Axel Desjardins

[narduch]

Leutwiler has fallen off the face of the earth. 

Don't think he's in the equation anymore 

[Bertuzzi44]

2 hours ago, BLennard said:

Played on the weekend and made his worst mistake yet by letting a soft ball between his legs, but played really well for the remainder of the game.

I wonder when the senior squad are going to call him up. Serie C is not the MLS, but he's the only one besides Sirois at the moment, getting regular game time from our u23 gks. And his stats have been fairly consistent throughout the last 2-3 seasons, even though he still has a lot to learn. Not one national call-up for him yet is kind of a joke honestly. 

After Borjan, Crepeau and St Clair, I think Axel is in the mix.

So that would put him at 4th at best on the depth chart. So no CMNT call-up yet I don't think is a "joke". Hopefully he keeps it up and forces himself up the depth chart.

[Jack1997]

I mean Borjan, Creapau, St.Clair, Pantemis, Sirois, McGill, Hasal even Breza are all higher than him right now, so no he’s no where near a call up at the moment.

[BLennard]

5 hours ago, Bigandy said:

He clearly isnt replacing borjan, crepeau or st clair. 

Then we have pantemis, sirious, Leutwiler, Breza, Thomas who all have more experience in higher levels of play. 

Then you can add the youngsters like mcgill, odunze, goodman etc who all arguably have a higher ceiling than desjardins. 

OMG haha didn't want to cause so much trouble. Just thought it was sad he's never considered in the mix. I know he's far from the top 3. I'm talking about 4th. I mean who cares about a ceiling if you're not actually playing? McGill is at the same age as Desjardins, and has about 40 professional games less. Sitting on a bench doesn't make you any better. I mean Desjardins has sat on a serie A bench too, 3 years ago... He's a 2000. He has more professional starts than everyone his age or younger than him, and is actually really good with the ball at his feet. The 'joke part' is not having had a call up even at younger levels. 

[BLennard]

2 hours ago, Jack1997 said:

I mean Borjan, Creapau, St.Clair, Pantemis, Sirois, McGill, Hasal even Breza are all higher than him right now, so no he’s no where near a call up at the moment.

The only ones I see clearly higher than him are the top 3. I've never seen McGill play, but I think Desjardins fits right in with these names.

[blueseeka]

I honestly enjoy these updates, whether or not he is ever involved in the CMNT. Its fun to follow all of these players through their Europe adventure

[Bison44]

I hate to even say it, as usually its just a grenade that starts an argument...but where would you rank series C, has to be below MLS, higher than CPL???   If they are calling Mcgill on potential why not Desjardins??  Either way I also enjoy  they updates on Axel as most of the time we get too focused on the guys playing right under our noses.  

[BLennard]

48 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

I hate to even say it, as usually its just a grenade that starts an argument...but where would you rank series C, has to be below MLS, higher than CPL???   If they are calling Mcgill on potential why not Desjardins??  Either way I also enjoy  they updates on Axel as most of the time we get too focused on the guys playing right under our noses.  

Definitely higher than CPL. Tactically and technically close to lower bottom MLS teams, but MLS do have better and more refined athletes. I think the biggest difference between Europe and North American leagues is the pressure to succeed, no matter the level. Soccer is a religion and everyone is fighting for the top or for survival. Fans demand a lot more. I feel that in MLS we see too often teams not really giving their all. Dayne has conceded 21 goals more than games, that in serie C is not good enough. One of Desjardins's cb is a premier league winner and one of his lb was playing for Morocco at the WC, and both of them are not good enough. So I think serie C is a good league to grow. You can't afford mistakes and playing with that kind of mentality is a good way to strengthen, especially as a gk.

[jdcyantsis]

59 minutes ago, BLennard said:

One of Desjardins's cb is a premier league winner and one of his lb was playing for Morocco at the WC, and both of them are not good enough. 

Sorry, Benaloune (who to be fair is 36 now and only played 4 games before going out on loan in January in the year Leicester won) and who? I went through their squad and neither of the two Morocco guys were named to the WC squad, let alone played, unless I'm missing someone

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

I hate to even say it, as usually its just a grenade that starts an argument...but where would you rank series C, has to be below MLS, higher than CPL???   If they are calling Mcgill on potential why not Desjardins??  Either way I also enjoy  they updates on Axel as most of the time we get too focused on the guys playing right under our noses.  

I love the updates as well.

I think its a matter of what potential we think they have. Mcgill is 3rd choice on a prem team and a youth english international. There's very few GK in 3rd division squads that can claim that sort of pedigree. If Axel had that sort of potential, why wouldnt a 2nd or 1st div team purchase him and loan him out to Serie C for minutes? Why has he never played for any canada teams in youth? 

The obvious answer is that his potential is not so incredibly high that hes a must have talent. This doesnt mean that he cant get to the CMNT level. However, we only have one spot available. Are we going to go after goodman, mcgill, odunze who all have been assessed by bigger teams and programs as having high potential, or do we go with desjardins who no one of pedigree has considered to have the potential to gamble on. 

I mean, the original post is talking about how desjardins let a ball roll through his legs..... If we let goodman go to nigeria because we pick a guy who lets a softie go through his legs, then I think we are doing a major disservice to our squad. 

[BLennard]

49 minutes ago, jdcyantsis said:

Sorry, Benaloune (who to be fair is 36 now and only played 4 games before going out on loan in January in the year Leicester won) and who? I went through their squad and neither of the two Morocco guys were named to the WC squad, let alone played, unless I'm missing someone

I just stated they weren't good enough. I was talking about Lazaar who has 19 international caps. Maybe I wasn't clear, but it wasn't for this WC. Look I'm not saying serie C is the best league in the world, it's just not as bad as people on here make it out to be. 

[BLennard]

45 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I mean, the original post is talking about how desjardins let a ball roll through his legs..... If we let goodman go to nigeria because we pick a guy who lets a softie go through his legs, then I think we are doing a major disservice to our squad. 

I'm not arguing about the abstract value that is potential. And if we disregarded gks for making one mistake, Borjan would be long gone lol. But he's the best we've ever had. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. And instead of calling players based on potential because they play for a AAA club, like they did with Busti for example, they should encourage hard working players. It's 3rd keeper. Nobody's playing a 3rd keeper.

 

[jdcyantsis]

5 minutes ago, BLennard said:

I just stated they weren't good enough. I was talking about Lazaar who has 19 international caps. Maybe I wasn't clear, but it wasn't for this WC. Look I'm not saying serie C is the best league in the world, it's just not as bad as people on here make it out to be. 

I wasn't making any points about the quality of league or players, just trying to figure out who you were talking about. Lazaar never played at a WC, he played in 3 WCQ matches in 2015/16. He wasn't part of the 2018 WC squad either.

[Bigandy]

23 minutes ago, BLennard said:

I'm not arguing about the abstract value that is potential. And if we disregarded gks for making one mistake, Borjan would be long gone lol. But he's the best we've ever had. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. And instead of calling players based on potential because they play for a AAA club, like they did with Busti for example, they should encourage hard working players. It's 3rd keeper. Nobody's playing a 3rd keeper.

 

For sure, mistakes is part of the learning process, but the type of mistakes, how often they occur, and at what level are important factors. Borjans making mistakes at the WC. Axel is making them in serie C. 
 

I dont think "hard working" can be a criteria for our CMNT. We are now at the point where we need quality. If a player is at the CMNT then they are either absurdly naturally talented or have worked incredibly hard. Mcgill didnt get the call up because hes lazy and has potential. He got the call up because he has potential and has obviously earned a spot on a premier league squad because of it. 

[Bison44]

59 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Why has he never played for any canada teams in youth? 

Yeah..I wouldnt give that much worry.  Larin, Johnston, St CLair, Lareya, Buchanon etc etc..plenty of our guys were overlooked or werent ready for the youth squads. I'm just a little gunshy from the juventus kid (Busti).  We all saw Juventus and assumed he there must be something there, like big clubs never have duds.  Here is a guy who is actually playing eh?  And those other guys you mentioned, are any of them actually committed to us or are they all in the "maybe" camps??  To tell you the truth throw them in a lineup and I wouldnt be able to ID any of them, but its wierd all the buzz goes to Goodman or Odunze etc.  

[Bigandy]

12 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Yeah..I wouldnt give that much worry.  Larin, Johnston, St CLair, Lareya, Buchanon etc etc..plenty of our guys were overlooked or werent ready for the youth squads. I'm just a little gunshy from the juventus kid (Busti).  We all saw Juventus and assumed he there must be something there, like big clubs never have duds.  Here is a guy who is actually playing eh?  And those other guys you mentioned, are any of them actually committed to us or are they all in the "maybe" camps??  To tell you the truth throw them in a lineup and I wouldnt be able to ID any of them, but its wierd all the buzz goes to Goodman or Odunze etc.  

I knew someone would pick that apart. If Desjardins had elite potential, he would have likely been discovered by any big club or called into a CMNT youth camp. At 23, I think we can assume its highly unlikely he has elite potential since hes playing serie C. 

Desjardins could obv turn into a Larin and make the jump into our team, but there is 0 evidence to suggest he has higher potential than players who have been scouted by premier league and national squads. There is also very little to suggest he is at a higher level than our other 3rd choice GK's. 

On the flipside, goodman and odunze have several national teams after them and are under contract with premier league teams who have a much better ability to predict elite potential compared to a serie C side. 

Of course, anything can happen and hes young and we've seen many prospects flame out etc. However, all the classic arguments about youth/potential don't really provide any evidence as to why axel deserves a call up. The only evidence reason to call him up is because he has about 30 games in serie C. Would we ever pick a 23 year old  striker playing serie C over a striker playing in MLS? Or a 23 year old cb playing serie C over a premier league and u20 england CB? Of course not. 

Desardins just isnt preforming at a high enough level to deserve a call up and isnt showing any signs of elite potential either.  

[longlugan]

1 hour ago, BLennard said:

I'm not arguing about the abstract value that is potential. And if we disregarded gks for making one mistake, Borjan would be long gone lol. But he's the best we've ever had. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. And instead of calling players based on potential because they play for a AAA club, like they did with Busti for example, they should encourage hard working players. It's 3rd keeper. Nobody's playing a 3rd keeper.

 

I agree with most of this but as far as Borjan being the best we've ever had...Craig Forrest may have something to say about that. He is far and away Canada's best ever keeper.

[InglewoodJack]

Goalies develop older, so he still my factor in by 2026, but I think that 3rd spot either needs to go to a very high potential guy, Tom McGill could conceivably be Brighton’s keeper some day, or just a vibes guy- funny enough, as he gets older, Borjan would be a great third stringer. Take the young guys under his wing, smoke cigs in the bathroom between halves, just keep the good vibes around the team. Don’t really see what Desjardins can provide. Plus, how likely is it for a keeper to climb the Italian pyramid? There are only so many Série A and B teams, Italy has a lot of excellent keepers and a lot of these teams have the budget to bring over international transfers. At least with Breza, he’s signed with Bologna, you can imagine a path where he climbs up the ladder and reaches their team, but with AD, he needs a heck of a mid career jump to get on our radar.

[rydermike]

Comparing a Div1 third keeper and a Div 3 starter isn't an easy comparison any which way. Here's an example of why. Julian Roloff (a German keeper) was the backup for Cavalry in the CPL. He got signed by a German Bundesliga team (Köln) to be their 4th string keeper on the first team in the Bundesliga. 

A keeper would probably rather be a starter in Div 2 than a clear #2 or 3 in Div 1. That's how Roloff was able to join a Bundesliga team from being a CPL backup (and we know the CPL is probably Div 4 Germany level at best). A good keeper doesn't want a 4th string job, so a lower level keeper gets it. 

I just bring that example up as it's a bit hard to compare a Desjardins who's a Div 3 starter with a Div 1 bench keeper. It's just a hard comparison because one has no play time. 

[InglewoodJack]

8 hours ago, rydermike said:

Comparing a Div1 third keeper and a Div 3 starter isn't an easy comparison any which way. Here's an example of why. Julian Roloff (a German keeper) was the backup for Cavalry in the CPL. He got signed by a German Bundesliga team (Köln) to be their 4th string keeper on the first team in the Bundesliga. 

A keeper would probably rather be a starter in Div 2 than a clear #2 or 3 in Div 1. That's how Roloff was able to join a Bundesliga team from being a CPL backup (and we know the CPL is probably Div 4 Germany level at best). A good keeper doesn't want a 4th string job, so a lower level keeper gets it. 

I just bring that example up as it's a bit hard to compare a Desjardins who's a Div 3 starter with a Div 1 bench keeper. It's just a hard comparison because one has no play time. 

I think it's less about comparing them and more about giving that third string spot to a player that has better potential to be a key player for canmnt. We're never, or we shouldn't, start a third string prem gk or a seire c keeper, but in mcgill's case, he has a shot of getting to the level we need our keepers to be at, and that path is much less clear for Desjardins.

If Roloff was a dual national, I have no doubts he would be at least in the conversation to take our 3rd GK slot for nations league, especially with crepeau out.

[CanadaFan123]

2 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

I think it's less about comparing them and more about giving that third string spot to a player that has better potential to be a key player for canmnt. We're never, or we shouldn't, start a third string prem gk or a seire c keeper, but in mcgill's case, he has a shot of getting to the level we need our keepers to be at, and that path is much less clear for Desjardins.

If Roloff was a dual national, I have no doubts he would be at least in the conversation to take our 3rd GK slot for nations league, especially with crepeau out.

I agree with everything except for your 2nd paragraph. Rollof was a backup in CPL. No chance he would be called. He’s a filler at his club. 

People I’ve spoken to think there’s something with McGill and that he has potential to land somewhere decent and be a 1st team keeper. 

[costarg]

On 4/5/2023 at 1:55 PM, Bison44 said:

but where would you rank series C, has to be below MLS, higher than CPL???   I enjoy  they updates on Axel as most of the time we get too focused on the guys playing right under our noses.  

The real question is where do you rank Serie C coaches and development vs MLS and CPL.  And sorry to say, but I put it way higher than only a few MLS teams. Real and good coaches are still seriously lacking in most MLS systems and academies.  

Several EU and South American players have stated they underrated the physical aspect of MLS, but have also said the automatisms and quickness that players learn and develop in EU are still lacking in MLS.

[costarg]

On 4/4/2023 at 8:58 PM, Jack1997 said:

I mean Borjan, Creapau, St.Clair, Pantemis, Sirois, McGill, Hasal even Breza are all higher than him right now, so no he’s no where near a call up at the moment.

As far as rating keepers goes, there is no one on this site (or at CANMNT) that seems to do a better job than BLennard.  I don't know him personally, but he knows his keepers and provides amazing info and progress on them.  If he says Axel is on the list, I trust him.

[narduch]

Novara will face Virtus Verona in the promotion playoffs on Sunday.

It's a convoluted format where 28 teams battle for 1 spot.

Desjardins appears to have won the starting job heading into the playoffs. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by narduch

[blueseeka]

28 teams for one spots. Thats crazy