I'm just watching Ajax/Lille UCL replay and I'm wondering what kind of a fan would want to watch Dest play on the left. Maybe some clueless twit.
Remind me how many times Lovitz started for USMNT. What did I miss? According to wiki, Egg has managed 18 games for USMNT. How many did Lovitz start?
The easy answer is too many. However, officially, 6 starts and 7 sub appearances for a total of 13 games out of the 18.
And 2 of those starts were in Jan camp when Euros not available so 4 out of 16. But which 4 would those be? I don't remember them. I started to look them up, couldn't find them, and gave up because the USSF web site is a labyrinth.
Transfermarkt is way better. Check below. https://www.transfermarkt.us/daniel-lovitz/nationalmannschaft/spieler/271198
we should all be happy he didn’t use it as a chance to take yet another shot at Wes. if one reads excellency closely, it’s easy to see that he thinks Berhalter’s biggest issue is playing McKennie.
Exactly. Unfortunately, Berhalter seems to be just like him, making completely absurd picks. The thing with Dest... is more of a right back than a left back? Sure. But the dialogue doesn’t need to end there. Let’s ask ourselves... How much does playing Dest at left back drop his game? Arguably, I would say it’s razor thin. He seems well equipped to play on the left side. And what he offers in the overlap on the right side, he offers in the inside on the left side. Most importantly, he’s two footed. If he couldn’t hit a cross on his left then yeah, I’d say, okay we cannot play Dest on the left. But that’s not the case. Can the guy who plays right back, Yedlin or Cannon, play left back better than Dest? -I’m going with absolutely not. Compared to Dest, Yedlin and Cannon seem both very one footed. So, even though it’s argument to put Yedlin or Cannon on the left to keep Dest on the right, there’s less overall team loss with Dest on the left and Yedlin/Cannon on the right. Are the options BEHIND Dest at Left Back superior? Absolutely not. Left Back is a huge liability for us right now, and we cannot just ignore it, keep some of our best players on the bench, because we’re so dogmatically rigid to believe players cannot shift from the left side of the field to the right and vice versa. Only Antonee Robinson is the one I want to see if he can claim a starting role. And, although I think Lima and Hollingshead are superior options to Lovitz, the fact remains that they’re not international quality. ...So, unless someone comes up with an answer to Left Back where we do not have a gigantic hole in our XI, Dest is our starting left back.
USMNT is a national team, not a club. If we were a club, we could play Dest at RB, sell Cannon or Yedlin, and buy a natural left back with the transfer profit. Since we can't do that, count me among the "clueless twits" that would like to see Dest on the left and Cannon on the right in a friendly because I think it puts more talent on the field than Lovitz or Ream at left back. Dest is gifted technically and pretty good with his outside foot - he coud figure out how to play left back effectively a la Zambrotta. If somebody like Gloster is doing better than Cannon in 18 months, we could play Gloster on the left and revert Dest back to the right, but we shouldn't discount moving Dest to the left to get the most talent on the field at once.
Functionally, Yedlin is best used as a 'deep-lying winger'--a player who specializes in getting onto the ends of passes to make be simple play, be it a cross, pass, or shot. He had 5 assists in 2015 when JK used him in such a role. His strengths lie in insane speed and in attacking passing. He is mediocre in possession, so wouldn't make a good conventional midfielder. He is awesome in tracking back from high positions, so offers excellent defensive cover. His half-court, weak-side defense is poor. His 1v1 defense is poor. He is not a strong primary defender. Nominally, he could played anywhere along the right side, so long as he is tactically used as a 'deep-lying winger'. He subbed into the Canada match in such a role and came up with the assist. Dest, on the other hand, looks to have the versatility to play as a rightback, as a cam, right-mid, or even a right forward--each in a conventional role.
We shouldn't even be arguing about what side Dest is best on. GGG needs to figure out a way to get him farther up the field. At this point he is better on the ball than anyone in the pool other than Pulisic. AJAX has the luxury of playing him back. The USMNT does not...IMO.
Although this is certainly skewed because of his role as a fullback, Dest has never struck me as someone with a very good shot. He was, iirc, a winger as a youth, and he has taken a few decent shots from advanced positions. But I think one of our biggest struggles has been finding attackers who want to shoot, and can shoot. We're so timid, trying to pass the ball into the net, and I don't think Dest would help us alleviate that issue, especially considering he's getting experience as a defender, not an attacker. But perhaps I'm wrong.
I haven’t watched him much but I remember he cracked a huge shot vs France at the u20s that led to a goal
He's had a couple decent blasts. One against Mexico too IIRC, a dipping shot that was pretty good. I just haven't seen enough of him as an attacker to feel confident that he'd be a good attacker for us. Yedlin scored against Tigres with a sweet strike. He's not a good winger/attacker, though.
I would question Yedlin's defense as well. Of the three EPL teams tied with 16 points, Newcastle has the most GA and the worst GD. Yedlin must be responsible for some of that.
Well, if he is goal dangerous, we should play him at rwb with 3 cb line in the back. b.t.w., we have a superb lcb passer in Brooks who has the capacity to hit long passes to a rwb. I would look to exploit that potential but it doesn't fit into the 'system' so let's try to get a replacement for Eggy and Earnie
Play Dest at RB, and Fabian Johnson at LB. I do not think Yedlin is a particularly attentive defender, nor is he particularly skilled in possession. He is more of a wingback. Hejduk with more speed and less tenacity. FJ is a stopgap at LB for sure, but is miles better than Lovitz, Lima, or A. Robinson right now.
Yedlin's acceleration and speed are what make him a difference maker. It's an impressive thing to see in person. He makes up ground in a flash and will blow by people. Klinsmann's use of Yedlin in the World Cup caught opponents by surprise and he was able to exploit empty space.
I will take Hejduk over Yedlin any day of the week. I think Hejduk is a lot more tenacious and indefatigable.
Fabio hasn't played since August. He's at that stage in his career where if you start him, chances are you need his sub to be ready before the end of the first half.
I don't know if you heard the story about the time Einstein applied for a professorship at Princeton. The human resources head told Einstein they already had a Porfessor Yedlin in the physics department therefore Herr Einstein would slotted in as head of the chemistry department because he was very good at chemistry and there was a vacancy there.