I think a good comparison with Lima would be Gressel in the role he played for Tata (before he was noved into more of a cmid role).
Lima trained with Hertha during the offseason. Training and trailing are two different things. They could very well make a move for him, but we have zero evidence as of now, so it seems a bit irresponsible to be speculating about "the only reason he didn't move"... Just to illustrate how different training and trailing can be: Brek Shea trained with Arsenal one offseason citations: Q&A: Catching up with Nick Lima during his training stint in Germany San Jose Earthquakes' Nick Lima joining Hertha Berlin for training BS: Nick Lima Training @ Hertha Berlin Report: Nick Lima, Cole Bassett and Sam Vines train with Bundesliga
Sorry but unlike Edelman, Lima was never busted for PEDs, so maybe find a non-cheater to compare him with... Edelman missed the first four games for PED's violation, and ends with a Superbowl MVP. Not even a mention on the broadcast. Huge difference from MLB.— Shawn Simpson (@TSPSimmerDown) February 4, 2019
As an aside, Edelman is definitely the type of right sized athlete that I would like to see give soccer a chance as a kid. The guy is fast and explosive ( 36 inch VJ at his pro-day). It sure would be nice to see that sort of athlete working the wings for the USMNT. I rarely see that sort of VJ from MLS prospects at the combine.
Yedlin is fast but deficient in skills. Why in the world would you want him closer to goal, where defenses get tighter? That makes little sense.
He might work as a super wide, chalk on his boots, winger. Mostly I agree and think he’s just a poor fit in Berhalter’s system
Who knows what it means. Reggie does have two caps under Berhalter, and he did well in those games. It was Lima's turn. Worth mentioning that Reggie Cannon is 4 years younger than Nick Lima. Nick's game SHOULD be more refined. Cannon, it should be noted, came into MLS from UCLA......................known more for his offensive game. His blistering pace up the right flank and his ability to get into the attack. We were all worried about the defensive side of his game. It seems that last season with FCD he really FOCUSED intently on his defensive play first. He did really well there, so much so that he almost broke FCD's record for most minutes in a season. Now in 2019 we hope to see him getting into the attack more. There are PLENTY of games in 2019 between the friendlies, Gold Cup, League of Nations, etc. for Berhalter to look at Yedlin, Lima, Cannon, and others. The US U23s should be ramping up their preparations for Olympic qualifying as well. The three right backs for them right now would be Cannon, Brooks Lennon, and Sergio Dest.
He was out last year with an ACL tear. He took something to speed his recovery. He's been tested many times before and since, but never been busted. Anyway, that wasn't the point of the comparison, but I think you knew that. #offtopic
The only Super Bowl I've seen this year was an all catch vid of Edelman on my news feed. What I loved about his game was the way he was able to minimize vertical distortion which enabled him to turn and face up the pitch after catch in less than zero secs. oh well, to each his own.
You are correct. I misspoke. Cannon's had his two caps in late 2018 prior to Berhalter........................
I’ve watched Cannon for many years and what I’ve noticed is that he builds his game by focusing on new pieces each year. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see his offensive talents on display this season. Also, Luchi appears to give players much more latitude in how they play than Oscar did. I would anticipate seeing more of a complete game from Cannon more often than we’ve seen in the past.
We have no idea if this inverted fullback thing is something we will ever see again. We have no idea if it will ever be used against decent opponents. It is possible that it was something semi-complex that they worked on to see what training methods got the most done in the shortest time. Installing a basic 4-4-2 that every player has seen would not give you any data but trying to teach something none of them has seen would. Lima did nothing as a DM. He never made a half turn or passed it forward. Saying he can play DM based on these games is hard to do. He can find the DM position and run to it and back, that is what we have proof of. His best moments were in attack when he was switched inside of the winger. I think the DM thing is nothing but that being able to be dynamic with the winger is an important part of GB's system. People will say Yedlin can't do it, but I've seen him make more plays from that area (the T&T assist to Pulisic is one that stands out) than from an overlapping position. We can say that Lima can do it well against poor competition. As the level goes up in soccer it is not the technical skill that gets better just the speed of decision making. Yedlin plays in a league with a speed of decision making light years beyond what was required on Saturday. Maybe Lima can play at the level, maybe the whole USMNT can't play at that level either so it doesn't matter. Lima's other best moments were in typical fullback spots. His great dribble was from a typical fullback position. It is probable that Cannon simply wasn't as good or didn't understand when to switch with Baird and when not to. Or when he switched, he didn't stay in the channel(s) he was suppose to. Lima was never really tested defensively. There was no one on the Panama team or CR team that could be an MLS defender 1 v 1 and I don't think any really tried.
Yedlin is not a good possession passer, but he is a good attacking passer for a wide player. He has 7 primary assists in 57 caps, which compares favorably to most of the top attacking players in the pool. I'd like to see him used a wing-forward in 3G's 433. His role would be that of stretching the defense, providing an outlet, aggressive tracking back on offense, and getting in crosses. Caps/Assists. Acosta: 23/1 Altidore: 110/13 Bedoya: 66/11 Bradley: 143/22 Chandler: 29/2 Johnson: 57/11 Morris: 25/2 Nagbe: 25/1 Pulisic: 23/6 Wood: 45/3 Yedlin: 57/7 Zardes: 42/8
"Lima did nothing as a DM. He never made a half turn or passed it forward." I would respectfully argue that you are wrong he stepped up and stopped the counter off the corner and sent a cross in that Zimmerman scored on. I believe this counts as DM stuff and "passed it forward". https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2019/01/27/feature-nick-lima-tallies-assist-usmnt-debut Video of the play...
But that was off of a corner. I think he was one of the two guys back. That is not the same as in line with Bradley or Trapp as we build out of the back. It is a corner, positions are not applicable. Fullbacks make slide tackles and crosses. When in the DM role in the 3-2-2-3, he did almost nothing and never made a half turn or forward pass. Look at the passmap, his average position is near Baird, nowhere near Bradley. His defensive actions are all near the touch line. If he was paying as a DM his passing and defensive actions would be in the middle, they weren't.
A Dmids job is to break up counter attacks and turn the ball back to the attack and he did it. It simply does not matter where he is standing at he did Dmid things.
Not so much as a right back per se, but he played a lot of 2017 as a right winger. This past season, however, he was almost purely a CM. He could also definitely serve as the RB/DM MUFC hybrid that Lima played these past two games. But I'd honestly rather have him play in the midfield.
Could he play it? Sure! Should he? Not if there’s a spine position that we’ve got a low ceiling player penciled in.....
Yedlin/Lima running overlaps all day on the right side would be absolutely petrifying for opposing defenses. I think its something we ought to consider having them hold down right back/right mid for the game. There are very few teams in the world who could contend with that much speed on one side of the field.
I actually think that might be a good idea when playing much better teams as a right back would always be covering for a right back and they may be able to press better since they are defenders. Against weaker sides I'd prefer a better attacking player at winger / right mid.