When it comes to young players, whether one league plays more youth players than another is pretty much irrelevant. These types of trends are more about clubs than leagues, although as someone pointed out, the German league makes it really easy to sign and play young players. What is relevant is whether a club has the all three key ingredients to sustained successful development: 1) Infrastructure 2) Coaching 3) Commitment Portland lacks all three. More than that, when players like Adi were hurt or out of form, the club looked at all other options other than Ebobisse, in spite of the fact he has both looked like a player worth developing and has actually produced in the minutes given to him. Atlanta has the infrastructure and good local youth coaching, but their head coach lacks the commitment to develop young Americans. He is not anti-development, but Tata has always tended to find a hand and stick to it / overplay it. In both cases, I think some criticism is fair. Moreso in Portland.
Why can't Olsen incorporate him at centre back also? IMO it's the position he projects best at long-term because less mobility is required. By the same token I don't think EPB's ideal position was/is CB because the reverse is true about his athleticism. Yet MLS managers locked them both in at one position and if the integration was going to happen it was there or nowhere. Most MLS managers could show less rigidity in mind when it comes to how to utilize homegrown/domestic talent. I think the likes of NYRB, RSL, Philly, and Seattle to some extent have done the best in this regard. FCD hyped themselves but they've merely been sufficient in the department. If they develop and integrate Ferreira then they can get some praise. Many teams would argue they're still getting results. I'd come back and say look at how much you're spending (aside from an FCD i.e.), as well as what it's not building for the league because if they ever get anywhere near first tier worldwide it'll be because of a robust domestic base. The biggest villains are those who neither get results nor develop and integrate the domestic base. Minnesota, Colorado, San Jose, Chicago, etc.; these have been superfluous franchises in recent years.
You can argue that Durkin should have gotten more minutes but saying he was "browned" is a strange analogy. Durkin has gotten over 1300 minutes to this point. That is the highest total for any 2000 in MLS, that is more than twice EPB's total his last year with SKC, and that is more than he got in his whole career with SKC. It's kind of hard to argue that Durkin didn't get enough minutes to progress or that he was stagnating on the bench. It is an argument that could be made for some in the league, but it is hardly appropriate for Durkin.
Roldan with 1 assist and 1 goal which was a pretty good one too. I think He’d do good in an advanced midfield role with the US. In a inverted triangle midfield
The thing about mobility depends on how the role is played. Pique and Puyol were more mobile than Busquets and they had to, to be able to track balls in behind and win those duels when the guys in front of them couldn't stop the ball. Same with Maldini and Nesta vis-à-vis Pirlo. Beckerman has been less mobile than the CB's behind him. Durkin has not shown he can recover against fast attackers over distance. I think he'll close a little of that gap but fundamentally his solution needs to be to keep those guys in front of him or to prevent the pass into them. What separates a DM from a CB is strength, aerial ability, field vision, and ability to avoid pressure. Basically a CB needs a base line of strength and ability to win headers. At the youth levels Durkin looked like he had that but has been a little weak against men. What separates a DM is their ability to read 360 degrees of the field and play out of pressure no matter where it comes from. CB's have the game and the source of pressure in front of them. Durkin sees the passes and I have seen him turn smartly out of pressure, he is more aware and elusive than Bradley was, but his ability to read and snuff out plays and track runners is still developing. If he can only defend with the game in front of him then he won't make it at this spot.
Roldan has good numbers when played in the a-mid spot of 4231. Last week saw a line of DC 5-0 Montreal. This week saw Seattle 4-1 Houston. Both games highlighted how teams that can play in front of opposition back lines can dismantle one dimensional countering squads. That kind of creativity is something that'll be needed in Concacaf. But instead of calling in a Lee Nguyen, we gotta go with Bradley when we already have 854 central midfielders.
Durkin has done well at both positions in DC's system. SKC didn't need a d-mid. EPB also has to work on his passing to be an effective full-time d-mid.
Durkin has done poorly at CB in more extended time. He is prone to ball-watching. He's not a CB. EPB probably isn't a full time D-mid. His ceiling is higher at CB. I don't know if he has to work on his passing as a defensive midfielder. Its pretty good for a CB, and he has very good composure and mobility, so it plays better than it likely is. He's not going to be a Busquets style #6, so if thats what you are talking about, I'd agree he needs to work on his passing. If its to be more of an all-around #6, I think his passing is good enough to play as a #6 now. I think he's more of a CB, anyway.
Roldan and Weston are very similar. It's important to have MLS doppelgangers for our better quality BL players (as we can see right now, for that matter). We could play a system that uses them in a 4321 because they both do well in wide areas on both sides of the ball but neither one is especially strong in distributing in the middle third. ------------------------weah ---------Wes(Roldan)----Pulisic -----Adams-------------x-----------Delgado(Parks)
Number of players who have played over 2500 minutes this season. Atl 7 NYRB 2 DC 1 Union 4 FCD 2 SKC 5 LAFC 3 Portland 3 Seattle 2
I can see the comparison, but for me, Roldan is a different kind of player than Mckennie, for me the closest analog to McKennie is Delgado. They both excel in transitioning from defense to offense, with a quick positive and incisive one touch.
For those wanting Tata as national team coach that is a very troubling stat and has reared it's ugly head as Almiron has the same hamstring injury as he did last year and could certainly be from overuse. If you didn't like the TNT game because of a tired team it may be common if he was the coach to not rotate players at all.
WS US-eligible Team of the Week 32 player(player score)team score -------------------------------------Ebobisse(7.9)7.0 --------------Picault(8.8)7.4-----Nguyen(7.3)7.2------Roldan(8.5)7.3 -Bello(8.3)7.1----Feilhaber(8.2)7.2-----Bedoya(7.8)7.4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rosenberry(9.2)7.4 --------------------Long7.9)7.1------------Zimmerman(7.9)7.2 ---------------------------------------Bush(8.8)7.5 Player of the Week: Rosenberry Picault Bush U23 Player of the Week: Roldan Bello Muyl Man of the Match: Bush Gonzalez Nerwinski Roldan Rosenberry Goals: Picault(2) Agudelo Beasley Bruin Bedoya Bello Ebobisse Long Muyl Roldan Ulloa Wondolowski Zimmerman PK Goal: Altidore Assists: Rosenberry(2) Bwana Ebobisse Feilhaber Nguyen Parker Picault Roldan Sapong Zusi Clearance off the Line: Nerwinski Steres Honorable Mention: GK: Gonzalez(7.9)7.1 Bingham(7.8)6.8 Knighton(7.1)6.4 LB: Lovitz(8.0)7.6 Beasley(7.2)6.3 CB: (Hedges(7.6)7.1 Steres(7.5)6.8Trusty(7.5)7.4 Parker(7.4)7.1 Larentowicz(7.4)7.1 Opara(7.1)6.9 Marshall(7.0)7.3 RB: Nerwinski(8.4)6.9 Cannon(7.0)7.1 Zusi(7.0)6.9 CM: Ulloa(7.6)7.1 Kovar(7.4)7.2 Canouse(7.1)6.8 RAM: Muyl(8.2)7.1 Sapong(7.1)7.4 RWF: Agudelo(7.3)6.2 FW: Bruin(7.7)7.3 Amarikwa(7.1)7.5
Columbus seems to have fallen into a trance of ennuie. Maybe Triple-G is distracted that new gig he is supposedly 'front-runner' to land. Rosenberry has completely turned around his sophomore slump. Zimmerman: big Euro-league material? He reportedly has some interest and is in the last year of his contract. Nerwinski: an RB who would make a nice candidate for an RCB. Bwana: came off the bench to pick up the assist. nice return after the long injury layoff. Roldan: looks an excellent true RAM who excels in an attacking '3' that can pass the ball. Is probably a CM in the US's system, though. Lovitz: has had a January Camp-worthy season at LB. His age-profile--he is 27--is not optimal for a first-time National Teamer, though. Nguyen and Feilhaber: sigh. what could have been, had they been in last cycle's Hex.
Does anyone else get a sort of middle finger to both Klinsman and Arena from Bradley by picking up and using both of these players together on a good team? If only Bradley had been the Klinsman replacement instead of Arena lineups would have looked very different. I'd "almost" like him to be interviewed to see what his ideas for a lineup / roster are but alas no more retro coaches especially one who might be troubled as to how to use their son.
If Supporters Shield is the first, second, and third priority then Tata is doing the right thing. Rosenberry had a stat line of 3 key passes, 96 touches, 5 tackles, and 2 assists. His assist up the middle to Picault is an example of what the Union need to do to continue improving: combine in front of the backline. In the Open Cup, Houston sat on the outside, rotated help there, and dared the Union to play in the middle-attacking third.
I love Rosenberrys skill set, great passer, smart, good vision, long throw, good tackler, good positioning, but he has a huge liability in terms of his athleticism, his top end speed is below average. He would get torched outside at the international level. I think he may he better suited as a dmid just my two cents.
I hear ya. Imo, how the fullback fits within the tactical framework is the crucial factor. Do want an attacking fullback who plays on an island? Do you want a stay-at-home fullback? Do you want a creative, attacking fullback who is going to provided heavy cover. Bocanegra, for example, did a good job when deployed as a stay-at-home fullback. Castillo was ace at Tijuana, which tactical framework provided ample cover for him to get forward from a LB role. At Colorado, he was dominant at wingback, a tactically similar role in their system. But when switched to fullback in their disjointed system, he has been average. Likewise, he was horrible for the US which tasked him with playing LB on an island. Tbh, I think dual attacking fullbacks are a bit beyond the NT's abilities.
I think we need to switch to a 352 or 532 formation for this reason. We don’t have the greatest wingers, we don’t have the greatest 1:1 defenders, but we have good depth at center back and some potential for attacking fullbacks.
The best performance the team has put together in the post Dempsey and Jones era was the draw at Azteca. The formation used was a 343/351. Has it been used since? Nope. 352 should also be fine against most of Concacaf. I actually think a back-4 would be ok, but the dual-attacking fullbacks schtick has never really been a success for us. Just send one--Yedlin. The LB should stay. The model for a back-4 would be 15/16 Leicester City.