Milan Borjan

[Big_M]

perfect time for zvezda to transition to a new #1 as they won the league by over 20 points and borjan turning 36

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

He was told over the phone after leaving on vacation and he is understandably pissed off and feels disrespected:

https://makfax.com.mk/sport/borjan-tazhen-i-razocharan-ne-go-zasluzhiv-ova/

[king1010]

So odd 

[Kadenge]

Milan was massive for us during WCQ and we are fortunate he decided to rep Canada, but watching Bono at the WC and for Sevilla vs Roma makes you wonder what could have been. Is there a better keeper when a game goes to PKs?

[Cicero]

I don't remember the details, but wasn't there some dispute last season about wages etc. that Borjan was involved in? Maybe this is payback in some way. Pure speculation on my part. Also, though he still has family in Hamilton, I doubt he views it as a the place he will come 'home' to. He only lived here for five years and his wife is Serbian.

[InglewoodJack]

10 minutes ago, Cicero said:

I don't remember the details, but wasn't there some dispute last season about wages etc. that Borjan was involved in? Maybe this is payback in some way. Pure speculation on my part. Also, though he still has family in Hamilton, I doubt he views it as a the place he will come 'home' to. He only lived here for five years and his wife is Serbian.

I genuinely don’t know where, if he only considers one place, home, but he certainly looked like a hometown boy last time we played at Tim Hortons field. His parents still live there. I assume he lives in Belgrade full time but he clearly feels connected to Hamilton. If he does choose to go the MLS route, it would make sense to just move on down to Forge for his very last season, a few years down the line, if he’s already here. Feels more likely than for him to go to some other team in Serbia. 

[The Real Marc]

Love the guy, but an aging, highly-paid, sometimes-goof-prone keeper on a team that came in last in a weakish group in the Europa league? Yeah, I get it - particularly from a new manager wanting to stamp his authority (previously of a club that knocked them out of Champions League qualifying, no less). I'd prefer the new coach make a u-turn but after 300 odd appearances it might be time to move on - hopefully to another starting position, or if not possible to a last pay-day in the Middle East.

Edited June 6, 2023 by The Real Marc

[Shway]

He has a contract till 2026 that I think he'll let ride out or be compensated to leave.
It's going to be hard to give a 35yo more than a 2yr contract anywhere, with the guarantees of being a starter.

[VinceA]

I could see him getting loaned out to another club in Serbia or Eastern Europe.

 

edit: The silver lining here is that if he does stay at Red Star and is a backup that that should end his time as Canada's #1.

Edited June 6, 2023 by VinceA

[johnyb]

He lives very well in Serbia. I doubt he would consider moving to CPL with what his salary would be. It was a few years ago but Milan and his home were featured in Serbia's equivalent to "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"

[VinceA]

 

Have to figure this ends his time as our #1. Sirois, St. Clair and are both are a higher level.

[InglewoodJack]

8 minutes ago, VinceA said:

 

Have to figure this ends his time as our #1. Sirois, St. Clair and are both are a higher level.

I don’t think it does, which just speaks to our sad state of keeper depth- Bratislava still plays Europa and have come off 5 straight league titles. 
 

On that note though, strange to think about, but there’s a distinct possibility that Sirois ends the MLS season as Canada’s #2. If Crepeau isn’t full form and St. Clair remains one of the worst (this season) keepers in MLS, I mean… distinct possibility we go to Copa America with Sirois/Crepeau/McGill which is not ideal, even though it’s looking more and more like Sirois might actually have an extra gear in him.

Edited June 14, 2023 by InglewoodJack

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, InglewoodJack said:

I don’t think it does, which just speaks to our sad state of keeper depth- Bratislava still plays Europa and have come off 5 straight league titles. 
 

On that note though, strange to think about, but there’s a distinct possibility that Sirois ends the MLS season as Canada’s #2. If Crepeau isn’t full form and St. Clair remains one of the worst (this season) keepers in MLS, I mean… distinct possibility we go to Copa America with Sirois/Crepeau/McGill which is not ideal, even though it’s looking more and more like Sirois might actually have an extra gear in him.

If he continues I want Herdman's head then. The summer will be over and it's time to move on. Borjan was at his worst at the WC and I don't really feel like seeing that anymore after this summer.

[Corazon]

I just don't think we have a goalie that is currently going to be better than Borjan but the slight level in drop does concern me.  I'd feel a little bit better if we had a healthy Crepeau but even still I'm not sure I'd take him over Borjan.  St. Clair has been inconsistent the last couple of years.  We've hyped Hasal, Pantemis & Breza over the years but I think we can all agree none are up to the level we want for our program (I think Breza has the tools but hasn't figured it out).  I will say that I have been impressed with Sirois this season and I like where he is trending but I am also cautious because Hasal & Pantemis had good early runs to start their MLS careers.  I am intrigued by McGill and like his inclusion in the squad but until he actually starts getting reps as a premier league backup (or championship loan) he likely doesn't play for us.

Borjan has his brain farts but with Crepeau out, are we confident that McGill, Sirois or St Clair can step up right away?  I'd be okay with giving the opportunity to St Clair but I don't think it would be as easy as a transition as we think.  If we go with an A/B team for the Gold Cup, it's the perfect time to give the minutes to St Clair.

[InglewoodJack]

11 minutes ago, VinceA said:

If he continues I want Herdman's head then. The summer will be over and it's time to move on. Borjan was at his worst at the WC and I don't really feel like seeing that anymore after this summer.

Oh not even saying that as a Borjan defence, just that if not him, then it’s not like we’re getting much more from our other guys. If Crepeau was at 100%, I’d give him the start, but after him we have Sirois who came out of nowhere, St. Clair who is playing terribly, a Brighton youth prospect and James Pantemis who if i speak on I will be in trouble.

I was big on picking McGill over Sirois, but the more I think about it, Sirois might be the second best Canadian keeper in the world right now, and depending on how Borjan looks in Bratislava… he might be our best. Jesus.

[narduch]

22 minutes ago, VinceA said:

If he continues I want Herdman's head then. The summer will be over and it's time to move on. Borjan was at his worst at the WC and I don't really feel like seeing that anymore after this summer.

Not sure what you are talking about.

Borjan is still the clear #1.

Our GK depth is actually one area where I am the most worried.

The only thing that may change my mind is if Crepeau can come back and get back to his previous high form. But for some reason his return keeps getting delayed more and more. I wonder if his recovery is not going good. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by narduch

[Corazon]

6 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Oh not even saying that as a Borjan defence, just that if not him, then it’s not like we’re getting much more from our other guys. If Crepeau was at 100%, I’d give him the start, but after him we have Sirois who came out of nowhere, St. Clair who is playing terribly, a Brighton youth prospect and James Pantemis who if i speak on I will be in trouble.

I was big on picking McGill over Sirois, but the more I think about it, Sirois might be the second best Canadian keeper in the world right now, and depending on how Borjan looks in Bratislava… he might be our best. Jesus.

This is exactly why I posted what I did above.  Sirois is definitely our next best Canadian keeper in the world right now that is healthy.  Sure, I'd give St Clair the benefit of the doubt given he's been impressive in stints over the past several years in MLS but with Crepeau out, Sirois is our next best available keeper right now.  And he was on no one's top 5-7 Canadian keepers only 3 months ago.

[VinceA]

8 minutes ago, Corazon said:

I just don't think we have a goalie that is currently going to be better than Borjan but the slight level in drop does concern me.  I'd feel a little bit better if we had a healthy Crepeau but even still I'm not sure I'd take him over Borjan.  St. Clair has been inconsistent the last couple of years.  We've hyped Hasal, Pantemis & Breza over the years but I think we can all agree none are up to the level we want for our program (I think Breza has the tools but hasn't figured it out).  I will say that I have been impressed with Sirois this season and I like where he is trending but I am also cautious because Hasal & Pantemis had good early runs to start their MLS careers.  I am intrigued by McGill and like his inclusion in the squad but until he actually starts getting reps as a premier league backup (or championship loan) he likely doesn't play for us.

Borjan has his brain farts but with Crepeau out, are we confident that McGill, Sirois or St Clair can step up right away?  I'd be okay with giving the opportunity to St Clair but I don't think it would be as easy as a transition as we think.  If we go with an A/B team for the Gold Cup, it's the perfect time to give the minutes to St Clair.

My thing with Borjan is his decline is two-fold. the Superliga has become uncompetitive with red star dominating and Partizan being a distant #2 like Rangers are with Celtic at the moment. We've seen when Red Star get into Europe they get clattered because they forgot what real competition looks like. Borjan winning every game and making maybe 2 saves a game if that wasn't going to prepare him for the world's best. Then you have the fact he ain't getting any younger and you get what we got at the WC.

[VinceA]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

Not sure what you are talking about.

Borjan is still the clear #1.

Our GK depth is actually one area where I am the most worried.

The only thing that may change my mind is if Crepeau can come back and get back to his previous high form. But for some reason his return keeps getting delayed more and more. I wonder if his recovery is not going good. 

I mean at some point we'l' have to go through GK growing pains. Might as well be now with no WCQ on the horizon.

[Corazon]

2 minutes ago, VinceA said:

My thing with Borjan is his decline is two-fold. the Superliga has become uncompetitive with red star dominating and Partizan being a distant #2 like Rangers are with Celtic at the moment. We've seen when Red Star get into Europe they get clattered because they forgot what real competition looks like. Borjan winning every game and making maybe 2 saves a game if that wasn't going to prepare him for the world's best. Then you have the fact he ain't getting any younger and you get what we got at the WC.

I 100% agree with the competition.  If we had the starting goalie for Rangers or Celtic, he would certainly be our # 1 or in contention for it though.  Red Star have been clattered in Champions League but to be fair, those were some of his best games where the games could have been double if not for him.

FWIW Dayne St Clair averages only 2.375 saves per game this season at 64.4% save percentage which I'd be shocked if Borjan was below.

 

[InglewoodJack]

5 minutes ago, Corazon said:

This is exactly why I posted what I did above.  Sirois is definitely our next best Canadian keeper in the world right now that is healthy.  Sure, I'd give St Clair the benefit of the doubt given he's been impressive in stints over the past several years in MLS but with Crepeau out, Sirois is our next best available keeper right now.  And he was on no one's top 5-7 Canadian keepers only 3 months ago.

Yeah, we've been able to ignore our glaringly shallow keeper pool because Borjan is an icon and also he's good enough to sleepwalk through a Red Star title and also be pretty effective in Concacaf- he looked bad at the world cup, but he was playing some of the best players in the world, so we can ignore that too. I guess the silver lining is that it's anyone's game right now and someone might sneak in and become a really good keeper. Like you said, no one rated Sirois a few months ago but after his performances against Vancouver and Minnesota... I'm starting to see the vision. You have McGill who is a highly rated question mark, you have Breza who everyone lost faith in, but if he does go to Serie B next year, if he does play well, where does that place him? Surely Serie B is at least in the same ~level as Slovakia and MLS, especially if he's one of the league's better keepers. Then there's Goodman who is such a longshot, but you never know.

 

Also, something to consider is that Bratislava is playing Champions League this year, and their first match will be on July 11th, first round. Assuming (big if) we make the knockout tournament, that starts on July 9th, so basically zero chance Borjan plays the Gold Cup, if we thought he'd stay around for both tournaments.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, VinceA said:

 

Have to figure this ends his time as our #1. Sirois, St. Clair and are both are a higher level.

I don't think any of them are even close to Borjan. We have one keeper proven to be a strong rival, Crepeau, who helped us get to Qatar. The rest are a major step down. 

I think Borjan was at half a million euros at Red Star, leaving what you may get under the table aside. So if they clearly told him he was out, he may have asked for a loan. I doubt Slovan would pay that salary to him, but if they are picking up 50-70% of the salary and his home club the rest, then the deal is alright.

They are in the First Qualifying Round of Champions League, seeded high, that round goes 2nd and 3rd week of July. I also see that if they win that tie, which is highly possible, they go into the next round seeded as well, last week of July, 2nd leg Aug 1+2.

As mentioned, that makes it fairly clear now that we are going to the Gold Cup without Borjan. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[narduch]

So it sounds like St. Clair is going to get a major chance to show off at the Gold Cup.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 minute ago, narduch said:

So it sounds like St. Clair is going to get a major chance to show off at the Gold Cup.

Time for him to up his game. I am not just talking about his MLS club play, which obviously needs to be improved. When he played that friendly for us vs. Bahrein. He punched when he needed to catch, was not trapping cleanly. He is a far less clean stopper than Crepeau, who has surer hands. You don't get the sense that he commands his box or is a leader in the back. The guy is 26. If he doesn't wake up someone will wizz past him into the starting spot for 2026.

[sebdeserio]

I don't know if any of Crépeau, St. Clair and Sirois would've singlehandedly been at fault for a loss like Borjan against Morocco. He might have higher highs like during the WCQ campaign but his lows are LOW and reactions don't get better with age. I think the younger keepers should feel pretty motivated to have a good showing at the Gold Cup since the #1 spot should be up for grabs after the NL.