Toledo For Ref of the Year? And Other MLS Award Nominees

[Seen]

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, I must have missed it.

Take a look at the award nominees. I was shocked to see Toledo as a candidate for Ref of the Year, and Henry as newcomer of the year. What a joke.

Here's a complete look at the finalists:
Goalkeeper of the Year: Kevin Hartman (FC Dallas)
Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Fair Play:
CJ Brown (Chicago Fire)
Sebastian Le Toux (Philadelphia Union)
Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year:
Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)
Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards)
Seth Stammler (New York Red Bulls)
Referee of the Year:
Mark Geiger
Kevin Stott
Baldomero Toledo
Comeback Player of the Year:
Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
Bobby Convey (San Jose Earthquakes)
Chris Albright (New York Red Bulls)
Defender of the Year:
Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake)
Nat Borchers (Real Salt Lake)
Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Rookie of the Year:
Andy Najar (D.C. United)
Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls)
Danny Mwanga (Philadelphia Union)
Coach of the Year:
Hans Backe (New York Red Bulls)
Schellas Hyndman (FC Dallas)
Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake)
Newcomer of the Year:
Joel Lindpere (New York Red Bulls)
Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Alvaro Saborio (Real Salt Lake)
MVP:
Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy)
David Ferreira (FC Dallas)
Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

[Carts]

Goalkeeper of the Year: Kevin Hartman (FC Dallas)
Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles Galaxy)


Farce number-1...
It's Goalkeeper of the Year - not best defensive team of the year.
Sure I am bias, but for Frei to be on a non-playoff team, giving up more shots than anyone, and to have the save % he does means he's in this group - not Frei's fault the team played poor defence...



Referee of the Year:
Mark Geiger
Kevin Stott
Baldomero Toledo

Farce number-2...
I mean, what are they trying to hide his complete incompetence by nominating him for this... He's shit. We know he's shit. They know he's shit. Every team fan forum calls him shit. Him being nominated - really shit!



Newcomer of the Year:
Joel Lindpere (New York Red Bulls)
Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Alvaro Saborio (Real Salt Lake)


Farce number-3...
Just rename this award 'Biggest MLS Signing of the Season'...
0-goals, 3-assists in 11-games. Yes, there's more to the game than these stats - but you'd expect more production from Mr. handball...
Wow, just wow...

Carts...

[Auzzy]

Wow! Toledo? Also I see that TFC is well represented on this list.... Couldn't we at least get on there for "most special goal celebration of the year"?

[Sweeper]

Agree 100% that Frei should have been on that list. They can't even give us a Humanitarian nomination.......

[anto7]

How comes they have goalie of the year and defender of the year but no midfield or forward awards?

[bgnewf]

Just so you all remember

Geiger reffed the season opener for us when we lost in Columbus.

Surprisingly Toledo reffed our win against Philadelphia at home and two draws away to KC and RSL. No losses or anything really egregious from him this season in our games.

Stott was the official in two TFC losses, one away to RSL and one at home to San Jose.

[Joe Kool]

Just so you all remember

Geiger reffed the season opener for us when we lost in Columbus.

Surprisingly Toledo reffed our win against Philadelphia at home and two draws away to KC and RSL. No losses or anything really egregious from him this season in our games.

Stott was the official in two TFC losses, one away to RSL and one at home to San Jose.

Whether we win or lose with them reffing the game doesn't mean shit though. TFC could have played well or sucked the big one in those games. Toledo is only friggin' ref that I know by name and there is a reason for that. He is shit. As soon as I hear he is the ref it ruins my day a bit because I know there will usually be a bunch of questionable calls. Luckily he seems to call the games equally shitty for both teams. But still, the game should be determined by the players and not for how much he wants to be in the spotlight that day.

[rocker]

well, Frei shouldn't be listed as a top three keeper.. he's not. He's good but no way is he one of the three best in this league.

I'd go with Rimando, Ricketts, and Coundoul. The problem with Fartman is he played 7-9 games fewer than those guys.

[razor787]

Are you kidding? Frei not only deserves to be nominated, he deserves the award. If it wasn't for Frei we would have had the same points, or worse, than DC United. Frei saved many games for us, the other guys may not have let in as many goals, but also took less shots.

[Whoop]

Here we go overrating our players. Again.

Just because he is the supporters man of the year (U-Sector and RPB) doesn't mean he's the best keeper in the league. He was essentially the man of the year because there were no other quality choices.

Frei is good but he's still not a top 3 keeper in the MLS.

[razor787]

Edit: sorry, my phone screwed up.

I definitely disagree with The 'Frei is overrated' opinions here. He is by far the most underrated keeper in the league. He faces more shots than any other keeper in the league, and makes crucial saves game in and game out. For a keeper as young ad him, his mistakes are very few, and can often fix it, with one of his quick reaction saves. He makes less mistakes, and more saves than almost, if not all other MLS goalies.

[Whoop]

Yeah he made the most saves but his save percentage could still be better.

[razor787]

His percentage is one of the highest in the league. And it's unfair to class someone solely based on percentage (although his is high) because someone can have a high percentage because the shots they face are easy shots. Players should be ranked based on what you see in game, not on paper.

[JonO]

I don't know enough about all the keepers in this league, but I am always impressed by Ricketts

[Whoop]

I agree.

First rule of thumb, you have to see the games. Believe me I know. ;)

And he's not a top 3 keeper in the MLS.

But in regards to paper though, his save percentage isn't one of the highest. He's 7th or 8th and there's a big dropoff from 6th to 7th.

[prizby]

I believe Stephan Frei was nominated for the most Saves of the Week out of all the keepers...

would have won the most too if the voting system wasn't flawed

[razor787]

I know last season he constantly had save of the week. Not sure about this year though.

[Carts]

I don't know enough about all the keepers in this league, but I am always impressed by Ricketts

Did Ricketts suffer an injury during the season at some point? Its weird, in the later part of the year, his mobility seemed to slow (off the line and horizontal movement), almost like he was nursing some pain...

I can't remember off hand if he was out...


Here we go overrating our players. Again.

Just because he is the supporters man of the year (U-Sector and RPB) doesn't mean he's the best keeper in the league. He was essentially the man of the year because there were no other quality choices.

Frei is good but he's still not a top 3 keeper in the MLS.

I watch a lot of the out of market games, and personally, I think Frei is closer to the top-3 than you give him credit...

We are bad at overrating guys here yes - but often in an attempt not to fall into that trap we're too hard on them as well...

There are plenty of times Frei has allowed a goal, or botched a play, because the play in front of him was either terrible - or simply head-scratching stupid! He has to scramble to recover b/c someone missed an assignment, f*cked up, or did completely the wrong thing...

It can make Frei look weaker than he is...

Many times you'll see him assess an attack, verbalize and point to coverage, and play the attack accordingly & properly - only to see the ball be touched into a yawning cage b/c a defender didn't track a simple run...

He can look flat-footed and stagnant during those plays, but any keeper would look like that...

Don't overrate him - but don't be too critical either...

He's not the best in the league - and would not win this award. But based on performance, simply based on play on the pitch in the circumstances he's under, I think he deserves a nomination for his play this season...

Carts...

[rocker]

Sure, you can make a case that Frei is near that bunch... but for anyone to say it's a "farce" that Frei isn't in the top 3 of a year-end keeper vote is exaggeration. Nobody but Frei's TFC fans would say such a thing.

[Carts]

Sure, you can make a case that Frei is near that bunch... but for anyone to say it's a "farce" that Frei isn't in the top 3 of a year-end keeper vote is exaggeration. Nobody but Frei's TFC fans would say such a thing.

It is in my opinion...

But I also think our two DP's are a farce...

Plenty agree, plenty disagree...

Carts...

[rocker]

It is in my opinion...

But I also think our two DP's are a farce...

Plenty agree, plenty disagree...

Carts...

"farce" is an extreme argument though.

If you wanted to say "I think Frei should be in the top 3", that's a VERY different argument than the award is a farce.

All three up for this award are very good MLS keepers according to the statistics (on pure GA average alone, they all are better than Frei). That very fact alone means the award is not a farce.

I think Frei is probably a top 6 or top 8 (at worst) keeper in this league. I don't feel particularly perturbed by him top being considered in the top 3 though.

[Globetrotter]

How many PK's has Frei stopped? 0?

LA and RSL keeper good choices.

[Whoop]

How many PK's has ANY TFC keeper stopped? LOL

[razor787]

PK's are 75% luck 25% skill. It's a big guessing game.

[Whoop]

Good keepers still stop a few.

[razor787]

I would rather have a keeper that is good at keeping the ball out during play, than a keeper lucky during a crapshoot

[Stryker]

I don't recall wanting to car bomb Toledo this season so he must have drastically improved over last.