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Landon Donovan


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Like Tim Howard, Dempsey,Mcbride , Altidore, Guzan and Friedel. I will give you Eddie Johnson.

 

Don't get sucked into an argument trying to defend Americans in the premiership. My initial reaction to his comment was the same, but to heck with it. If they don't want Donovan or think he can't cut it, I say he should go some where he is wanted. And maybe we should take Tim Howard with us.. :)

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Don't get sucked into an argument trying to defend Americans in the premiership. My initial reaction to his comment was the same, but to heck with it. If they don't want Donovan or think he can't cut it, I say he should go some where he is wanted. And maybe we should take Tim Howard with us.. :)

 

It is just scepticism and opinion mate, You see many far more recognised talented and better suited players have come to this league and totally flopped so in Donovans case people will be sceptical because it is alot tougher to adjust over here as the league is a million times ahead of the MLS and he is hardly a world class player who you would expect to make the grade.

 

I think it would be a good move as said he would add cover and who knows may have a decent impact here.

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It is just scepticism and opinion mate, You see many far more recognised talented and better suited players have come to this league and totally flopped so in Donovans case people will be sceptical because it is alot tougher to adjust over here as the league is a million times ahead of the MLS and he is hardly a world class player who you would expect to make the grade.

 

I think it would be a good move as said he would add cover and who knows may have a decent impact here.

 

While I think it is beyond obvious that the premiership is a top league and probably the very top league, to say that it is a million times ahead of the MLS is short sighted and reeks of prejudice. MLS is a 2nd tier league there is no doubt, but don't ruin your point by overstating. In addition, to say Donovan isn't world class.. what does that mean? He is certainly a very talented player and while I wouldn't argue he is a top 25 player by any stretch, I would argue he is a top 100 player. And really, how many of those does your side currently sport? That is a serious question not a slam. I'm not coming to your forum to troll.. Tim Howard is our #1 keeper so I pull for you guys against anyone outside of Fulham (and only because they've been a tad more American friendly).

 

If he can't perform for your team, assuming he becomes part of the club, then I will re-evaluate. But he has never really been given much change to succeed outside of the states because the MLS are loathe to part with him as he is the leagues biggest talent. And notice I said 'talent' not 'star' as that would obviously go to Beckham.

Edited by nbtc971
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While I think it is beyond obvious that the premiership is a top league and probably the very top league, to say that it is a million times ahead of the MLS is short sighted and reeks of prejudice. MLS is a 2nd tier league there is no doubt, but don't ruin your point by overstating. In addition, to say Donovan isn't world class.. what does that mean? He is certainly a very talented player and while I wouldn't argue he is a top 25 player by any stretch, I would argue he is a top 100 player. And really, how many of those does your side currently sport? That is a serious question not a slam. I'm not coming to your forum to troll.. Tim Howard is our #1 keeper so I pull for you guys against anyone outside of Fulham (and only because they've been a tad more American friendly).

 

If he can't perform for your team, assuming he becomes part of the club, then I will re-evaluate. But he has never really been given much change to succeed outside of the states because the MLS are loathe to part with him as he is the leagues biggest talent. And notice I said 'talent' not 'star' as that would obviously go to Beckham.

 

Talking about Donovan as a Top 100 player compared to anyone else in our side is a little premature, until he has played at the frantic pace of the premier league he is not able to be judged as such. I would say that if he was in the top 80% in our league he would be doing well, which would mean there is more than 100 ahead of him in our league alone. Arteta, Pienaar, Billy, Baines, Jagielka, Saha, Yakubu, the list goes on, if he was to be considered ahead of those I would be very pleased and would say sign him permanently!

 

As much as i'm not a massive fan of his image etc, Beckham may not show his true ability due to the fact that the players intelligence in the MLS is not at the level of the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Van Nistlerooy, Cantona, Ronalso, Zidane, all of whom have played with Beckham. With all due respect, playing Beckham in a team like LA Galaxy is like putting a racing driver in a family saloon and expecting him to break lap records. That is no offence to the MLS, Beckham took his big contract to go there to develop the game and should be fully committed to honouring it. Truth is, he may be nearing 35 but he is the best player you have had in that league since the likes of Pele, Best and Beckenbauer came over. If Donovan was to play alongside or against Beckham in a world 11 team, you would be in no doubt of Beckhams ability, you would possibly see Donovan struggle to match the mental sharpness.

 

I hope we do sign Donovan as he does look like he has the technical attributes to do well and I hope he does, however when you see players like Shevchenko, Veron etc struggle to adapt to our league I am more sceptical than optimistic.

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He has played at both positions, so that makes him a better deal. He can play where he is needed. He is a better midfielder than striker and his pace makes on counterattacks is good, look at the goal he scored against Brazil.

 

Honestly, that goal against Brazil is fantastic. Not a fan of what I've seen of his personality, but if this materializes, coming to a club as unique as Everton will humble the shit out of the golden child. He'll realize his ego takes a back seat and no one individual is bigger than The People's Club. Besides that, we don't have money and this option is financially viable for actual talent...talent eager to impress like people have mentioned. We'll see happens, but I can't say I'm opposed.

 

That is all

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same here

thought about it a little more...i'm actually pretty content not seeing any other everton kits around. if only for the reason that once douchebag frat boys started wearing everton kits I'd have to figure out a way to prove that i actually knew everton existed before donovan...maybe i don't want him here?

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so we only get him for two months won't it take him that long to get used to the game. We have saha yak and jo all fighting for one place I would much rather see a CB come in on loan. Why are we wasting our time chasing prima dona's like this guy.

 

It was this guy who moaned about beckham going on loan to Milan.

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While I think it is beyond obvious that the premiership is a top league and probably the very top league, to say that it is a million times ahead of the MLS is short sighted and reeks of prejudice. MLS is a 2nd tier league there is no doubt, but don't ruin your point by overstating. In addition, to say Donovan isn't world class.. what does that mean? He is certainly a very talented player and while I wouldn't argue he is a top 25 player by any stretch, I would argue he is a top 100 player. And really, how many of those does your side currently sport? That is a serious question not a slam. I'm not coming to your forum to troll.. Tim Howard is our #1 keeper so I pull for you guys against anyone outside of Fulham (and only because they've been a tad more American friendly).

 

If he can't perform for your team, assuming he becomes part of the club, then I will re-evaluate. But he has never really been given much change to succeed outside of the states because the MLS are loathe to part with him as he is the leagues biggest talent. And notice I said 'talent' not 'star' as that would obviously go to Beckham.

 

No prejudice involved and non intended at all just the obvious truth as you say and the fact was not overstated as i only mentioned it once! By saying he is not world class means simply that he may have talent but suggest he is up there with the best is a shortsighted view as the league and competition in the US is comparable to that of our Championship/League One and that was my point to why people are sceptical about him/others making the grade it has nothing to do with prejudice or belittling of your league just truth and to why people pre-judge players.

 

I hope he does come as we need the extra numbers and his pace would be a nice addition.

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"so we only get him for two months won't it take him that long to get used to the game. We have saha yak and jo all fighting for one place I would much rather see a CB come in on loan. Why are we wasting our time chasing prima dona's like this guy. "

 

as has already been said Yak will be at the African nations for much of that period.

 

Saha as we know is injury prone and with FA Cup and league fixtures to contend with I'm sure an extra player would be useful. I'm sure Howard will help him settle into the side and as long as he knows the offside rule and can put the ball in the net then that'd put him ahead of Jo!

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It was this guy who moaned about beckham going on loan to Milan.

 

No, he had a problem with Beckham extending his stay with Milan to the point where he missed half the MLS season. I think most would be upset about that.

 

i think im the UK hes more famous for winging about Beckham than his football talents.

i've not seen much of him, but he didn't cut it in Germany, im not sure he can here.

 

I never understood why Donovan went to the Bundesliga. At 5'8" that seems to be the absolute worse league he could try to make a splash in considering its a league of giants.

 

As for the rest, I won't argue about his talents or where he might fit in with Everton. If given the chance I think he'll prove a quite nice addition to your team. 2 months is kind of a short amount of time for him to prove himself at that level, but it's really all on him. Considering other Americans have been successful in your league and the fact that he is considered better than all of them, I don't see a reason he won't be able to succeed.

Edited by nbtc971
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I've never been his biggest fan, for the attitude etc. However, in the last two years he has really come a long way. I thought he did a decent job during his loan spell with Bayern last year, and would be interested to see how he'll fare here. He's got the pace and trickery to cause problems as long as he can cope with the physicality. Still wish we'd picked up Altidore on loan instead though.

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Don't get sucked into an argument trying to defend Americans in the premiership. My initial reaction to his comment was the same, but to heck with it. If they don't want Donovan or think he can't cut it, I say he should go some where he is wanted. And maybe we should take Tim Howard with us.. :)

 

I wasnt trying to provoke a reaction I was merely stating fact 9ish) :). Apart from GK's where the pace of the game doesnt matter too much, not many other have made it in the Premier League. I really rate Dempsey and think he is a solid player as to was Mcbride but as far as I know they didnt settle straight down into the PL in 2 months in the most hectic part of the season.

 

Players like Joe Max Moore, Johnson, Altidore and whoever else there may have been have all struggled to make an impact. In a similar fashion Russian players struggle to adapt to the pace, just look at Billy. Even Arshavin took around half a season to really settle in.

 

The pace of the Premiership is totally different to any league in the world. I hope Donovan does come here as I said in my original post, and I hope he can adapt in just 2/3 months but I certainly wont be holding my breath.

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As has been said, he is mostly famous here for his moaning about Beckham. But then again that is not really a great problem to many of us. We know he has good pace and is one of the best in the USA right now.

 

At Everton we have some experience of USA players. Brian McBride was one we had here for a time and he did very well indeed. he made the effort to be good enough, and indeed we tried to sign him permanently at the time. Apparently, there were soom legalities that prevented that.

 

We have Tim Howard who is one of the best Goalkeepers in the league in many people's opinions.

 

So really we are voicing out opinions and the concerns we have for somebody we simply are not sure of. Personally I think he will be a great addition to our squad, and if things go well maybe a permanent deal could occur at the end of the season. Who knows?

 

On the other hand he could flop badly, many players from many countries (even Brazil) have flopped in the EPL. Yet sometimes a real gem can be unearthed.

 

I think we should give him the chance. A couple of months is not a long time and if he cuts the mustard it will be great forus and for him, and also for the USA squad.

 

If he flops, no real harm done.

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Agreed, and to be totally honest I am not a fan of Beckham anyway.

 

Besides the USA football scene has come on a lot over recent years. I always said that when the powers that be in USA get their act together, there will be a hell of an improvement over there. They have the facilities and the ability to become a great footballing nation if they have the desire to do so.

 

Lets face it, USA has over 300 million people in it. England has about 35 million almost a ten to one ratio. If USA puts their mind to it there is no doubt a lot of future greats can appear from there.

 

So saying, it is still not a big sport there, so who knows what will happen.

 

For now though, Donovan could be the tip of the iceberg, or then he may not be. Lets just give the lad a chance, he has surely earned that much at least.

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I guess we'll see.. reports are its almost a done deal.

 

He was MVP of MLS this season and quite frankly had a better season in 08-09 where he led the league in goals scored. Problem was the Galaxy back 4 were quite porous and thus the team was very bad. Of course this season that just completed they were much improved and unlucky not to be league champions.

 

Anyway, you are going to get him at a nice price for a short stint so I don't see why anyone would complain unless they just see it as another chance to bash the American game.

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For now though, Donovan could be the tip of the iceberg, or then he may not be. Lets just give the lad a chance, he has surely earned that much at least.

 

Yeh I agree, youve got to be doing something right to be one of the best players in your league and country. Id love to see him come over here and do well.

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