Blues Again Pursuing Spanish Gk, Iker Casillas
- Thread starter Gotham Gator
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He was horrible at the world cup and that was two years ago. The guy was Spain's #1 at this point he's washed up. Pretty sure de Gea starts this summer.
Saunders is an amazing shot stopper and a horrible distributor. Yes the D was horrible but some responsibility for all the shots he faced falls right back on him for all the times he blasted a horribly place kick right back to the opposition around the midfield line or out of bounds over the side line.
Pass completion rate? Number of spilled saves? I don't know the stats myself but I'm willing to bet Saunders was rough on both counts. Most overrated player on the team and it's not even close.
My interpretation is that he would be coming over half way through his final year left on his contract (and possibly take a pay cut). Making his contract under the DP designation amount. I think finding an international spot for him would be the issue.
Totally agreed with some of the less visible aspects of goalkeeping that some have brought up regarding the value of distribution, defensive organization and not spilling saves. What about overall leadership skills? Saunders may be a fan favorite and maybe even a squad favorite, but he's always struck me as being panicked and flustered. Casillas was captain of Real and Spain from a young age and a proven leader. Also he speaks English, apparently:
. And maybe having him on board, particularly in a post-playing capacity, strengthens the Spanish connection and perhaps encourages older Spanish internationals to more strongly consider NYCFC in the future
I wouldn't hate this.
I wouldn't hate this.
Those of you claiming we are all set at keeper because Josh Saunders is not a poor keeper have lost any credibility. If you truly believe Saunders is anything more than an average MLS level keeper, then you simply have a truly poor understanding of soccer.
He makes some sweet saves, but also gives up goals that should not be given up due to his poor positioning skills. His command of the back line seems to be lacking, and we all know his distribution is disgraceful. Those are all shortcomings that a world class experienced keeper will not have. If we can get Iker for less than a DP and somehow find the international slot, it would be a great pickup.
He makes some sweet saves, but also gives up goals that should not be given up due to his poor positioning skills. His command of the back line seems to be lacking, and we all know his distribution is disgraceful. Those are all shortcomings that a world class experienced keeper will not have. If we can get Iker for less than a DP and somehow find the international slot, it would be a great pickup.
Saunders is an below average MLS goalkeeper. Not saying this is a definitive list but Soccer America did not have Saunders in the top 10 in their end of the season positional rankings and they didn't even have guys like Kennedy, Shuttleworth, Clark, Deric on the list which probably places Saunders in the 15-20 range of MLS starting goalkeepers.
The huge plus for Saunders is that he is a huge value with his cheap (& domestic) contract and brings a ton of MLS experience. Casillas maybe declining from his prime (but heck Saunders is the same age) and should not be the GK for Spain, but to say that Saunders is a better GK than Casillas just isn't true.
With that being said, I would be totally fine not bring Casillas on board and saving that spending money for next season after we need to find DP replacements for Pirlo and Lampard.
The huge plus for Saunders is that he is a huge value with his cheap (& domestic) contract and brings a ton of MLS experience. Casillas maybe declining from his prime (but heck Saunders is the same age) and should not be the GK for Spain, but to say that Saunders is a better GK than Casillas just isn't true.
With that being said, I would be totally fine not bring Casillas on board and saving that spending money for next season after we need to find DP replacements for Pirlo and Lampard.
Positiong skills and ball distribution are things that can be taught. What can not be taught is how to make thoes "amazing" saves, when you are already at the end of your career. This is because flexibility and refelexes, even strength are not things that can easily be taught while you are signing your retirement papers.
You can't teach how to tear your ACL on a goal kick either!
Hahaha, well what I'm saying is that getting casillas is a waste of money when we could invest in a young domestic goalie
Some of you guys are just plain dumb. Iker Casillas is STILL a Top 15 keeper in the world. He is prone to the big mistake in big games (World Cup, UCL Final 2014) but he would instantly be the best keeper in MLS history.
Casillas is one year older than Petr Cech who is possibly having the best year of his career.
Have any of you actually watched soccer before last season? Josh Saunders' best attribute is his cheap contract.
Casillas is one year older than Petr Cech who is possibly having the best year of his career.
Have any of you actually watched soccer before last season? Josh Saunders' best attribute is his cheap contract.
Yes he would be the best goalie, but for how long? 6 months ? 1 Year ? That isn't a long term solution. But then again we can keep on crapping out money and maybe buy Cech next year. (Or we could actually buy a Stadium)
Ok. Which one would you like to invest in and how would you acquire him? I would love a guy like Hamid, but he is going to make more money than Casillas.
The obsession here with age is mind boggling. You can't just acquire youth in MLS. You need to develop it. We are 5 years away from being able to bring players up. In the meantime, this is our best shot at improving our roster within the MLS rules. Casillas could still play for almost any team in the world.
He's 34 years old. He probably has 3 good years left in him. Gigi Buffon is 38 and played in the UCL final last year and is probably the second best keeper in Serie A. Keepers age differently than outfield players. Look at Americans even - Howard, Keller, Friedel - keepers are different. 34 is like 29 in outfield years.
And when you talk about long term solutions, 1/2 of our team was let go this offseason. Lampard will be gone after this year, probably Poku too. There will always be roster turnover.
Iker Casillas doesn't inhibit the club's ability to build a $300 Million Stadium.
The obsession with age here is because this is a brand new club. You can bring in experienced players to teach the young ones, but it is much better to build a foundation first and not have your young players having a bunch of different teammates every season. That's just my view. I understand where you are coming from though and yes that is the best immediate solution.
Some players sustain ability longer than others. You can't just look at the oldest elite goalies in the world and just arbitrarily suggest that they set the bench mark for how long any elite goalie can stay at a top level. Casillas is showing sings of decline while Buffon and Cech are not. RM has moved on from him and he hasn't played well recently in international appearances. While I do agree that even a declining Casillas would be considerably better than Saunders or most MLS goalies for that matter I don't think he's worth the money it would take to bring him in. Regardless of how much he or his girlfriend love NY a guy with a 5m current value isn't coming in under DP level unless we use every cent of our TAM and he agree to a huge pay cut.
You speak as if you know how much money it would cost to bring him in. Ashley Cole is making 300k a year after rumors that he wanted $2 million. And it was Real Madrid that moved on from him - not Aston Villa.
Goalies in general have much longer careers. And I tbink Casillas is still better than Buffon.
And this is just talking about what they do in goal. This guy captained Real Madrid and set their defense. Something we could sorely use.
Damn it's a good thing that smarter soccer people are making this decision than those of us on the forum..... I mean, guys like Patrick Vieira and Claudio Reyna have been around world class keepers and they might just have an idea of what one looks like and the types of shots they're capable of saving and if it's worth it financially and as a boost on the field.
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