In 2024, things were supposed to be new for CF Montréal. And they were supposed to be new because they were supposed to be old again. Or something like that.
What I’m trying to say is the powers that be had a plan, and that plan was a good one on paper. On grass, it ended up in just about the same spot CF Montréal’s seasons always end: between 39 and 46 points, with a quick Audi MLS Cup Playoffs exit.
In we go:
The new-old thing, or the old-new thing, was the dismissal of 2023’s head coach, Hernán Losada, and the arrival of Laurent Courtois from the Columbus Crew organization. Here was the thought process behind that:
- Montréal had their most successful MLS season in 2022 under Wilfried Nancy.
- When Nancy left for the Crew after that season, Montréal hired Losada, who had a drastically different game model.
- Montréal, under Losada, were butt.
- Montréal brought in Courtois, who’d coached a year under Nancy in Columbus and found success playing a possession system in MLS NEXT Pro with Crew 2.
It was a good theory! I applauded the hire at the time, and I still do – even if Montréal, under Courtois, looked nothing like the 2022 version of themselves. They were near the bottom of the league in possession, field tilt, passes per possession and all the fun metrics that define Nancy’s system.
That is fine for Year 1. Let’s hope ownership gives Courtois plenty of time and he gets the team, collectively, to take a step forward in Year 2.
One of the most shocking personnel moves of the year, across the entire league, came when CSO Olivier Renard mutually parted ways with Montréal in May. It’s still not clear exactly why it happened as it did, but Renard has landed on his feet – he’s now sporting director at Anderlecht, the biggest club in Belgium.
Renard’s track record was far from perfect (I will never understand the Losada hire), but he seemed to have a vision for both how the team was going to play, and for the development and sale of young players. That last one, in particular, has thoroughly embedded itself into club culture over the past five years, and the upshot has been better on-field performance (on average, anyway) and many millions of dollars made in the transfer market.
There is no permanent replacement as of yet. Whoever gets the job – and everyone’s guess is it’ll be former Columbus exec Corey Wray, who worked for the club in a consultancy role after his midseason arrival – needs to keep the foundation Renard put into place.
I think the thing I was happiest to see was, by the end of the year, Courtois had put more of the game at the feet of guys like Caden Clark up top, Nathan Saliba in central midfield, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty at wingback and George Campbell and Fernando Álvarez at center back. The average age of those five: 21 years old.
It wasn’t always perfect, and it’s an open question as to whether or not any/all of them can grow into actual centerpieces for a team with some sort of trophy hopes.
But they played well in big moments as Montréal pushed into the Wild Card picture down the stretch, eventually winning the right to host it with their eighth-place finish.
Getting eliminated on PKs by Atlanta United? It’s a bummer. But this club has had worse endings.
- Nathan Saliba (CM): An all-around No. 8 with the ability to lay in an attacker on one side, then win the ball back on the other. Huge talent who could be sold this window.
- Caden Clark (FW/AM): Did he finally find his happy place? Clark was productive on both sides of the ball playing as, essentially, a second forward upon his acquisition.
- George Campbell (CB): Looked really comfortable hitting line-breaking passes from the back. Has elite tools at the position.
- Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (WB): Finally getting a run of games where he’s allowed to make mistakes and figure out how to turn his potential into productivity.
- Samuel Piette (DM): Still a valuable stabilizer in central midfield.
I could easily have added Álvarez, Joel Waterman and Gabriele Corbo to the above list. That makes Montréal one of the deepest teams in the league at center back – which is a good thing for a side that seems destined to play a 3-4-2-1 (or really a 3-4-1-2 given how Clark, who is a starter, operates in the left half-space).
The wingbacks are a position of strength even if Marshall-Rutty never hits his potential. Jonathan Sirois was not great in goal, but he’s young and has upside, and I’d be totally happy to see him enter next year as the presumed starter.
The two areas where it’s complicated: playmaker and center forward. The first is complicated because neither of the guys on the roster who ostensibly play as a No. 10 – Bryce Duke and Dominic Iankov – looked like starting No. 10s for a team with aspirations beyond the Wild Card round. Duke at least had flashes (born of his chemistry with Clark and Josef Martínez, who I’m about to get to here in a second), but no one’s going to mistake him for a “go out there and win us a game by yourself” No. 10, and that is kind of the job. From time to time.
Josef is the other big issue. He was clearly the best No. 9 on the team, the only true match-winner and owned the starting role down the stretch before putting up a throwback performance against the Five Stripes in the Wild Card. But he’s on a different age curve than the rest of the roster, doesn’t defend and is… combustible. Plus he’s in the way of last winter’s big signing, Matías Cóccaro (who, to be clear, was not exactly setting the world alight before injuries crippled his debut MLS season).
Figuring out those two spots is the whole damn deal this winter. Good luck to the new CSO.
