This reminds me Kansas City championship season, when Tony Meola set the league record with 16 shutouts ... because of a very good defense in front of him. I wouldn't mind if Pat will try to surpass this number
MLS Player of the Week? Pathetic Week I wanted to bring this up in the post-game thread, but didn't get to the pc on a timely basis, so I'm putting my opinion here. Onstad made two good saves on Saturday. He faced two good shots. This earns him Player of the Week for MLS? That's pretty pathetic for the league if his performance was the best this week. I didn't see any of the other games, but really, his game wasn't all that awesome. He wasn't challenged much, thanks to the great defense in front of him. Dayak and Agoos are playing at all-star levels. Mulrooney and Corrales are basically two defensive mids, so there isn't going to be much coming through to Onstad. I don't want to sound like I'm ripping Onstad, because the two saves were the difference between a tie and a loss, but the defense in front of him has been so dominating, no one has really challenged Onstad yet. I honestly cannot say how good Onstad is, because he hasn't been forced to work. That was the great thing about the old days-you knew very quickly how good a Clash/Quakes goalie was because of our porous defense...
agreed. All tha matters is what Onstad does when he's called into action, the less he's called into action, the more the chance there won't be any goals against. Keepers are either heroes or goats, Onstad may have been villian against KC, but ever since then he has done what has needed to be done: keep the ball out of our net and help set up the offence. What more can you ask of the man? I think he's finally got the confidence in himself now, as do most of us, that he is the right man for the job at the moment. No, he isn't Joe, nor J-co, but he's not doing anything less than what would be expected of either of the other keepers.
I was in Chicago standing right behind Onstad on those two saves and had really good angle on the Williams drive for the low post. It was a very good save. It happened so quickly and he got down to steer it just wide. Like you I've been nervous about him but he looked very good at that game. Even the Chicago fans I was with were impressed. They said he was the difference in the game.
WWC: Its a cliche, but any award is about more than the individual. Think of this as an award for the Quakes. Also, to use your reckoning, Onstad should not be rewarded because he faced "only" two shots? Tony
He had more than two good saves. He had one incredible save, one great save, and about 3 or 4 other good saves. That's why he is Player of the Week.
I agree that that was a great save. It showed well on TV, too. And I would say he did his job. Goos and Dayak, along with the rest of the defense, was the difference.
I think you hit what was bugging me about this. Onstad did his part, but it really was a team effort. The team earned the award. The other part of my annoyance is that MLS didn't have any other standout performances for the week? Sorry, but it sounds like an off week for the league.
I'm wondering about your cornflakes, but isn't everything like this? In almost all occasions when someone makes a goal, it's a result of a team effort. But they give that last guy, who puts his foot on it before it gets the net, the credit. When defense is working well, goalkeeper gets credit. Is there a goalkeeper who gets a shutout with a lousy defense?
I had some of the same thoughts, that the reason Onstad looks so good is that he has a great defense in front of him. So I decided to look into it a bit. Numbers like saves, catches/punches, shutouts, and goals against average are a good reflection of the defense as a whole. The only number that seems to have any hope of being more representative of the specific job the goalkeeper does (trying to filter out the effect of the rest of the defense) is save percentage. I had assumed that Onstad would be middle of the pack because he hasn't had to face a ton of shots because of the stellar defense in front of him. He is in the middle of the pack in terms of saves, but surprisingly he leads the league in save percentage. I guess he should get a little credit after all. Here are the numbers from MLSNet. SAVES PLAYER TEAM GP SVS Kevin Hartman LA 5 28 Tim Howard MET 5 24 Tony Meola KC 5 24 Jon Busch CLB 6 19 Pat Onstad SJ 5 19 Nick Rimando DC 5 19 Adin Brown NE 5 16 Zach Thornton CHI 4 15 D.J. Countess DAL 3 12 Scott Vallow COL 3 11 SAVES PERCENTAGE PLAYER TEAM GP SAVES SOG PCT Pat Onstad SJ 5 19 21 90.5 Zach Thornton CHI 4 15 18 83.3 Jeff Cassar DAL 2 8 10 80.0 Tim Howard MET 5 24 30 80.0 Kevin Hartman LA 5 28 36 77.8 Nick Rimando DC 5 19 25 76.0 D.J. Countess DAL 3 12 16 75.0 Jon Busch CLB 6 19 26 73.1 Adin Brown NE 5 16 22 72.7 Tony Meola KC 5 24 35 68.6 Now I'll concede that the quality of the shots may be poorer (i.e., easier to save) with a solid D in front of him, but in any case Onstad's doing his part.
Kasey Keller against Brazil, was is in '97? But generally speaking, Albany's right. btw, excellent stuff, Scotto.
Re: MLS Player of the Week? Pathetic Week In all fairness to Onstad, a good infield and outfield can give a pitcher a no-hitter or a shutout as well. But Onstad did keep the Quakes in the Chicago game and he had several fine saves. Chicago fans said he was the difference. If he "only" made two great saves, then he kept the game from being 2-0 Chicago. His finger tip save near the end of the second half was beautiful and the defense had nothing to do with that.