Spaghetti Weston: McKennie at Juventus

outside of Weston potentially getting more time in the last 2 games, which is not even guaranteed, since Meyer did not make the squad vs Gladbach and Weston was still on the bench. Although with Bentaleb red carded that could give him chances.

It actually hardly matters to the club when he was always leaving next season and Schalke are all but guaranteed CL anyways.

 

I did not. I thought that he would be better off playing every minute for the reserves this year before moving to the first team in 2018-2019.

Wrong!

 

Sorry to do you like this but you brought it up.

 

yeah, 1 pt guarantees UCL, 2 points to avoid UCL qualification

 

Top 4 of the big 4 leagues automatically qualify for the group stage now.

 

I did! I thought he would get playing minutes for sure but I didn't think he would this much time.

 

I just scrolled back through this thread to August. Credit to Susaeta for this post at the beginning of the season:

He's at 20 right now.

His post was in response to this:

And on the same page people were posting things like this:

 

Yeah I admitted in his first friendly appearance that I was wrong. He can be a difference maker but as some have noted he needs to become a more sophisticated option on offense to truly advance.

 

Yeah, there's @Susaeta 's predictions and evaluations, and then there's everyone else's. Sure, he's not always right, but he's not trying to "win at internet" either.

 

I feel old

 

I, however, knew the Edsel was going to tank, so I've got that going for me.

 

This August prediction was wrong, but not for the reason I expected:

 

mckenie now first choice for #6 role at schale now that the other guy is gone. great news for him and next season
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...l_mckennie-erste-wahl-fuer-sechser-rolle.html

 

And for our NT

 

starts the game with Bentaleb suspended.

 

So far he looks pretty good...had one excellent tackle/challenge in particular that sparked a fast break

 

Schalke are back in the Champions League 🎉🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/IC6xqL0NaA

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) May 5, 2018

 

Anyone watch this game to get a sense of how we’ll be played?

He seems to be playing a bit better each game, hoping today was a continuation of that.

 

I thought he was fine but I don’t think he flashes as much as his ability would allow. How much of that disparity is tactical and how much is being a younger member of the squad or just personality I don’t know guess we’ll find out.

He can tackle, he can press and he can play one touch but I would like to see him want the ball and show for the ball much more frequently.

 

It is all of the above, but mostly tactical. His primary role is to slow down other team attack

 

Starts

 

Well would you look at that... 👀 @WMckennie will be in the thick of the action once more for the Royal Blues today 💪 #S04SGE #SchalkeUS🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/9uKa0ftz96

— Schalke 04 USA🇺🇸 (@s04_us) May 12, 2018

 

On his better games being more assertive and showing for the ball not there yet but working on it. Bodes well for the future.

Bonus points for kicking the shit out of Carlos Salcedo.

 

Anyone else watched today’s game get a sense for how he played?

I’m assuming he’ll be fighting for a starting spot the start of next season.

 

He improved considerably over the course of the season. By the end he was noticeably sleeker. That was a big key, as well as smarter movement off the ball. Successful debut for the lad.

Tedesco deserves a lot of credit for the patience he showed that most managers wouldn't have. Rewarded with already turning McKennie into a useful player contributing to tying Schalke's best finish in almost the last 30 years. Managers outside the super-clubs could learn from this. It's a marathon not a sprint. They looked like complete crap the first 5-10 matches.