Agree, but really question his mentality and willingness to put in a shift on both sides of the ball as a #8.
I suppose it can come with time, but it is worrying. Theoretically, athletic mids like Adams and Mckennie can help cover for Mendez’s deficiencies. I really hope Alex comes good, his first half against Nigeria was dynamite, and his skills are so rare in our pool. People are lying if they say they don’t get a twinge of excitement if he gets the ball with a bit of time outside the 18 to unleash that left foot.... I question the move to Freiburg and Germany in general though. Bundesliga matches are frenetic AF, especially in midfield. Not sure that’s going to be the best use of Mendez’s strengths.....especially since Freiburg are likely to get out possessed in most of their matches.
But that could also be exactly what Alex needs to become a more well rounded player. First he needs to work on his god awful conditioning.
In general, Bundesliga clubs do a good job with physical development, conditioning, etc., so hopefully Mendez will be more effective after he has another season at Freiburg.
Yup. It'll improve and the kid could be dynamite. Or it won't improve, and it'll impact his ceiling. There have been plenty of technical youngsters at even an MLS level that didn't make it because they weren't good enough athletes. Lots of these at FCD, for instance. Bryan Leyva, Daniel Garcia, and company. Wouldn't you say that was the eventual issue with Jose Villarreal at the Galaxy? Of course, I had no idea this was a problem for Mendez until watching these WC games. And he was great against Nigeria, and athletic and technical team. Our midfield dominated Nigeria in the first half. And they had two premier-league based midfielders (one who'd already debuted for Man City) and a Serie B player. So Mendez seemed fine then……………………….