Laurent Courtois is not CF Montreal's problem. Here's 5 stats that prove it: | OneFootball

Laurent Courtois became the first MLS manager to receive the pink slip in 2025 on Monday, a move that that befuddled many league observers who believed the Frenchman had been one of the league's better bosses during the 2024 MLS regular season.

Courtois was only in his second campaign at Montreal, a club that has perpetually lacked stability under owner Joey Saputo. Many of the resources Courtois had used to steer the side to a playoff berth had since been parted with. And Montreal is still amid its customary long road trip to open the season and avoid the worst impacts of the Canadian winter.

But little has made sense at CF Montreal in recent seasons, from the club's inability to keep previous manager Wilfried Nancy from moving to Columbus, to its lack of investment in reinforcing a squad after showing promise in each of the previous seasons. And so it's almost impossible to find fault with Courtois for where the club is now.

Here's five stats that prove the problem in Montreal goes much higher than the manager.

23 goals

That's the total number of goals scored in regular season play last season by players who weren't retained for the 2025 campaign. That includes the 11 from Josef Martinez, who was sent to the San Jose Earthquakes in a trade after being Montreal's only double-digit scorer in 2024, as well as four from the on-loan Matias Coccoro, three from Ariel Lassiter, two each from Ruan and Mathieu Choiniere.

52.5 games

This is the average length of tenure of Montreal's 10 managers (including all competitions) since the team began play in MLS in 2012. The longest-tenured of those was Mauro Biello, who managed 93 games and was the only CFMTL boss to last more than two full calendar years. The shortest was Wilmer Cabrera, a mid-season replacement in 2019 who did not succeed in his attempt to try and salvage a playoff berth and enjoyed only nine games in charge.

-0.53 xGD per 90

While the actual results were far worse, Montreal's expected goals numbers suggested they were more unlucky than bad. Courtois' team was averaging an expected-goals difference of -0.53 per 90 minutes, which is right in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference if you're only counting away performances.

0 minutes

The number of minutes a player with a Designated Player contract has played this season. Montreal has filled only one Designated Player spot so far with striker Giacomo Vroni. And although keeping Vrioni on a DP deal after his unsuccessful time in New England may feel like a stretch, the fact is a groin injury has prevented the Albanian international from even making his case.

24 years, 185 days

That's the average age of Courtois' average starting XI at press time, easily the youngest such figure in the league. Through five matches, Montreal has fielded the three youngest lineups in MLS and five of the youngest nine. And that average is actually dragged upward by the 31-year-old Fabian Herbers. Six of Montreal's most-frequently used 11 are under age 24.