What did you think of Bentaleb? He was listed as coming from Tottenham last July for 18m. I don't know anything about him and saw him for first time this week end - if my memory is ok
Odd how sometimes you don't know how much a player offers until they aren't there. Assists and goals are easy to see but the defensive side is harder to pick up between players.
weston seems like he has a body type which leads people to believe hes not going to do as much running and work as he does
Didn't someone post a stat that Weston was one of the poorer tacklers in the league (at least on a numbers basis)?
My middle school team I coach, has a kid that plays in the 1 in a 4-1-3-2 and it is unbelievable how much difference that one player makes in our squad. He doesn't do so much you just go wow, but you see how much more settled we are with him in that spot. We concede less goals, maintain better spacing, and look more threatening on offense. We at least attempt to play soccer and not bumble bee ball. He always seems to be right where you wanted him just about the time you think of it. I actually saw him do a tackle flick that I like to call "the McKennie." He just ran off the guys shoulder as the guy was dribbling the ball and waited for a loose or long touch, accelerated enough to get a foot stuck in, and flicked the ball out to a wide player, pretty much all in motion. I am high on Weston, and I love how he always seem to be having a good time earning his money.
The popular wisdom is that a defensive player goes unnoticed, he did well; but if an attacking player goes unnoticed, he did badly.
Scary graphic (on whoscored that I don’t know how to post here) for Schalke fans that mirror sentiment, here and by broadcasters, that Schalke is missing a ball winner. It showed that Vidal had 14 tackles and 17 tackles attempted. Compare that with Schalkes entire midfield that attempted a total of 6 tackles of which 3 were successful. Max Meyer “the holding midfielder” of you will had zero. Further proof that in order for schalkes midfield to be workable it needs a pit bull in front of Meyer because he is pretty useless defensively.
Not to be horrible but, didn't they lose 3-0 to Bayern at home with McKennie as their ball recoverer a few months ago?
That is not horrible, that is a good point although that occurred in September. My point is that they have no defensive bite, at all right now, and it is apparent and having an impact on the games I have watched. I don’t know if that changes the calculus vs a team like Bayern (20 points ahead of everyone else), but certainly would have against a team like Werder (1 total tackle in the central midfield) or most others.
Was also early on in the season where McKennie was starting to get minutes. I hope he starts training again in 2 weeks.
Well, the talk was about their game today vs. Bayern @ the Allianz. Losing 2-1 to them today in their house is a ton better than losing 0-3 to them @ the Veltins.
I think he's not a good fit against a team like Bayern. There's a reason he got subbed early on the first game against them. I'm quite ok with him not playing this particular game today.
Meyer was terrific. They played as well as Bayern but at HT they said Schalke had run 5k more than Bayern. They were tiring towards the end of the first half. I thought Tedesco did a terrific job but ran out of options when it came to subs. It was a very interesting game.
Need the short passing game. Notice how Harit's "balling" game went nowhere when he was subbed in. Also Embolo was less effective when moved off the right wing where he had space and was doing damage. Let's not forget Wes' game against Bayern was early in his career. Very early. In any case he would have been a good sub about same time as Harit came on.
The responsibilities in Tedesco's midfield are a bit different than what we expect. I do not think Harit is a good fit when Wes is not there. I haven't watched enough of them to say this for certain, but it is my feeling right now. I hope Wes gets healthy and returns soon. I really enjoy watching him play. He has a youthful exuberance, even if he is a little tank, he reminds me of a puppy. Having a good time and enjoying himself.
First half was excellent from Schalke. They stuck to their plan even a goal down. More teams should look at this performance.