Blues Again Pursuing Spanish Gk, Iker Casillas

[SlimShadyRus]

Ok, you don't know anything about soccer if you don't realize how important those skills are in a keeper.
Brilliant idea. Those players are just sitting there waiting for us to sign them!
What? Are you smoking? C'mon man we should not be happy with a poor keeper.

They wouldn't bother moving to MLS.
If you consider Saunders to be a poor keeper than it's you who's smoking.

Keepers with a strong character are almost always better but Saunders is way good enough. kicking the ball shouldn't make a problem, he can just pass the ball to wingbacks.

 

[Kjbert]

Honestly - I would take Wily Caballero. That would be a massive upgrade to Saunders.

 

[413Blue]

Keepers with a strong character are almost always better but Saunders is way good enough. kicking the ball shouldn't make a problem, he can just pass the ball to wingbacks.

The problem is...he is not that good. Passing to the wingbacks will cost us a lot. You never want to start with the ball in your own end.

 

[SlimShadyRus]

The problem is...he is not that good. Passing to the wingbacks will cost us a lot. You never want to start with the ball in your own end.

We have some tall players who could fight for the ball. If they won't be doing this we can hire somebody else up top for cheap

 

[Ulrich]

We have some tall players who could fight for the ball. If they won't be doing this we can hire somebody else up top for cheap

Now you're just trolling. Do you even understand anything about MLS roster rules? How can we just simply hire somebody else up top for cheap? That makes absolutely no sense - strong forwards that play for pennies don't grow on trees, and if they did, MLS would have either a draft or allocation process for getting them.

 

[Tony L]

Keepers with a strong character are almost always better

I think the best keepers are the ones that don't let the ball passed them often. Josh is a stand up guy, but isn't the best keeper. If he was, we'd be talking about getting him on an MLS roster instead of Tim Howard or Iker Casillas. Josh made some great saves, sure ... but he just let to many other ones in the net. Sorry slim ... it is what it is.

 

[Keith Putnam]

You never want to start with the ball in your own end.

Well, now, come on... There's a very legit school of tactical thought that prizes building your attack from the back and rolling it out from the keeper rather than just punting it downfield and making your goal kick into a possession coinflip.

 

[Seth]

Well, now, come on... There's a very legit school of tactical thought that prizes building your attack from the back and rolling it out from the keeper rather than just punting it downfield and making your goal kick into a possession coinflip.

I've kept quiet on the Saunders "controversy" for the most part but I have to say that I totally agree with this. Many here take it as an indisputable given that Saunders' distribution is terrible, and sure, he's duffed a few here and there. But I have to say that I agree totally with saying that punting the ball past midfield is a total crapshoot probably 90% of the time.

I watch a lot of EPL and the same's true there too. The vast majority of the time long punts arrive at random players on a random team rather than being laser guided missiles direct to your favorite striker. And quite a few head straight for the stands as well. So if this is what you're basing your "Josh sucks" stance on I'm just not really buying it.

Is he the best keeper on the planet? No, of course not. Is he a reasonable-quality MLS keeper? Definitely, and at a decent price to boot.

Blasting the ball to the center of the pitch ends up with a random output for even the best world-class keepers. I've been watching Saunders get reamed for his poor distribution for months here on the forum and it doesn't seem to make sense to me. It's not like he's taken 63 penalty kicks and missed 58 of them, it's more like he's kicked the ball 60 yards up the field and then soccer things have happened.

Saunders has kept us in a lot of games that our porous defense would have lost for us. Sure, he's let in a few howlers but he's also made some unbelievable saves too. And all those games we lost last year were 1-0, not 6-0.

Is he the best keeper ever? No, but he has heart and soul and loves the team and the fans more than anyone has a right to. But I'd rather have us put together good solid defense to stand in front of Saunders than to spend millions of dollars on a big name keeper.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I've kept quiet on the Saunders "controversy" for the most part but I have to say that I totally agree with this. Many here take it as an indisputable given that Saunders' distribution is terrible, and sure, he's duffed a few here and there. But I have to say that I agree totally with saying that punting the ball past midfield is a total crapshoot probably 90% of the time.

I watch a lot of EPL and the same's true there too. The vast majority of the time long punts arrive at random players on a random team rather than being laser guided missiles direct to your favorite striker. And quite a few head straight for the stands as well. So if this is what you're basing your "Josh sucks" stance on I'm just not really buying it.

Is he the best keeper on the planet? No, of course not. Is he a reasonable-quality MLS keeper? Definitely, and at a decent price to boot.

Blasting the ball to the center of the pitch ends up with a random output for even the best world-class keepers. I've been watching Saunders get reamed for his poor distribution for months here on the forum and it doesn't seem to make sense to me. It's not like he's taken 63 penalty kicks and missed 58 of them, it's more like he's kicked the ball 60 yards up the field and then soccer things have happened.

Saunders has kept us in a lot of games that our porous defense would have lost for us. Sure, he's let in a few howlers but he's also made some unbelievable saves too. And all those games we lost last year were 1-0, not 6-0.

Is he the best keeper ever? No, but he has heart and soul and loves the team and the fans more than anyone has a right to. But I'd rather have us put together good solid defense to stand in front of Saunders than to spend millions of dollars on a big name keeper.

While I agree that most goal kicks are 50/50s, I don't think most of us are talking about them when we say Saunders' distribution is poor. At least that's not what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of goal kicks and clearances that *should* be 50/50s near the center-circle, but instead go straight out of play, or plays that *should* be short escape passes to d-mid / full backs / center backs but end up being wild punts to the center-circle.

 

[Ulrich]

While I agree that most goal kicks are 50/50s, I don't think most of us are talking about them when we say Saunders' distribution is poor. At least that's not what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of goal kicks and clearances that *should* be 50/50s near the center-circle, but instead go straight out of play, or plays that *should* be short escape passes to d-mid / full backs / center backs but end up being wild punts to the center-circle.

Exactly! And to add - far too many kicks went out of bounds..... every one should have been a 50/50 chance with it being past the center line so that a quick counter cannot start with the defense out of position. And long throws should actually be to our players - can't get it to them, then kick it.... very simple concept regarding distribution.

 

[JayH]

As for Saunders's distribution, effective goalie distribution requires a goalie who can use his feet (or if necessary his throws) effectively, but most footy tacticians would say that the back and MF targets play a crucial role in this as well. To the extent Saunders is not the best with his feet, last season he was further hampered by his options. This should improve this season and we shall see whether this quiets any of the clamoring about his distribution skills. The kicks/punts out of play or that are wildly inaccurate hopefully will happen less (they should if the short option is more readily available).

 

[413Blue]

Well, now, come on... There's a very legit school of tactical thought that prizes building your attack from the back and rolling it out from the keeper rather than just punting it downfield and making your goal kick into a possession coinflip.

Absolutely I agree. However, if you think about it like the NFL. You can have a great running back, but if you have an awful passing game, the defense knows your going to run all the time, making the run game much less effective. When our opponents know Saunders cant distribute the ball beyond the outside backs and has to go through them all the time, what do you think will happen? Our backs will be covered like it's a corner kick in the box.

 

[Goodfella]

if you're going to argue numbers, I'd suggest Save % as a more accurate barometer than Goals Against. Going by SV%, Saunders was 14th out of 18 GKs that played 20 or more games with 65.4%. Stefan Frei was tops at 77.1 and interesting that Robles was just above Saunders at 65.6

 

[Kjbert]

It was obvious last year that he wasn't comfortable with the ball at his feet. Watch any world class keeper - especially a guy like Hugo Lloris - ball is passed back to them, they are comfortable, they are confident and they distribute.

 

[LightTheLamps]

Honestly - I would take Wily Caballero. That would be a massive upgrade to Saunders.

i would as well.

 

[NYdoesitEZ]

Makes sense to them, big name to them means more money and publicity.

You realize being a big name is not mutually exclusive of being good? And he, even with diminished skills (whatever, reflex and speed may decline but skills?), would still be a huge upgrade from what we have... Are you kidding me, Saunders? Really? He is one of the worst or average at best in this league

 

[Kjbert]

People here are dillusional

 

[Gotham Gator]

There is absolutely no way that getting Iker is going to boost ticket sales. He is not a "big name" in that sense, and the club is smart enough to know that. If they are after him, it's because they think he would be a big enough upgrade at the position to justify his salary. Period. People can dispute whether he would provide that much of an upgrade, but please stop suggesting this is somehow a ploy to sacrifice performance in exchange for getting butts in the seats.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I think there is room to upgrade GK, but I would be against using a DP slot on the position.

 

[BlueWarrior]

At first thought no way this move can happen cause of cap space, but then i saw la galaxy just signed de Jong on top of already having keane, Gerard, dos santos, and a. Cole, and that Belgium dude. Maybe we can sign him after all.

Idc if his form has dipped. He is still class and would have a chance at being the best gk in the league.