MLS, it’s close to it.
So, then, my question for the decision-makers in Montreal is quite simple: what exactly were you expecting?
I’m not going to sit here and tell you Donadel is a good coach. To be honest, I don’t know if he is. After coaching on an interim basis last year and getting one home game this year, how could I? What I can say, however, is it would be incredibly difficult to find any coach in MLS that could turn this roster into a playoff team. The last time CF Montreal won a playoff match they had one of the best coaches in MLS history – Wilfried Nancy – and a roster that was significantly better than this one (though it was still unimpressive).
So, then, what was the point of firing Donadel? Don’t ask me. That’s just what club owner Joey Saputo and his sons Luca and Simeone, who run the sporting side of the club, do.
