CF Montreal enjoys the spring sun like a plant in the midst of photosynthesis. The team has been invincible for six games. She wins at home. She’s going for big points on the road. His players are almost all healthy.
Posted at 3:20 p.m.
And in the quarter of the MLS season – yes, already – the Montreal eleven finds itself in a good fourth position in the Eastern standings, with 14 points.
“We remained calm even with the three defeats at the start of the championship,” Olivier Renard welcomed the media on Monday at the Nutrilait Center.
The sports director of CF Montreal had invited the journalists to talk about this first stage of the season, before the training of the flock of Wilfried Nancy.
He made a “positive assessment” of this start of the calendar, moreover, even if he wants to add a nuance.
The club may be only 4 points from the lead, they are also “4 points from 13and place”, the penultimate in the East.
“It’s a rather bizarre conference at the moment, he comments under a warm spring sun. We see good things, I find that we even take points when we play perhaps less well than before at times. But sport is like that. »
“We suffered from the beginning with injuries and illnesses of the players, recalls Renard. It weighed heavily in the workforce and even in the choice of coach to select the 20 players. Now they are almost all back. mason [Toye] will soon be back with the band too. »
In terms of good news, this one ranks pretty high on the list.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mason Toye
Mason Toye was the club’s top scorer in 2021 until his season-ending injury in August. The American had scored 7 goals in 14 games. Recovered for training camp, an adductor challenge kept him sidelined again in 2022.
But despite “the good things” the club has been doing lately, Olivier Renard maintains that the job is not done. He recalls the “big disappointment” of not having qualified for the playoffs in 2021, when the club had a start to the season like this one.
Because the main objective in 2022 in Montreal is to play beyond “Decision Day”, on October 9.
“As long as there are games to play and points to take, we have to stay focused and not be satisfied. »
“I feel good here”
“Option number 1” for Olivier Renard is to stay at CF Montreal.
The question was on the agenda in particular because the sporting director is in his last year of contract with the club.
The team’s new president, Gabriel Gervais, told The Press in April that the organization intended to extend its “long-term” agreement with Renard.
“He believes in our project, he believes in our philosophy,” he explained. He wants to stay with us. »
It was a great opportunity to have the other version of the facts.
“We never officially communicated [sur mon contrat], suggests Olivier Renard. The situation is clear: I feel good here. I try to do the best possible job with the team, with the staff. The day the club will want to sit down with me, I guess they will ask me. »
“We feel good here with the family, he slips. The important thing is to feel good and my door is open, of course. »
Mihailovic, “as a designated player”
We launch Olivier Renard on the hatching of the most scintillating nugget of the club in 2022: Djordje Mihailovic. What are the impressions of the sports director, who acquired him from the Chicago Fire at the end of 2020?
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Djordje Mihailovic
“He’s playing as a designated player,” he laughs. It’s not going to help me in terms of the contract! But he still has years behind his paper that he signed. But it’s not right now to look at that, it’s too early. »
A player of his caliber, with already 4 goals and 4 assists in 9 games, that attracts covetousness, doesn’t it?
“Calls, there are, concedes the sports director. Not just for himself, but for others. It’s normal, generally, when a player performs well, it attracts attention. »
” We’ll see. Football, it is clear that there is supply, demand, but also the wish of the player. It still weighs. When there are proposals, it’s important to know what the player wants to do. »
And, look, another good news: Djordje Mihailovic “has improved a lot” with his French, believes Olivier Renard.
Serene with its workforce
Obviously, who says sporting director says transfer window. The MLS window closes on Wednesday, May 4.
If there are “possibilities” of movement at CF Montreal, Olivier Renard underlines that “normally, it will not happen”.
As we said, the workforce is almost complete. “There is already an internal struggle” for certain positions. And there is the money available… or vice versa, depending.
“We’re talking about maybe a little less than $400,000,” Renard reveals transparently. It’s not money with which people can tell themselves that we’re going to get a Drogba. […] I prefer to put aside and watch what will happen in July. »
“Continuing with the group from last season, with the arrival of Alistair [Johnston] also, we are confident to have a solid group. »