Alec Kann has endeared himself to the ATLUTD fanbase as the club's No. 1 goalkeeper. He was our first and you never forget your first. But a new, highly regarded goalkeeper is about to officially become a player for the Five Stripes. Brad Guzan, the longtime USMNT No. 2 (and short-time No. 1), should join ATLUTD after the June World Cup Qualifiers. So now, Tata Martino has a decision to make: Who's the starter? Let's help him make that decision.
Guzan is the starter. He would not have signed if that wasn't the case. He will have to play/practice himself into starting shape but, once he is there, he will be No.1. Unless he underperforms Alec will be his backup. It's a shame. I don't believe Kann deserves to be demoted and I'd be happy to continue with him. He's cheap, relatively young and still a player with upside.
Kann is in a tough position. But precisely because he is young, cheap, and has upside, he should be able to backup Guzan for a while. I don't imagine Guzan playing for us that long anyway.
Brad is the starter. Atlanta tried to get Middlesbrough to release him in May so he could join the team then. It's not fair to Kann, since he hasn't really done anything to lose his job, but there is no way Atlanta signs the potential #1 US keeper a year before the World Cup and doesn't put him in the lineup.
Kenwyne Jones and Chris McCann were signed with the intent of starting. Just sayin'. Guzan was signed when Kann was less of a commodity and United was trying to build brand appeal. Having a US international helped to that end but I really wonder if the signing had not been done if people would be clamoring for a keeper. The attempt to have him released early was in part because they wanted to avoid him getting injured while in England and because, conveniently, the Middies had started to move on without him. In the meantime fans at Middlesbrough and Villa aren't crying about seeing the one who some called The Human Colander exit England after two straight seasons leading to relegation. Don't get me wrong, the dude has sustained a career in the Permier League and is a highly gifted keeper. If Guzan comes in, starts and does well then that's great for AU, and I will cheer him on 100% when he plays. If he continues on for the US then I'll be rooting for him there, as well. He has had some good games in the past and I certainly don't wish him ill. But IMO he's not such a stellar keeper that he should simply walk into the training complex and assume he's starting from Day 1. De Gea? Sure. Neuer? Absolutely. Guzan? Sorry, come earn it. If he's as good as some believe then earning it won't be a problem. But that's just me.
If that signing hadn't happened then Alec Kann is a guy that still hasn't had a chance to play a lot of minutes in MLS. Sean Johnson would be starting in the net for Atlanta. I'm with you that Brad hasn't exactly been so stellar that he deserves to just walk in and take over the starting job without any consideration to what Alec has done. But I do think the reality of the situation is that as soon as he gets here he's our #1. With Garza on the fringe, Brad's going to be our only real USMNT player. You can't just put that kind of asset on the bench. Brad will have to play himself out of the job before Alec gets the chance. Hell, with the Gold Cup it probably won't happen until the Benz opens up, so they'll be able to sell the opening of the new stadium as also his first game with United.
I don't think Guzan will be a part of the Gold Cup roster, as I would imagine Bruce wants to see younger players featured. From my perspective, Kann hasn't showed me he's a true #1 yet. I have seen him make some really good saves, yes, but his play seems to be just serviceable. Though I think he has flaws that Guzan shares, i.e. distribution. Guzan, in moy opinion, hasn't shown to be on top of his game the past two years. This is arguably the best Kann has played in his career. The deciding factor for me will be defensive organization and box control. If Guzan can show he is better capable of oganizing the guys in front of him than Kann, that should win him the job.
Believe me if your keeper sucks, you'll forget your first. But for now, he doesn't seem to be the problem. Time will tell.
Guzan looked awful last night for the US against Mexico. Given the salary he is sure to command, I'd prefer we stick with the cheaper Kann.
That literally makes no sense. We've already signed him. I'll agree that he didn't look "good" last night, but he was also playing in one of the most hostile environments in world football against a team that was really in form. Kann has looked just as not good in against MLS competition.
Maybe I watched a different match. I didn't see an awful keeper in the match....on either side. Could Guzan have played better? Yeah, sure. I like Kann and kinda wish I'd never heard that we were getting Guzan because I want for Kann to succeed with United. He's played well enough and I think he deserves the chance. But, we are getting an international keeper for less than DP money. I'm taking that every day and won't complain about it for a single minute. Hey, and maybe he can convince the team to stop with the effing short corners.
Well, if you watched that match, you would have seen a lot of short corners from the US. One of which led to a goal for Mexico!
Guzan is consistently out of position. I agree that he will -- and should -- play given the fact that we've already signed him. But now I'm having buyer's remorse.
I'd like to know why you think Kann is somehow better. If your only argument is that Guzan is taking up more money, that's not something we can change right now. Please, educate me on how Alec Kann is better than Brad Guzan.
I'm not saying Kann is better. In fact, I never said anything close to that. Maybe you should go back and re-read my post... I'm just saying that Guzan is not anywhere closing to being better by the degree to which his salary vis-a-vis Kann's would suggest. And I agree there's nothing we can do about it now; that's why I said I'm having "buyer's remorse."
At this point having depth in any position is a plus, so I'm just going to pocket any thoughts otherwise and hope that the two bring out the best in each other as they compete for playing time. Atlanta has much, much bigger fish to fry than the keeper position, anyway.
Maybe the answer is neither Guzan nor Kann: https://www.mlssoccer.com/transactions/2017/summer-transfer-window-tracker/atlanta-united
Kann with another sub-par performance last night. A couple good saves, particularly the one to close out the game, but still not the comprehensive keeper he was earlier in the season. You can see him being more hesitant and his distribution has wavered. Sadly, he's playing Guzan into the starting role with little fuss. This is curious. They have one youth prospect on loan at Charleston, plus Kann as the (presumed) deputy to Guzan and 2 others on the roster. Given the needs at other positions why even add another keeper?
Meh. The article says he's a potential target. At best it means we've scouted the guy. Anyone who's ever followed the English transfer window for a club has a pretty good idea where to file this. Kann is what he is and that's a good backup at this point....probably better than most backups in the league given the experience he's gotten this year. He's been good enough for us and that's what we've needed. I'm proud he's ours.
Hope he can stay strong for another month. We'll need him until August with Guzan being named starter for the Gold Cup.
I'm really not sure where all this love for Kann comes from... I've seen him have two games that I could say he did pretty well. The rest he was average or worse. His distribution is horrible. His positioning is horrible. He doesn't take command of his defensive line. Parkhurst doesn't help with that either as he isn't very good. He makes an occasional good save but hesitates too much when coming out of the box. I know Guzan isn't De Gea but compared to Kann he might as well be.
Not sure what you guys are/were expecting. If he was a starter, we wouldn't have been waiting on Guzan all season. Nothing about this club/roster is built to put up clean sheets which means the keeper and D will be under all kinds of pressure. We put all but a couple of eggs in the attacking basket. High caliber D will have to be developed over seasons and may never truly happen. I think most recognize him for what he is, realize that's about as good as expected for the experience that he has, see that the D and tactics only to exacerbate any problems that he might have in his game. No matter what the guy has done or does in the near term, he's going to lose his job. I think he's handled himself pretty darned well given the circumstances. I have to say that I have my reservations about Guzan adapting his game to Tata's, which I hope to be proven wrong about in short order. I definitely think he's an improvement but I don't know, and I think many have similar feelings, that these "improvement" are enough to warrant the wages he will take up.