Brad Guzan was signed from Premier League (now championship) side Middlesbrough on January 26th, 2017 on a free transfer (TransferMarkt.com).

2017 Recap

Brad Guzan made his debut for Atlanta United on July 21st at Orlando City. He had a great debut registering 5 saves and keeping a clean sheet as well as registering his highest rating of the year of 8.26 (according to WhoScored.com). He also won save of the year with this save!

Guzan allowed only 10 goals in the 14 games he started in and averaged a little under 3 saves a game with a high of 5 saves 3 times (At Orlando, at New England, and at D.C. United). He allowed just 0.71 goals per game, the third-best average in league history with a minimum of 1,000 minutes played. He played extremely well last year not only as a shot blocker but also as a commander of the back line. When asked how his transition went so smoothly he said it was because of his familiarity with the back line as he’s played with Garza and Parkhurst in USMNT and in USMNT training and communicated with Pirez and Walkes a lot leading up to his debut. He only allowed one goal per 126 minutes last year, which was good for second best last year behind Tim Melia. Guzan, in his 1260 minutes, had a 541-minute streak where he didn’t allow a single goal (6th longest in MLS history). He also had 8 clean sheets out of his 14 appearances which is the best clean sheet rate in the MLS last year. According to WhoScored.com, Guzan also had a 7.0 rating this year which is second among MLS goalkeepers. Guzan also took a huge step this year with his feet. Tata loves to have a GK who can pass well and play out of the back and Guzan wasn’t that earlier in his career. When he left Chivas USA and went to England he got better but he took a huge step last year under Tata Martino. He had a 73% pass success rate last year (1st among MLS GKs) and was very good on long passes.

2018 Preview

It’s hard to predict what stats a GK will have as it depends a lot on the back line. I expect him to have a very good year and establish himself as a top 3 goalkeeper in the MLS despite his age. We do lose Walkes and so Guzan comes into training with less familiarity with the RB position. I doubt that it effects him that much because he has a whole offseason and preseason to get acclimated.

Obviously, this is a short preview as Guzan is a GK. I will be doing mainly defensive players but the ones coming out on them will be longer.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Reddit

