Today, Tim Howard bottled it. No ifs, ands, or buts, he bottled it. No excuse for his poor performance today for the Toffees. Yes, Lukaku missed chances, but that shouldn't have mattered. We should be talking about a pretty drab, routine 2-0 win today over bottom of the table Leicester at home, but we're not. Over in Birmingham, it doesn't seem like Brad Guzan's doing that well, either for Villa.
So, that got me to thinking about the state of American goalkeeping in the Premier League, and the future of it. I feel that as Howard and Guzan eventually retire, there will be less Americans between the sticks overall after they retire in due course. That may be because the Bundesliga is becoming more trusting of American signings (example is former UMD goalkeeper Zach Steffen signing for Freiburg). The only other American goalkeeper in the Premier League is Cody Cropper, and, according to his player profile on the Southampton web site, "He has established himself as one of the regular goalkeepers in the Under-21 side during his time with Saints, as well as being involved with the first-team on matchdays and away trips." In the 2014-15 U21 Premier League season, he has not appeared in their last 3 games, and he has not even been included in their bench. So, without too much to go off of, I think he needs to leave and get some first-team football to further his development. I don't care if he goes to a club that's worse at developing players through a youth system, if he plays first-team football, that's better than most youth academies the world over.
So, I ask you: are American goalkeepers in the Premier League doomed, or are they just on hiatus? For me, it's not looking too good right now.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
The Possibility of Replacement Players in MLS
The MLS labor negotiations are at a fever pitch as the MLS season is slated to begin on March 6. Unfortunately, the CBA has not yet been signed, so that got me thinking about the potential use of replacement players in MLS, and my opinion on the topic. The few uses of replacement players that I could find were as follows: MLB in 1995 after the 1994 season was effectively canceled. They had to use them for a few weeks, but only for spring training. The US national soccer team has used replacement players before in 2005, but no games were played with the lower-tier players. In more recent times, the trend has been to lock out all of the personnel and cancel games and/or entire seasons in order to proceed with negotiations. For example, there was no 2006-07 NHL season, and part of a recent NBA season was also canceled, leading to dramatic shifts in the value of the leagues.
It is for that reason that I think MLS should get their labor house in order before playing any games. It would greatly hurt teams such as the Cosmos and other NASL teams as their players would be pressured to play in MLS and forego their NASL commitments, and I would like to see those NASL players play in the NASL, as per their contracts with the NASL teams. However, if a lockout were to happen, it would be a grand revolution for the NASL as more eyes will be glued to that league, using the potential MLS lockout to their advantage. However, only one league would benefit from this, and the rest of them would suffer greatly with a lockout. Well, if those leagues would like to be at the mercy of MLS, let them. They will suffer all the same.
It is for that reason that I think MLS should get their labor house in order before playing any games. It would greatly hurt teams such as the Cosmos and other NASL teams as their players would be pressured to play in MLS and forego their NASL commitments, and I would like to see those NASL players play in the NASL, as per their contracts with the NASL teams. However, if a lockout were to happen, it would be a grand revolution for the NASL as more eyes will be glued to that league, using the potential MLS lockout to their advantage. However, only one league would benefit from this, and the rest of them would suffer greatly with a lockout. Well, if those leagues would like to be at the mercy of MLS, let them. They will suffer all the same.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Thoughts on the Derby and Wednesday, and Some Personal News
If anyone's paid any attention to my Twitter account recently, you'll have seen a period of inactivity in the past week. That is because I have moved this past weekend, and it took that long to get the Internet in. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on the two games Everton played this week, plus my belated thoughts on US-Chile. (I forgot about the US-Panama game on Sunday.)
US-Chile
I thought we played very well against Chile, considering most of our players weren't yet match fit, and we were facing a team from the Chilean Premier League, who were match fit after playing 4 league games. As much as I can say well done, I feel that we could have won that game. I remember our defense playing poorly, making too many mental mistakes, even for not being match fit.
Merseyside Derby
Every derby, no matter the fixture list, fixture congestion, injuries, etc., I expect, nay, demand that Everton win, no matter the circumstances. (I'm sure Jon Townsend would say the same thing on the other side.) For me, in this game, anything less than a win is unacceptable, and to say that we couldn't even get a goal past a converted midfielder who played CB is beyond me, no matter how good Can is at that role. We can't blame the referee here, we can only blame ourselves for this 0-0 draw that feels like loss.
Everton-Chelsea
All through that game, I was screaming at my television. Lee Dixon was right when he pointed out that Everton showed no purpose in possession. while playing like Barcelona is ideal most of the time, if you can't win playing that style, then it's time for a change. Now, let me talk about the uncalled handball on Naismith for a few minutes. I wasn't on Twitter, so I didn't see the reaction to the non-call, but from where I was watching the game, and the replays shown on the TV, that was a handball as it touched his upper arm. The game should have finished worse than 1-0, maybe 2-0 or 2-1, depending on how you feel about Lukaku's shot that got saved by Cech's legs.
US-Chile
I thought we played very well against Chile, considering most of our players weren't yet match fit, and we were facing a team from the Chilean Premier League, who were match fit after playing 4 league games. As much as I can say well done, I feel that we could have won that game. I remember our defense playing poorly, making too many mental mistakes, even for not being match fit.
Merseyside Derby
Every derby, no matter the fixture list, fixture congestion, injuries, etc., I expect, nay, demand that Everton win, no matter the circumstances. (I'm sure Jon Townsend would say the same thing on the other side.) For me, in this game, anything less than a win is unacceptable, and to say that we couldn't even get a goal past a converted midfielder who played CB is beyond me, no matter how good Can is at that role. We can't blame the referee here, we can only blame ourselves for this 0-0 draw that feels like loss.
Everton-Chelsea
All through that game, I was screaming at my television. Lee Dixon was right when he pointed out that Everton showed no purpose in possession. while playing like Barcelona is ideal most of the time, if you can't win playing that style, then it's time for a change. Now, let me talk about the uncalled handball on Naismith for a few minutes. I wasn't on Twitter, so I didn't see the reaction to the non-call, but from where I was watching the game, and the replays shown on the TV, that was a handball as it touched his upper arm. The game should have finished worse than 1-0, maybe 2-0 or 2-1, depending on how you feel about Lukaku's shot that got saved by Cech's legs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)