In the midst of an up and down season, TFC’s Alejandro Pozuelo has been a steady presence and was recently named to the MLS all-star team.

TFC president Bill Manning spoke about his impact and how he’s dealt with the team’s recent slump.

“I think he’s frustrated, with some of the results lately.” Manning said, “But he’s been a bright light in what has been a difficult season so far.

“We’re trying to manage his minutes a little bit, and we’ll continue to do that throughout the season. Hopefully we’ll be in a playoff run and he’ll still have a lot of juice in him.”

The frustration from Pozuelo would be coming during the team’s eight-game winless streak heading into Wednesday night.

“We’re finding ways to lose.” Manning said, “We have not attacked with bite and passion. It’s one of those things, when we get behind by a goal the game is over.”

Manning said, “We have fought back a few games to get a tie, but at home we’re 0-3-1 in our last four games, that’s been really difficult to digest. “

Manning added that it seems as if the team has resigned to which players aren’t with the team as the team can’t currently field their best 11 players.

Jozy Altidore has only played in nine of the team’s 16 games this season as he has dealt with injuries. But although the team has had to deal with his and other injuries, they are led by head coach Greg Vanney, who has been running things in Toronto since 2014.

“Greg is in the biggest skid he’s been in since he came here.” Manning added, “We’ve challenged him, [and told him] the results are unacceptable. We have to be a playoff team, right now we’re above the playoff line, but we can’t keep conceding losses.”

Vanney has had success with TFC in the past and coached them to a championship in 2017, which is something Manning hasn’t let slip from his mind.

“I believe he deserves this opportunity to get this ship right, but it has to get right and that’s really what we’re looking at.”

Finally, Manning was asked about former TFC player Sebastian Giovinco and if he would welcome the Italian striker back in the red and white.

“Sebastian Giovinco is a really good player; he’s making a lot of money in Saudi Arabia,” Manning said.

Although Manning wouldn’t go into details about the striker since he is under contract with another team, he did say, “We’re missing him, we haven’t replaced his production, that’s been one of our biggest challenges.”

Manning noted that one of the team’s biggest priorities is adding scoring.