WM playing well. Has not made a poor pass that I have seen (but as I write this, he mishits one short and intercepted). Several of his good plays have ended up with Bayern because of really poor receptions of WM's passes.
Very good work by Wes, considering he's just a kid starting in the league for the first time against the biggest team in the league, and a Top 4 team in the world. He's being subbed to add a bit more bite in attack, but my bet is that Bayern will be closer to scoring the third now.
Keep an eye on Bayern's #19, Rudy. He's the man McKennie was marking and did a good job of it. If he becomes vital from now on, it means Wes did a good job while on the field.
My god schalke looked Tampa bay mutiny bad. Jebuus. Mckennie was noticeable in that he was not awful for schalke. Expect kicker to give a 3.5 or 4.
Just a tactical change for Schalke. I agree with getting Embolo on, but I thought Tedesco would want to keep Goretzka higher up the pitch and would take Burgstaller off. As I type this, Burgstaller gets played in and squanders his chance. For McKennie, he did his job today. He had a few key tackles, wasn't shy in the challenge, and kept it simple in possession. He can build on this. Nothing he could have done about either goal. He showed Tedesco that he can be trusted on this stage.
I saw it differently. Schalke was going for the draw (0-0) that is why Wes was starting in a 3 mids setup, once they fell behind they needed to get a more attacking player, nothing against Wes. He has a solid 45.
Great to see a young Yank getting this kind of top-level experience. Pulisic has rightfully gotten a lot of press in his still young career but the full story is never written beforehand. What if...WM turns out to be the bigger Bundesliga shot? Stay tuned...
Beautiful third goal for Bayern, James to Vidal with a very astute move. Shame this video misses the build-up! https://cc.sporttube.com/embed/T2eCCCG/no-preload
For those that don't follow the Bundesliga, Schalke is a mid-table team, expecting them to play toe-to-toe with Bayern are just dreaming, their best result would have been a 0-0 draw.
In the build up to that goal, Bayern completely choked the life out of the Schalke midfield. Bentaleb and Goretzka were very static. Tedesco really had to go for it, but that sequence from Bayern shows why it's helpful to have someone like McKennie who is willing to press, harass, and chase over and over and over again.
Exactly. And also Schalke looks more tired, for some reason. Wes had the motor to keep going, but I guess Schalke wanted to play more a counter style. And Bayern almost scores the 4th through James. Fahrmann (Schalke's keeper) is keeping this sort of decent.
That's not a good characterization of Schalke. Last year was an aberration in terms of their recent history - they've qualified for the knockout rounds of European competition every year in this decade. From 2011-16, they finished 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 6th, and 5th in the league. Expecting them to compete with Bayern is silly, because almost no one can, but let's not undersell Schalke as a club.
McKennie looked solid but lacked a little bit of composure. Also, as he matures in games like this, as the holding mid, he needs to dictate the tempo more. By far the most impressive part of his game right now is his ability to shove off challenges. He is also a really good tackler and several Schalke fans have said he can fill in at either fullback and I believe it having watched his games this season. A very good first start and against Bayern nonetheless.
I don't want to say he looked intimidated. But he definitely didn't want to hold the ball too long. Don't think he took two touches more then once. That's not necessarily a bad thing but he definitely wasn't pushing the play forward.
The guy is really slow. I mean he made some heady plays but Shcalke probably needs to invest in a forward.
Strangely, Kicker didn't have ratings just now when I checked. I went to Whoscored, they rated him a 6 (a little below Schalke's average but almost a point better than Bentaleb). His pass completion percentage was 81. Only 1.9% of the possession went through him, which is quite low for a d-mid (obviously that reflects how little of the ball Schalke had to begin with; two of Bayern's three subs saw more of it than Weston in half as much time on the field).