Stars don't align with coach on troubled Toronto MLS team

Eighteen months into what club president Bill Manning has called a "significant makeover," Toronto FC is looking as broken as ever. Something — or, more likely, someone — must give.

For Toronto forward Federico Bernardeschi, the star from Italy, that someone is his coach, Bob Bradley.

"We don't have a construction in the game," he said, per The Canadian Press (h/t Yahoo Sports), in a pointed criticism of his coach. "When the player has the ball, we don't know how to pass the ball. 

"This is no good for the young players," he continued. "They need to get better and grow up with an idea of football."

That was Bernardeschi's mindset Saturday after a 1-0 loss to Austin FC. He shared the damning indictment as Toronto languished in last in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer.

"Sincerely, this team, this city, these fans, everybody doesn't deserve this, and I think maybe we need to change something," he added.

To hear Bernardeschi tell it, Toronto's coach is a novice, a phony, someone who doesn't truly understand soccer. But Bradley is none of those things. He's the former leader of the U.S. Men's National Team and one of the finest soccer coaches in North America.

Why are Bradley, one of MLS' best coaches, and Bernardeschi, one of the league's strongest designated players, so deeply at odds with one another?

The answer comes down to fit — specifically, the fit of Bernardeschi's teammate, countryman and best friend, Lorenzo Insigne.

Insigne is the second-highest paid athlete in MLS, but his stats are abysmal since moving to North America. Some of that comes down to injury (he is frequently out with minor problems), but most of it comes down to his work on the field. 

Insigne is not particularly aggressive or physical, and he's never been able to break through MLS' notoriously hard-nosed defenses. Instead of bulking up and learning to compete in the league, Insigne pouts — and passes the ball back to Bernardeschi.