Randers lost 2-1 against brondby. Both yanks got time. Will John got almost one hour on the pitch because of injury to Soren Berg. Both yanks got outplayed most of the time and needs really to get into gear to Euro football. Lee Nguyen played a desent half hour and then he disappear. Will John fighted pretty good after he came in, but didnt make any different. The game wasnt really good from Randers view- 2 injuries to new players after just 35 minuts. Most of the time Brondby outplayed Randers, but again 1 game of the season, next sunday its brondby revenge hopefully
All foreign players need to adapt when they move to the Danish league, also when we are talking Norwegian and Swedish league players who always seem to get very surprised about how different the Danish league is tactically from what they are used to... More individually demanding. .
I hope Nguyen doesn't need "to get into gear to Euro football". Because the Yanks Abroad forum will implode.
Why? Has Lee's two years on PSV's bench led anyone to expect great things from him? Randers is a pretty big drop from the Eredivisie leader. (no offense to our Randers friends)
I'm sure it is in many ways, but tactically/defensively it may actually be a "step up" in what they are going to ask of him. .
Well, it's a step-up from the reserves, I am sure. But the guy had spent two years with the reserves without being loaned (yes, I know he had injuries) before being given away by PSV. And now he has to earn his pay in a real pro atmosphere. No more future for him. His future is now.
Europe is not just Europe... Even a Danish player like Marc Nygaard need to adjust, moving from Queens Park Rangers to Randers : Ther was a small interview with him about this today : http://www.tipsbladet.dk/index.php/news/show/id=148483 Partly translated: Nygaard: Denmark is a new country The forward acknowledges that it'll take time to get used to Danish football again: - "I'll just have to get used to a different kind of football. It's actually like coming to a new country for me. I have been away for 13 years, so even though I have had a couple of weeks with the team, it doesn't happen that fast," Marc Nygaard told tipsbladet.dk. - "In England it's very physical and quick. Here in the fight against Brøndby, it's more playing the ball patiently around and the ball actually stays a lot more in midfield here. This is the Danish way of playing, but I have only played one match, so ask me again in about six months, so that I can elaborate on this a little more" .
Trust me, they will also ask more tactically/defensively of a winger like Lee Nguyen in Denmark, than they would do in the Dutch league... Just like they do with the forwards... In places like Germany and the Netherlands you often see forwards who do little else than wait for the chance to be at the right place at the right time. In Denmark all coaches demand that forwards work all the time, deliberately move around alot to make space and also work hard defensively... Tactically it is much more demanding to be an attacking player in the Superliga in compare with the the Bundesliga. .
Btw, regarding Danny Califf, then he now may end up at Rosenborg, because they have been looking for an experienced central defender for quite some time, but so far the players have either been too expensive or not for sale. However, it so happens that Danny Califf's contract is going to expire in the summer (click here) and at the same time AaB Aalborg manager Erik Hamrén is going to take over as Rosenborg head coach. So the danish soccer website bold.dk now belive that Hamrén may bring Danny Califf with him to Rosenborg.. .
I guess the problem so far has been that the players they have found to be "good enough" either are not for sale, dont find a move to Rosenborg to be attractive or in the end just turn out to be too expensive for the management. They have had the same problem at Brøndby for quite some time now, because they are trying to compete with FC København on the transfer market, which is quite impossible. .
Ceres, you're sending a small tremor through Yanks Abroad just by suggesting that Denmark is tactically ahead of PSV. By the way, the stereotypical knock against US forwards is that our "coaches demand that forwards work all the time, deliberately move around alot to make space and also work hard defensively". Twellman should go to Denmark!
The style of play may differ from country to country, but the main feature of all Scandinavian teams is still that they are tactically very strong and very well organized... Ther is no doubt that the Dutch league all-in-all is stronger and the Dutch top clubs got more $$ to sign better players. Never the less, when you look at Europa Cup results between Dutch and Danish teams the past more than 20 years, then it 50/50 who have progressed. It's the exact same pattern if you look at results between Danish and German clubs. You could of course argue that Dutch or German teams just keep underestimating Danish teams or that their style of play perhaps just suit the danish teams well, but when you ask danish experts, they say that the main reason is that Danish teams are able to compensate for their lack of $$ and fewer big "names" in their squads, by simply being tactically stronger and more well organized... Danish teams on the other hand more or less always fail against Italian teams in the Europa Cups (an exception being Aalborg vs. Sampdoria this season), no doubt because Italian teams both got more $$, better players, but at the same time also are tactically/defensively very well organized and clever playing. .
Ther has also been some domestic criticism against danish coaches, that they often demand too much of their forwards, so that they end up being more like "attacking midfielders" rather than genuine strikers.. On the other hand, in last seasons Europa cups the Odense defenders were very surprised how easy it was and how little work they had to do to keep up with the Hertha Berlin strikers, in compare with Superliga forwards who always keep the defenders busy and on their toes through all 90 minutes. .
You can ask your strikers to work on both ends, once you're sure that they have the technical skills down. Most MLS coaches skip the technical part and go right to the "work hard" part.
When we are talking about attacking midfielders like Will John and Lee Nguyen then they were signed because they have good technical skills and are fairly quick... The same could be said about Jeremiah White who is very quick, but non of them are really physical strong players and they no doubt need some tactical "polishing"... Btw, when you watch the extended youtube highlights with Jeremiah White, then try to notice how the AGF forward (and team captain) Graulund work all over the place, very much participating in the build up and also has some defensive tasks to do... .
And that's why the Euros signs Yanks - they have a lot of speed and some skills and, as long as they work hard, they end up OK. Now where are the Euro scouts on Chad Barrett and Robbie Findley?
What IS the deal with all the Yanks in Scandinavian leagues, particularly Denmark? I was dissappointed when my fave PSV dropped Lee Nguyen. Would have been a natural to help Philips sell lightbilbs, DVD-Rs, TVs, Norelco razors and Sonicare Touthbrushes. What is your assessment of smaller/lesser European Leagues, vs MLS? Is the perception that one is more "visible" by, at least being IN Europe seen as an advantage if aspiring to bigger Euro league, vs MLS? Not a good sign when second & third division or small country Euro leagues are seen as better launching spot than MLS. Harder still to present MLS as really MAJOR League if so many top prospects go from High School or College overseas not trying the Domestic League.
Except Sweden and Finland, all West European smaller leagues (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Greece, Austria) pay on average more than MLS, as do the second level/divisions in Germany, Italy, Spain and England.
Besides the the fact that the style of play is totally different (more "European"), the wages are higher and you get to experience a different culture... After having a look at the link below, you tell me ?.. (of course the lists do not include free agents or players moving on free transfers, so Heath Pearce move to Hansa Rostock this season, is not included) : https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13857212&postcount=93 Being able to watch the MLS and players moving from the MLS to Denmark/Europe then I would say that MLS players mainly seem to lack some tactical skills. The coach of course has his tactical plan that his players need to be able to follow, but otherwise MLS games, generally speaking, often seem unstructured and much by chance how they progress and eventually turn out, while a Danish league match is more like a game of chess, where the coach and players constantly seek to find a small weakness they can exploit during the match. all the players have to work like a unit but also individually be able to rethink the strategy all the time during the match, depending on the moves made by their opponent, so ther is infact very little going on in the games that happens just by chance.. Ther is also the question of the general quality at training that Will John was talking about... That seems to be more about fitness and running in the US : https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13787471&postcount=59 ..and if you ask the American players in Denmark, then the games and training sessions are more competitive in compare with MLS. Danish league clubs got better squads with more players who are at about the same level as the regular starters... or in other words they got more depth.. The difference between Danish and lets say German Bundesliga teams is, that the Germans got more $$ to add some bigger "names" to their squads, but while the Danish teams perhaps lack a bit in "Star quality" they on the other hand got plenty of depth which, as writte, make the training sessions more competitive in compare with MLS.. It really should be no big surprise, because just like the bigger German clubs got more $$ to sign bigger stars and pay bigger wages in compare with Danish Superliga clubs, then the Danish top clubs got more $$ to sign some better players and pay bigger wages than MLS teams. The average wage in the Danish league is probably around $130,000 a year, while the minimum wage for a full-time professional player in Denmark is just around $36,000 a year (DKK 171k) + other expenses. .