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Who should start in goal for Sporting KC?
It’s a keeper battle! Should Kendall McIntosh be starting over John Pulskamp in goal for SKC?
Sporting KC has been through all three keepers on the first team roster so far this season. With Tim Melia injured, Kendall McIntosh has been getting the nod over John Pulskamp. This week on Shades of Blue, the guys are having a good ol’ keeper debate.
McIntosh may not have done anything to lose the job, but has he done anything to keep the Big Bear (and presumed keeper of the future) on the bench?
It was a draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps that felt like a win, with SKC playing nearly a second string lineup. While there is some question about depth on the backline, the defense kept a very dangerous Vancouver attack at bay.
The Alan Pulido transfer saga is heating up. Sporting KC needs to make a decision on whether to cut their losses and recoup some of the investment, or finish the season with him and allow him to leave for free. But do they have a new striker ready to sign?
Are you selling Pulido now, or keeping him for an MLS Playoffs run?
The KC Current snapped a five-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over the North Carolina Courage. Kristen Hamilton is BACK AT IT AGAIN!
Find the KC Soccer Journal wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe, rate, & review! You can follow Cody @ThatCodyTho, Thad @TheBackpost, and Robert @SpKCLife.
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There were commercials during both breaks. Enjoy you pennies!
The media is talking up McIntosh. I don’t see it. He’s 29 and not so bad he doesn’t embarass the organization being part of the squad. But he’s not a starter. He’s not going to improve enough to matter.
Pulskamp needs to be playing or out the door. He’s too good to be rotting in SKC2. And if Vermes doesn’t have faith in him, get something for him.
As for Pulido, said it already. If there’s money to be had, get him off the books. Sooner or later, he’s going to check out. Betting on him riding off in a blaze of glory doesn’t convince me. Better to find a striker in the summer. But Vermes is coaching for his job. And he isn’t going to gamble on new players.
Pulskamp is so young. Hes got a ton to learn still. He’s got a long way to go before he’s “rotting.” SKCII might not be the best place for him but he’s not a starter either at this point.
It doesn’t matter if he’s “a starting quality keeper.” It only matters who else is a healthy GK on the squad and that’s McIntosh. Between those two, Big Bear should be on the field. If they’re essentially the same quality right now, why put the guy with more upside on the bench?
So your choice is between someone with no experience and no upside who will never be starter quality and someone with upside and no experience that has the potential to be starter quality.
So if you’re PV, you play the older player, because having faith in youth is something he just doesn’t do.
The media covers this team now? When did that start?
The thing about the Pulido rumor, it feels very rumorish to me so this is all probably premature at best. But Agada is going to come off injury at some point. And there remains the possibility that his start to this season was hampered by injury and when we see him again he will look more like he did last season. If he looks like he did last season it is much easier to let Pulido go early for a fee that is in line with what is typical for the situation.
This is my feeling too on McIntosh. I think he’s gotten some plaudits maybe because he has played better than expected. And on the whole he’s been decent. But some of his goalkeeping errors have been amateur hour. I think he’s a great depth piece in the GK room, but if we believe Pulskamp is the future, I don’t want K.M. or a 37 yr old injured Melia standing in the way.
You can disagree with me all you want but MacIntosh is better than pulskamp is right now. Distribution and playing out of the back are important to this team and the bear cub is not good at either piece. He’s made as many or more dumb mistakes as MacIntosh has. I wish MacIntosh had played more last year, tbh.
I am happy to agree to disagree. I think if he is in fact better than Pulskamp right now, then it’s not by a large margin. If there’s things Pulskamp needs to get better at, it won’t help him to be riding the bench or only featuring for the II team. You’ve gotta let the young guys learn on the job and back them with confidence as they go through growing pains.
I have to respectfully disagree. McIntosh’s deficiencies are more detrimental than Pulskamp’s
McIntosh’s distribution is so great that 2/3rds of the time he punts it long.
Deficiencies in distribution are not great, and it is important in Sporting’s system, but McIntosh is simply not good enough at securing the ball, whether from long distance shots or crosses. He punches/kick saves too often, and spills relatively routine balls in more than a starter should. Pulskamp has had a few howlers, but his ball security, timing on leaving the line, and aerial skills are far better than McIntosh’s. Working with Pulskamp on distribution and playing with his feet is far less detrimental than Kendall’s ball security issues. He’s a good backup/early stage cup keeper to have in your pocket, but not every night.
Spotify listener. The first ad break had a 30 second ad. It was loud, annoying, and terrible. The second ad break didn’t have ads. Loved that. There was also 45 seconds of ads at the beginning of the pod and has been for a couple weeks.
After Pulido scored, while he was running towards the stands with a big smile on his face, he was pointing the the Sporting logo on the chest of his kit. That’s a man who is thinking about his team, not his personal glory. Thommy scored last week and pointed at the name on the back of his kit. Nothing wrong with that, but if Pulido did that, people would be speculating more about him leaving the team.
Huh, I misinterpreted that. I thought Tommy was reaching for the arrow in his “quiver”. His celebration is that archery kind of thing. I wasn’t seeing it as point to his name. Interesting.
Yea he reaches for an arrow not pointing at his own name. From the get go Tommy has been more about team results than personal glory.
I didn’t feel like pulido was even pointing at his crest so much as an “that was me” sort of thing after the header. Or even a “you got the ball to me and I got you a result.” It was a shared moment with thommy but not selfless “for the club” in my head.
Wow, yea, I was definitely wrong in what that celebration was. Not my finest moment.
Interesting you think of it that way. If Zusi scored and pointed at the SKC crest on his kit, would you have the same thoughts?
Hard to say. I think so, though. I mean think of the differences between zusi and besler. No doubt about meaning if besler does it. Zusi? I think he is more about him (nothing wrong with it, just different). I think actions on and off the pitch suggest this. The leaders that give club over self mentality are the ones that I don’t question.
Whatever one feels about McIntosh, Thad made the point on the pod that PV has always been consistent in staying with people who he thinks will help him get a result.
I’m sure I’ve heard PV, multiple times, emphasize the value of being on the field when the team gets results, i.e. were you on the field when we got points?
I don’t expect he’ll deviate much from his belief in that tenet.
I agree that this is his justification. It just gets applied quicker when it’s a veteran than a younger player.
Jake Davis seems to be carving out a results based starting spot.
But somehow Zusi was still getting brought into the game for at least a half right up until he got hurt.
I think this was a fitness thing. He wasn’t ready to go 90 as an outside back. The last 15min in Vancouver he was absolutely dead.
FYI TBT team, I get the pod through an app called Overcast. I heard no adds at either break.