Q & A with Jovan: Why ...

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I'll counter and stae that I thought the article was pretty bland and straightforward.

 

I probably like the guy as much as you do, but I don't know how you get to that.

 

u think that since the pace is "a lot slower" that he would be scoring like Ruiz

 

If Carlos puts away the 4-5 sitters that Jovan has given him so far, you'd all be calling them the greatest strikeforce in MLS history and kissing Sigi's gigantic arse. Instead he hasn't "settled in" yet, and his shyness/aloofness combined with a very matter-of-fact way of addressing the press makes everyone here call him arrogant. Get off his back. Better yet, look at the way he interacts with his teammates and the backroom staff, both on gameday and in training. They love the guy! Where does all the negative crap come from?

 

It's Ruiz's fault...Brilliant!

Kiro wears out his welcome wherever he goes.

 

Jovan has left a lot of teams, but to my knowledge, he's never worn out his welcome. He left ManU on work permit issues, Dortmund, Sporting and Birmingham for playing time issues, and left Palace for Birmingham because he and Bruce "promoted" together (Jovan deserves some credit for the strong play by Palace that helped Bruce earn the Birmingham job.)

He may be arrogant, but he's historically been a great and well-liked teammate.

 

I didn't sense any arrogance in the interview at all. He was just telling it like it is. And anyone can understand that if you're not playing, you're not developing which is why he's here. Same reason Landon Donovan is here. To play. Same as Cory Gibbs. They're here to play week in and week out and hopefully got some time with the USMNT.

One would think thought that with the slower pace he'd be at an advantage but aside from his first game, I haven't seen it.

 

cory gibbs was never hurting for playing time.

 

Geez people...quit reading stuff into his comments that aren't there.

 

True. Cory Gibbs is here so Bruce Arena can see him more in action thus increasing his chances of getting on the USMNT. It's been working out for him so far too.

 

Name one place he's worn out his welcome, and tell me where you get arrogant from. Do you know him? Have you ever had a conversation with him? Have you spoken with any of his managers? Or are you just another ill-informed twit on BS who doesn't know the game.

He's never been an out-and-out striker any where in his career. The goals he scored for Man Utd's reserve team came from the Paul Scholes role, behind the forwards. Everyone at United loved him and understood why he had to leave (work permit). Steve Bruce remembered that at both Palace and Birmingham City. The problem at City was simple. Personnel dictates tactics, and the personnel didn't allow for the luxury of a withdrawn striker/target striker set-up. (BTW, that's what doomed Stern John to the bench) The Forsell/Morrison duo has the requisite pace to play in the Premiership without a lot of support from the midfield. City plays with no one in the #10 role, but with Robbie Savage in a free role in the center of midfield to seek and destroy. It doesn't hurt to have a dangerous left winger in Stan Lazaridis, either.

The Galaxy have no left winger, or even a right winger for that matter. Torres and Ngwenya are forwards who have the pace but not the guile yet to play the position. (Which is why Cobi so important) Herzog is a true #10 whose fitness and age don't allow him to play elsewhere. Few MLS players can playmake from the flank (Chung, Ralston, O'Brien) and this is all stuff Doug Hamilton and Sigi have yet to address. I haven't seen Josh Gardener yet.

With all that said, Jovan was brought in to create goals for Ruiz and nick the odd chance himself now and again, because what Little Fishy needs most is service. On top of that, Jovan was supposed to be solid guy in the locker room and bring some professionalism to the squad. He has done all of those things. Did you expect anything other than that? Were you sold on his pace or strike rate or defensive qualities, because they recieved no advanced billing whatsoever. He is what he is. A good player to complement the best target player and penalty area poacher in the league.

Jovan will lay one on a platter for Ruiz each and every game which should net him double digits in assists, and score 7-9 himself on the season. If you can't be happy with that, you're a fool. If Moreno could do that, you'd be thrilled, but he can't which is why he's on the bench.

 

I agree with the people on this thread who are ripping into JK. I like a lot of people have an odd level of disrespect for him. I remember posting once, 'Jovan will never play in MLS, we don't have reserve teams.' I think maybe the lack of his first team success coupled with shall we say uninspiring play for the national team has left some people a little disgruntled that he didn't exactly 'carry the torch' for Yanks Abroad. Or at very least quite faily people have assumed that he's not that good of a player given the success that other Americans have had over there.

I hope that he can do well by himself in MLS, the fact he's with the Gals makes that desire not all that great but I've still got a heart. However, when he talks about the differences in quality of play or more specifically the speed of play I want to say, 'Oh the pace of those reserve games was pretty crisp was it Jovan?' So far in MLS he's had some good games and some mediocre ones. It's a little early to make predictions on how his career over here will go or what we can extrapolate about MLS vs. other leagues but so far he hasn't exactly been lighting it up.

I think people are a little touchy with him because he's always seemed to be a player with excuses attached to him. Excuses as to why he hasn't stayed with one club, why he couldn't get any first team action. Granted it's not like these excuses were coming from him per se, but he's talking now about 'the travel takes a lot out of you.' Well, it's always good to be nice and rested when your ass is sitting on the bench week in and week out.

 

Sounds great, but IMTO (t for twit) he has yet to deliver consistently. I haven't seen anything yet to say that Jovan is years ahead of where Moreno was late last season. But even if Moreno turned out to be greatest thing since lemonade this year, he'd have a hard time breaking into the starting line up. I think for the same reason why Ned Grabavoy was substituted against N.E. and Herzog wasn't. I thought that was a dumb move.

 

In fairness, Maxim-1, he is in a pretty good position to have SEEN enough EPL play close up to make a valid comparison. And, he has had at least SOME first team experience in the EPL. I wouldn't read too much more into his statement than a fairly objective comparison which certainly comports with the observations of most of us, and he is closer to it than we are. I have a hard time seeing why this comment would be offensive.

BTW, it wouldn't even surprise me if, in fact, to find the EPL reserve matches were played at a faster pace than MLS games. That is at least within the realm of real possibilities. I don't know becuase I haven't seen any reserve matches there.

 

EPL matches would slow down if played in our summer temperatures. Probably still a bit faster than MLS because of the overall superior technical skill of the players involved, but no way do Euros run around at mach 10 for 90 minutes in 90° to 100° temperatures.

 

fast is not equal to good.There are many EPL matches that are very fast but very bad.All the EPL teams play fast but there are only a handful that do it without playing human pinball. The Brazil team plays slowly compared to many Euro teams but that doe not make them worse.

 

Agreed. Arsenal can be downright beautiful when they're clicking, but some of the other teams look like they're playing fast for the sake of playing fast. Our league will speed up over time as the overall skill level increases. Not real worried about it.

 

I still don't get why people get offended by "Pace is Slower" comments from players, managers, etc... Of course the pace is gunna be slower, 80% of MLS games are played in 85-90+ heat. 80% of the time in the EPL they have to keep running just to prevent freezing their arses off.

 

I recall Jovan dissing MLS some years ago. Those comments have always stuck w/ me and for that I've never been a fan of his. Though he did hit an amazing goal against Germany when we crushed them 3-0.

 

Well, now he has ample time to put his money where his mouth is, if indeed he did belittle our league.

 

I personally don't remember him ripping the league but I haven't been around here as long as some other people. However, there was always the general sentiment that Jovan didn't feel the league was worthy because he chose to continue to try to pursue his European dream, or simply pick up a pay check and heafty one at that comparably, for simply riding the pine over there. With sports in general we tend to get a little annoyed when athletes make decisions based around money, and I think many people still believe that the reason that Jovan hadn't gone to MLS earlier was basically a finacial decision. We'll probably not know till next season in MLS what he's making, maybe its not that far off of what he was making over there but who knows.