Bendik is the best TFC keeper

[Prof]

The way Joe Bendyk is playing I would not be surprised if he is picked up by an EPL club. His positioning, ability to control the box in the air, shot blocking and especially his ability to come off his line and attack strikers on one on :drinking:one situations makes him in my eyes the best keeper we have ever had past and present. This includes Cesar.

[molenshtain]

I love Cesar and I love how much he's enjoyed this city, but I agree. Bendik is impressive as fuck and we could be using that $150, 000 on another midfielder.

[ag futbol]

He's useful for MLS but flawed for Europe. He really struggles with the distribution and that wouldn't wash in an elite league.

[Pookie]

He's only 25 though. To say his distribution is flawed as a sort of final prognosis means you give him 0% chance to develop in this development league.

I wouldn't say a Euro-dream is over by any stretch.

[Shway]

I like Bendik. But don't get me wrong, however he is a little bit of an embellisher with his saves ala Barthez

[ag futbol]

He's only 25 though. To say his distribution is flawed as a sort of final prognosis means you give him 0% chance to develop in this development league.

I wouldn't say a Euro-dream is over by any stretch.
First touch on the ball and confidence simply aren't there. You don't develop those sorts of things in your mid 20s.

[OgtheDim]

His reflexes are not good enough for EPL. He wouldn't be able to handle the speed.

He's a good MLS quality keeper. He has the potential to be up there with Rimando. But as we are seeing with Cesar, there is a big class difference in terms of distribution.

[jloome]

His reflexes are not good enough for EPL. He wouldn't be able to handle the speed.

He's a good MLS quality keeper. He has the potential to be up there with Rimando. But as we are seeing with Cesar, there is a big class difference in terms of distribution.

Have you put him to a stopwatch or something? He smothered three breakaways in the second half last night and each was a split second "go or don't" decision in which he committed and kept us in the game. If you're referring to reflex stops he should have made, I can only think of one shot he's miffed, period, since he took over from Frei. So it's kind of hard to judge whether he has the reflexes.

He's big, he's fast, he makes smart decisions. He sometimes gets over-zealous when kicking out and overshoots his target, but he's still very young by top keeper standards. I think he has real potential.

And Rimando is good enough to have played in most leagues; it's why he's the US' number three goal at the World Cup this summer. I don't think the premiership or La Liga level just because he's a reflex shot-stopper and not an all-rounder, but maybe. He's really quite excellent. I can't remember the last time he had a howler like the Vancouver game, and you can't say that of most keepers. Most have at least one per season.

[Villa TFC]

It's absolutely ludicrous to suggest that Bendik is better than Cesar (one is the starting goalkeeper for Brazil and has excelled in some of the best leagues in the world, the other hasn't even got into into the U.S. squad yet etc etc), but Bendick has enormous potential. His positioning, strength and reactions are excellent, and his distribution is steadily getting better. As others have pointed out, he's still very young for a goalkeeper and will hopefully only get better. Only time will tell if his full potential is realised, but I am certainly delighted that he wears our shirt. And as for Cesar's $150,000, I think there are two chances he'll be back here after the World Cup: slim and none.

[burlington Red]

First touch on the ball and confidence simply aren't there. You don't develop those sorts of things in your mid 20s.

Still young for a keeper. Look at De Gea at Utd, first season on crosses he was horrible, but after initailly working with Eric Steele and then Chris Woods this season, he's made huge progress in that dept. He's as good now as any keepr in PL, yet many were calling for him to be sold in his 1st season.
The level of coaching Bendyk would receive would take him up a level for sure. I don't see any issue with confidence- on the contrary actually- seems very confident to me anyway, his distribution can be dodgy at times, but there are PL keepers I'd say the same about also.

[Voodooman]

The amount of times Bendik is spelt wrong in various ways gave me a headache haha.

In other words, Bendik has played well, and he is clearly learning from Cesar. This season for Bendik to work with him will make wonders for his game, as Joe has already stated he is learning something new everyday working with Cesar. I would prefer Cesar and build up Bendik for next year if Cesar will not return after his loan.

[ag futbol]

Still young for a keeper. Look at De Gea at Utd, first season on crosses he was horrible, but after initailly working with Eric Steele and then Chris Woods this season, he's made huge progress in that dept. He's as good now as any keepr in PL, yet many were calling for him to be sold in his 1st season.
The level of coaching Bendyk would receive would take him up a level for sure. I don't see any issue with confidence- on the contrary actually- seems very confident to me anyway, his distribution can be dodgy at times, but there are PL keepers I'd say the same about also.
Respectfully disagree.

He's young in the sense that for a keeper, who depends so much on read of the game, he can pick patterns up faster and play smarter. But mechanics/basics? Those are very well cemented by this point.

He stares down his target on practically all his passes and you can see the amount of concentration it's taking him to complete any pass over 20 yards with woeful accuracy ( he was bottom decile in the league last year for distribution and very far under the average). This is not a very technical league, for him to work his way up to speed here and then improve it enough for Europe? Can never see that happening.

De Gea they focused but had plenty of raw materials to work with. Bednik simply doesn't have that luxury. He came from a culture where keepers don't usually spend as much time at other positions as youth players and has some really basic flaws.

[brad]

De Gea is not a great comparison. He was already an elite level keeper when he went to United. He'd been Athletico's number one the year before and had a great season. He struggled greatly with the physicality of the premier league when he joined. But he was a top quality shot stopper, and had fantastic distribution. He also had very good technical ball skills like most Spanish players do (there is a video of him and Chicharito floating around do shooting practice. De Gea is quality)

A better comparison of late development would be Howard. He was good in the MLS. Did okay at United but was not good enough. Went to Everton in his late 20's and developed into a much better keeper there.

[brad]

The other thing about De Gea - he is blessed with unflappable confidence and is not shaken one bit by his mistakes. United's goal keeping staff have talked about how incredible it is. Howard had a lot of confidence issues he could not shake at United (granted the pressure there is higher than Everton)

Let's not forget all the "Frei will be in Europe in two years" talk from years past.

[Derko]

I like Bendik. But don't get me wrong, however he is a little bit of an embellisher with his saves ala Barthez


Like Footballers are not embellishers, however, remember most quality Goalkeepers are about 27-30, if not older.

[T-boy]

Bendik is great.

Like Cesar too - but in a cap league, you have to use your money extremely wisely. I think the whole team would be better off with Bendik in goal and the money used on Cesar somewhere else in the field. Otherwise does anybody think that Cesar in goal is THAT much better than Bendik that we have to sacrifice $150k cap space from an outfield position?

[v00d00daddy]

Cesar is better in every respect technically speaking.

Add that he brings added confidence to his back line, can distribute like an outfield player and knows how to deal with pressure better than any keeper we've ever had and I'd say it's pretty clear that while Bendik is good and full of potential, there is little comparison.

As for cap space....money spent on the intangibles that a vet like cesar can bring is money well spent.

Especially when our back line is full of the inexperience and sheer lack of confidence that it is.

[burlington Red]

The other thing about De Gea - he is blessed with unflappable confidence and is not shaken one bit by his mistakes. United's goal keeping staff have talked about how incredible it is. Howard had a lot of confidence issues he could not shake at United (granted the pressure there is higher than Everton)

Let's not forget all the "Frei will be in Europe in two years" talk from years past.

Just to be clear I wasn't comparing Bendik to De Gea in terms of ability. One is an 18 million quid buy and the other was until last season an MLS rookie.I used De Gea to show how a keeper can improve weaknesses, someone made a point that at Bendik's age you can't correct certain aspects of his game.There are similiar in age but obviously not in experience.

Funny you mention Frei, his distribution was excellent, but coming for crosses was a weak point in his game, whereas Bendik's is strong on crosses but distribution not great.

[jloome]

He came from a culture where keepers don't usually spend as much time at other positions as youth players and has some really basic flaws.

Dude, Tim Howard didn't switch to soccer until he was 18.

[Alonso]

I think that Bendiks distribution looks all the worse with the playing style.

If he played more out of the back it wouldn't be so glaringly awful.

I have hope that he will work on it and be better at hitting his intended targets in the final third after some more years of experience.

He hasn't had more than a full season yet as a pro right?

[Hamilton_Red]

He was outstanding on Wednesday night. MOTM for me.. And was the main reason for our progression to the finals. Very promising for the WC period we have now.

[Fort York Redcoat]

B-E-N-D-I-K Bendik's here to save the day with a knack patty whack give a dog a bone, Go on Whitecaps F off home.

[mitchf]

Yup, he is. Brazil is going to eat Julio alive.

[Canary10]

We lose absolutely nothing when Bendik comes in to replace Cesar. That says a lot.

[Shakes McQueen]

I love Bendik, but Cesar is the better keeper overall. That isn't a shot at Bendik in the slightest - I have no concerns about Bendik taking over again when Cesar is gone. Cesar is world class, however.

Bendik could certainly go to Europe one day.