CF Montreal head coach Wilfried Nancy spoke to the media for the first time since the start of the team’s training camp today.
• Read also: CF Montreal: very Québécois and Canadian
• Read also: Opening of the CF Montreal preparatory camp: here we go again at the stadium
While he acknowledges that the break was mentally beneficial, it was not all calm.
“It felt good to cut. I cut so well that I had COVID, but everything went well, I had no symptoms. “
At the same time, he admitted that the brain never completely shuts down and that he still thought of his team during his vacation.
Febrile
Nancy recognizes that the context is entirely different this year since he is in charge from the start.
“Nothing is the same so we will have to adjust. The road will be long and for the moment, everything is consistent. “
He admits that he anticipates his team’s first outings from mid-February.
“I am excited to play the Champions League because it is a privilege that is not granted to all teams.
“We want to go as far as possible, which would allow us to have a good start to the season. “
Nancy was reminded that he has just one month to prepare his squad ahead of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Santos Laguna.
“Everything is OK, I played in Europe and we don’t have many vacations. Having five to six weeks of preparation is good, there is no problem, ”he assured.
He also maintained that his players returned in good shape at the start of the week, the famous beep test confirming it.
“The players arrived with the desire to come back and smiling. They did a physical test that I’m not too fond of, but the goal is to find out where they stand. I’m happy with what I saw today. “
It was Mathieu Choinière who was the last man standing in this test where the players must run arriving next to posts at the same time as a beep, the speed increasing over the minutes.
Young team
Once again, and as is the philosophy put in place in recent years, Nancy finds herself with a young team, even younger than last year.
But he does not hope for the arrival of a veteran to compensate for the loss of experienced players, like Rudy Camacho for example.
“I am not researching,” he insisted.
“I don’t hide the fact that last year, if we had had a more experienced core, we would have made the playoffs because we lost several points here and there. The fact of having known that with young players, it allowed us to win the Canada Cup. “
Attack
There was also talk of the attack, which needs to be more precise in its game.
« Romell [Quioto] and mason [Toye] can help us score goals. But there are other players. “
Nancy said that in addition to goals from Quioto (8) and Toye (7), the rest of the attack should be able to contribute with corrections.
“Last year, we were very interesting to attack the penalty area, but we missed easy goals. It’s not about being aggressive, it’s about doing the right thing at the right time. “
Coveted
Defensively, Nancy admitted he had been eyeing Alistair Johnston for a while.
“He interests me because I can use him in two positions. I can use it in a three-man defense or a four-man defense. “
“He will bring us his experience and he was in a team that likes to defend and it will reflect on the team, he has a natural leadership in relation to that. ”
Life without Rudy Camacho
There has been a downsizing within the CF Montreal squad and it is in central defense that it is most obvious, with the departures of Kiki Struna, but especially Rudy Camacho.
The French full-back had an excellent season last year, the last of a four-year contract which was terminated for financial reasons.
Wilfried Nancy insisted that this loss was not catastrophic and that there was enough to replace Camacho.
“We have Robert [Thorkelsson], Joel [Waterman] and Gaby [Corbo]. It’s up to me to find the right associations. We must not forget that Rudy had a good year last year, but he had been at the club for four years.
“We will do as I usually do. Last year, it was not planned that we play as often as five and we have animations in this direction.
We will try and time will tell if we will continue to play like this. “
Same, not the same
It is above all the leadership of the French central that the team could miss, but the team is counting on a young veteran, in Kamal Miller, who could take over.
“He can be the general, but not in the same way,” Nancy said of the 24-year-old Canadian. He brings his leadership to defensive interventions and his ability to love defending.
“When I see him last year when he arrived and how he is now when he starts training, you see that he appreciates his situation. “
The head coach recalled that the emergence of Miller with the team and within the Canadian selection surprised everyone a little and testifies to his will to succeed.
“It was not expected that he would be dominant like that, but it means that he has progressed and that he adheres to the project. I’m not looking for another Rudy Camacho, I’m looking for a player who will help us behind. “