Thought he looked a little gassed today. Anyone else feel like he’s lost quite a bit of speed from last year? I just remember him running from defender to defender last year with Tyler Adams like athleticism.
Funny. I thought he looked faster this year. Maybe he’s not making as many sprints because he’s not often been cast as a traditional destroyer DM or he’s just better positionally. Anyway, I don’t know the reason, and I have no idea what is empirically true. But I have had the exact opposite read on his pace this season.
All that jumping takes alot of effort and explosive speed to win balls. As for the last game, it was his first game back from injury. Also, he's playing a bit further up the field, so a little less defensive responsibility, so, a touch less "madness" required.
Sure - to me Wes doesn't try to play midfield in "sophisticated" styles - not like a "quarterbacking"/holding/deep-lying play making mid - he follows the ball, presses, puts himself where the action is. He doesn't hang out in the pocket wanting to be the circulator or trying to be a "fantasisti" or 3/4ist or whatever you want to call that prototypical "latin" AM. He tends to play simple, quick passes and challenge hard up-field, get in the mix on headers. He has very little the way of fancy footwork - even Demps, to me another "most American" of top-shelf midfielders - had more "latin flair" to his dribbling moves, and was less relentless in the press. When I watch Wes he reminds me of the extra-high-quality gold-plated version of many of the very good, high-energy, high-intensity, overall-great athletes with decent but not extraordinary ball skills who made very good (for my low level) B2B middies, in large part due to doing everything at a "good" level rather than a couple of things at an amazing level. I don't see Wes weight a perfect seam-splitting pass that reaches the byline just in time for a blazing overlap to get to it as much as any number of other Bund middies, or sand wedge a chip over the highline that bites right in front of a breaking striker. I don't often see him dangle a backpass, only to spin through two defenders who overcommit and use his speed and touch to deke through two lumbering CDs to race to the byline and then cut back the "killer ball" at the far post 6 for a trailing attacker. I see him get to the 50-50 ball first, tackle hard, pop the ball out into space and use that space to get forward, make the clean, simple pass and crash the box - more likely to get an assist with a flicked header or by getting a thigh to the ball and redirecting into space than trap and back-heel to a teammate wait at the top of the box. I see him press in all areas of the field with real commitment, not some symbolic run up to a CD with the ball to show he's working, but with a real desire to win the ball. In the box he plays in the air like he thinks he's McBride or Huntelaar. In many ways he's just a really hard-working, gritty, fairly straight-forward B2B midfielder, but with enough vision, anticipation, touch, vertical leap, speed, quickness and skill to elevate himself above the many other hard-working, gritty B2B/2-way middies who aspire to his game. For me, an old guy who has played and watched American footie for 40 years now, it looks very prototypically "American" in attitude and skill-set. (And I have a lot of Brit friends who might claim these traits as prototypically English or Scots as well, but screw them.)
He won 12 aerial duals, more than the entire Schalke back line. ~ 25% of his touches were headers. That's kind of ridiculous for a CM. It does take a lot out of you to jump and challenge aerially. It isn't like he is a big CB or target forward. Schalke seems to use him as a disrupter/energy guy.
Currently at Schalke, Weston is a less athletic (speed, quickness, work-rate) version of Jermaine Jones. Defensively, especially wide 1v1 defense, he does not yet have the same impact as #13. Offensively he is a much better dribbler of the ball than Jones, especially in tight spaces. What they both share is a world class mentality, fight, and desire to win every second on the pitch. The "battle boar" was a Schalke fan favorite and the "little panzer" will be even more beloved.
I would also add I think JJ had better attacking field vision (or was just more ballsy and willing to try the "killer" ball - either over the top, the long switch or the scoop etc. Might also be an age thing. No doubt Wes could become more confident/daring with age.) On the other hand, Wes seems to have extra-ordinary 90 minute concentration/commitment. JJ was hard, tough and stubborn, but could seem disinterested now and again. Again the age difference might play here, but it seems like even when Wes can't impact the game, he never stops trying.
I definitely think he was still feeling his injury a bit, and got up a little gingerly a time or two during the game. Hopefully he can round out into better shape, can't imagine he's at 100% rn
This is pretty much why I think West is going to be our most fundamental player in the coming cycle: we're not changing our style, we're not all of a sudden becoming tactical and moving the ball slowly, prioritizing possession. That's not us, we'd have to change everything about our program to move in that direction. Wes is going to be the engine that will allow us to keep true to our style, and Puli can provide the flair. I can see a spine of Wes, Puli, Sargent, Weah, Horvath emerging. The only problem is that our old-English style, that when played well can be direct and very dangerous in space, is going to leave out most, if not all, the Hispanic players. They'll always look slow, small, and out-of-sync in a team sticking to our traditional style. It's a shame.
He is stronger and better in the air while having an equivalent top speed. James was more dependent on sill. I’d say that’s more athletic.
You never saw JJJ in person, did you? The best way I could describe him was Adams and Wes combined. He touched every blade of grass and arrived with intent every time. There’s a weird unwillingness to grant JJJ how good he was. But make no mistake, he was absolute class, and it’s no small part of our failure to qualify that he was ignored and injured in equal parts. The man was all over the place because we needed him there. If both Wes and TA approach him in quality and mentality, we’ll have the best USNT any of us have seen. I think it’s not only possible, but likely. But please don’t mistake that for them being more gifted, athletic, or skilled than JJJ. There just aren’t that many guys in the world who are or have been. When I call him a freak, I absolutely mean it.
Went to the play-in game for the Confederation Cup between Mexico and USA at the Rose Bowl. JJJ was the only guy who stood out for us that day and he gave the Mexicans a torrid time. Fast, strong, determined, especially relished crunching into guys and knew how to get the absolute maximum out of a play without conceding a foul. Coincidentally met his wife and kids at the pretzel cart before the game (the kids all have blond fros and there's, like 6 of them; instantly recognizable). I was so surprised to see them there. His wife scoffed at the price of water, rightfully so. I said something along the lines of, "Wow, you're JJJ's wife and kids. I love him! I'm so surprised you're here with the common people." And his wife rolled her eyes and said please, we always sit in the stands. Awesome moment, terrible result but JJJ won a lot of admiration from me on that day, Altidore lost an equal measure. I agree that WM has a very similar mentality, with a bit less of JJJ's nastiness, which made him so loveable. Still, will probably mean WM gets far fewer yellows and reds than JJJ so it's probably for the best.
I thought one of JJ’s superpowers was his ability to make 100% yellow worthy challenges and get away with it. Too lazy to look it up now, but he also had an incredibly low number of reds for any player that played as many games as he did. Maybe that changed when he came to MLS.
In Germany JJ was known not just as a tough ball-recoverer, but also as a convincing diver. For the NT he didn't do it often, but when he did it, he did it well.
But we'll have fun watching "Hispanics" pulling our Englishmen out of shape in the Hex, countering and scoring off American corner kicks, etc. and reading all the criticisms on BS of our cb's /gk's who "should have stopped that one there". We can't really continue that discussion on the YA club thread. Hwvr, what I would suggest is that club play in Europe doesn't always translate to national teams. That doesn't mean McKennie isn't super valuable to his club. They always play better with him than without him at Schalke. People thought I was crazy for making him a 10. Fact is, he leads his team in assists.
Saw him versus Turkey just before 2014 WCF. Jesus wept. I’ve never seen one man run so much. He made me tired. And I was only sipping a beer.