I find it such...since it seems every American player abroad is tagged with it. Kindof like the athetic black quarterback (not being mentioned as having a 'great mind'..like some young, white quarterbacks. etc.). Reeks a little (in first case) of a slight..
It's true apoo, american players always get that sh!t. When I hear "great athlete" I think "Frankie Hejduk."
except that Curbishly also said that Spector has very good skill with both feet, gets into the attack well, and can play all 4 positions on the back line. If all he said was "Jonathan is a very good athlete" then I might have been a little suspicious. In this case, I think the manager just wanted to let people know that Spector is a very good athlete.
Ok...you are right..there is no pre-ponderance of the word "athletic" used to describe American soccer player and the American player is (much) more often than not described as heady, genius, clever, tactically-sharp, etc.... Hope you enjoy!
Certainly, we've advanced....but that line always seems to get stuck in there (for some reason).. I've read dozens and dozens of player reports of non-Americans over the years...I scarcely recall hearing the word "athletic" even once..
yes, there are clearly too many compliments aimed at american players - NEWSFLASH: being considered athletic is good, it helps an ATHLETE get work american kids tend to play several different sports growing up, so they acquire a wide range of physical skills and improved agility
Clearly, there are NO athletic players anywhere else in the world, since the term is so rarely (ever?) used for players outside US. Look, its not a big-deal. Its just something stuck in the head of folks that gets frequently repeated because its an easy reach. Like "wow, soccer is taking off in popularity in the US" (common Euro-quote of last...running now on 20+ years). Its no big deal. I don't stay awake at night about it. Just noting it, that's all.
is that so? and how many foreign news sources did you peruse to determine this? the most athletic players in holland get called athletic all the time... is it possible you have only seen german media?
He signed for the right club didnt he?? after all they are called "charlton athletic". They were looking for an athletic defender and spector will give them plenty of athleticism. Soccer has really started to take off in the USA.Good aint it?
Gotta like what Charlton is doing, now with the Smertin loan. Smertin's class as well as our guy. They might just borrow themselves into the top 6.
Problem is that they also signed a West Ham CB today as well (I forget his name). The clear concern with a year long loan is what happens if Charlton decides Spector best fits as a #6 defender, getting one out of every five games and warming the pine for the rest. I'm cautious about this loan to be perfectly honest, I'd rather see him get guaranteed first team play with a Colaship team then squad rotate in the Prem.
That's the problem though, isn't it? Doesn't get prem experience in the ccc, and that's what SAF wants for him. Powell is, I think, 35. I don't see that he's an everyday starter. But if Spector is going to be good enough to start for ManU in a couple years (the expectation) he's gong to have to be able to force his way on the field for Chartlon. Powell is pretty good, I'll admit. Didn't SCE give him a couple caps recently? but at 35, he doesn't represent much more of a challenge than spector would find at top ccc teams (the rest of the squad depth does, though. just saying powell on his own isn't the biggest issue).
Chris Powell (player who just moved from West Ham to Charlton) was at Charlton before moving to West Ham -- he did so because he felt that he wasn't going to win the battle with Paul Konchesky to play at his preferred position, left back. Of course, Konchesky was just sold to the Hammers, so it's only appropriate that Powell would then go back to Charlton! As noted above, his primary position is left back, which would give Charlton HH, Youga, Powell and Spector at that spot. Powell is 36 and he wasn't getting a ton of time last go-round with the Addicks, so I'd suspect that he's been brought back mainly for his presence in the locker room and on the training ground. Right now I would rank Spector's best chance for playing time as being in the middle. At CB there's only El Karkouri, Fortune, Perry and Spector (with the possibility of HH being swapped inside). Taking into account cup ties, suspensions and the fact that none of the other three have really cemented their place in the first team, Spector will have a chance to win a spot. Hopefully that would happen before January; I'm not holding my breath though. In other Charlton news, the Addicks just took Smertin on loan from Chelsea, leaving them with yet another midfield player. (At last count: Murphy, Holland, Rommedahl, Ambrose, Jerome Thomas, Euell...the whispers are that Euell, Holland and Murphy, in decreasing order of chance, are on the selling block.) There's also speculation that Curbs still has a fair amount of cash in the kitty from the Parker sale and compensation for the Carlton Cole 'loan'. Andy Johnson's name has come up quite a bit, I would be surprised if Charlton could get him from Palace; you never know though.
I was going to respond to that post but then I read your response here and it says just about everything I would have said. People need to realize that Spector is being loaned to a Premiership side because he is in the not-so-distant plans of Fergie. But, before Fergie puts Spector in the defensive rotation he's gonna have to see that Spector can do the job in the Premiership. The only thing a loan to the Colaship would have accomplished is prove that Spector has the ability to be a Premiership player...a Premiership loan can show Fergie that he is a Premiership player. On a side note, I cannot believe how people treat Spector on these boards. If Charlton signed Chad Marshall (who is several years older than Spector) there'd be a 300 page thread going and most of the posters would be calling for Arena's head if Marshall doesn't make the 2006 roster. Spector gets very little respect on these boards considering what he has accomplished overseas.
What are you talking about? There's very few posters here that don't consider Spector our top prospect. And it's very simple- if he cracks the starting lineup of a Premiership side, he'll be in Germany in '06.
I see several posters (mostly on USMNT N&A) that keep bringing up the Italy U20 match and claiming/implying that he isn't all that.
I think we all agree that they don't know what they are talking about. Spector's only got two marks against him - youth and inexperience. If he proves himself through EPL experience this year, then I suspect his youth will start to be considered an asset. I'm glad he's been loaned to an EPL side and one where he will have to fight for his job. If he can't fight for it and win it, he's not ready and not who we want on our backline in '06. Look at the quality of players on Charlton's backline - if he is beating out these national team players, he (and we!) can legitimately claim that he's earned a shot with the US side.
How many minutes has he played for ManU in the 2005 calendar year? I think that explains the reaction. We were cuckoo for Spector puffs last September, progressively less so as the season wore on.