Not saying he isn’t, but we got people who are frankly inflating his competitive resume based on half a season. Wesley is saying guys like Ream, Lima and Cannon would get beaten like rented mules against the same elite talent Dest has faced. Sorry, but the Eredivisie ain’t that great, the bottom is inferior to MLS and PSV, IMO is no better than the LAFC, Atlanta United and Seattle teams that Cannon and Lima face. Ream was starting regularly in the premier league like a year ago. Dest has played Chelsea once. Let’s just not overstate things. Then we got people saying he is our best player, he’s a better winger than Morris, Boyd, Arreola, etc. He can step in at CM. Kid has played 3 basically meaningless games for us and half a professional season. He’s good and yeah right now I think he needs to be getting Minutes. I’m excited because he clearly plays a position of need, but yeah, some of you guys need to pump the brakes.
You are dead on. The Eredivisie/MLS are the 2 leagues I watch the most and by every single metric (budget, 538 SPI, transfermarkt values, the eye test etc.), once you get past Ajax, MLS is basically even. PSV is better than those teams (and AZ this year) but I'd take those elite teams easily over any other Eredivisie teams. It's why I said earlier I judge Dest off the CL matches and the PSV ones-- the rest of them Ajax is so significantly better what's the point? Dest faced Chelsea once and was pretty bad. He got bullied by POAK. In fairness to him: he's had great moments too. But I am 100% with you: pump the breaks. Let's see him defend more. Let's see him develop more. To call him the best player on the team when Pulisic absolutely destroyed him is insanity.
There are about 100 points to respond to, but a few: In this or another post, you claim Ream is not a good passer. The dude is an excellent passer. Watch a match. Look at stats. He LEADS Championship in Passing%. If the idea is "we want to possess and hold the ball", Ream at LB is a fine option. I especially like it with Dest at RB where you can morph into a back 3. Never said Robinson would be a better RB. I think eventually Robinson will be an excellent option at RCB. I don't get where that argument comes from. I've seen Cannon play against Mexico in the Gold Cup. He wasn't exactly beaten like a "rented mule". He MORE than held his own. Was perhaps the best player for the US. The other MLS guys I don't really care for much but Cannon has been very strong with the NT. The US should be building a team to the strengths of the best players. I think that is very difficult to do but better than what Berhalter is currently doing. 3-5-2 with Dest having the ability to focus on attacking, WM/TA in the midfield is very interesting to me. CB is a position of strength and most importantly massive depth at the moment for the US. You highlight Dest as a RWB with the ability to bomb forward and combine.
Luckily, the "bad" in that clip can be much more easily corrected than the "good" in that clip can be taught.
Not in my opinion. Because he offers nothing going forward, it allowed Mexico to ignore the threat of our right side and concentrate numbers on our left side, essentially leaving us defenseless because we were outnumbered.
He is 19, he learns the lesson of how you play it when you are last man back on a corner kick. That's really easy stuff to learn and I think he just did. What you cant learn is what you saw earlier in that tape. If pulisic had that ability to let go of the ball he would be worth double his $70mprice tag (3:31-36).
Pulisic and Dest offer plenty going forward. That didn't stop Corona rolling them up in the followup beat down. Did Corona outnumber those two?
No he doesn't. Not on the left side. Can you show me Dest offering plenty going forward playing as a left back for Ajax? No, you can't. But Berhalter was going to show you and you bought it hook, line and sinker, sucker.
This isn't the club forum. This is the National Team forum. Dest and Pulisic got smoked. By one guy. They're very attacking oriented players. And both got smoked. Was that Cannon's fault? And Ajax thought enough of Dest's prowess to play him on the left during preseason.
that was risky p.s. yes, it was Cannon's fault because there is obviously pressure on Egg to play Cannon to get reps that will qualify him for a work permit for a transfer which meant Dest was shuffled off to the left when he would have produced a victory for us on the right.
Cannon is dangerous going forward. He was started on the wing in the playoffs. He's not Marcelo but he's a contributor.
Brilliant run. Dest creates the opportunity and finishes it. On the mistake...those kinds of public mistakes as a young player should be good for his development. ALL players make mistakes, but with wisdom the mistakes tend to have less impact on the game. Dest will hopefully iron out those lapses in concentration.
I specifically said that Ream sub par in possession and passing, for a full-back specifically. He is above average in that regard for a center-back and I have no argument whatsoever against him playing center back, including as a LCB in a three man back line. You can and obviously will disagree, but I am not alone in the assessment that Ream is a terrible option at fullback, he plays it like an out of position center back and is a living invitation for the opposing winger and fullback to set up shop in our third, because he offers nothing going forward. You have the wrong Robinson. I was talking about Antonee, the one that plays right back ; https://wiganathletic.com/players/p169528/ Odd that you highlight the Mexico game for Cannon, where he was admittedly decent, but not for Ream where he was beaten like a rented mule and specifically targeted by Mexico. In any event, Cannon is probably our second best option at RB behind Dest, that difference being a wide gulf in class and ability going forward and a negligible difference defensively. Every single time the US has ever employed 3 in the back it has invited pressure and turned into 5 or more at the back. I don't see CB as a position of strength at all. Brooks is good by our standards, but oft injured. There is a lot of depth after that, but it is all average and flawed. There is depth at RB and having Dest play on the wing could work. Going back to our original discussion though, Dest is our best RB full stop.
We can agree to disagree on Ream. If you lead a league in passing %, you are a good passer no matter the position. He's not going to offer a ton in the final 1/3, but if you want to build an attack through the back, he's very good at keeping possession with his passing. He's very steady defensively too. I know who Antonee Robinson is. He's a left back not a right back hence why I thought you might be talking Miles. He's OK. Hard to get excited over a 22-year old playing for a team that is basically on the level of a League One team.
I agree on Ream. He's a sophisticated passer who can probe lines, go over the top, and keep possession. I think that he's a net positive.
Right on cue, here is sophisticated passer Ream, creating a 1 v 1 like Dest did, with some creative terrible dribbling and generally looking crap against Championship level competition. While of course offering nothing going forward: https://t.co/Zt1Ia6oYXn?amp=1
He played some good balls in there. Had some giveaways and mistakes too. Everyone has bad games. Pulisic was arguably the worst US player against Canada in the 2-0 loss. It would be stupid to hold that against him.
The problem will not be Dest. The problem will be what Egg asks of Dest. I watched just a few minutes of Dest in UCL today v. Lille and you could see him already picking up positional nous but that may be useless playing for Egg and playing with somebody like McKennie. That combo may be too much for Dest to overcome just as Berhalter's scheme vs. Canada made Pulisic look like the 'worst' player for USA in many people's eyes.
Yep, as evidenced by one having EPL and C'ship interest and the other getting traded to Nashville FC for $100k in Garber Bucks. As evidenced by coaches hailing Lovitz's defensive chops. As evidenced by Lovitz's monster player ratings in the media.
For his C'ship career, Tim Ream has started 61 matches at leftback. His passing accuracy at the position was 77%. I checked the passing accuracy of WS's top-rated C'ship LBs for last season.With at least 11 starts at LB we have---Enda Stevens 77%, Andrew Hughes 67%, Ezgjan Alioski 73%, Kristian Pedersen 64%, Rico Henry 79%. Conclusion: Tim Ream wasn't a poor passer from the LB position.