Bob Bradley hoping for more out of Toronto FC Designated Player Carlos Salcedo 

Following Toronto FC’s 2-2 draw with D.C. United last weekend, head coach and sporting director Bob Bradley was asked in his post-game press conference to evaluate a player’s performance. And for the first time this year, he balked at the question.

“I speak pretty openly but I don’t go deep into the ups and downs of every player after every game,” he replied. “I think when you watch games, that’s part of what you guys should be doing.”

The player in question was centre-back Carlos Salcedo, as Bradley would eventually go on to share his thoughts on the defender.

“I think Carlos has a big personality. We are still trying to get the best out of him,” he continued. “I want him to be a little more consistent. I want him to be a guy who organizes people at the back a little bit better. He's been in big games and he's played on big teams, so we know the qualities he has and we are still trying to get to know him better. I take the responsibility that when players come in, it's the coach's responsibility to figure out how the players think and how to get the best out of them. So it's still early. I don't think we're there yet.”

It's natural for a manager to be protective of their players – especially their most important ones – and it wasn’t the first time that Bradley has done so for the Mexican international this season.

On April 30 against FC Cincinnati, Salcedo gave away a corner kick carelessly resulting in the opening goal for Toronto’s opposition, eventually leading to a 2-1 loss. After the match, the manager was asked if he was ‘disappointed with [Salcedo’s] inconsistency in his play this season so far?’

“As a team I feel we have to be more consistent,” Bradley replied.

The reality is Salcedo has yet to live up to the high expectations that comes with being a designated player in Major League Soccer since arriving in Toronto. He’s already been suspended on two occasions for a pair of reckless challenges, and when he’s on the field, he hasn’t been the defensive stalwart the club was hoping for when they agreed to a deal for Salcedo to become the highest-paid defender in MLS, according to the figures released by the Major League Soccer Players’ Association earlier this month. 

With Salcedo on the pitch, Toronto has conceded 2.39 goals per 90 this season. Without him on the field, that number has decreased to 1.66 goals per 90. Salcedo has been below league average for a centre-back in tackles per 90, tackles won, clearances, aerials won, pressures and successful pressures (per fb.ref.com).

At the BMO Training Ground last week, Salcedo was asked to evaluate his own performance so far this season. He opted not to.

“I look at myself, and you know, I know what to do, what to expect from me, but at the end of the day, there’s experts,” he said, referring to football pundits. “They value that, and I’m not that type of guy who’s going to believe if they talk good or bad about [someone]. So for me, I know what I have to do. I value myself when I wake up every day to a better football player, a better human. At this point, I know what I have to do and I want to leave that to the experts.”

Again, none of this is to say that Salcedo has been horrible, rather, he isn’t yet living up to his high expectations.

With that being said, it’s important to acknowledge the situation the defender finds himself in. Aside from Chris Mavinga, who has played only 254 minutes this season, Salcedo is playing in a backline in which the only other player to have MLS starts under his belt as a defender is Shane O’Neill, who was brought in to be the team’s third central defender.

Salcedo isn’t necessarily being asked to just play his role, he’s being asked to carry a backline – a mountain that 99.9 per cent of defenders in the world wouldn’t be able to overcome.

Watching Salcedo play, there’s clearly enormous potential. He's one of, if not the best defender, in the league with the ball at his feet. He’s among the league’s elite centre-backs this season in passes completed, total and progressive passing distance, passes under pressure, touches, passes received, and carries (dribbling). He also rarely ever gets dispossessed with the ball at his feet. Defensively, he excels at reading the game, ranking in the 96 percentile in both interceptions and ball recoveries.

He's got the stature and athleticism to be an elite defender, and he's clearly the most talented player in Toronto’s back line – and I’d go as far as saying that he has the potential to go down as the best defender in Toronto FC history – but he needs help. He needs more experienced defenders to play alongside, and the expectation is that help will arrive this summer.

But in the meantime, the club and Bradley are hoping to get more consistency out of their prized defender. They’re hoping for Salcedo to step up and become more of a leader, taking the initiative to organize the backline.

The bottom line is that Toronto FC are hoping for more value out of the most expensive defender in MLS.

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