Garcia likes him some speed up top. Even though Gervinho has all the technique and nose for goal that I do, he played a lot of minutes.
Who knows. It's all assumptions. What I do know is that the pre-injury DMB started a Champions League Semifinal. I think we have a younger generation of fans that don't understand exactly how good he was in his prime. Anyway, as far as Yedlin goes....................a move ot Europe at this point in his career is perfect. He can learn from Maicon for a season with some first team appearances, and hopefully take over next season.
I think it's a good thing. Whether or not they view Yedlin as Maicon's replacement, he'll get a year of training with Maicon and Cole. Cole may even be there longer than just a year. And in the long run if it doesn't work out for Yedlin at Roma because of minutes or whatever, he'll still walk away an improved player by competing with and against very skilled backs.
None of the sources in Europe or Italy are even accurate half of the time. According to SoCal, the best gauge is how MLS fields the question, and them not flatly denying the rumor means there's fire. I don't think Yedlin trains with the Roma squad for another year plus though. He'll likely be loaned to a mid-table club (the commonly brought up Genoa perhaps most likely). Right now, we've got Maicon starting and Torosidis backing him up. If Yedlin really dazzles in training or on loan, I could see him backing up Maicon in a year (if Maicon renews) or leap-frogging Torosidis for the starting job if Maicon leaves. Either way, I see lots of PT in it for Yedlin, just not in the 2014/2015 season. Any idea if Yedlin has taken steps to obtain a Latvian passport that he apparently is eligible for? Not taking up a non-EU slot is a huge deal.
As in, he was there for one year. When most people think of "academy products" they think of a player whose game was developed there for at least a couple years. I didn't mean anything negative by it.
@ImaPuppy at the time I wrote that I hadn't read the other exchange where people said he'd only been in the academy for a year.
His agent is saying no deal was done yet. http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/07/07/deandre-yedlin-roma-seattle-sounders-transfer-usa “Contrary to reports that have surfaced, there is no truth to any of the rumors surrounding DeAndre Yedlin and his future. Yedlin’s agent, Chris Megaloudis, and Lyle Yorks, global managing director for James Grant Sports, continue to field inquiries from several clubs around the world about the defender’s availability,” a James Grant Sports spokesperson told SI's Grant Wahl.
This debate is as old as the hills - well, as old as soccer anyway. Wide players with pace (which Beasley used to have in abundance) allied to the ability to win 1v1s and deliver a decent cross for an end product are far more likely to end up as wingers or wide midfielders for three reasons 1) the players in question came into football, like all of us, to make and score goals. Jamie Carragher once tried to wind up Gary Neville on the SKY analysis show by arguing that full-backs are really failed wingers, so "nobody comes into football to be the next Gary Neville". Neville nearly doubled up with laughter, but IIRC his comeback was that CBs like Carragher are failed CMs themselves. Players hear these "water cooler" arguments and it does affect their thinking. Wingers will focus on a full-back slot to extend a top-flight career as the pace fades, but they won't to launch it. 2) A 2002 Beasley playing well at LB can save a game, but a 2002 Beasley playing well at LM/LW can win you a game, so a coach will put him up front and drop a so-so player who is an effective destroyer into full back. 3) In defence, the most important qualities at any position are concentration and tactical discipline, qualities which can be learned and improved with age. Beasley has always been a fairly level-headed guy, but maybe he didn't have or wasn't willing to acquire the tactical discipline needed to be a LWB in his 20s. Stick somebody into defence because he has the physical tools and lovely ball-playing skills but no tactical discipline and/or poor concentration, and you wind up with a David Luiz "controlled by a 10-year old in the crowd with a Playstation." Beasley played for Hiddink at PSV and Advocaat at Rangers; top, top coaches nut neither of them tried to convert him to LB or even LWB. Beasley never quite reached the heights he promised in 2002 and at PSV (moving to Scotland was a bad idea IMO), but he looked VERY solid in this World Cup. Here's to seeing him in Russia in 4 years time.
Just to piss off LD maybe (the Russia part) I dunno, if a player has the attitude and tenacity for outside back, I say make the position your own. Outside of a great goals scorer or #10, no player forces an opposing team to alter their approach more than a wide defender who can get up the field and contribute to the attack...maybe more than the FWD and #10, because those are positions your defense will have to concentrate on anyway. That's why I think Najar should have stayed at right back...he has the attitude to defend and while I think he will be a really good winger, he could be a great right back.
I feel this way about Yedlin, and from what I've seen of what this Roma brass likes in their wide forwards, Yedlin is not a candidate for those slots. The front three interchange a lot and work in a lot of tight space. I think Yedlin's potency is on the overlap, and from what I've seen of him, he's not afraid to defend anyway. He might end up being a wide midfielder should he ever venture to England, but I think he's a fit as a fullback in Italy.
Raise your hand if you subscribed to beIN Sport just to watch the US Men's Qualifying away games, unsubscribed when it was all over and will now re-subscribe to watch Yedlin play at Roma.
If you mean, does beIN have online streaming, then yes, I believe they do but you have to subscribe to the channel/sports package. If you mean, why don't I just use illegal streams to watch Yedlin's games, well I guess I'm just too lazy to deal with all the clicking and fuzzing with the ads.
http://www.soundersfc.com/post/2014/07/07/interview-deandre-yedlin-returning-seattle Interview with Yedlin. Doesn't deny anything - just basically says his agent is handling it and he's not involved in every discussion.
I admit that Yedlin isn't great defensively. And maybe he's not very dynamic in the attack. But if I see one more person say his technical ability isn't good enough I'm going to lose it. Are people fooled by his size? Or is it because he plays so fast? His first touch is above-average on the World scale, and compared to MLS it is in the top 5 percentile. It is ridiculous that people still fall back on this narrative. Or maybe I am truly blinded by my fandom. But I try my best to be as unbiased as possible. His technical ability is very good. If he was just pace with no touch, Klinsmann wouldn't have given him the time of day.
The analysis on Yedlin's technical ability isn't that it is consistently great or consistently bad, but that it is inconsistent. In just this World Cup I've seen him settle a bouncing ball brilliantly and send in good service, and I've seen his first touch go literally 20 yards in front of him and out for a goal kick. I've also seen both of these in MLS play. Yedlin's touch is usually very good (85-90% of the time), or very bad (the other 10-15%) and very rarely somewhere in between. That lack of consistency highlights the times it is bad, but you're right in saying it is generally very good. However, he's about to turn 21 years old, the bad touches are lessening with each game, and you're also right that he plays fast. Many of his first touches are when he's already in full motion and that heightens the degree of difficulty for each touch. He can improve his technical ability for sure, but he's fine where he's at because that's not really what he's being bought for.
FWIW, I noticed a big improvement in Yedlin's touch/overall technical ability this year in comparison to last year. I wasn't even actively seeking him out. The improvement just jumped off of the screen at me.
The big jump for him is being able to beat a real fullback or a midfielder one on one with the ball in a small area. Vs. Belgium, he beat Vertonghen on pace but Jan is basically a central defender playing wide. Portugal's regular left back got hurt in their opener and the replacement was not up to par in any matches. (Ghana went at Veloso all game long too and beat him all game long) But, in the Belgium match, when Hazard could be bothered to track back, he stripped Yedlin pretty cleanly and then led a quick counter that led to a quality goal scoring chance. That can't happen in the high end pro league. You lose the ball, you tackle it back or foul. More importantly, an attacking fullback has to know when he needs to dish it of and/or recycle. To play a wing - though, it looks like a few clubs are going back to 3-5-2 these days - he needs to be able to take a fullback off the dribble. That's what ended Beasley's career at PSV. He was doing fine when he was able to run onto long bombs from van Bommel and Cocu during Hiddink's reign there but then couldn't do anything with the ball at his feet under Ronald Koeman. (van Bommel was gone by then to Barcelona anyway and Cocu was about to retire, so the wings had to do a lot of their own heavy lifting) And that was it for DMB being looked upon as a player on an upswing.
@usry723 Speaking for myself, I criticized yedlins technical ability as a winger. People were saying he has more potential as a winger (someone even mentioned bale) which is just ridiculous. Obviously just my opinion, but he has average if not below average skill on the ball for a winger. No chance he becomes a big club winger. At fullback, he can play anywhere.