Lichaj out at Villa

http://www.soccerbyives.net/2013/05/lic ... ummer.html

Villa declined to renew his contract. I'm happy about this because he had become a back up right/left back there. He needs a starting job in a top league somewhere so maybe he can force Klinsmann to stop ignoring him. He played well for Villa on the right at the end of the season so hopefully that was enough to get him noticed.

 

With Riether on board I can't imagine him signing for Fulham. Wish him well in making major career decision.

 

Hope he goes to a Championship side in need of a RB that is ready to contend for promotion.

 

On face value this looks like a very smart move for Lichaj. If he can secure the RB position for a high caliber Championship club it could be exactly what he needs to have a break out season.

 

This should be a good move and I'm glad for him it went so quickly. He will have the entire summer to settle in and get comfortable with club and his teamates, which is the only bright side to the fact that he wasnt even named to the preliminary roster for the gold cup.

 

It's put up or shut up time for Lichaj, make that RB spot at Forest his own and he will get noticed...of course my cousin Whitbread helped Norwich get promoted and didn't get a sniff :eusa-violin: so who knows.

 

More likely that Lichaj couldn't nail down regular playing time at Villa in his preferred right back position. No doubt Lichaj has talent to make it where he has and I hope he turns into the player you think he is at Forrest but do you actually remember how many right back caps he got under Bob Bradley? The number is two and they were in a B team and C team friendly. His only caps in a competition that mattered under Bradley came at left back in the Gold Cup where he replaced a very badly performing Bornstein and I mean poorly performing for Bornstein. Think about this for a minute before you keep knocking Klinsman for not selecting Lichaj. In an open competition for the LB slot under Bob Bradley he couldn't beat out Bornstein for the orignianl starters spot and he didn't beat out Spector for the back up right back position.

Should he be on the Gold Cup roster? Maybe. However, if DeAndre Yedlin or one of the other U-20's has a monster World Cup and a stellar club season they could just as easily surpass Lichaj as Lichaj could explode in the Championship this season. I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he succeeds. I hope he performs so well at Forrest that Klinsman can't ignore him but to date he hasn't done anything to warrant an automatic call up to the national team. I wouldn't blame Klinsman for calling him up but I can't fault him for leaving Lichaj off either.

 

Nah, I think it's because he's not currently serving an 8 game suspension for purposely stomping on another player's broken toe.

And Barry, Lichaj started in most of, if not all, the 2011 Gold Cup games in which we made it into the finals. Lichaj did not replace Bornstein, but rather Bornstein came in on the left to replace the injured Cherundolo and Lichaj moved over to the right. Bornstein then proceded to get smoked where Lichaj was previously holding up well. And Lichaj was all of 22 yrs old at this time, starting in the finals of a major international competition.

 

I apologize Mo my memory did fail me and you are right that it wasn't Bornstein that Lichaj didn't beat out for the starting left back spot in the opening two matches of the 2011 Gold Cup it was Bocanegra. However, coming into the Cup things were so bad at the left back spot that neither Bornstein nor Lichaj were given a start for the first two matches and instead Bradley pushed Bocanegra out of position to the left with Goodson and Tim Ream in the middle. In the run up to the Cup I do believe both Lichaj and Bornstein were given a chance to win the position but failed to win original starting nod over a center back with absolutely no pace and no overlapping skills. Wikipedia says that Lichaj started the third match of the qualifiers through finals and wiki also says 'Dolo started every single one of the 2011 Gold Cup matches. I would bet that Dolo did not play on the left which means Lichaj more than likely did. Wiki matches my recollection of Lichaj's playing time and I was pulling big time for both Ream and Lichaj to break through but to date neither of them have. Wiki and my memory could both be wrong but I really think not this time.

http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/MNT/L/Eric-Lichaj.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup

Again, I will say sometimes what we want to see but haven't is an enticing mistress and I really do want Lichaj to succeed but I am not going to give him credit for things he has not done. He has made it to the Premier League but he hasn't succeeded there yet. He has had a couple of US caps as a RB in scrub matches and a few more at LB in the Gold Cup but he didn't impress so much that he merits and automatic call up in my opinion. I believe he has talent but he hasn't proven it anywhere at a high level on a consistent basis yet. I hope he does but he has to make it happen. It is not good enough for us to make believe it happened. In total he has four high level international competition matches and he has not been playing regularly for his club team. That is his resume for entrance into the USMNT right now and in my opinion that is just not good enough. I think Brad Evans is more Mr. Right-now than Mr. Right at RB for the Nat's but at least he has been logging regular starts in the MLS season after season for a manager that knows talent when he sees it. For a change I would really like someone to put together a list of what qualifies Eric Lichaj for this mandated call up because I am willing to be convinced but I bet the list of qualifications you come up with isn't as long as you think it's going to be if you really dig into it.

BTW, the back line with Boca starting at LB was so shocking I think my mind buried the fact that he ever played there for the US and substitued Bornstein for Boca in an attempt to rationalize things.

BTW 2: If Lichaj were really as good as people envision him don't you think his former Villa teammate Brad Guzan would be in Klinsman's ear to help get him a chance at a call up?

 

Barry, Boca started the first two gold cup games at LB with goodsen and ream in the middle. The second of those was our loss to Panama when everyone started to freak out. The rest of the games, Bradley put Lichaj at left back and moved Boca back to the center in place of Ream. We won the next three matches and were beating Mexico 2-0 until 'dolo went out injured. And one of Lichaj's scrub matches that you refer to was against Spain.

I'll leave it to someone else to outline Lichaj's qualities that are deserving of a call-up, but I will say this. He has played plenty for Villa and has won the starting spot on more than one occasion. They have had a revolving door of managers ever since O'Neill left and most recently Lambert spent a good deal of the season experimenting with a back three formation. There are other very good players, like Michael Bradley and Darren Bent, who have struggled to get on the field for Villa during the very same period.

 

No fair repeating my post back at me. I gave Lichaj credit for four quality Gold Cup caps on his resume.

Here, l'll start the list.

USMNT - 8 caps
4 quality Gold Cup starts at left back
1 A-B team friendly start vs Spain (5 stubs @ half w/main players not playing for more than 45)
1 B-C team friendly start vs South Africa
2 friendly sub caps vs.Columbia & Paraguay
Last appearance 2011

Premier League - per ESPN
2012-2013 All competitions 14 starts/9 subs - Prem 9 starts 8 subs
2011-2012 All competitions 10 starts/1 sub. - Prem 9 starts 1 sub

Other per Wiki

2011 16 appearances on loan at Leeds
2010 9 appearances on loan at Leyton Orient
2009 6 appearances on loan at Lincoln City

Unless I have missed something that is Eric Lichaj's resume. It is not bad and he has slowly built his level of play each season but he never really broke through as a regular at Villa when any number of young players were given a chance and succeeded. Both Guzan and Dempsey succeeded under a revolving door of managers but Lichaj did not. That is the bad news. The good news is Forrest wants him so he should have every chance to prove himself before 2014.

 

No fair repeating my post back at me. I gave Lichaj credit for four quality Gold Cup caps on his resume.

Here, l'll start the list.

USMNT - 8 caps
4 quality Gold Cup starts at left back
1 A-B team friendly start vs Spain (5 subs @ half w/main players not playing for more than 45)
1 B-C team friendly start vs South Africa
2 friendly sub caps vs.Columbia & Paraguay
Last appearance 2011

Premier League - per ESPN
2012-2013 All competitions 14 starts/9 subs - Prem 9 starts 8 subs
2011-2012 All competitions 10 starts/1 sub. - Prem 9 starts 1 sub

Other per Wiki

2011 16 appearances on loan at Leeds
2010 9 appearances on loan at Leyton Orient
2009 6 appearances on loan at Lincoln City

Unless I have missed something that is Eric Lichaj's resume. It is not bad and he has slowly built his level of play each season but he never really broke through as a regular at Villa when any number of young players were given a chance and succeeded. Both Guzan and Dempsey succeeded under a revolving door of managers but Lichaj did not. That is the bad news. The good news is Forrest wants him so he should have every chance to prove himself before 2014.

 

The young man is only 24, so hope his best football is ahead of him.

Fprget Lichaj for a second, I'm more blown away that Bornstein has been mentioned in at least 5 posts this week :shock: Nev, you started it so you're to blame! :angelic-green: