Sadly, that calendar is from 2007
Stockings have been unhung from the chimney with little care. That "handsome" sweater your aunt gave you is tossed in a ball deep, deep in your closet. The tin of Quality Street chocolates is now little more than a Quality Cul-de-Sac inhabited only by the chewy toffees that no one wants. Yes, Christmas is over - get used to it.
With the season of carefully kept gift receipts now a bloated, gravy-stained memory, we can look ahead to the new year - 2014! No, still nothing on the flying car or monkey-butler fronts but a year that more Toronto FC supporters than usual look towards with hope of some reasonable success.
Two Tims and a Kiwi have been doing some seemingly decent work so far, re-tooling the woeful 2013 TFC model but much will have to click into place before the parade route is mapped out. While football is at its core an expression of teamwork leading to overall success, it is also an environment where individual skills can add to the sum of a team's parts.
TFC has often been a club where individual skills are wasted amongst inferior teammates or relied upon too heavily to overcome said weaknesses. Going into 2014 however, individual improvements will need to take place if the greater good - the club as a unit - is to succeed. We take a look at the areas we think each current Red needs to resolve to improve before being replaced by a monkey-midfielder.
GOALKEEPERS:
JOE BENDIK: Ball distribution. The one area we feel that rival Stefan Frei was much better at. Stop relying on the "close your eyes and boot it hard" theory and look for options. Also... stick with the all-green "Super Pickle" kit please and thank you.
CHRIS KONOPKA: Work on your sitting and hearty clapping from the bench. If Frei couldn't dislodge Bendik, Konopka's appearances should be limited to Canadian Cup Semis and the mid-season friendly against (insert multiculturally appealing club here)
QUILLAN ROBERTS: Get your ass out on loan.
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