There's nothing much happening in TFC-land these days, no players were picked up in the re-entry draft, they didn't win the Lee Nguyen lottery, negotiations with Joao Plata and Richard Eckersley seem to be going slowly, and the dotting of i's and crossing of t's that was supposed to have been happening a couple of weeks back with regards to the CCL quarter final venue is still ongoing. The club's website is even going so far as to brag about the fact that nothing's happening, in comparison to our opponents in that quarter final, who are apparently in some kind of chaotic tailspin right now, and thus at a big disadvantage, despite, you know, being MLS Cup Champions and all that.

All that means is that it's been a light few days here at Waking the Red, not ideal for you, dear reader, but providing a welcome respite to the 40 posts in 40 days task I foolishly set myself with the top 40 countdown. Time to get back into writing though, so I figured what better way to start than looking a bit further into the stats provided by all the 1-40 rankings I collected.

So after the jump, I'll have a look at a few different stats and patterns it all throws up, including who really splits opinion and had the widest disparity in their rankings, all the players who got first place and last place votes, how close is the opinion on Frei and Kocic and much more. If there's any question in particular you'd want to get more info about, feel free to ask in the comments section. I'll also be listing the full 1-40 rankings for myself, Dave and Keaton in the comments section.

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Oh Captain my Captain. We've come a long way over the last 40 days, all the way from Leandre Griffit, and finally we reach number one. It's only appropriate that it's the captain, and a player whose impact will be felt long after he's gone. Number One in the Toronto FC 2011 Top 40 Countdown is Torsten Frings.

Average Ranking: 1.864
Highest Ranking: 1
Lowest Ranking: 6

Duncan: 1. Over two weeks before the July transfer window opened, and looking to make a big splash, Toronto FC hurled themselves off the highest diving board they could find, introducing Danny Koevermans and Torsten Frings at the same press conference. I never had any doubt that Frings would have a big effect off the pitch, which I'll get into after the jump, but how about on the pitch?

A 34 year old Defensive Midfielder? TFC were already assured to be out of MLS playoff contention in 2011, would he still be around and able to contribute in that vague future when TFC are actually good? How much could he contribute anyway, I mean, sure, coming straight from the Bundesliga sounds impressive, but Julian de Guzman was younger, and very recently had put in a club MVP year in La Liga, and he'd proven that DM's can't really influence the game that much and are a poor choice for a DP. Were we really making the same mistake again?

In short, no. Frings blew away all the arguments from the De Guzman apologists pretty much right off the bat. Playing his first few games in midfield, he almost immediately looked more effective than de Guzman ever had. Winning tackles and taking charge on the defensive side of things, and being the man everything went through when it came to attacking and linking defence and the midfield, Frings was everything we thought we'd get out of De Guzman when he came along in 2009. Most of his passes were of the short and simple variety, but most importantly they were often quick, he didn't need that extra second to be able to control the ball and then figure out what he was going to do with it, he was clearly thinking a step ahead of most of the players TFC have employed so far.

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Easily the best striker Toronto FC have ever had, and the only player who had no votes outside of the top 5. Number 2 in the Top 40 Countdown is Danny Koevermans.

Average Ranking: 2.682
Highest ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: 5

Duncan: 2. I'll fully admit that when his signing was announced along with that of Torsten Frings in that blockbuster press conference back at the end of June, I was sceptical about the impact Danny Koevermans would have. Sure, he had a decent scoring record in Holland, but then Mista had done well in Spain, as had Julian de Guzman, Laurent Robert had a few good years in England and MLS as a whole was littered with disappointing DP players, how would these two do?

Any football fan who grew up in England in the 80's and 90's as I did, knows two things about German and Dutch footballers. Firstly, and this made me very confident that no matter how his skills might have faded with age, Frings would absolutely give TFC his best and would be an undeniable positive influence in the dressing room, Germans win. They just do. Even when they don't actually win, they naturally have it within them to make the most of their talent, and as a team come together and be more than the sum of their parts. Then beat England on penalties. Annoying bastards.

But if my Big Bumper Book Of British Footballing Stereotypes About Johnny Foreigner has nothing but grudgingly good things to say about the Germans, it's a different story when it comes to the Dutch. Sure they're talented, but they're also flighty, volatile, inconsistent, individualistic and as a team almost guaranteed to implode and not live up to their talent.

Combine that thought with the history of DP's who've come to TFC and MLS at the end of their careers and gone through the motions and disappointed, and I could do no more than take a deep breath, and hope to the footie gods that he'd prove me wrong. I could not be more delighted to say he did.

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He was the heart and soul of the team this year, as enthusiastic as he was skillful, a breath of fresh air at a particularly grim time for the club, number 3 in the Toronto FC Top 40 Countdown is Joao Plata.

Average Ranking: 3.182
Highest Ranking: 1
Lowest Ranking: 6

Duncan: 3. After falling all the way to the 3^rd round of the 2011 Superdraft, despite being one of the best players at the pre draft combine, the obvious question going into the season was if Plata was too small for MLS. Would his skill be enough to survive in a physical league against players much taller and bigger than him. At first it seemed like it might not, in the first few games of the season he made some sub appearances, and though you could see the potential, he also struggled to make an impact. As much as it pained me to say it, I thought his best chance to survive was going to be by quickly learning how to dive, in order to draw fouls and cards and get the space he needed.

Despite conventional wisdom that he'd be better as an impact sub when defenders are tired, it was when he got into the starting lineup that he started to stand out. First up it was in the two games against Edmonton, when he looked dangerous from both sides of the pitch, and set up 3 of the 4 goals TFC scored over the two legs. That got him the start against Houston where he put in another man of the match performance, scoring a penalty and setting up the second goal for Maicon Santos. The next week he did the same thing against Chicago, setting up Santos after opening the scoring himself, this time from outside the box after cutting inside from the wing on to his right foot.

Of course, if you've been following this series, you'll know my opinion of tricky wingers; inconsistent and not to be trusted, and it was no different with Plata as after those good games, he had a fairly quiet month and a half or so. Other teams paid him a bit more attention to him, and learnt that if you can keep him on the outside on his weaker left foot, he'll generally be less effective. He seemed to take a while to adapt and was often frustrating and ineffective. To be expected with a winger, but the lows can be tolerated as long as the highs are high enough and often enough, and unlike Javier Martina, Plata more than qualified on both counts.

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There was a very clear top 4 in the Toronto FC Top 40 Countdown, and this player was a deserving part of it. By far the highest ranked defender and with the second most first place votes, number 4 is Richard Eckersley.

Average Ranking: 4.545
Highest Ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: 10

Duncan: 6. When you think of TFC's best players this year, they're almost all people who became Reds in the middle of the season, so when among their company, as he very much deserves to be, you tend to think of Eckersley as someone who was around pretty much all season, one of the few ever presents to play well throughout the year. In actual fact he didn't arrive until April 15th, and didn't start a league game until well into May.

Until then TFC had the motliest of motley crews playing at Right Back, generally either Dan Gargan or Ty Harden, but also Jacob Peterson in an experiment as short-lived as it was disastrous. So the announcement of his signing on loan for the season from Burnley was met with much relief and hope. For me, there was also amusement as with the way he looks, his accent and his straight out of Coronation Street name, he couldn't be more Northern English if he tried. That combined with the fact he'd most recently played for League Two sides Bradford and Bury instantly endeared him to me, even if had played for Man United, I really really wanted this kid to succeed.

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Super Stefan Frei! When he's in net....well, a whole lot of things got by this year didn't they. It's tough to blame him too much as any goalie would have struggled behind that defence. Despite being statistically among the worst regular starting goalies in MLS this year, he makes it into the Toronto FC Top 40 Countdown at number 5, it's Stefan Frei.

Average Ranking: 6.227
Highest Ranking: 1
Lowest Ranking: 18

Duncan: 5. With Milos Kocic coming in at number 6 yesterday, today very neatly sees Stefan Frei take the number 5 spot. As the votes flooded/trickled in, Kocic was actually ahead of Frei for a while, before Frei finally pulled ahead. Score one for Frei, but when it really mattered, when the season was on the line with the game in Dallas, Aron Winter chose Kocic, and thus Frei ended the season on the bench.

The season had started with him as the obvious number one, with the general concensus being that he was good enough to be inevitably heading to Europe at some point. Now though he isn't quite seen as surplus to requirements, he's seen as the best trade bait TFC has to improve the squad in other positions. Mainly that's a testament to Milos Kocic's play, but it's an appropriate ending to a very tough season for Frei. After looking very good behind Preki's defence oriented team and the excellent Cann and Attakora Centre Back partnership, having to play behind the chaos that passed for a defence in the first half of the season was a poisoned chalice that would have made any goalie look bad.

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The final week of the Toronto FC Top 40 countdown continues, and today we finally get out first goalie. From starting the season as the undoubted backup, he's now legitimately in the debate for TFC's best goalie. At number 6, it's Milos Kocic.

Average Ranking: 6.773
Highest ranking: 4
Lowest ranking: 12

Duncan: 10. After TFC traded away Jon Conway for a superdraft pick that turned into Joao Plata, Milos Kocic was now TFC's backup to Stefan Frei. In 2010 he'd played in the CSL, and made a couple of appearances with the first team, including coming on as a sub after Conway's legendary sending off against Columbus. That unfortunately meant he was in net for Will Hesmer's preposterous injury time equaliser. Without too much evidence to go on, fans were more or less comfortable with him being the back up to Frei, but if you'd suggested at the start of the season that we'd end the season with a massively important game, both goalies would be fit, and it'd be Kocic that got the start, no-one would have believed you.

That is of course what happened and by the end of the season, fans were not only happy enough with Kocic to suggest that Frei should be used as trade bait to improve the team elsewhere, there were serious discussions as to whether Frei was even the better keeper of the two. Just how did we get there?

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A little belatedly, The Toronto FC Top 40 Countdown continues, and today we get our first DP. If this had been done back in July he'd have come in quite a bit lower, but a good second half gives him a respectable number 7 position. Julian de Guzman

Average Ranking: 7.273
Highest Ranking: 3
Lowest Ranking: 14

Duncan: 4. In my 2011 season preview, I said that de Guzman would be the crucial figure if this season was going to be a success. The new possession based system would heavily depend on his ability to find space in midfield to give the defence options to play the ball out. Also the 4-3-3 has the potential to be undermanned in central midfield so he would have a huge part to play in making sure the defence wouldn't be overwhelmed as well. How did he do? Well, not great.

The season started with TFC using what I think, with the right personnel is Aron Winter's preferred formation, the point forward 4-3-3, with an attacking midfielder ahead of the two central midfielders. The positional emphasis on attack means there has to be a commitment to defensive support from the wingers and that attacking midfielder. Unfortunately, that attacking midfielder was usually Maicon Santos, so you don't need me to tell you how that went. Without that, well the more defensive midfielders would have to be very very good to overcome the numerical disadvantage they face, keep things organised and keep the pressure off the defence. Maybe it was an impossible task given his teammates, but De Guzman wasn't up to the task. After the debacle in Seattle, the third time in their first 8 MLS games that TFC let in 3 or more goals, that midfield point had to switch back.

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