Mark-Anthony Kaye

[Joe1973]

1 hour ago, P-O said:

We are in trouble if he plays any minutes at this WC.

I say the same about Piette .

Kone is green.

Hutch is not playing.

 

 

What am I missing about Piette?

He's been pretty good since recovering from his injury. Getting regular minutes, in much better shape and has added passing as a weapon this year. Been connecting also very well with Alistair. 

[Bison44]

TSN has had a couple Impact games on lately and I thought Piette pulled of some very nice passes, something new for him.  I think he would be fine to bring in to finish a close WC game, I just dont think he fits into a starting central mid at this point with our other starters.  Unless everyone is hurt or not in game shape.  

[Ally McCoist]

I'm just imagine Kaye vs Modric or De Bruyne *shudders*

[An Observer]

4 hours ago, Ally McCoist said:

I'm just imagine Kaye vs Modric or De Bruyne *shudders*

I am actually ok with him against Modric or De Bruyne as much as anyone else as I think he is a pretty strong box to box midfielder who is aggressive in defense and athletic enough to stay in front of those guys. My bigger concern with him is the ball at his feat and giving it away to Lukaku or De Bruyne like he did yesterday which essentially would be a goal.  In recent years, it seems given that each match he will give it away in a dangerous position once or twice a match.  That is what scares me the most.  The constant brain farts.

[JBR]

56 minutes ago, An Observer said:

I am actually ok with him against Modric or De Bruyne as much as anyone else as I think he is a pretty strong box to box midfielder who is aggressive in defense and athletic enough to stay in front of those guys. My bigger concern with him is the ball at his feat and giving it away to Lukaku or De Bruyne like he did yesterday which essentially would be a goal.  In recent years, it seems given that each match he will give it away in a dangerous position once or twice a match.  That is what scares me the most.  The constant brain farts.

Agree 100%. The October qualifier against Mexico at Azteca and in his infamous game against CR he gave the ball away multiple times in precisely that manner. Both teams had chances to put us away off his mistakes. We were lucky to tie in MEX and only lose by 1 in San jose.

He may make the WC squad but I would be surprised if he sees the field in Qatar.

I was a MAK fan before and during the gold cup but ive lost faith. 

[VinceA]

8 hours ago, Joe1973 said:

What am I missing about Piette?

He's been pretty good since recovering from his injury. Getting regular minutes, in much better shape and has added passing as a weapon this year. Been connecting also very well with Alistair. 

Some people have a weird dislike of Piette, perhaps due to his longevity and the fact the first half of his national team career he wasn't even playing first division or even first team football.

The fact is this year he's been very reliable and doesn't put his teammates in dangerous situations like Kaye does.

I think Herdman knows that too which is why Kaye is no longer a starter for Canada.

[Macksam]

10 hours ago, P-O said:

We are in trouble if he plays any minutes at this WC.

I say the same about Piette .

Kone is green.

Hutch is not playing.

 

 

MAK is our Roy Keane. We will be better with him at the World Cup. 

[SoCalTransport]

2 hours ago, JBR said:

Agree 100%. The October qualifier against Mexico at Azteca and in his infamous game against CR he gave the ball away multiple times in precisely that manner. Both teams had chances to put us away off his mistakes. We were lucky to tie in MEX and only lose by 1 in San jose.

He may make the WC squad but I would be surprised if he sees the field in Qatar.

I was a MAK fan before and during the gold cup but ive lost faith. 

If not him, then who? He’ll be there, our NT just doesn’t have the depth, and we have too many players injured or inactive.

[Sal333]

8 hours ago, VinceA said:

Some people have a weird dislike of Piette, perhaps due to his longevity and the fact the first half of his national team career he wasn't even playing first division or even first team football.

The fact is this year he's been very reliable and doesn't put his teammates in dangerous situations like Kaye does.

I think Herdman knows that too which is why Kaye is no longer a starter for Canada.

If it was a choice between Piette or Kaye it would be Piette 11 times out of 10. (Apologies to Spinal Tap)

[Sal333]

8 hours ago, Macksam said:

MAK is our Roy Keane. We will be better with him at the World Cup. 

Have you watched him play recently.

[P-O]

9 hours ago, Macksam said:

MAK is our Roy Keane. We will be better with him at the World Cup. 

I own a Roy Keane jersey. It would be absurd to waste my time answering this.

Edited September 12, 2022 by P-O

[CanadaFan123]

8 hours ago, SoCalTransport said:

If not him, then who? He’ll be there, our NT just doesn’t have the depth, and we have too many players injured or inactive.

This. Unless Kaye is injured he’s playing minutes at the World Cup. Even if he’s off form, which is clear, we don’t have options to keep him off the pitch entirely.

 

[Kadenge]

10 hours ago, VinceA said:

Some people have a weird dislike of Piette, perhaps due to his longevity and the fact the first half of his national team career he wasn't even playing first division or even first team football.

The fact is this year he's been very reliable and doesn't put his teammates in dangerous situations like Kaye does.

I think Herdman knows that too which is why Kaye is no longer a starter for Canada.

I'm not sure its dislike vs both having limited roles. Kaye and Piette are not starters for Canada. Sam has always been a strong tackler and his passing has definitely improved. Where he falls short is  playing through a high press. He's not good on the ball and given his build he does not go down or can fake it when he gets contact from opposing players. The only way for Piette to deal with this is to release the ball almost as soon as he gets it..not an easy ask.  Staq, Atiba, Oso and even Kaye are able to play through a high press. Sam definitely has his role on the squad  as a shut down defender but it's late in the game when we need to preserve a result. 

[Macksam]

4 hours ago, Sal333 said:

Have you watched him play recently.

 

3 hours ago, P-O said:

I own a Roy Keane jersey. It would be absurd to waste my time answering this.

Alright, alright, the comparison wasn't sound. Anyhow, we could always use a Roy Keane type on our team. 

[P-O]

On this I will agree.

My objective with my message was that the starting 11 is pretty much set.

We have 1 spot left and it is the holding midfielder alongside Eustachio at the moment.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

I get to see MAK less than most but I would say we would miss the basic physicality he brings. We have tireless midfielders with good engines, who can make a pass but they don't have the high percentile pace and can potentially get bullied.

Hutchinson provides some of that but there are obvious questions there as well.

[Corazon]

Hard to defend MAK's recent play but another important thing to note is that Eustaquio has said how much he loves playing alongside MAK and how much ground he covers beside him.  Take what you will from that but one thing is for certain and it is that Eustaquio will be starting if healthy.  Recently we've been playing with only two central midfielders and I don't think Piette has the skill to play in two man midfield nor do I do think Osorio covers the ground in a two man midfield.  With Atiba battling fitness, there might not be many other choices.

Playing with a 3 man midfield makes a big difference as I believe all our midfielders have their roles in that formation.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Corazon

[The Beaver 2.0]

Kaye still showed a lot of rust in the last game, but he was more lively than the previous game.  I know he doesn't have much time to shake the rust--and then he'll be without regular minutes until end of November--but he can still get up to a higher level before TFC plays its last match.  

What is Herdman going to do to keep all our MLS guys sharp?  At minimum they should be scrimmaging CSL teams, or something.  

Yup, we have more depth than we've had in forever, but we're still not especially deep.  

[An Observer]

I thought he was better with TFC today and has regained a lot of match fitness. Nothing exceptional but did make a few decent passes and didn’t lose the ball or give it away needlessly. Something to build on over the next 4 matches before his break before Qatar 

Edited September 18, 2022 by An Observer

[DeRo_Is_King]

8 hours ago, An Observer said:

I thought he was better with TFC today and has regained a lot of match fitness. Nothing exceptional but did make a few decent passes and didn’t lose the ball or give it away needlessly. Something to build on over the next 4 matches before his break before Qatar 

That's good to hear. Couldn't watch the game, but I was worried about this since TFC got smoked. What a terrible season. 

[Cadeau]

9 hours ago, An Observer said:

I thought he was better with TFC today and has regained a lot of match fitness. Nothing exceptional but did make a few decent passes and didn’t lose the ball or give it away needlessly. Something to build on over the next 4 matches before his break before Qatar 

That was my thought too, how much more solid and reliable MAK was compared to last week especially.

[jonovision]

2 hours ago, Cadeau said:

That was my thought too, how much more solid and reliable MAK was compared to last week especially.

It seems MAK is, understandably, still regaining form and fitness, game by game. Even within yesterday's match, he was better during his last 20 minutes in the second half than he was at the beginning of the game. At his current level he is not good enough to make a big contribution at the WC, but returning from an injury while integrating into a new team that is obviously dysfunctional is not a good way to show your best self. I expect him to be back to normal by November.

[Wasp]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:19 AM, Sal333 said:

If it was a choice between Piette or Kaye it would be Piette 11 times out of 10. (Apologies to Spinal Tap)

Agreed. Piette is so underrated, I think because he went from a prospect in Europe to MLS so people don't rate him. He's a key starter on an MLS Cup contender. A beast of a ball-winner in the midfield who has drastically improved his distribution over the past couple of years.

I think Kaye has more hype because he still has a bit of that "potential" tag on him, but he's the same age as Piette and has had a shorter and worse career than Piette at the same level. If Piette was like 2 inches taller people would be raving about him, I swear.

Not trying to bash Kaye but at this point he kind of is what he is - a 27-year old journeyman MLS starter who struggles to stay healthy. I hope he can recover and get back into form but the days of having him penciled in as a CANMT starter are likely over at this point. There are just better options at that position right now, with Piette being one of them.

Edited September 18, 2022 by Wasp

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

He certainly, from what I have seen, needs to be there.  My concern would be - do we  get bullied at all starting Piette and Eustaquio in the centre of the park

Dendonker and Onana (who unfortunately for me today is starting find his feet in the Premier League) are just plain bigger if Belgium decides to play one of them there.

Kovačić is not overly tall but plays big and as fast.

West ham were linked with Sofyan Amrabat of Morocco at one point and he looked big and physical in highlights.

Just wondering people's thoughts.

Edited September 18, 2022 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[Kadenge]

It was a  few seasons ago but   Kaye was an MLS all star  at LAFC and had a couple of very strong seasons there. He just needs to get some of that form back again.