I'm pretty sure Lalas gets his opinions from bigsoccer. Sometimes from two opposing sides on bigsoccer. Seriously.
Brian Sciaretta @BrianSciaretta 16s16 seconds agoNew Jersey, USA Watching #USAvPAN again. It's amazing how Chandler's leash has been so long with the #usmnt & Lichaj's leash was so short. Tale of 2 RBs.
Forecast for Baltimore on Saturday: 87 feels like 93 it will be against lesser competition but not expecting much.
A couple of ratings Chandler received for his performance against Panama: Mike Woitalla, Soccer America 4 Tim Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER) 24/1. Lucky that Panama didn’t exploit his sloppy play. The right back’s ventures forward usually ended with a mis-hit pass. Jason Davis, ESPN DF Timothy Chandler, 3.5 -- Another overall poor game for Chandler, who overcommitted defensively and turned the ball over on far too many occasions.
Lichaj must have done something terrible to not be even considered. He's another guy that would be a crucial piece of depth for our team at bare minimum, probably even pushing for a starting job if given a fair go
Clearly. But when you make terribly timed challenges or simply misread the ball, you are unnecessarily exposing your fellow defenders. Chandler's defensive instincts have been far from impressive, and his giveaways are perhaps just as bad...
Alvarado stepped it up big time in the second half, he had multiple, solid clearances in the box, and his positioning was vastly better. He even tracked down a few attackers with impressive closing speed. (for a CB) He at times looks a bit lost, and has been burnt too often, but honestly Brooks should have covered the near post on that goal...
No, there is something else. We've seen with LD that there is more to squad selection than talent. I haven't been any more impressed by Lichaj in the national team shirt than Evans. Chandler at least has talent that is recognized by people outside of the USMNT side to be a starter in the Bundesliga. We just aren't seeing his talent, for some reason. I will say that JK seems more apt to allow excuses for players who speak his native language than those who speak his second.
I find it amusing that Chandler gets singled out by the same people time after time. Yet, Bradley and Beckermann get a pass! Bradley and Beckermann were terrible against Panama. These guys are playing centrally and the inability to establish any rhythm has to start with them. I didn't know we played thru Chandler all of a sudden. Rewatch the game and watch the off ball movement of our cms. Its excruciating! Bradley and Beckermann were appalling. Trying to play too cute. No ass on the passes. Not to mention passing to players in bad positions and situations. Our mids were going through the motions. Not fair to single out Chandler. Nobody in a US shirt played well in the first half vs Panama. Had Bradley not scored the equalizer you could argue he was one of the worst performers. I dont expect much different from fans at this point. I mean Giovinco didnt even get voted into all star game. So at this point it doesnt surprise me that the evaluation is off from a certain contingent of fans and writers.
Is that accurate? The guy must be pissed. He left his Italian club early just to get to Toronto early enough in the season to make an impact (and ostensibly to start his X million dollar contract ASAP!!). He is killing it in the league. He got my vote for sure. Anyhoo, back to TC.
Yea. 100%. He was not voted into the fan 11. Feilhaber and Zusi were deemed more worthy. The talent evaluation by MLS fans is bad. Period. Not just the fans, the whole system. Microcosm of a way larger problem, in my opinion. Giovinco has been the best player in the league this season by a mile. For him to not get in is just plain shocking. No excuse. The same guys who seem to dislike Klinsmann and his opinions of MLS tend to be those who dislike his choice of TC at rb the most.
I'm neutral on Klinsmann and would LOVE to see Chandler playing great, was excited when he was 'found' 4 or 5 years ago, but wow the guy just under performs with the USMNT. He's not been good for us.
I think he has been average on the whole. I believe he has got some unfair stick due to his early situations with the national team and has struggled to recover credibility among certain fans and journalists. He has had bad performances. As have many of our players on the backline. In this Gold Cup i believe many players have played below par.
Great post. The whole team save AJ, Deuce, and FJ had crap games. Just rewatch the second half and see Beckerman letting runners go right by him into the box. Watch Bradley try and dribble his way out of danger, unsuccessfully, like v Portugal last summer Loose passes anywhere and everywhere from everybody.
All that says is that KC fans had a better ballot stuffing operation. I mean you might be right about the average MLS fan, but I wouldn't use the All Star voting as your evidence. I refuse to vote for the All Star game period because it's a sad spectacle from a bygone era that completely lacks dignity...but I'm sure for every one of me there's a 12 year old feverishly deleting cookies to vote for a 1,000th time for his local favorite.
I wouldn't call All-Star voting talent evaluation. More a case of SKC fans showing up in force to vote in home boys and TFC fans not showing up.
Yes. The sins that Beckermann and Bradley were committing on a regular basis were worse than what TC was doing. Beckermann very rarely gives up on a play, I like this. The problem is he gets beat like a drum by runners moving at joggers pace. He just lacks the range at this point in his career.