Sunday afternoon at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps were very much an afterthought in the decision day madness that was ensuing in the MLS standings. While teams above them, including their opponents Real Salt Lake, traded blows back and forth for home advantage, the Whitecaps had been reduced to the role of “spoilers” for much of the last two months of the season.

If one thing is abundantly clear to everyone in Vancouver, it’s that some major changes are going to be needed if the club wants to find itself preparing for a playoff game in a year’s time. The question is, how exactly do they get there? What is the plan? Is there a plan? What should the plan be? And if/when the club decides on the direction they’re heading, will the club be successful in its execution?

These are not easy questions to answer, and in reality, we won’t know the right answers until we see it come to fruition on the pitch in a few months time, but until then, offseason developments are all we’ll have to go on.

In his final post-match press conference of the season, head coach Marc Dos Santos spoke about the need to be better, and the importance of the offseason:

“For next season, the commitment, the work, the pieces that are happening in the back scene, the thought process, the moves are huge right now. And huge because of the fans. As the coach, I’m with the GM, the owners, the staff. The only thing in my head right now, from the bottom of my heart, is the people that are coming to the stadium every day and support this team. We have to give back.”

“There are pieces for us that are crucial and we’re working hard on them. We’ll have to see. Maybe there’s opportunity that are going to come with players that we think, this is part of the core but we don’t know how other teams are thinking. Maybe there are players that today we think are going to keep, then there’s something that happens in the market that makes us move because it’s the best thing for the club. What I want us to focus on as a club is on making the team better. Whatever it takes to make the team better.”

These statements reiterated much of the same messaging that’s been heard over the course of the season. Marc’s primary objective is to focus on impact players at 3-4 key positions, and compliment these moves with depth/value signings either from domestic leagues or leagues similar to MLS in play style and structure. This is encouraging on a surface level, and if the club is able to actually follow through with a plan like this, it would be relatively easy to imagine the Whitecaps as a fringe playoff team next season.

In an interview far more insightful than his post match media availability, Marc Dos Santos joined Sportsnet’s “Fine Lines” podcast with JJ Adams and Dan Riccio on Monday night, and offered some details which helped bring the offseason into sharper focus.

The biggest of those storylines was the club's pursuit of “World Cup Winners”, and Whitecaps twitter exploded when Dan Riccio dropped this tweet about Chelsea frontman and French International Olivier Giroud:

Source: Vancouver Whitecaps have contacted Chelsea striker and World Cup champion Olivier Giroud about a potential transfer. However, he only wants a Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, New York or Chicago move. #VWFC #MLS #CFC — Dan Riccio (@DanRiccio650) October 8, 2019

For more on this storyline, be sure to check our piece on Giroud, but I’m going to turn my focus to some of the finer points of Dos Santos’ “Fine Lines” interview that perhaps got buried in the wake of “Giroud Mania”.

One of Dos Santos’ most thought provoking talking points from the podcast was the affirmation that 3-4 impact players in MLS does not necessarily equal a playoff berth. In explaining his point, Dos Santos pointed to both San Jose and Houston as teams with multiple dynamic playmakers that still managed to find themsleves below the playoff bar.

If you look at San Jose’s attacking options, it seems hard to believe that a team with Chris Wondolowski, Vako, Magnus Eriksson and Cristian Espinoza would miss the playoffs. But that is the reality of the challenge facing the Vancouver Whitecaps next season and beyond.

This season, the Vancouver Whitecaps managed to total just 30 assists as a team, and this was spread out amongst 15 players. Comparing that with San Jose, Magnus Eriksson & Cristian Espinoza managed 23 assists between the two of them alone. The point of all this is that even if the Vancouver Whitecaps make 3-4 successful impact signings this offseason, that in and of itself is no guarantee of a playoff berth - and this is obviously something that MDS is aware of.

Dos Santos also noted that he was relatively happy overall with his squad’s defending, and thinks that he only needs to make some “little changes” going into next season, also noting that if the midfield improves significantly, this should help alleviate some defensive pressure. This seems like a lot of confidence to have in a backline which allowed 59 goals this year, but with a young core of CB’s who will only improve, it’s easy to understand why MDS is eager to focus on what he perceives to be much bigger problems elsewhere.

Finally, Marc spoke to the Technical Director situation, and how this may or may not affect his decision making going into next season. On a personal level, I’ll find this to be the most frustrating storyline to deal with if it manages to drag on well into the offseason.

Dos Santos’ first season in MLS was marred by excuses, and many of them very valid ones. Whether it was the vacation like pre-season in Hawaii, the catastrophic roster turnover, or simply a lack of experience in targeting players who will be successful in MLS, Dos Santos should get a pass for many of the things which didn’t go according to plan in his first season as an MLS head coach.

What will quickly become frustrating to deal with is if the Technical Director, or lack thereof, becomes an impediment for Dos Santos’ 2020 season preparations. The last thing anyone wants to deal with is another season written off due to a lack of preparation, or the worn out moniker of a “team in transition”.

In Dos Santos’ comments on the topic, the manager suggested that he thinks the club is “close” to making a decision, but also wanted to ensure the listeners that he will continue to work on his targets regardless of the situation. He added that when a Technical Director is installed, some targets would be his own, and some targets would be a communal effort on behalf of himself, the new TD, and Greg Anderson (which I’m sure doesn’t trigger anyone at all).

In short, I hope that the 2020 season will be one that provides more clarity for the Vancouver Whitecaps and it’s supporters.

Let us suppose that the club manages to do exactly what has been prognosticated for this offseason: hiring a new Technical Director, closing the deal on 3-4 key player targets, building the depth of their roster & elevating themselves to a competitive level in terms of team spending.

If the club does all this and still manages to miss the playoffs next season, then at least the Whitecaps and their supporters will have a much better understanding of where the club is at in its development, and a much clearer picture of how they can take the next steps forwards towards playoff success. But until this organization builds itself a solid foundation, and offers Dos Santos & Co. a season without built in excuses, I’ll remain skeptical at best.

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If you haven’t already, I’d definitely recommend checking out the latest episode of “Fine Lines” which you can find here.