Toronto FC midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo has shown TFC fans that he has tremendous skill and vision on the pitch. On Tuesday, the Seville native demonstrated that his sense of humour is pretty top notch as well.

When asked if he expects to be included in the starting XI against the New England Revolution on Saturday night, Pozuelo paused and said: “I hope so. I hope so. If I don’t, I kill the coach.”

That response certainly brought the house down (the house being three reporters and a couple of TFC media guys at the BMO Training Ground).

However, underneath the quip, there was/is a fairly serious issue: That TFC coach Greg Vanney elected not to insert the highly talented attacking midfielder in his starting XI against the Montreal Impact last Saturday night in a very important match.

Was the move purely tactical? Was it a load-management deal? Or was he sending Pozuelo a message?

Turns out, there were a number of reasons for Pozuelo being frozen out of the starting XI, though the Reds did turn up the dial offensively in the second half after Pozuelo came on and pulled off a 2-1 victory after going down 1-0.

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“I had a conversation with (Pozuelo) the day before (Saturday’s match), just on some things I wanted and I thought we needed from him,” Vanney said. “He’s such a talented player. But there’s also kind of a team concept that has helped us be successful over the years and I just think through some of the stretch when things have been difficult, he at times tried to do too much with the ball. (And) on the defensive side, because we have lost balls in bad positions, we got ourselves opened up a lot.

“So my ask from him quite simply was, when he first came (to Toronto) and he played the New York City game (March 29), he wasn’t trying to be THE GUY on the team. He was just trying to fit into the team and it was one our best performances of the year because everybody just got the ball to the next guy, it flowed and there was a style of play that all the rest of the guys were used to.”

In that match, his TFC debut, Pozuelo scored two goals and picked up an assist.

But Vanney said there have been times since then when the team struggled, where Pozuelo tried to do too much, which threw his game and his team’s game off.

“We saw Seba (Sebastian Giovinco) do it in the past, too,” Vanney said. “(Pozuelo) tries to do more than maybe he needs to do and then the timing of everybody starts to get a little bit convoluted. So I just said, ‘For 45 minutes we’re going to put this group out and we’re going to stay organized defensively, we’re going to try to get our runners running again so that we can establish some timing and then we’ll bring you on once we get the speed and the rhythm of the game going to try to make the difference.’ It worked.

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“I thought when he came on (in the second half), the ball was moving a lot faster, he wasn’t trying to spin out of pressure all the time, it was getting (the ball) to the next guy and the next guy and the next guy. And that’s very difficult to defend,” Vanney added. “So I thought that was valuable step forward.”

Vanney also suggested that Pozuelo may have needed the break because his frustration level has been getting the better of him at times recently, often when he would create a scoring chance that wasn’t converted, either by himself or a teammate.

Pozuelo has nine goals and nine assists in 23 matches this season, but no goals or assists in his past four matches and you could see his frustration flare up.

And then there was the question of load management.

A check with the website Transfer Markt shows that Pozuelo has played a whopping 65 games since the start of the European season last summer without a significant break.

Though he claims to be feeling good, Pozuelo admitted that soreness and fatigue have been a factor after some games.

“This was the other question when I spoke with the coach (the day before the Montreal match). He is trying to find some moments for rest for because when I play, I feel good. But after the game I (need) more time for recovery.

“When I played in Belgium, I play the game and the next day I’m ready to play again. Now I feel I need more days for recovery for my legs.”

Vanney said as that it’s crucial that the coaching staff find a balance that would see Pozuelo play as much as possible in the last seven MLS contests of the regular season (five on the road), but also keep him rested enough to be able to go everyday when push comes to shove and they’re playing either to get in the playoffs or in a post season match.

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The coach was asked if it would be possible for Pozuelo to play at the same time with the club’s new TAM wingers — Erickson Gallardo and Nicolas Benezet — behind forward Jozy Altidore. Vanney answered that it was, as long as all three were committed to defending.

“I think it’s going to take some repetition, some cohesion, some things where everybody’s buying into their role on the defensive side specifically, but also their connections on the attacking side,” said Vanney, adding that he now has a good idea of his who his starting XI will look like in the final seven MLS games of the season.

“It’s more like a (starting) 13 or 14,” he said. “I’m trying to work us towards a group that I think will probably be our primary group. But we’re going to lose some guys to international duty and things like that. So we’re always going to have some questions on who that 11 will be on any given day.”

Pozuelo said he’ll play where and when the coach says but, of course, his preference is to start and finish every game.

“I train every day hard to play,” he said. “This is my job. I came here to play.”

MORROW HONOURED

Toronto FC defender Justin Morrow has been named to the Week 25 MLS Team of the Week after a strong outing that included the game-winner in the 81st minute on Saturday night at BMO Field.

Marky Delgado also scored in the 2-1 victory over the Montreal Impact.

Heading into the match, the two Canadian sides were tied in the final playoff spot with 34 points with seven games in left in the season. The points against the Impact lifted TFC into sole possession of that spot.