Will he deliver ?
Will he deliver ?
Yes.
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It will take time to adjust to new MLS. 2007 was a long time ago, and was a much easier league. I think he will do well, but I see him closer to 12-13 then 25.
OTR I think Gilberto will put up a huge season with another team if he stays here, I think it's pretty inevitable given his determination to succeed and skill.
I didn't know TFC Delivered.
I'll have a Medium Kaziklian on whole grain please.
So far we've predicted he'll be twice as good as Gila last season. Well that's an upgrade.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
He needs to score at least 12-15 to justify the deal that brought him here. I think (hope) he can do it.
Everything is set up for him to succeed. No excuses.
Personally expecting a 20+ goal season out of Altidore, think if the team performs the way they're supposed to, and I think it will, there is no reason for him not to put up that kind of number.
His stint at Sunderland means little. Plenty of players can't step up to that level, and plenty of really good players don't adapt to to the pace.
And no one on Sunderland was scoring - including guys like Fletcher who were into double digits in the EPL a couple of years ago
Prior to that he scored 39 goals in 67 games in Holland. That wasn't that long ago.
I'm betting 10 - 15 this season, but he goes three games at the start of the season with out scoring and he gets dismissed as a flop at that point.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Aslong as he has fun out there, that's the main thing.
I am hopeful about Alitodre. But as the DP striker, he should be scoring at a rate that gets us in the playoffs, equivalent to what a healthy Defoe would have scored - at least 25. Defoe was scoring at almost a goal a game for us before he was hurt. For Sunderland, he is scoring a goal every second game. Altidore scored a goal every second season for the same team. Easy to be hopeful, hard to be optimistic.
fourteen goals, four assists.
The Sunderland weren't creating chances argument is being vastly overplayed on here. I watched quite a lot of their games when he was playing and he was missing sitters on a regular basis. Teams like QPR and Burnley aren't exactly noted for their offensive threat in PL yet Ings since he has come back from injury for Burnley and Austin at QPR have done okay. Defoe has nearly scored the same amount in 3 games than Altidore did in 50 odd games for the same team.
In saying that I do feel he will fit in more in the MLS, I feel we will see more of his US men's teams performances than his Sunderland ones. One of his problems in PL was due to his physique fans and his teammates expected him to be a threat in the air, he is terrible in that dept for a man of his size. His strength on the ball on the ground is excellent, I seen him hold Vidic at Utd off the ball in one game with ease, and not many did that when he was there. If we play to his strengths he will do fine.
This is in the upper end of my expectations. Honestly, I wonder if TFC wouldn't have been better off to stick with Gilberto, and see what they could get in return for letting Jozy go to another MLS team.
I get that we put the deal together because we wanted to parlay Defoe's exit into something, but by some accounts, it sounds like MLS wanted Jozy to end up in NY, and the TFC FO sort of burned the league office in landing him here. And for what? To comically overpay for a previous MLS darling (in a time that might as well have been a century ago, with how much the league has changed since then), who has had a spotty record overseas, to say the least? And when we already had Gilberto on the roster?
I hope he does well for us, and recaptures some of what he lost completely in the EPL - I just can't help but wonder if the team's strategy on all of this was wrong.
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
It wouldn't surprise me if it's a bit more than a dozen, maybe even north of 15. I'm not expecting the world from the guy or anything; but given where we have our other strengths on the pitch, I think he'll do his part just as well.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
He'll get 13. But the attack will be a bit more spread out, given the black hole known as Oduro is no longer around.
I remember that Dempsey also took a while to get going in Seattle. I have no idea what to expect. As usual, many of the key players on the team will not have played together long, but the expectations will be extremely high. Oh well...
If we'd signed him two years ago we would all be going bonkers about how we'd signed a player that had scored 39 goals in 67 games in Holland. If the stint at Sunderland had ruined him he wouldn't be scoring for the USMNT - but he is. 3 goals in 7 appearances in 14/15. 10 goals in 14 appearances in 13/14.
He will be fine here.
Altidore's first touch is questionable at times, but he has a nice touch around the goal and he can pass with accuracy in the offensive third of the pitch. I think he'll be solid for us as well.
Here is a compilation of his goals for the USMNT...
Apparently he can take a good free kick too.
Great point. USMNT and TFC fans are obviously hoping for the AZ Alkmaar Altidore over the EPL version.
Around when we signed him all the US journalists were talking about how during the draft the question going around was will Altidore score over/under 13.5 goals. Every single person I heard talk about it publicly took the over.
You're right, this season looks much better than previous TFC seasons, with the roster having most of the pre-season together, and even Giovinco coming earlier.
However, I'm also comparing with other MLS teams, that have a coach & a stable core for multiple years. Also comparing with someone like Dempsey, who took some time before scoring after coming back to MLS, even though he had done fairly well in the EPL. With Altidore, it may also be a confidence thing: when he feels good & is in a good situation, he scores. When he's in a bad spot, it seems harder for him. And everyone at TFC will feel extraordinary pressure from the start.
I guess my point is -- I just hope, for once, management and the fans can give the team some time to grow together, for more than one season. And I hope if some player doesn't score right out of the gate, the other players will pick up the slack, and we (management and fans) will leave that player time to grow into his roll.
Last edited by Auzzy; 02-08-2015 at 01:33 AM.
As a counterpoint you can take Eddie Johnson who was out of the league for 4 years (scoring something like 7 goals over that time) and he scored 14 in 28 his first year back in the MLS
The thing is how a player performed in a different league is often not a barometer for how they will perform in the current one. And different players take different amounts of time to adapt to a new league. None of that is MLS specific either