Come on man. You can't be serious. Hleb isn't even the worst signing Pep ever had. Least we forget Dmytro Chygrynsky
well... i'll just say, that run in the 92nd minute to finish the game would have been called one of the best assists of all time had Auba finished it. Seriously impressed he had that left in him at that point in the match.
I'm mostly familiar with the Arsenal -> Barcelona transfers of highly questionable quality. Alex Song and Thomas Vermaelen fit with that theme as well.
Interesting. I would expect that kind of assessment of Weigl from someone who thinks Michael Bradley is a great 6.
This game highlights what frustrates me about Pulisic. 23 of his passes were negative, while only 9 were positive. Only 3 of those positive passes were completed. Negative passes aren't the worst thing in the world, and the way Pulisic plays, it provides possession. He tries to combine in a 1-2, but often doesn't get the ball back immediately. He really needs to contribute to the attack and connect with the others in the front line instead of backpass to his outside back so often. It is difficult for him to do this out wide, but he has to take a risk and create. In contrast, while Yarmo was one-dimensional and a ghost for much of the game, he attempted 18 forward passes, and 10 negative passes. Pulisic's pass map:
There were not really great places for him to pass most of the time. He was moving the ball forward, but at his feet instead of by passing. He didn't ever make it around the last defender, APOEL looked like they had paid attention to the film on him. Auba particularly doesn't seem to want to pass to Pulisic. There was a glaring example where Auba had Pulisic coming down the left, looked directly at him, and chose to dribble directly into 3 defenders instead of pass. The team is looking bad. But really if either game has "good Auba" instead of "bad Auba" then they are wins. And Auba got dragged to Gabon duty. Obviously the CL is done and the home loss sucked. But before we write everything off for the whole season let's let a couple BL games come. Weigl is back, Schmelzer is back. They aren't magically on the same page as the team. These aren't excuses, but they are things we can hope are contributors for the malaise, and things that will take care of themselves over a few weeks.
In general, the German teams are not looking that good in Europe. Neither are the Spanish. This is the year of the Premiership in Europe, I think. They were due one.
Julian Weigl is on the fringes of the German National Team. Bradley as a USMNT player is dead to me. To put his name in the same sentence as Julian Weigl is damned near criminal. I would expect anybody who saw Julian Weigl play for Dortmund last year would consider him one the best young 6's in the world. There are not very many players who can hold a midfield at the highest levels practically all by themselves. BVB regularly played with 8 deep in the opposition half. It was Weigl and the CB's that were cleaning up those clearances keeping the other team pinned down. He is a bit rusty thus far, but if Bosz can get what TT was getting out of him he is a big money CDM. Edit: my bad @sXeWesley, I quoted the wrong post. I see now you were responding to somebody. I thought it was weird you were that far off base. What was weird was my reading comprehension.
Pulisic Second Only to Mbappe in List of World's Most Valuable U-20 Talents " With Dembele's current market value considered to be €33m, Pulisic has seen his rise to €45m. It means in terms of every player in the world aged 20 or younger right now, only Paris Saint-Germain sensation Kylian Mbappe (€90m) has a market value that is greater than Pulisic's." https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/10/1...-mbappe-list-worlds-most-valuable-u20-talents
Report: Barcelona, Manchester City Competing to Sign Dortmund's Julian Weigl https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/10/1...pete-signature-coveted-borussia-dortmund-star
Well I for one am not impressed. Kid back passes too much. Dribbles too much. Puts the hero in hero ball.
LOL...who writes these headlines? "Competing"? These clubs are actually competing to sign CP? Do they know what the word "competing" even means?
Is Pulisic really considered more valuable than Dembele? I thought Dembele was the big star of the team last season? He's the one who got the Barca move.
Worse than I expected....Kicker ratings of Champs game players....I would have given CP a 3, but I can't say I disagree with the 4.5. And, the generosity of a 5 for Burki?? Aufstellung: Bürki (5) - Bartra (4) , Sokratis (3) Toprak (5) Schmelzer (3,5) Weigl (4,5) M. Götze (3,5) , Kagawa (4) - Yarmolenko (5) C. Pulisic (4,5) - Aubameyang (5) Einwechslungen: 59. Toljan (5) für Toprak 73. Philipp für Schmelzer 82. Isak für Yarmolenko
I don't buy the positive/negative pass analysis as somehow indicative of a player's effectiveness. There's too much else going on, too many other variables to take into account, too much action "off the ball" over which the ball-carrier has no control. Passes alone aren't enough to brand someone's play as "negative". A player that regularly gains the offensive advantage will statistically have a more difficult time finding a positive outlet just because he's already "ahead" of the play. A more stagnant player will, on position alone, be further "behind" the play making positive outlets much more likely. Brute statistics are great for the Monday morning analysts but, taken in a vacuum, never tell the complete story.
The average American soccer fans need to understand that soccer is not the MLB, NFL, or NBA. Stats can hardly tell half of the game, you simply need to just watch the games. That's why I lover soccer above any sports.
Auba hasn't seemed very fond of connecting with CP since that match at the start of the campaign where CP took like 15 shots, when a few of them could have gone to Auba for easier SOGs.
It isn't based only on the statistics of this game, but from watching every game he's played. The stats I provided merely supply some weight to my argument. I like to do that, you know - provide some basis, non-zero, without claiming that it has everything to do with what I believe to be true. I'm sure a lot of people in this board have noticed his conservative play. My commentary is about that, and his perceived directness when it is sorely needed by the team. Also, I don't watch MLB, NFL, or NBA. I effing hate sports, and I'm shocked and dismayed that I have grown a decades long passion for soccer. You know, running around and calling posters on here "average American soccer fans" is not very bright - it is a strawman and doesn't add any weight to whatever point you are trying to make.
Pulisic has 16 shots all season according to this website... http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sta...gory=STANDARD&pos=0&team=0&sort=5&sortOrder=0 Six fewer that Philipp btw. Auba has 35, which is 8 more than anyone else in the league, so he's getting plenty of opportunities.