Toronto FC coach John Carver will leave "no stone unturned" as he looks for the answers to the team's poor away form. While the Reds remain unbeaten at BMO Field, the defeat at Houston Dynamo on Sunday was the fourth loss out of five road games this season.
Carver is reviewing all aspects of the way the team prepares for away games. "There are obviously one or two issues." said Carver. "We're going to look into everything, from travel arrangements to what we do when we get to the hotel, how long we spend there, and what our preparation is the day before the game and on the day of the game."
"I've asked the players for their feedback and they've told me what they think. It is a slightly different situation for me, because with Newcastle, the only time we had a late kick off and travelled the day before was when we played European games. One thing we always used to do was to stay on English time."
Carver is determined to provide his team with the best possible environment to succeed. "You have to listen to the players because they're experienced. If they're not feeling right spending a long time in a hotel, then we need to do something about it. We've got to have a look at how long they spend in the hotel, maybe train at a different time when we get there, or arrange activities for the team such as ten-pin bowling or swimming."
"There's obviously a problem," said Carver. "It could be even down to what we eat and when we eat it. We're going to address it and try different things, because I want to eliminate the excuses. You can't blame the weather for the performance. I got home on Monday and it was just as humid here. A lot of these guys have played in that before. That's not an excuse."
"I've been through the DVD, and I'll go through some key points with the players on Thursday, but hopefully that was a blip. We've now got two home games, and from what I've seen from the players, there is a desire to put right what was wrong on Sunday."
The players were off on Wednesday and will return to training on Thursday in preparation for the game against Colorado Rapids at BMO Field on Saturday, kick off 7:00 p.m. live on Rogers Sportsnet.
