Chris Durkin at Sint-Truidense V.V. (Belgium)

Brugge was a good test. Only watched the first half. Command in possession was at issue, otherwise he exhibited good defensive instincts. His offense should improve with reps. He always exhibited a flair for the hunt in the final third. His passing thru mid was usually a bit iffy compared to his long passing out of the back which tended to be good. His coaches need to work on his confidence in the short passing game in the middle third. After all, he is a midfielder.

 

My b-r account is telling me there's viewing option after match ends, i.e.no replays. Seems I have to watch live on b-r live or not at all. Anybody know how he did?

 

His only mention on their twitter timeline:

 

Chris Durkin na STVV-Antwerp: Dit was 'heartbreaking' https://t.co/UrWY98a5Tu @STVV #stvant @ChrisDurkin0

— voetbalbelgie (@voetbalbelgie) December 23, 2019

So this looks ominous. Maybe just heartbreaking that they drew not that he’s on the ground in pain?

 

Highlights here

https://www.proximus-sports.be/nl/v...e/video/27302/samenvatting-stvv-royal-antwerp

Found his team mate in the box with a neat little short pass, the attacker nutmegged the defender but wide. Later was caught off guard by an odd rebound which fell in the path of his mark, he recovered with a frantic slide and the attacker put it off the crossbar.

 

If the football is better in Belgium, why couldn’t you break through at DC United?

I say this just to point out that EVERY* foreign player overpraises the league he is in. That includes foreigners in MLS.

The only quotes of this type I find interesting is when a player compares styles or strengths and weaknesses. (In the case of MLS, if you pay close attention, foreigners are more critical of the soccer brain of the American player than the technique.) Straight “who is better” quotes are meaningless.

*Except Zlatan. He is Zlatan.

 

Well he also said “food in America is better” so I would take his whole statement with a grain of salt. Or sugar.

 

He'll be fine as long as he understands how much better the food is in Belgium than Holland.

Does anybody know how to watch Belgian league these days ? I used to get it on B-R live which I got for UCL. Now they don't seem to have it suddenly.

 

as if ben olsen's mind is some kind of objective filter of player quality

never ceases to amaze me how so many conflate how a player's status at club xyz = their objective "level"...especially when it is usually just the personal opinions of 1 person or a small group of people that is ultimately deciding that players fate/status/etc...

i mean just look at any thread on here and see how wildly different opinions are on any player.....just b/c some coach is an "expert" doesn't mean his opinions are somehow standardized and infallible or even just not a matter of TASTE

it'd be like standing outside an ice cream shop and second guessing how good chocolate is b/c someone just chose vanilla...

"if chocolate was so godd, then why did that customer order vanilla?!?"

 

Adam, look at my profile info. What club is listed?

I know all about Ben’s deficiencies. I also know all about Chris’.

Kid wasn’t good enough for DC.

 

That’s not really true. There was a time in early 2018 when he was one of the best players for DC.

 

He played admirably filling in during that period for Canouse who was injured. He showed promise as a young player but DC was the worst team in MLS during that period. When Canouse returned he was demonstrably better than Durkin. Chris can still develop and improve but this year for DC he was likely the third option as a defensive midfielder and was not a dedicated starter.

 

Chris can be a decent player in the right system. For starters, I don't think he'll ever be a good enough lone 6 in a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-3-2. He'll need the support of a 4-2-3-1 or something like that.

 

Biggest problem for Durkin was signing with United at a time when they didn’t care about youth development. There was no plan for him but playing a couple games here and there with the kickers and hope his World Cup performance was enough to make some cash.

 

I've thought for a while that Durkin looks like Trapp Jr. He is a good passer from a deep-lying CM position, but he struggles with the defensive aspects of the position, especially against fast and/or physical opposition. Despite all of the justified griping about Trapp when playing for the USMNT, he's a pretty decent MLS player, and that's what I'd guess is Durkin's ceiling as well. But he's obviously still young, so maybe he can figure out how to fix those deficiencies and surpass that expectation by a bit.

 

Yeah, at Durkin’s current age, Trapp was getting ready for his first professional season.

 

Among the many international club friendlies today, I see Schalke 04 v St.Truiden.

 

and Taitague one of 11 on the bench for S04

 

Thanks Nostradamus.