Goretzka is hurt again and will be out for awhile. McKennie will probably get plenty of minutes this year and Goretzka is gone this summer.
Don Garber probably has nightmares about this kid! He is certainly not shy. But in reality, not Don's warped one, McKennie and Pulisic are going to drive up the prices for all American transfers. If MLS can come to grips with itself, they can make a lot of money developing and selling the next, "McKennie" to a European team. One good transfer will be worth more than keeping Kellyn Acosta on a low salary for 5 years.
Will be interesting to see if plays any CB the rest of the Bund season. Sure seems like Tedesco wants him to get some time there. https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/...ckennie-in-defence-guardiola-style-467848.jsp
Seems similar to what Keaton Parks is going through. The coaches want them to play positions that will make them better players at their real position by adding in parts to their game that aren't developed enough.
If it keeps him on the pitch, great. He is really good in the air and tough as nails. I like Tedesco more all the time to be honest.
Tedesco who had 3 months of professional coaching experience before getting the Schalke job has made a slew of truly bizarre decisions including: Getting rid of our captain/German NT CB. Having only 3 true CBs on the squad, one with a single year experience as a BuLi starter. Moving our best ball winning DM to RCB. Getting rid of our young deep lying DM. Moving young German NT/promising #10 to play as a deep lying #6! Going into the season with only 3 true CMs. He is the master of playing folks out of position and yet he has us in 2nd place in the BuLi.
It's good to see. Doing what the player wants a la Zardes and Adams is doing neither the player nor fans nor teammates a favor.
Noticed he didn’t make the field today. I heard some scuttle about being moved into center of a three man backline. Anyone know what’s going down in Shalke town?
If you go to his YA thread it is all there. His coach is a tinkerer. He did play some CB during winterpause testspiels. Doubt if he plays alot in the middle though because Naldo has been a beast this season. He is young, Schalke are fighting for CL spots, and everybody was healthy after the break. The coach rates Wes highly and he is unlikely to disappear from the rotation. The jury is still out whether that is in midfield or at CB, Tedesco may not even know himself.
I thought they really missed McKennie against Leipzig today. They got killed in the space just in front of the 6 (Meyer) which is where Wes plays, usually. They lost their shape, to put it bluntly. The loss to Leipzig drops Schalke to 3rd and Leipzig has taken over 2nd place, just 2 points ahead of Dortmund who play tomorrow.
I 100 percent agree with this. McKennie still has his raw moments and I'm not some homer who thinks he deserves to be an automatic starter at Schalke, but he brings a steel to the midfield that Schopf does not. Bentaleb is pretty soft too.
We all want the world from and for our (USMNT) players but experience matters;this much should be clear. Cost vs. performance has to be considered by Schalke. They need to get bang for their buck out of the high payed stars so even if Wes has the biggest upside and isn't too far off right now, it still makes more sense to play the studs and allow him to learn the details of the job slowly. Schalke is bribing him along right imo.
Post #1 from you, sir. Welcome aboard. Be prepared for everyone (including me) to be very disappointed when you don't immediately produce every touch videos the second the game is over. We are a demanding group. Welcome aboard.
Epic performance from Weston today. Seems like a notable game in his career. He absolutely bossed the second half and was easily man of the match in a massive game as struggling Schalke starts the second half of the season. @ShaftBrewer , I'd say the second half is worthy of an all touch or highlight package. Early in the second half, the commentator said, "McKennie has come out of his shell in this second half." That was before he really took the game over with his attacking, defending, and overall confidence and presence.
His poor play led to Wolfsburg's FH goal and they would have been down 1-0 but for a lucky pen for Schalke making it 1-1 at the half. Wes doesn't press well. In the second half they used Wes in his favorite areas leading to loose ball opportunities that Wes ate up and when he got his chance to dribble into the attacking third and use his diagonal passing skills he didn't disappoint and nabbed an assist on the winning goal. It's becoming more clear why Wes doesn't gel well with USMNT. He has a special set of skills which a club can incorporate into their game over a season but which are harder to incorporate into a national team. The logical conclusion, considering Wes just turned 20 last August, is that we should let him continue developing at UEFA CL team Schalke instead of trying to shoe-horn him into the USMNT. Adams makes more sense to me at this point - in the March freindlies, say - but I bet McKennie's role starts to clarify over the next year or so.
Terrible hot take. We haven’t even had a real team/coach since Wes has been incorporated into the setup. Leaving him out of the Gold Cup is tremendously dumb.
He was getting the ball all over the field -- often in very tight positions. He should have had an assist before he finally got one and had a few good attacking moments inside the attacking third. He dominated the air picking up a yellow card in the process. He blocked a shot inside his own box giving up a corner instead of a likely goal. Aside from all of this, he was a true catalyst for Shalke today. It was honestly as if he took it upon himself to ensure that they got the three points. If what he showed today is on track with his development trajectory, he will be a special, special player.
How is it a hot take when it is based on his performance with the USMNT? When Green - who I think is just awful and not up to the USMNT level - improves the USMNT's performance after replacing Wes - who I think is a really good player - don't you think there is something to the proposition that a player can be good for club and not good for country? Or will we be England and absolutely have to play Gerrard and Lampard together because both have fans so it makes sense to play both to sell tickets to both while not bothering with the prospects in the WC because we're England and we never do well at WC and encourage our fans to concentrate on the prem...….. i.o.w., do we want to market or put a team together to win games.
There is a LONG way in between, "Don't call him in for the Gold Cup," and "Don't mash him on the field in a bad lineup because you feel like you have to."
There’s nothing to the proposition. We don’t have nearly the sample size necessary to justify just chucking out one of the better young players in all of Germany. Looking at a single game—where Wes was injured—is myopic, especially where the team didn’t even have a coherent plan or coach. Wes is a stud and if you can’t see that you should probably get a new hobby.