Half of a scrub lineup for city. The other half has Sterling, de Bruyne, Foden, and Mahrez. The Rohrshach test for Yanks Abroad viewers will be which half of the lineup Steffen belongs with. Also, none of the other Yanks in today's Carabao Cup action are even in the squad, so bring on the Steffen. If he plays well and is 100%, I guess we can pencil him in for the October qualifiers, which may not have been true if he couldn't play this match. Travel restrictions might mean we need to call in 4 keepers anyway.
I played my once/season reverse jinx card and it worked this time, thankfully. These Cup games are important for Steffen, as they provide the (slim) justification for staying with City. Steffen earns a nice salary as well, which provides further justification, of course. Forget I said anything ...
Does anyone even theoretically capable of a positive thought about a Yank Abroad have an opinion so I know what actually happened?
How about watching the actual game instead of criticizing people who give actual reports of it? I'm not your dad to lie to you to spare your feelings. You're probably one of those people who never watches but thinks every YA is immediate MOTM if he plays a minute.
Ended 6-1. Damn shame he couldn't keep a cleansheet. So it proved. Akinfenwa claimed a header and the ball moved left to Jordan Obita before Zack Steffen steered the No 23’s shot out for a corner. In this came, the keeper again cleared, but the ball went to Sullay Kaikai, whose effort pinballed from Torres, and there was Ryan Tafazolli to pass to an unmarked Brandon Hanlon, who finished. “It was fairytale stuff to lead for five minutes,” said Ainsworth. “I’ll try to take the positives.”
The ideal is to watch the full games, which is a big problem because following all that YAs likely to be in the 23 for qualifiers would a full-time job. The solution is to watch some games delayed, or archived, when one has the time. When you're subscribed to online streaming services, you get access to some of such games, but not all. You'd have to spend a small fortune to be subscribed to all the services needed to follow the about 26 YAs relevant to the NT. The solution is to rely on the online repositories, but they're kept under seven seals because if many people know how to find the games, the place will get closed down.
I'll be here waiting for @bsky22 to comment on the play in the 13th minute where Steffen stays on his line instead of gobbling up the ball that was dinked gently over the 6-yard line. Not to mention the "wtf?" moment where he tries to dribble out under pressure in the 5th minute and gets bailed out by a foul by the guy who's so big that Wycombe had to have his shirt specially tailored. Good save on the one chance in the 2nd half, though. He was hung out to dry by his defense and made up for their error.
Eh... he allowed a goal that he could have done better on but it was not even close to being a howler, he made a big save, and he made another big save earlier on which was called back anyways. It’s a bit harsh to say he didn’t have a great game. That said, that’s just from watching those highlights.
I dunno if Steffen is getting worse due to lack of playing time at City, or his poor decision making is just becoming more obvious.
Decision making as a goalkeeper always declines with lack of play because you can’t recreate those pressurized moments in training. Especially on things like when to leave the net and when to stay on a cross or a throughball—where Zach has suffered. in contrast, you lose less with reaction saves.
I went through some match reports before even commenting. I know he didn't have a good game. For future reference I'll make a note about you not responding well to gentle ribbing. And if you want to categorize me, put me down as someone who gets exactly 0% of my personality from being a guy "who tells it like it is" on a message board.
I'm not putting on an act. My entire professional career depends on always telling the truth as I perceive it. Of course I can be 100% wrong, we all can be. But it's who I am. I don't care whether people like it or not.
Mods will want us to drop it and I consider it dropped. All I'll say is that I believe every word of your response here to be 100% true.
Surprised that people are slagging him off. I did see most, not all of the game. He did look shaky one or two times. But who out there is saying he was really that bad. His match ratings in most places are 6's and 7's. I'm not saying he was all that, but there probably wasn't much he could have done to prevent the goal. Honestly, hot opinions seem to take a life of their own on here sometimes. Yes, I know: if this weren't the case then it wouldn't be BigSoccer.
Didn't watch, so can't comment on the specifics of the game. More generally ... Didn't expect Steffen to look sharp, after so many weeks off with Covid, back spasms, etc - but primarily just a long period of inactivity. It's not as though this was just the usual 'long period of only training between starts,' but less than that, because he wasn't even training for much of that time. As others properly noted, Man City was a mix of 'ringers' - the offensive players who eventually dominated - and an all-teen backline. If it took a while for the defense to settle in and settle down, that was also to be expected. Now City have a busy run of games - PL and CL - but Steffen likely won't start/play again until the next EFL Cup game @ West Ham in October (after the next international window). Again, it would have been much more surprising/impressive if Steffen had looked sharp. Sounds as though he played reasonably well, all things considered.
The thing is that a glass can be both half-full and half-empty simultaneously, so either description would be 100% accurate. Suyuntuy's perspective is consistently on the half-empty side, and one would hope whomever he is giving professional advice to understands that and makes the appropriate adjustments, as I do here, in a different context. Anyway, I consider him pessimistic but not a troll, because his goal is not - or at least to me does not seem to be - to spoil the enjoyment of those here to enjoy talking about our YAs, despite how badly our players sometimes play, their faulty career choices, etc. More problematic to me are the classic trolls, who only appear in a thread to tear someone down - be it a player or a poster. It's an odd way to spend one's time.
On the bench: Here's how we're lining up in Paris! 📋XI | Ederson, Walker, Dias (C), Laporte, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Sterling, Grealish. SUBS | Steffen, Carson, Stones, Ake, Jesus, Torres, Fernandinho, Foden, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand.🔷 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/K2sDdnFyRN— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 28, 2021
Pretty big game this tonight - PSG vs Man City. I got to see this fixture in person a couple of years ago....