Liberty League

[Saint of Old]

Not going to comment at this stage of the season about any particular player. Let's just say no player on SLU is up to the standard of POY. Then we will have the feet talk for themselves.
I can.look at a player for 2 minutes and trust that eye test more than any Stat sheet can show.
I will say that when you see class you know class.
When you see a player  you have never seen before you remember him despite 0 goals and 0 assists.
Now is the time for the best, the very best to show who they are. I am confident the man being discussed will do just that.

[Ejay]

N'Gola Kante has scored 2 goals in 53 appearances for France. How does he keep getting selected?

[Coach Jeff]

Hopefully Marvin and SLU will make a run and then everyone will know about Marvin Sibanda, and some of the other players on this exciting team.  I agree that Marvin needs a lot to happen to even be considered, but I'm hoping that SLU gets by RW so they will see what they can do against one of the best teams in the country on their field.  Hopefully it will be moved to turf so it can be a real soccer game if the grass turns to crap.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Marvin as I am not familiar with his game.  Good luck to SLU

[Coach Jeff]

Not going to comment at this stage of the season about any particular player. Let's just say no player on SLU is up to the standard of POY. Then we will have the feet talk for themselves.
I can.look at a player for 2 minutes and trust that eye test more than any Stat sheet can show.
I will say that when you see class you know class.
When you see a player  you have never seen before you remember him despite 0 goals and 0 assists.
Now is the time for the best, the very best to show who they are. I am confident the man being discussed will do just that.

Like I said earlier I am unfamiliar with Marvin.  So after reading your reply I looked him up on the SLU page and found this about him.

Sibanda played soccer and competed in track and field at the Taft School... He earned high school All-America honors and was named New England Soccer Journal Midfielder Of The Year during his senior year... He was a three-time Connecticut Soccer All-State, was a team captain and represented Zimbabwe on the Under-20 Men's Soccer National Team at the Cosafa Cup in 2018.

You are correct he will mostly like pass the eye test when I watch him play in the NCAA's.  Thanks for sharing this information.  Much appreciated! 

[paclassic89]

N'Gola Kante has scored 2 goals in 53 appearances for France. How does he keep getting selected?

Yeah but Kante type of players don't win the Ballon D'or...

[Coach Jeff]

Does anyone know if Marvin Sibanda will be returning to SLU for his 5th year due to COVID 19 season?

[Saint_Dad]

He is 24 years old.  I expect him to go pro.

[Coach Jeff]

He is 24 years old.  I expect him to go pro.

Is he looking to play overseas or in the US?

[PaulNewman]

Coach, not to belabor this (while belaboring this) but now you've acknowledged three times that you were/are unfamiliar with Sibanda since your initial pretty aggressive foray.

Couple of points...

I didn't say who you thought should be POY, so no misinformation there.  I simply noted that you only really knew one player on the list you posted that you still haven't explained why you posted it if indeed you actually don't think it has relevance for POY....and if you do believe it has relevance, then how your POY pick avoids your own criticism that you applied to Sibanda....which went even further because you suggested that specifically as a result of him being #57 that was evidence he maybe shouldn't be a first team AA either.

[d4_Pace]

Not to hijack the thread, but I know we really wanted to sign Marvin at Tufts while I was coaching. He is an incredible player. It would have been quite the midfield trio last year with him Aroh and Van Brewer.

[PaulNewman]

Last point for now....if your guy is Groothoff who ironically is a guy one of your fellow Falcon fans has just very recently lamented may not get a fair shake re:
POY because of the deference that often goes to scoring, then I would add this...

I personally don't know about either to say who is better.  I know enough to trust that Groothoff is one of the best and possibly the best player in D3.  I also have not watched Sibanda a ton.  But it's interesting what they share....which is that their teams use them in multiple ways and however seems most advantageous is a particular game.  So if I am understanding correctly, both sometimes DCM, sometimes OCM, and probably occasionally striker.  I'm guessing they share many of the same traits.

[PaulNewman]

Not to hijack the thread, but I know we really wanted to sign Marvin at Tufts while I was coaching. He is an incredible player. It would have been quite the midfield trio last year with him Aroh and Van Brewer.

I think Van Brewer may have been one of the most underrated players in recent years. 

[Coach Jeff]

Not to hijack the thread, but I know we really wanted to sign Marvin at Tufts while I was coaching. He is an incredible player. It would have been quite the midfield trio last year with him Aroh and Van Brewer.

That is interesting...thanks for sharing

[Coach Jeff]

Dear PN since I knew nothing about Marvin the only thing I had to look at is stats.  If you are reading the comments it is exactly what I wanted to learn there was nothing wrong with explaining the only information I had to learn more information.  I hope this helps you PN

[PaulNewman]

Dear PN since I knew nothing about Marvin the only thing I had to look at is stats.  If you are reading the comments it is exactly what I wanted to learn there was nothing wrong with explaining the only information I had to learn more information.  I hope this helps you PN

It helps only if you can now see the massive inconsistency and hypocrisy in your initial post, which now in hindsight, frankly seems bizarre because of how far you went with that take while fully aware that your own pick would fall prey to the exact same critique.  Or are you not referring to Groothoff?

Instead of giving your take about someone you knew absolutely nothing about except for posting a list of top scorers that you seemed to think meant something, you could have simply asked "Hey guys, this Sibanda kid must be pretty good.  Would you mind telling me a little more about him?"

And sorry, I apologize in advance.  I seriously struggle with blatant hypocrisy.