Milan Borjan

[Markoaleks]

I watched the entire Zvezda game- the first goal was not ideal but he made several good saves and overall played well with good distribution. The pitch was bad and the opponent did not play a single Moldovan national ( TFC v 2.0 LOL).   Memories are short in sport- Milan was the teams inspirational leader after the most recent Haiti games ( and played well in those) and will deserve to lose the gloves only based on Canada camp performance or games- not based on a result like yesterday in that match IMO

 

[Ansem]

Herdman will live and die with Borjan in this cycle.

2026 is where we'll have a new #1, most likely Crepeau

[ag futbol]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

Herdman will live and die with Borjan in this cycle.

2026 is where we'll have a new #1, most likely Crepeau

uggh I hope not. 
 

if he starts so be it but he’s got to play well. I would not “ride it out” if we see the reoccurrence mental errors. Crepeau played very well in the gold cup and is capable of stepping in right away. 
 

Heck, in my books Crepeau is the better choice now. But I can understand given where Borjan plays his football if we want to continue to give him a crack as #1

 

[VinceA]

12 minutes ago, ag futbol said:

uggh I hope not. 
 

if he starts so be it but he’s got to play well. I would not “ride it out” if we see the reoccurrence mental errors. Crepeau played very well in the gold cup and is capable of stepping in right away. 
 

Heck, in my books Crepeau is the better choice now. But I can understand given where Borjan plays his football if we want to continue to give him a crack as #1

 

I mean looking at the leagues they play in Crepeau plays in a better league. People just get hung up on the fact Red Star has been in Champions league even though that makes up a very low number of games in RS' season.

[Ansem]

12 minutes ago, VinceA said:

I mean looking at the leagues they play in Crepeau plays in a better league. People just get hung up on the fact Red Star has been in Champions league even though that makes up a very low number of games in RS' season.

Playing European football yearly matters - there's no ignoring that

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, Ansem said:

Playing European football yearly matters - there's no ignoring that

Sure, but Borjan is still mistake-prone and that doesn't seem to be going away. My theory is that he is complacent at Red Star and really why wouldn't he be, they are by far the best team in the league and Partizan is firmly second best. 

I'm worried that he will hit us hard with these mistakes he has in him in what will be the most important matches Canada has played since the road to 1986.

I don't mind him being #1 but he isn't infallible. And Crepeau has been saving our bacon.

[Ruffian]

12 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Playing European football yearly matters - there's no ignoring that

Playing in a quality league matters more.

[Ansem]

3 minutes ago, Ruffian said:

Playing in a quality league matters more.

Obviously not according to Herdman - that's my point

[BearcatSA]

How well you play and how well the rest of the team alongside you plays when you are wearing a Canada shirt matters the most.

It's a good battle for the No. 1 gloves but I hope it doesn't become a flip flop between starters.  

 

[archer21]

I think it’s a tough decision because I’d honestly say Crepeau looks better in goal. The problem is Borjan has been a leader with the team for so long, it would be pretty harsh to bench him when we finally make the final round of WCQ. Who knows what that would do to team chemistry. I think we probably stick with Borjan, even though I probably prefer Crepeau.

[Ansem]

Let's be honest here - not many watches 90 minutes of Borjan weekly outside of European games and he's looked good against much bigger clubs.

I get that people watch a much larger sample of MLS and Crepeau but it's clear that Herdman views Borjan as his #1 until something crazy happens for this cycle. I trust that the National team staff do watch large samples of Borjan to justify their decision to stick with him.

Overall, Borjan has been solid for us, doesn't mean I don't like Crepeau but who has the "experience" in high stake games out of the 2? Borjan - I think Herdman relies heavily on his keeper to be able to stay strong against much stronger teams like Mexico and the US and not collapses especially in upcoming WCQ campaign - just like he has to do in Europe when he faced the likes of PSG and Liverpool just to name those.

Experience matters

Edited August 11, 2021 by Ansem

[Bison44]

I would agree with what Ansem is saying....but who just played big high pressure games against Mexico and the States??  Crepeau is closing that "high level" experience gap.  And the top teams in MLS arent CHampions league, but day in day out Crepeau is facing stiffer competition, tougher games than Borjan.  If the Zombie was injured I dont think it would sink our chances in WCQ, Crepeau has shown he is damn near a 1B, not really a 2 or 3 keeper (some were pencilling in StClair as 2).  

[PiedPilko]

How would Red Star compare to MLS at this stage, having just lost to that team from Moldova? I sorta bought that Borjan was playing at a higher level but like... would some GK playing for Dundalk or Qarabag be a lock in our 11 since they just played in Europa League?

Edited August 11, 2021 by PiedPilko

[BearcatSA]

28 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

I would agree with what Ansem is saying....but who just played big high pressure games against Mexico and the States??  Crepeau is closing that "high level" experience gap.  And the top teams in MLS arent CHampions league, but day in day out Crepeau is facing stiffer competition, tougher games than Borjan.  If the Zombie was injured I dont think it would sink our chances in WCQ, Crepeau has shown he is damn near a 1B, not really a 2 or 3 keeper (some were pencilling in StClair as 2).  

Crepeau has continued to build on that great knack of coming up with a big stop at a key moment, be it at club and now with country.  His decision making and executing of plays with the ball at his feet have also improved.  He has definitely pushed to a 1B, for now.

Edited August 11, 2021 by BearcatSA

[VinceA]

51 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Let's be honest here - not many watches 90 minutes of Borjan weekly outside of European games and he's looked good against much bigger clubs.

I get that people watch a much larger sample of MLS and Crepeau but it's clear that Herdman views Borjan as his #1 until something crazy happens for this cycle. I trust that the National team staff do watch large samples of Borjan to justify their decision to stick with him.

Overall, Borjan has been solid for us, doesn't mean I don't like Crepeau but who has the "experience" in high stake games out of the 2? Borjan - I think Herdman relies heavily on his keeper to be able to stay strong against much stronger teams like Mexico and the US and not collapses especially in upcoming WCQ campaign - just like he has to do in Europe when he faced the likes of PSG and Liverpool just to name those.

Experience matters

Borjan doesn't have a good record against top teams though. You're cherry picking results that Red Star gets here and there but overall they've gotten wallopped in CL and were pretty leaky in EL too. Also those games were like two years ago it is all about what you are doing for us lately.

 

Against good CONCACAF teams under Herdman, Borjan's record isn't much better. He backstopped the US game we won 2-0 but was also in net for the 4-1 loss, the 3-1 loss to Mexico and he was horrendous against Haiti in our 3-2 defeat.

I don't think there's much between them honestly.

[dyslexic nam]

Yeah, I tend to agree that Crepeau has pretty much closed the gap entirely.  Only Herman knows who will be #1 next month but I am fine with either.  Crepeau looked really good at the GC - and there is a level of security when he is playing the ball that I just don’t get from Milan.  Whether dwarves or not, the latter is a bit like Henry when it comes to making me nervous.  
 

————

I was going edit my post to clear up the “dwarves” typo and then I realized that I have no idea what I was trying to say.  Maybe “deserved”…?  Anyway, now I am just going to leave it.  

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by dyslexic nam

[The Real Marc]

It's tough. Borjan is a more obvious leader than Crépeau.

He certainly has more experience - particularly when playing in challenging environments.

While that was a big crowd at the Mexico game, tthey'll face worse playing in Central America (even if the bags of pee and batteries stories are not longer a part of the experience.)

But those Borjan brainfarts could make the difference between qualifying or not.

[El Hombre]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

Let's be honest here - not many watches 90 minutes of Borjan weekly outside of European games and he's looked good against much bigger clubs.

I get that people watch a much larger sample of MLS and Crepeau but it's clear that Herdman views Borjan as his #1 until something crazy happens for this cycle. I trust that the National team staff do watch large samples of Borjan to justify their decision to stick with him.

Overall, Borjan has been solid for us, doesn't mean I don't like Crepeau but who has the "experience" in high stake games out of the 2? Borjan - I think Herdman relies heavily on his keeper to be able to stay strong against much stronger teams like Mexico and the US and not collapses especially in upcoming WCQ campaign - just like he has to do in Europe when he faced the likes of PSG and Liverpool just to name those.

Experience matters

What's interesting is that watching a lot of their games usually has the opposite effect for the casual fan.  Generally the players who we don't see very often get relatively positive reviews while those we do see regularly trend the opposite way because you get more opportunity to see both the good and the bad in their games.

[BearcatSA]

55 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

What's interesting is that watching a lot of their games usually has the opposite effect for the casual fan.  Generally the players who we don't see very often get relatively positive reviews while those we do see regularly trend the opposite way because you get more opportunity to see both the good and the bad in their games.

I agree but I would add that you get the classic "see what you wanna see" to validate your perspective, regardless of how often you've seen that player in action.

[JuicyHam]

To me the obvious choice is still Borjan BUT as soon as he makes one his braindead mistakes we know that Crepeau is more than ready and willing to step in and play very well for us. There should 100% be some healthy competition for the number 1 spot even if I still think Milan is our guy for now 

[TOcanadafan]

I’m just glad we have two goalies we are more or less confident in at the moment.  Borjan seemed to eat up the leadership responsibilities bestowed to him during the June Qualifiers, and although I’d actually lean towards Crepeau based on his stellar Gold Cup performance that came with no hint of bonehead Borjan mistakes, as well as playing in a more competitive league, I have a feeling Borjan will get the nod due to the experience factor.

[costarg]

Only thing holding back Crepeau is 3-4 inches, he'd already be in a better league/team if he was the ideal 6'3" that teams are looking for.  He's got all the other requirements met for a top keeper.

[SpecialK]

this is a what if scenario, but looking at everything. I am kinda worried about max. Borjan is still around doing his thing. Max is in Vancouver, the team is a mid level team right now, I don’t have any trust in them. You have young talented GK St.Clair, Breza ( who I believe will get some games coming up ), Pantemis who CSA loves ( for some reason, I don’t see it), plus you got the Italian GKs who could get hot and sign at huge clubs. In my view Max better ether set up his game even more and win with Vancouver or get the hell out of there and with a better team, because I can see him getting passed. If Breza gets hot, he’s going back to Bologna. If I was a betting man he’s gonna be our future #1

[VinceA]

2 minutes ago, SpecialK said:

this is a what if scenario, but looking at everything. I am kinda worried about max. Borjan is still around doing his thing. Max is in Vancouver, the team is a mid level team right now, I don’t have any trust in them. You have young talented GK St.Clair, Breza ( who I believe will get some games coming up ), Pantemis who CSA loves ( for some reason, I don’t see it), plus you got the Italian GKs who could get hot and sign at huge clubs. In my view Max better ether set up his game even more and win with Vancouver or get the hell out of there and with a better team, because I can see him getting passed. If Breza gets hot, he’s going back to Bologna. If I was a betting man he’s gonna be our future #1

You're being really optimistic. I have no faith in Italian clubs in giving chances to our guys, they haven't so far. The last hot shot GK we had in Italy was Busti and he's now like in Serie Z.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Borjan performed in the important matches that we had to win to get to the next step in WC qualifying. 

Crepeau had a good few games in a tournament that was not overly important for our World Cup aspirations and where most fans seem to think losing was fine. 

The level of pressure was totally different, in one set of matches everything was on the line, in the other set, hardly anything. 

I agree Crepeau made his case, and he showed no fissures; but he's on one of the worst teams in MLS with no aspirations to win anything and apparently no demand from the Caps FO to do so either.

Borjan all the way.