Ethan Horvath has gelled right into Nathan Jones’ squad at Luton Town and after earning the No. 1 spot earlier this summer, the American goalkeeper has delivered several key performances for the club.
Horvath posted his sixth shutout of the season on Tuesday in Luton’s 1-0 road victory over Norwich City, moving ahead of the Canaries into fourth place. The Nottingham Forest loanee has earned the starting job in the English Football League Championship, which has benefited him ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Horvath’s loan is set to run through the current campaign, but Jones remains open to adding the 27-year-old on a permanent basis if the opportunity presented itself.
“Ethan has earned the respect of everybody because of the way that he is,” Jones said. “A real good guy, real character, he’s really diligent, positive, a pleasure to be around and he’s just rubbed off on everyone really. We don’t take loans, but we felt that when there’s an opportunity to really improve, then we take that gamble and then we always try to get an option, so there’s things in place that if we would like to make it permanent then I’m sure we can.
“I think he has been a very good addition,” Jones added. “He’s a real good goalkeeper, we knew that before we brought him, we waited, we could have signed goalkeepers a lot easier before we brought Ethan in, but we waited because we believed he was the right one.”
Horvath made 11 appearances for Nottingham Forest during its promotion-winning season in 2021-22, but eventually was loaned out by manager Steve Cooper this summer following Dean Henderson’s arrival at the City Ground. The Colorado native has conceded only 14 goals in 15 appearances for the Hatters this season, posting a 6-6-3 record in goal.
Luton Town’s surge up the table has been helped by Horvath’s consistent play in goal and odds will be in the Hatters favor ahead of a winnable period of matches over the coming weeks. Luton Town visits Watford on Saturday before hosting Sunderland and Reading at Kenilworth Road.
i see him as akin to Guzan who runs very very hot and cold and was in net for some of the worst nights the last MNT cycle, eg, costa rica away, the regional playoff loss to mexico. given that assessment, i am happy for him that he finally landed in a starting gig, i think he’s an excellent shot stopper when he’s “on.” but when he’s off he makes gaffes worthy of luis robles — the sort that turn wins into ties and ties into losses — and he’s done that twice this cycle for the US. that used to mean the end of your candidacy.
i have said a jillion times the team and its fans should adopt a longer term read on players that sees their overall talent and +/- more objectively. that we need to get off the “form roller coaster,” based on longer term i would go turner and johnson. i personally would have left horvath out and shopped for a more reliable 3rd option. we are out of friendlies to try anything new. the question thus becomes which of the two other options — steffen and horvath — do you prefer. i think they are both gaffe prone, including for the US. i would favor horvath over steffen not because i think he’s more “in form” but because between the two he is the one seeing the field in club, is not embarrassing himself, and there is going to be a very short camp before the world cup. that and i think steffen left his quality back a knee injury or two ago and hasn’t recovered. which to me is a longer term concern until he proves otherwise. he simply doesn’t look the same player anymore.
Big relief to see our GKs round into form at the right time. Looking pretty clear that Turner is our #1 with Horvath as backup. Not sure who gets the third spot but the top two are plenty capable. And they will need to be with our CB issues lol.
This guy just keeps showing up to work and performing. Massive credit to his character and self confidence. I really thought he was going to replace Turner in NE?
He has been in really good form. Keep up the good work!
what he needs, if luton has committed, is to get the loan made a buy and stay put for a change. he’s generally been a promising shot stopper who gets stuck as the club backup. he has finally lucked into a good opportunity. if he either ends up back at forest or gets greedy again, he’ll fall back where he was. what he needs is just stay where it’s working and build on it. and maybe if he gets that regular work the brain farts disappear and he can compete for more time in the US net — where i thought this cycle might go.
“what he needs, if luton has committed, is to get the loan made a buy and stay put for a change.”
Utter nonsense.
He was at Brugge for four seasosn, not on loan, and did bupkus.
“what he needs” is to play better than whoever he’s competing against.
Thats all he can do.