A failure in the Canadian Championship. A playoff race that is floundering. A style of play that is still confused. Three objectives, three inconclusive results. And now, a Laurent Courtois who is looking to re-categorize this complicated year 2024 into a “transition season”.
The head coach’s first up-and-down campaign at the helm of CF Montreal had never been defined like this. Not in preseason, not by president Gabriel Gervais, and not until today.
This statement, Monday morning, came as a response to our question about whether it was possible for CF Montreal to accomplish great things given the current roster, which is incongruous and at times seems disinterested. Last Friday’s 4-1 defeat, in the Leagues Cup curtain-raiser in Orlando, was telling in this regard.
Courtois’ full answer, after a smile and a silence: “It’s a year of transition. Whether you’re aware of it or not. It’s a year of transition in so many ways. In the style of play. In the basic overhaul of the squad that we want to have to build on the future. There are many elements, whether it’s tactics or mentality, where we’re in a transition phase.”
PHOTO PETER MCCABE, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
CF Montreal coach Laurent Courtois
Courtois is sometimes stingy with his comments at press conferences. Not this time.
“We have shown in fits and starts that we can currently achieve great things. And we are also showing our limitations. Whether it is the coach, the squad, the injuries, the absentees. These are nothing more or less than observations that we knew from the start. Some were a little too high when things were good. And some are a little too low today when things are not going well.”
It is true that the coach never let himself get carried away on one side or the other, even after his team’s victories.
I’m charting the direction I want to take with the club, he adds. And we continue to move forward.
Laurent Courtois, head coach of CF Montreal
Courtois spoke of a “basic squad overhaul”. He had previously been asked if this campaign could be salvaged by a squad overhaul during the current transfer window, which runs until August 8 in Canada.
“Thinking that we’re going to solve everything with a summer transfer window is wrong,” he said categorically. “It’s more about trying to find the elements on which we clearly know we need to improve. […] The parts and elements that allow us to move forward will be valued. Afterwards, for something a little deeper, it will not be possible to do it this summer.
Translation: Don’t expect drastic roster changes this summer. The end of the season will be a time to determine which players can help the project, and which ones we let go.
Basically, we seem to be resigning ourselves to a very ordinary end to the season before the overhaul of the sports department is initiated.
An opportunity to recover
Despite the gloom that has come from recent disappointing results, all is not lost yet for the Bleu-blanc-noir. In MLS, it is only 1 point away from qualifying for the playoffs – with its 27 points, however, it is also 3 points away from 14e and penultimate row.
And more urgently, in the League Cup, he absolutely must win against Atlético de San Luis, this Tuesday, at the Saputo stadium. Otherwise, he will not return to action in MLS until August 24, for the last stage of the calendar, of which he has only nine games left to play.
The beauty of the Leagues Cup is the pleasure of meeting Mexican teams that you rarely see. Courtois spoke of a “nice match” coming up against San Luis, which offers a “different” style of play than its MLS opponents.
“I hope that tomorrow we will realize how lucky we are to be facing such a team.”
“You won’t see me hiding behind a shrub”
Yes, Laurent Courtois has heard of “stories” of espionage during his career. The question was asked of him on Monday in connection with the drone scandal that is hitting the Canadian soccer federation. But don’t expect to see him stoop to that kind of behavior. “You’ll never see me hiding behind a shrub,” he illustrated on Monday. “I already have so much to do on my own, on my own field or computer.” It should be noted that using drones to film one’s own training sessions is a common practice in soccer. CF Montreal employs a video analyst who flies the drone over its training sessions every day. Courtois has already told us that he watches everything, everything, everything of his sessions after them. Players have told us, with a smile, that nothing escapes him.