By my eye, TT starting playing much better at the end of last season and was playing well under Dom earlier this season as well. I fail to see a step change that some are saying is coincident with coaching change. The caveat to this is playing time. CL sees TT as a starter, or first off the bench. Dom was getting there, but still had a propensity to see the few TT negatives and bench him or bring him in late to see out games.
TT started playing better towards the end of last season because Dom finally started putting him more attacking roles - subbing in at wide mid when you need a goal. In that role he was expected to take chances. Before that it was like, well he's not scoring so I guess I can play him in a holding mid role. And then he'd make a "mistake" like losing the ball against NY(?) earlier this year and then he sees mostly bench again for a while. It had gotten to the point, even this year before Dom was let go, where Tommy would receive the ball in midfield and was so terrified of losing the ball and getting benched again, he'd immediately bring it back towards the Quakes goal, like just high-tailing it backwards. It was painful to watch. Now I don't see that playing out of fear so much. He is turning with the ball and attacking forward a lot more. The last time he played with that kind of abandon was 2014, before Dom became coach. TT said that Chris and Jesse have been telling him to attack like he was in high school. They are practically having to do psychotherapy to undo the fear of chance-taking that has been drummed into him the last few years. That said, on the defensive side he's been consistently good for the last few years so that hasn't really changed. It's his possessions - the choices that he is making, that have changed significantly now that he is being encouraged to go for it and not worry about making a mistake.
Under Dom, TT was most likely to enter a game as either a garbage time sub, too little too late sub, or an out of position final 10 minute sub.
Or when he did start, it was often because the team was pretty well decimated due to callups and injuries, and was more or less destined to get outplayed.
The problem was the glaciers would have all melted by the time Kinnear ever made the decision to consistently play Thompson at a time when the other options he had available to him that were playing were replacement level players at best. You might be right in that it's simply time that has made Thompson seem better, but then wouldn't it stand to reason that if he'd gotten this amount of playing time a year and a half ago, he could have contributed a lot more by now? I don't necessarily buy into the argument that you should just play young guys right away or you'll stunt their professional growth forever. Every player is different. In Thompson's case, keeping him on the bench and only letting him sniff the field outside of the odd five minutes here or there was a lot more damaging than just playing the kid. It's not like the results ever ended up mattering while Kinnear was coaching, anyway.
This. Also: 6/28/2017 - “I’m not going to sit here and admit that I am going to do every single thing right,” said Leitch. “Same thing with our players. We want them to make mistakes. We want them to dare to take risks, and with that there are going to be mistakes along the way and we have to be okay with that. Now, obviously, we have to do that in a certain way such that our objectives and our goals aren’t compromised by that.” 7/20/2017 - “With certain players, especially the attackers, you’re going to ask them to take risks to change a game and to beat your opponent, to try the final pass, to attempt a shot,” Leitch told reporters after San Jose’s 4-1 exhibition romp over Eintracht Frankfurt last week. “And so if you’re going to ask those players to do that, then you have to know … within that risk, those things aren’t always going to come off, and so you have to be OK with that, so that those creative guys can have the space to be creative and to express themselves and try those things.” “Winning is always fun, but winning with style is all the better,” Thompson said. “I would say this is the most fun I’ve had as a pro." This is the antithesis of Dom's pragmatic philosophy. I believe this approach is exactly why TT has turned it around.
Unfortunately, the formation of the team in the last couple of games seems to be a backpedaling from this conviction, a bit, which is what has me so disappointed. It's great to say you want your attacking players to take risks, but if you don't organize them in such a way that they can take advantage of what opportunities they get, or to even generate opportunities to begin with, it doesn't matter all that much. Thompson has most certainly looked improved since Kinnear was fired, but many of the players are regressing quickly, and that has got to be solved.
MLS Spotlight: Earthquakes' Thompson 'tries sh*t' to reignite hype train The 21-year-old San Jose attacker appears to be finally delivering on the promise that has generated plenty of attention in the past
I totally agree that TT isn't the type of player that would never have fully thrived under Dom. I do also agree with JazzyJ that a player who plays under a coach who plays a system that accentuates the positives and minimizes his negatives is going to look a whole lot better. Certainly CL's coaching philosophy fits TT's skill set and mindset way better than Dom's. My point is that some are saying that TT had a step change improvement in his development under CL. I'm saying that I don't see that step change. I think TT has been on a steep part of his development curve where he has become a substantially better player and that curve started at the end of last season, not three or four weeks ago. His results 'look' better because he's now playing in a system that suits him, but his development was progressing well even under Dom's system that didn't particularly suit him and even when he wasn't always getting a great amount of game time.
As I said, I think that TT appeared to have improved towards the end of last season but IMO that is only because Dom started playing him at outside mid, and often as a sub where he was allowed to take more chances. This year things started to regress for him again. He got some playing time but had that turnover that led to goal in NY I think it was, and then started to spend a lot of time on the bench again, and when he played he was afraid to play. As I said, he'd receive the ball and make a bee line back towards the Quakes goal because he was so afraid to lose it. So I was seeing the same kinds of ups and downs. The only thing I will credit Dom for is (seemingly) inducing TT to get more stout on the ball (he put on some mass for the 2016 season), and at least indirectly making him become a good defender, because that was a way to get onto the field under Dom. But at the same time I think he was detrimental to the attacking side of TT's development because he made him play "afraid to make a mistake". I also don't think that calling him out for not scoring was helpful. It would just make him press more. This is very interesting quote because it seems like TT is really making an effort not to throw Dom under the bus, but I think you can read between the lines a bit here. Maybe it is an "all's well that ends well" kind of thing. If TT had played for someone like Leitch the whole time, maybe he wouldn't have had the same incentive to bulk up or work on his defense. And though I think Dom stunted his development as an attacker, I don't think it is irreversible. He is going to back to approaching the game like he did when he started - in 2014.
I am sorry but I disagree with that. Tommy looked absolutely awful for 2 years and even the start of this season. It wasn't until Dom was given the boot that Tommy looked good. This means it has to, and clearly means that TT progression is only due to Chris Leitch.
I do think Tommy's current role is a big part of his success. There isn't a ton of defensive risk if you're an attacker in the attacking third of the field. You get to try sh*t...that's basically your primary job. Kinnear rarely gave him the opportunity and when he did I think the issue was Tommy would be overly differential to Wondo and the vets...I'm sure that was 100% supported by Dom...paralyzing way to play. I think the expectation was to not call his own number. Dom didn't give him the latitude to try sh*t in deeper positions. Some coaches might, but getting stuffed in the middle third of the field creating a potential counter for the other team was toxic to Kinnear's ultra defensive mindset...cardinal sin. I'm really happy for Tommy...and anxious to see how far he can take it. Right now he is playing as good or better than the big signings.
TT's speed with the ball and decision making is just phenomenal. We are a different team (in a really good way) with him in the middle. And he's not getting pushed off the ball. I'm dead serious we need to build around him as our CAM with Godoy as the CDM. I think a 4-4-2 diamond would suite this just fine and help our defensive woes too. -------------Wondo/Vako------Hoesen -------------------------TT -----------Jungsworth--------Hyka -----------------------Godoy Colvey----Imperial-----Affolter-----Lima ---------------------Bing/Tar Plus you have good coverage when shape goes south with this. TT can cover for any of the middle four as can Jungsworth (TT and Hyka are completely interchangeable as are Jungs and Godoy).
TT does seem to struggle with 90 game fitness, and seems to have a particularly difficult time with humidity. Even last night seemed like he was kind of taking some plays off in terms of not getting out on the attack, though he may have had a little more defensive role than he does in the 3-5-2. Good news is that it should be fixable with the right training.
He did suddenly go from off the bench at 90th minute to 90 minute starter, so that takes awhile to acclimate. But I noticed he seems to have increased his acceleration. Those accelerations take it out of you too. like you say, with training and adaptation, his fitness should improve. Those sports bras have got to be telling the Quakes something useful!
Last night, in the dying throes of the game (before Dynamo got #2), I kept thinking "get the ball to Tommy, he's the only one able to create any danger". I know most of the other players were gassed, Urena could barely walk, which is a big reason for it, but nothing was going to happen without Tommy's involvement.
Yeah he still is only the age of most college seniors. Many kids his age are still struggling to start on their NCAA teams.. The rookie Nick Lima is actually older than he is.
And he is only about 18 months older than "super kid" Jackson Yueill, whom everyone keeps thinking is 19, but he's been 20 for about 6 months now.