Versus Bayern no less. But even better is that it is a Bayern that is resting Vidal, Thiago, Ribery, etc. So he gets a taste but isn't drinking from the firehose.
Didn't look totally out of his depth in his debut against a world power. At the same time, I think most of his strengths and weaknesses are pretty evident after a few appearances. Good touch, and plays the early ball well. Not overly negative with it. Hard to dispossess with his strength. Strong in the air for a shortish guy. Gives effort out there and can use his body to win challenges if he can get close enough. However, he struggles to get on the ball more than most because of the lack of quickness + off ball anticipation. And I think he's too aggressive pressuring the ball to his goal's side especially when that's considered. Opponents get behind him a fair amount. There's nothing really eye-catching about his game so far. Maybe trying to play within himself (on the ball at least) as a youngster, and he'd take more chances on the offensive side as he established himself, showing another part of his game. Only watched him once as a youth.
Exactly. I think that given his age+experience, the team he was playing against, the mess that Schalke was in trying to get the ball out, and the state of his team mates he exceeded expectations. If you pretend he was some middle of the Bundesliga pack German 28-year-old you'd say he had a decent game and you wouldn't ever talk about it again. So a good stepping stone game. Now he needs to make another step.
wow, that seems really premature to me...from what we've seen of his youth appearances I think WM has a lot of attack in his game which he hasn't shown yet and he played exactly as I would tell all my players to when making a sudden jump in competition; play smart, don't try to do too much, move the ball quickly and KEEP IT SIMPLE. If he's not quick he's gotten really lucky that nobody has blown by him when he steps out to pressure. The only mistake he made today came around the 40:00 minute mark when he seemed to get caught on a change of direction, but to me that's more likely a matter of balance than quickness. Hopefully next time out he starts attacking more, though I note Bentaleb hung back a lot today too, so it may have been instruction as much as intention.
He played very similar to how Jonathan Gonzalez plays for Monterrey. Keep it simple and safe, and get the ball to the more experienced players. Only difference is Gonzalez plays for a juggernaut in Mexico, and Mckennie played against one in BM. Not much else to glean from this to me.
The first paragraph didn't counter my assessment at all. I acknowledged he could expand his game more offensively when he's comfortable and feels like one of the leaders. That remains to be seen. It's not how he's currently playing though. As far as the 2nd one, quickness can be gauged early, so not premature at all if my eyes aren't deceiving me. Your eyes seem to be though, or you haven't seen all his minutes, because he's getting caught too high often and players are getting behind him who then he's unsuccessfully tried to chase down. He needs to get quicker, possibly by becoming leaner. Otherwise, he's going to have to pick his spots better and develop more anticipation off the ball.
That remains to be seen, huh. He's indisputably doing well where he is and hasn't gotten any sort of real shot with the national team yet. My assessment of McKennie has nothing to do with Roldan. To reinforce that, I've been more complimentary of Gonzalez' play than most. Shame you think you have to downgrade one player in the pool at the same position to prop up another and discredit a poster who is supposedly in that player camp. Homey doesn't play that crap. It's petty, again.
Nah. I didn't put him down. Just not interested in any more ambiguously competent MLS try harders on the NT.
Being arguably the best American in MLS this season at 21/22 while displaying good technical ability and mind for the game hardly makes him another "ambiguously competent MLS try harder". You have to start somewhere. And you know full well that was a disparaging remark. It's far more so than anything I said about McKennie at this point which prompted your response. I just didn't speak glowingly of who he already has proven to be as a player and acknowledged some of his current weaknesses + strengths.
Pretty confused why you brought up Roldan proactively on a Yanks Abroad thread. The poster you responded to gave their simple assessment of WM's play. Feel free to disagree with that opinion but the post had literally nothing to do with Roldan nor does any discussion of Roldan belong on this thread.
Are you triggered by MLS or Roldan? Or both? McKennie was developed in an MLS academy, so choose wisely.
Your better than this, and I think the point was why troll MLS folks? Sometimes if you post in the US Men or the politics forums you can get bad habits. We all work pretty hard to keep this forum on topic, and about players club careers with a sprinkling of USMNT talk during intl breaks. I don't think his assessment of WM was that far off base. He did enough to get another look soon, and he just needs to keep improving. He does not look to be a first choice starter at this point, but I think he did enough to get more run-outs.
Premature. Yes, his skills are excellent, but he is presently lacking a competent understanding of the flow of the game. He does not yet realize how to position himself to maximize his possible contributions. He will learn that with more first team exposure (assuming Schalke can play at a good enough level--they gave away the game today through persistent ineptness).
Dude, I was busting @thedukeofsoccer's balls because he's always on about how good Roldan is and I know it happens in this exact forum because I very, very rarely visit elsewhere. Some folks are so insecure about MLS they can't distinguish between calling a guy who plays there not NT good enough and criticising the league. I am not one of the people engaged in you guy's league debates. I call it as I see it regardless of league. And I engage in good natured banter from time to time, mostly because I'm not a self-aggrandizing, humorless prick who can't ever see the funny side and occasionally laugh at himself. And no, I'm not calling you that, Dirt. But when I do come across those folks who are a little too self-serious, I just say ******** it and do it anyway. Eta @y-lee-coyote see above. Not even a comment on Wes. Pretty much me taking the piss out of Duke (@thedukeofsoccer , got it that time). And doing a fine job of it, it seems. And fixed poster tags.
Weston's match stats posted by: ScottVandeberg 26 points 6 hours ago on /r/ussoccer McKennie Stats during his 55ish minutes this game: -81% pass success -2 duels won -6 duels lost -1completed/2attempted dribbles -Fouled once -Fouled others- twice -1 aerial won -1 aerial lost -1 interception https://www.reddit.com/r/ussoccer/comments/714ly1/mckennie_in_the_starting_lineup_against_bayern/