Duane Holmes thread

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by superdave, Dec 1, 2019.

  1. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    I take it that you don’t think there is an MLS quota even though we’ve seen 2/3 slots consistently used for MLS players across USNT youth and senior camps all year and Arena’s prescient statement that 2/3rd of the pool is MLS?

    I would look at other MLS options over Lovitz btw as he’s particularly a bad choice. I still think that ARobinson has the most upside though and would give him an extended look.
     
  2. jond

    jond Member+

    Sep 28, 2010
    Club:
    Levski Sofia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting thing is it's not like Holmes has never been called into a camp under Egg Head.

    He did. And he played relatively well.

    Actually, many of our NTers look poor their first few caps as they adjust. Homes settled in and flashed his skill quicker than most.

    Yet we haven't seen him since.

    I don't know if there's an MLS quota but it does strongly appear, as with Arena, if you're a borderline player in the coach's eyes they're going with the domestic player.

    If you're playing in the Prem or Bund, the level is so high you're likely getting called. But it might be seen as a bad look in SUM/MLS/USSF/cartel's eyes to call C'Ship players over MLSers.

    Holmes
    Robinson
    Miazga
    CCV
    Lichaj

    None have looked over their head with the NT previously, unlike say, Trapp. Yet nowhere to be seen.

    Can make individual arguments about not calling them in but to not see an of them collectively suggests there's something else at play. I smell more funny business from our Fed.

    Then again Tim Ream is apparently our captain so perhaps Egg's head has simply been frying on the skillet too long.
     
  3. glutton4Bolts

    glutton4Bolts Member+

    United States
    Mar 18, 2019
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He played the 6 in the couple of games I have seen... But he is listed as a primary right-wing midfielder. So he could back up a healthy Adams/Yueill... but his skill set does lend itself to playing a more attacking position either in the center or on the wings. I am just arguing that he deserves a serious look... and that I have seen enough of Roldan to be OK with him being left off in favor of said look.
     
  4. Bite o' the Cherry

    Charlotte FC
    United States
    May 3, 2006
    Charlotte, NC, USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Holmes does have a bit of Adams in him: accelerated first step, ball-winning sense, vision to first touch up into space.
    Could he not compete with Yueill? I suggest Holmes is potentially better.
     
  5. mannycoon

    mannycoon Member

    May 13, 2009
    Does Gregg grossly over value being left footed? A lot options Lovitz is being chosen over both in MLS and abroad are right footed (Lima, Hollingshead, Fabian, Lichaj). Robinson seems to be the only exception there.
     
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  6. thedukeofsoccer

    thedukeofsoccer Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    Wussconsin
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, Gregg, like a lot of managers, greatly over-value their left-sided players having their dominant foot on the outside. So they limit their options to 10% of the population statistically.

    But actually, Hollingshead is left-footed according to Transfermarkt. I've seen conflicting reports. The fact we don't know after all that time watching him is a good thing. The same was the case for Fabian. It's framed as an ironic positive that players are left foot dominant. To me that means they are predictable, miss angles for squares and fw's, so have to play unnecessary back passes a lot. Especially bad to complement a pool that struggles to break multiple, organized lines.
     
  7. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've watched Hollingshead for years and still don't know which is his dominant foot and no one I ask knows either. Two footed? Definitely and kudos for bring up Fabian as he also is a question mark there.
     
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  8. EXALIFTIN

    EXALIFTIN Member+

    Nov 23, 2010
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
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  9. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    Can someone explain why Holmes hasn't been called in since the 2019 GC? He outplayed guys in his first cap who have been played multiple times since then. He can play multiple positions and might be the best option to back up Adams. He is the closest physically and ability to defend. I would easily select him over Yeuill.

    All touches from Jamaica game, highlights from the 19/20 season, and an all touch video from earlier this year.





     
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  10. randomnoise

    randomnoise Member

    United States
    Mar 26, 2017
    Duane went through a very difficult time over the past couple of years. He has said that the loss of his best friend, along with injuries (a broken leg), caused him a lot of personal anguish and depression. He transferred to Huddersfield and has started putting himself back together, so hopefully he'll be able to get back to the level he was at before he ran into all of these issues.

    The Athletic did an interview with him earlier this year that goes into the details.

    Here's an excerpt:

    “It caused a lot of problems mentally. I couldn’t figure out why everything was happening at once. There was Jord, a break in my leg… everything. It was a snowball effect, but it started with a massive snowball with losing Jordan.

    “Football was a way of remembering him, so everything I was doing on the football pitch was for him and then I couldn’t even do that anymore. Then it was the anniversary of my cousin’s death and my grandad’s death. They are still big things to me from being young.”

    If depression was slowly creeping in before, it arrived then with an almighty wallop.

    “It all caused a massive rift between me and my girlfriend,” he said with a sigh. “I was taking everything out on her. I’m not proud of how I spoke to my girlfriend at times, or how I spoke to my mum, or how I acted around family.”

    As Holmes sat in the wreckage of his emotions, flipping from happy to sad, bitterness to reflective joy, things reached a head. The nadir for the former Derby midfielder came when he and his girlfriend, now his fiancee, would get into an argument that caused her to leave the house where they lived together.


    For the 26-year-old, that was the final straw. Changes had to be made as Holmes was quickly walking down that path where no streetlights illuminate the way.

    “I was just sat at home one day, she (his girlfriend) left and it was Jack (Marriott) who knew something wasn’t right with me,” Holmes said. “He came round to mine and I was just sat at home, with a drink in my hand, just crying on the sofa to myself. Jack sat down with me for two or three hours and I just spilled it all out to him.

    “I ended up saying I was going to speak to somebody who can help and that’s what I did. Slowly but surely it helped and now I feel like I can deal with my problems.”

    The mental and physical rehabilitation truly started from that point.

    https://theathletic.com/2421440/202...of-his-best-friend-depression-and-going-home/
     
  11. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    Thanks! Great article. I like him even more and even more confused why Berhalter hasn't called him in.
     
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  12. jaykoz3

    jaykoz3 Member+

    Dec 25, 2010
    Conshohocken, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    How does anyone know that Berhalter hasn't asked him to participate? Maybe the player declined invites due to everything mentioned in the article? Perhaps the players privacy is more important then telling the public that a call up was turned down?
     
  13. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    Haha.... It is just simpler assumption that Berhalter is terrible at identifying talent and has a huge bias for MLS players.

    Feel free to provide some evidence. Otherwise, this is a huge stretch.
     
  14. jaykoz3

    jaykoz3 Member+

    Dec 25, 2010
    Conshohocken, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ummm....yeah. Your biases against anything reasonable are showing again.

    Seriously? Did I mention MLS at ALL???

    The article clearly demonstrates and states that Holmes has been dealing with some serious shit the past 24 months. It certainly sounds as if he has not been in a good state of mind to perform at his very best for his club, let alone for his national team.

    I merely brought up a possible alternative to your post. You completely dismiss it out of hand because.....MLS reasons???
     
  15. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I read that and say: "Wow. This explains why he's been in an out of squads and his form has been up and down so much. Rough time for the guy--I'm glad he finally got counseling to deal with it."
    You read that and say: "Him being depressed and unable to focus is all the more reason Berhalter should call him in!"
     
  16. Drewberry68

    Drewberry68 Red Card

    Inter Miami
    United States
    Jul 4, 2021
    Exactly.

    The simplest explanation for why criticism of Berhalter's roster selection is silly is that he has more information than we do.

    Every time someone whines about a second division fringe player not being called in there's usually a perfectly good explanation.
     
  17. The Clientele

    The Clientele Member+

    Portland Timbers
    Jun 25, 2005
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me too.
     
  18. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I also like him even more because he's managing a very difficult time in his life while still keeping his career, but did you read his quotes? The guy has been struggling through some really traumatic stuff throughout the time that people have been lambasting Berhalter for not calling him up. This explains it quite clearly. The only thing that would make it more clear is if we knew when his best friend died so we could compare it to the timeline of his callups (including the Gold Cup, where he withdrew due to injury) and his subsequent absences.
     
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  19. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    Holmes was called in in May or June or 2019, and then was briefly on the Gold Cup roster before he had to beg off for injury. At that time, he seemed to be behind Lletget, but right behind him. You can debate whether he deserved that or not.

    Post-injury, his form eventually slipped at Derby, and he and Rooney didn't mix well, and he ended up going back to Huddersfield to get his mojo back. Likely because of all of the above.

    Does he deserve a call up now? I haven't watched him recently. But he wasn't playing nearly as well over the last year plus as he was going into that Gold Cup.
     
  20. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
  21. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    I completely dismissed it because it is ridiculous and based on nothing. Not sure why you think unfounded speculation should change my opinion.
     
  22. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    Do you understand how athletes think? When something bad happens, sports are an escape. It isnt necessarily healthy, but take it away from them and things can unravel.

    Football became the safe space for Holmes. It was a place to express himself.

    Haha... did you even read the article?

    Duane Holmes is talking to The Athletic, with a tinge of sadness in his voice, about how he processed his immediate feelings following the death of his best friend Jordan Sinnott in January 2020.

    Then, in August, when lockdown restrictions were lifted enough for people to go on holiday to certain countries again, he and his girlfriend went abroad to catch some rays with Marriott and his wife.

    While walking up a mountain side, Holmes sneaked up behind his girlfriend and dropped to a knee.

    For Holmes, their engagement was the culmination of so many things.

    So it appears the time frame was his friend died in January of 2020 and he proposed to his girlfriend in August of 2020. Your guys theory doesn't really play out. The whole ordeal occurred when the usmnt wasn't playing.

    Berhalter started possibly the worst midfield usmnt history vs Jamaica (Trapp, Yeuill, Mihaelovic, Roldan) and Holmes outplayed every one of them in limited minutes. Trapp sh!Shaquille! the bed against Mexico and Yeuill and Roldan started multiple games in the second half of 2019 when Holmes was back from injury.

     
  23. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    This is really bad.... even for you.

    What is the basis to you make for him being behind Lletget? He had never started a game for Berhalter at that point.

    Wait... you haven't watched him but he isn't playing as well???

    "I can't use he is in a lesser league so I guess I will go with form". That sounds like a different rule for a guy in the Championship. MLS players don't have to be on form. Yeuill isn't playing well (for club or country). Long never played well at his club while Berhalter was coach and he was an unquestionable starter.

    Since people on here use scoring goals and assists as an overly simplistic definition of on form (see Lletget with the usmnt), I would point out he had a nice assist in September 2019 a few weeks before the October games (see below) and the Swansea game posted above was shortly before the March camp this year.

     
  24. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't have a subscription to the Athletic so I only read the portion that another poster posted here.

    So, his friend died January 2020--6 months after he was called up for the Gold Cup roster which he had to leave due to injury. The timeline seems pretty well in line.

    I'm glad you admit that after the Gold Cup callup he got, we didn't play much until this year.
     
  25. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    You are piece of work. You didn't read the article but used it to defend your argument when there is nothing in it that defends your argument. There is nothing in the article to suggest Holmes wasnt in a decent mental place for every camp after the GC.
     

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