Martino might leave. If he does, it makes it easier for Carleton to stay. If not, he could leave. He probably has a lot of European interest. Does he want to leave? Will Atlanta let him leave? What is his contract situation?
It is now being reported that Gonzalo Martinez, from River Plate, is going to be signed with the expectation of taking Almiron's place (with his expected move to Europe). So, that is another thing to keep in mind.
Carleton should try to move abroad. Preferably, I’d advocate for him to move to Holland. All our attackers seem to do the best there.
That's a good thing -- assuming Gonzalo Martinez is a class player. We want and need Andrew Carleton playing with other elite players. The idea that he is not in line to get a major chance in Atlanta is still absurd to me. Reggie Cannon has had a hell of a breakup campaign, and that might not be far at all from the norm from here on out with guys like AC, Pomykal, Lindsey, Efra, Mihailovic, etc. absolutely primed for breakouts next year and then guys like Sands, Busio, Llanez, Fuentes, etc. a year back from that. The Tyler Adams/Alphonso Davies mold has been cast, and more and more players are going to start coming through this system. One of the main points being, we shouldn't look at incoming talent to MLS as a bad thing. Our best players need to be breaking into teams where they have to challenge for their position and where they are surrounded by other quality professionals on a daily basis. If they are handed spots and have to play with mediocre players or disjointed teams, we aren't going to get anywhere.
Tata doesn't rotate though, so if he buys that dude it will literally be a replay of this year except with Martinez replacing Almiron
We still, by the way, have heard nothing from Carleton indicating that he's unhappy. Its possible that Martino and Bocanegra have been honest with him all along the way here, and he's happy with his progression (even though its just in training, ATL2, etc). We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I mean, yes one or two of his U17 brethren have made pro debuts. But its not like he can look at the majority of his U17 brethren and think he's that far behind. I mean, how many first team professional minutes has Josh Sargent played? And Sergio Dest? And Chris Gloster? The list can go on. And Blaine Ferri? And George Acosta? And Indiana Vassilev? And Bryan Reynolds? And Akil Watts? I can keep going...................... Don't get me wrong. I'm completely on board with you guys regarding Carleton and his playing time this season. He's earned the opportunity and Martino really should be rotating the squad more. Honestly, I think we're seeing from Martino what we've seen with other big name foreign coaches. He's not in this for the "long haul." This was always a 2-3 year coaching stint for him. Winning trophies has been his priority, and not developing young players. That's actually not just foreign coaches. Bruce Arena in his last years with the Galaxy just totally went "all in" on veterans. And old veterans. At least Atlanta is using young and youngish guys they can cash in on.
There have been some rumors that he’s not happy with his playing time, but nothing that he’s said publicly.
I hear ya, but that is just so absurd to me that I won't believe it until I see it. If you are right, I will make regular trips to ATL to sit behind the bench and scream at Tata [not really].
Regardless of whether or not the communication is good, I would hope that he is not happy with his playing time. If he is happy with his playing time, than he won't be much use to the USMNT and will not have the type of career that many expect. My impressioon is that this won't be a problem. The real question is what does he think of the communication? Has the communication been sufficient (both in frequency and quality)? If he believes that he is only getting lip service or even worse that Tata and or Bocanegra have been dishonest with him, than he would be much more likely to look elsewhere. If he is satisfied that he will be given a real opportunity to win a first team position next year than perhaps he is satisfied with his current position. (he can be unhappy with his playing time but overall satisfied with AFC and the progress that he is making as a player.)
AC with a professional performance against the Rowdies. He is showing that he can handle the ups and downs that the grind of the professional game takes. He took a knock late in the game and came back with his most inspiring moments of the night. He is clearly not playing to his potential due mostly to the players around him, but the most important part of developing his game right now probably has more to do with the psychological side of the game than the tactical or technical. Goslin looked as good as he's looked in a long time. Encouraging minutes from him. Kunga was more of the same where he is not all that effective since he can't just dribble past people, but he did show a flash or two of that potential.
Didn't watch. Putting this here for discussion. Andrew Carleton's been the worst player on the field through 25 mins of this 0-0 between Atlanta United 2 & Tampa Bay. He needs to start showing more, and more consistently.— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 3, 2018
I'd agree, probably his worst performance this season but everyone has bad games and this game shouldn't define much. But side note is goslin should be playing at MLS level also he's too good
If people are going to scrutinize his performances with this ATL2 team, they will find plenty to dissect. However, I don't believe it's a worthwhile exercise given the players around him. With all due respect to Matt Doyle, I'd say his statement is hyperbolic and only relative to his expectations for said players on the field. There is no way that a serious scout would come away from this game thinking that anyone other than Carleton was the best player on the field for AT LEAST his own team. The only things that he has to gain from this level are the intangible qualities that come with being a pro. His technique and tactical awareness are far beyond what is on display when he plays with ATL2.
Shouldn't he be demolishing these supposed inferior teams if he was so talented? I know It's not 1 vs 11 but a talented midfielder would be able to run circles around others.
Well, these teams are not inferior to the one he is on. They are generally much better than his. They are also, in general, more physical and compact than the teams in the west, which makes things a lot more difficult for him in USL than they are for a guy like Efra, who is also playing with a better squad. One of the issues is that this ATL2 team has absolutely no width on the field and very little up top. The central defenders are not very good passers either. He just has nothing to work with. You can see his skill and talent, but he's not a direct kind of player like an Alphonso Davies that is going to dribble past players. He creates and he is always looking to play with other players, and they just aren't there. Goslin looking like his old self helped a lot when he came on as a sub. Kunga was able to take some of the attention off of Carleton and opened the game up for him slightly when he came on. Bello on the left would have helped tremendously. It's just pretty pointless judging him on these games. That is not to say that they are completely worthless, because he still has quite a bit to learn as a professional and has a ways to go with his physical growth. But, as far as the technical and tactical side of the game, these games aren't doing anything for him.
The “Carleton overrated” rhetoric is being spread far and wide on Reddit solely based on his USL performances. Martino will never have pressure to play him now. Casuals and baseball fans that obsess over small sample sizes of USL statistics (meaningless) already have their minds made up. Atlanta is pushing hard for two South American attacking mids. Carleton needs to get out now. If he doesn’t try and make a move he will have success. His career will be ruined by 2020 if he keeps warming the bench. It’s time for him to let go of the hometown loyalty.
I saw all that. I'm a guy who preaches the use of statistics in soccer, but using stats in an uneducated and blind way in the way he did is 10000x worse than not using them. On another note, I just read this article: A big thing in there was about Reggie trying to build the confidence that he can be a starter in MLS, and says that he still sometimes doubts himself. I can't even imagine how Andrew feels about himself becoming a starter when his coach and FO clearly have no intention to build him up as one.
Two more YNTers sign with Bund clubs. Carleton and his agent really screwed themselves over. Carleton should already be on the books of a Bund club.
Have a feeling there are quite a few young US players signed to MLS HG deals that wish they had a "do-over" about now.
Makes the bench. Won't play (or will get five garbage minutes). Same as all season. I hope Atlanta isn't going to insist he doesn't take part in U-20 WCQ. If they do, he should fight it. He needs to look out for his own best interest. They can put Vazquez on the bench during qualifying.
If one of the wingers gets hurt I'd be ok with him staying, but right now he's not in the first three subs then make if they're losing. I actually don't understand the purpose of him being on the bench when there isn't a situation he'll be subbed in.
Almiron gets injured and is crying, which is usually a pretty good tell that it's a bad one. Hey, Tata, maybe you should've played Carleton more. Just an idea, but what do I know.
Oh, and incidentally, I'm gonna put some money on this being an ACL because he's crying and it's on turf, which means that he won't be healthy enough to get sold in January. Guess what that means? No playing time for Carleton next year either! Hooray!
He needs to worry about his own career. He can't be staying to help Atlanta out in the off chance someone gets injured. He needs to cause a fuss about this because Atlanta certainly doesn't care about his career. This is his chance to up his stock to European teams. This is how EPB did it. Lets say Almiron is injured, as you said (I hope he isn't). If he is, all thats going to happen is that Barco will replace him in the lineup. Even if Carleton is clearly the next "attacking mid" option in the opinion of any objective observer (he should probably come before Barco for an objective observer), he probably wouldn't play before Vazquez. There's also the chance that they use Gressel as a wide midfielder or Nagbe as a wide midfielder to get Escobar back into the lineup. I'm not going to wish an injury on Almiron, but if he has an ACL injury in October, he's not going to be back any earlier than August, and it might actually be September or October. Atlanta can't afford the Martinez transfer without transferring Almiron out. They might be the top spending club in MLS, but I have a hard time believing they can spend about 40M on attacking mids (without any sales) in the course of a year. There's also the question of DP spots. I don't know how they could fit Almiron, Barco, Martinez and Martinez under the salary structure of MLS. If he's out with an ACL injury, Atlanta would almost certainly be forced to play Carleton a large amount, unless they bring in another attacking midfielder that will play who fits under the wage structure. They have CCL at the start of next season. Also, if Martino leaves, for all we know Carleton could be a starter to start next season. With an objective coach, he probably would be. Almiron would return, but Carleton would get minutes to prove himself in the first half of next season.
Just reading what people saw, they think it's a hammy for Almiron, which means he'll probably be back in time for the playoffs. That means they can sell and get Pity, but maybe it means Carleton gets a few more minutes the rest of the season. I think that's the best case scenario right now.