Toronto FC head coach Chris Cummins believes his players deserve much credit for the way they have been able to adapt to changes in personnel and formation. The Reds had to make a late change to the line-up at D.C. United on Saturday after Carl Robinson was sidelined by food poisioning. Cummins also changed the formation ahead of the game, and then switched it again after 20 minutes of play.
"The guys have gone through a lot of changes over the last few weeks with a new coach coming in and changes in formation and personnel," said Cummins. "What I'm trying to do is put a team out there with players who can think for themselves and play for themselves and adjust when they need to. We will change things within the game if they are not working and it was effective when we switched formations after 20 minutes at D.C. United. I'm giving the players much more responsibility and am talking to them about why I'm making changes and why we are playing in a certain way. They are bright enough to take it on board. There is a lot of knowledge on that pitch."
"Losing Robinson two or three hours before kick off was a big blow because he is normally one of the players organizing things on the pitch, but other players stepped up to fill the void. The way the game went really shows the character of our team. I thought a draw was a fair result in the end but it was a fantastic advert for MLS with six goals from two teams trying to play good football and it wasn't a bad tempered game at all."
The Reds are now unbeaten in five matches in all competitions as they prepare to face the Montreal Impact at BMO Field on Wednesday in the second game of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. "We will be putting out the strongest team that we can," said Cummins. "We've got players here that want to be successful and are driven by winning things. We're taking this game very seriously and going out there to get the three points. We have no issues with injuries so everybody is fit and ready for selection."
Montreal won the tournament last year and made it all the way to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League, but they are still looking for their first win in the United Soccer League this season. "We know they are a decent team. We know where they are strong and also where we can exploit them. They had a good run in this competition last year and went a fair distance in the knockout stages. They will want to win this tournament like they did last year. They have had the experience of getting through to the Champions League and being able to play in places like Mexico so they will want to have that again," said Cummins.
"They are coming here and they haven't had the best of runs but we can't take anything for granted and if we don't go out with the right attitude we will lose the match. It's important that we get the ball down and play like we did last week against Vancouver. We're looking forward to it and I'm sure the fans will behind us again which will give us that little extra push."
The match against Montreal Impact on Wednesday can be seen live online on Toronto FC TV. Kick off is 8:00 p.m.
