Last game Fredo was suspended due to yellow card accumulation, and Fortuna had their best game in the season, destroying Schalke 0-4 away. So, just like that, he's got benched.
Off the bench: 🔁 Dritter Wechsel: @alfredo1008 für Sobottka. #F95SGE #f95 pic.twitter.com/fcPB8U0V4E— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) March 11, 2019
Got subbed in for the last 15, but Frankfurt scored again towards the end. 0-2 and 0-3 in rapid succession. They came apart toward the end.
He had two pretty terrible moments in distribution, but he won all the challenges that came his way. He seems to have gotten much bigger and stronger since his US debut. I love his physicality and aggression. Maybe he’s not a starter but there’s a use for him in our current best 23, no question. And he isn’t too old given his position to think he might be there in 2022.
On the bench: So sieht das heute aus 👀#Bodzek & #Stöger sind zurück in der Startelf. Oliver #Fink hat die Reise nach Wolfsburg nicht mit angetreten. Aber kein Grund zur Sorge 😉 #f95 #WOBF95 pic.twitter.com/n7hwNYnCYx— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) March 16, 2019
fails for the weekend. #Funkel: #Sobottka, #Morales, @DodiLukebakio, @JZimmer39 und #Ducksch fallen aus. Ich habe einige Ausfälle zu beklagen - aber trotzdem wird eine gute Mannschaft auf dem Feld stehen.“ #F95BMG #f95— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) March 28, 2019
While he did start last week's match, Morales falls to the bench and earns a DNP for today's, as Dusseldorf win 4-1 over Bremen. Morales has 16 starts and 4 sub appearances in 31 league matches played this season.
Got a few minutes in a 3-2 loss for 10 man Fortuna: 85. Spielminute:Dritter & letzter Spielerwechsel bei unserer #Fortuna. Alfredo #Morales ist für Dodi #Lukebakio gekommen, der heute richtig schlecht gespielt hat.Auf geht's Fortuna, macht jetzt den Ausgleich❗❗❗💪💪💪— Nur Die Fortuna (@NurDieFortuna) May 11, 2019
Started in friendly: Mit diesem Team treten wir um 18 Uhr in Solingen an 👀Die Partie gibt’s im Livestream auf YouTube und Facebook und im Liveticker auf der Fortuna App. #f95 pic.twitter.com/EZ3E0ZPeHA— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) May 14, 2019
Starts in friendly: Die letzte Startelf in dieser Saison: mit diesem Team starten wir gegen @nur_die_bsg. #f95 pic.twitter.com/dLy7Zivauk— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) May 22, 2019
Scores the 14th goal in a 0-14 rout of RSV Weyer Mit dem Schlusspfiff macht @alfredo1008 noch das 14:0!Damit gewinnen wir unser erstes Testspiel der Vorbereitung. #f95— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) July 4, 2019
Starts: So geht es heute in die erste Halbzeit 👀Viel Erfolg @BTekpetey32 beim #F95-Debüt 🙃 pic.twitter.com/a5DtUN5YAa— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95) July 8, 2019
Steffen's loan could be a good opportunity for Morales to get back into the national team picture. Berhalter is probably going to watch a few games of Steffen's, assuming he gets the starting role, so if Morales can impress in those appearances, anything is possible.
First, Morales should focus on getting a starting spot in the team again. He lost it last year. Not saying it is an impossibility, but his performances for the major part of last year were underwhelming. Hopefully, he impresses and earns a starting position and performs well enough to deserve a call up.
Especially, considering that who is his competition? 1. Tyler Adams - okay, he’s clearly behind Adams, but Adams is still injured right now. 2. Michael Bradley - Bradley’s days are done. I’ll concede he worked hard and passed well in the Gold Cup, but it’s still clear he just no longer had the mobility to not be a liability on the international stage, which makes our 8 drop deeper to protect him. This invites pressure. At best, Bradley should just be an “oh shit” candidate. 3. Wil Trapp - God help us if Trapp is the best we could do. I’ve never been high on Trapp, but he should never be called up again after the Gold Cup. He’s clearly out of his depth when USL players are bypassing him like a traffic cone. 4. ???? Canouse, nah... Durkin, hell no. I can’t think of anyone. Maybe James Sands can convert from CB to CDM or Palmer-Brown, but that’s up in the air. Therefore, it’s absurd to just outright ignore Morales. Give him a legitimate shot to be a back up for the national team as a 6. Let’s see if he can offer us some bite and athleticism that our midfield needs right now.
100% agreed. I've bit my tongue on your thoughtful USMNT player pool for a long time as you've had Morales below Trapp and Bradley since it's gone up......time for a new list!
So all of these folks deserved callups automatically because they were on Bundesliga squads? Some of them were called up yes, but you seem to be stating all players on a roster at a Bundesliga squad should be called up regardless of performance at the club or previously with the National team. Just being in a league does not mean you are automatically better. Folks are just assuming because he was on a Bundesliga roster than the MUST be better than Bradley, etc. You don't think the staff from the past three managers haven't evaluated Morales... what about his game stands out to you? Was there something about his performances last year that made you think he would be an improvement over Adams, McKennie, Bradley, Trapp, etc.? Bryan Arguez Casey Conor Terrence Boyd John van Buskirk Russell Canouse (has a Bundesliga appearance) Ricardo Clark Julian Green Kamani Hill Aron Johannsson Jerome Keisewetter Michael Mason Michael Parkhurst Heath Pearce Caleb Stanko Bobby Wood
there's a big difference between a deep bench / reserve player who gets a tiny bit of time (Haji) and Morales who received 50% of the CM minutes at a mid-table team and has a lengthy history of playing around this level. BTW, I would put Wood in a similar, albeit slighly lower, bucket. If Aron weren't brittle, he's a talented guy but no one can rely upon him nowadays.
He's not better than Adams and McKennie but he's a far better two way player than Bradley and Trapp. Neither of those two would sniff the field for a B1 team given their athletic limitations.
Just curious, how you are assessing that Morales is better... based on which matches that you have seen?