Trapp is at the top of nearly every important passing stat in MLS almost every season. Terrible vision. This reminds me of the posters who were convinced Besler was a bad passer, even though he'd be #1 in passing stats for MLS CB's every season. Some MLS players are not going to get fair treatment because they aren't young enough nor do they play in Europe.
On second viewing, the US midfield was bad - again - against Peru. New coach must create a more effective setup in the middle. Trapp, Delgado, and Acosta all with poor off the ball movement. Not creating passing options. US defenders have no/poor midfield passing options. Forced to play long, a lot. Trapp defaults backwards. Does not look up enough to see potential forward options. Below average vision. Sets up the team terribly. Midfield defense does not have good closing speed. Lacks effective press. Does not force turnovers and allows opponent too much possession. Amon, Sargent, Trapp not getting enough opportunities to get into game rhythm. Starved from poor midfield service. Twellman blames carelessness ON the ball for poor possession. In truth, it is sloppy/poor/nonexistent work OFF the ball. It is also having 3 non complementary players in the middle. None of them are good at breaking press and advancing. Again, that primarily comes from poor work off the ball. Secondarily, they lack experience turning out of press and pushing ball forward. Dear youth soccer coaches in the USA. Please repeat - over and over - drills where players must sprint 5-7 yards to create separation and position themselves to receive the ball. Then please repeat receiving the ball with head up and making next pass immediately.
The context is in the tweet itself, saying you understand trying to build a rhythm, but the bigger problem is that he doesn't take a second to survey when he had more than enough time. Trapp also isn't under 23. He's 25.
I'm aware of his age. I'm saying that because he's a 25 year old MLS player some don't want to give him a fair assessment. If he was in Europe or "young", he would be assessed much differently, IMO. Also, the tweet doesn't say he didn't take the time to survey the situation, like you did. I think the person who made the tweet tweet realizes he did. When you are in acres of space, you can survey the scene before you receive the ball.
One of the dumbest defenses you will hear about a player’s passing ability is passing complete %. Volume does not equal value. Same goes for posting.
Said the same thing on another board today. I don't have an issue with any of the 3 players playing for us in a vacuum, but none of them are adept at creating separation with or without the ball. (I might prefer other options, but any of the 3 can be an effective player with the right guys around them) All 3 of them are "accurate" passers. The poor passing numbers and lack of advancement of the ball wasn't because they were off the mark, it was because none of them ever had anywhere to go. In fairness to them, we pretty much had to start this midfield due to injuries, but lets hope we're never in this position again.
Trapp had to do a lot of defending to cover Sweat's side. Sweat + Amon proved as ineffective as Robinson + Saief against Colombia. That left side is becoming a recurring problem.
Has nothing to do with age or league to me. I thought Aaron Long was excellent last night and want him on the team going forward and he both plays in MLS and is older than Trapp. (And he made his debut much later) My issues with Trapp are that- A: He struggles defensively when faced with athletic attackers in terms of marking, cutting off passing lanes, and in the air. Part of the reason our possession was so bad last night was because we could never create pressure to win the ball back. B: He doesn't create enough offensively to make up for this. He's not a threat with the ball at his feet at all, and while he has good vision, when faced with pressure himself he usually has to play a lateral or backward pass because of it.
More from Doyle (A guy who could never be accused of being "anti" MLS players) which further goes into my thoughts on Trapp. "What he didn't do was win the ball much, at all, in the center of the pitch, and that puts a hard cap on his usefulness as a player, especially with younger guys like Adams and Russell Canouse coming through the ranks. Moreover, Trapp's biggest strength has always been his ability to organize the game by spraying possession from side to side and eventually playing his team into the attacking third. On Tuesday, he wasn't able to do that: By no means was this entirely his fault. Sweat's struggles meant that Trapp was constantly pulled out wide to help shut down Peruvian attacks; none of the other midfielders could put a foot on the ball and control the game even a little bit; the whole endeavor was hamstrung by a lack of urgency to push the game forward, which meant that even when the USMNT were in good spots they were hesitant to do anything except cycle uselessly."
The only reason Trapp is on the map is because our other alternatives for DM are the likes of Kitchen or Bradley or Dwill. My guess is out last hope is Canouse. He must get his shot soon. If Canouse also sucks, time to plan how to manage without a DM at all.
I'd like to see us try McKennie and Adams as dual 6's in a 4-2-3-1. Neither of them are a true 6 right now, but together they might be able to do the job and they both cover enough ground that I think they'd still be able to get forward enough.
Doyle has never liked Trapp. I also don't understand why people act like Doyle is some big MLS defender. He's not. If you read his columns, he almost always prefers European options. What someone like Doyle doesn't realize here (and I think a lot of other US fans also don't realize) is that you aren't going to put some 10 foot monster in at the position, and they'll knock everyone to the ground from the other team and take the ball from them. The discussion of the #6 position should center on practical expectations. We don't have the 10 foot monster type of player to begin with, and almost all the players who just run around kicking players at the #6 position can't actually play real football. We'll have even less of the ball with some "destroyer" than with Trapp. If your #6 can't pass the ball, you won't have any of it. When people mention things like Trapp is bad defensively, it comes off as weak analysis. They look for splash plays. We've given up seven total goals in the games Trapp has played. We barely gave up any chances last game. Trapp isn't going to run himself out of position to try to win back the ball. He'll stay compact, you won't beat him positionally, and he'll frustrate you. Thats how he plays defense. Thats much more reliable defense than someone who will go for a big tackle, miss half the time and leave big gaps in front of the defense. Also, Trapp is among our best players in possession. If we have the ball, he will be a big asset. However, we have a lot of players who can't hold onto the ball. We have always been that way. We are not a very technical or smart team, so we go long stretches without the ball. In that type of set-up where we don't have much of the ball, the guys who look like they make a lot of "gritty" and athletic plays will stand out. Their inability to make smart, technical plays to hold onto possession will be overlooked because thats not something that is being emphasized. As I said, Trapp's contribution is important, but those who don't watch closely enough or only look at the game from a splash play viewpoint, will miss his contribution and then resort to the typical "slow, too weak, etc." Trapp is the main reason we have organization in the back, and if we ever get ahold of the ball, he is the starter of our buildup. It should never be his job (or the job of the #6) to kick every player on the field to win the ball back. Thats dinosaur football, and it loses to possession football almost all the time.
Exactly. What's interesting is where the gif ends. When I look at that I say, ok, Delgado sees the guy who was bothering CCV now coming at him to make trouble and Delgado one touch passes Kellyn's ball to Trapp who now sees clear path to get CCV the ball - yet CCV is pointing to somebody else and the gif ends. If Trapp sends a hard square one, CCV doesn't have to touch it and can simply pick his head up, run along the roll line of the ball and decide when he wants to hit the ball while his teammates play off the movement. If Trapp sends the ball where CCV is pointing, the distance is too far, too close to Peruvian mids and the Peruvians would get a jump on the ball. But CCV is pointing as if he doesn't want the ball. What do you do if you are Trapp?
In other parts of the field: - Sargent was economic and smart with his touches. They were not all perfect, but he seems to have a lot of good ideas and puts the opponent under pressure. His goal was what we have come to expect from Sargent. On the move, quick strike, and accurate. - Weah still seems like a fish out of water when he is on the wing trying to beat players on the dribble. I like that he is aggressive, but he seems best running at goal, in combination, with space to create. Would love to see him in a two-forward setup where he can combine to try and get behind defenses going at the goal. - Amon messed up a couple plays, but at this point I am OK as long as his mistakes happen when he is trying to be aggressive and create. That was the case against Peru. I want to see him worked in more with the team and see if those ideas start to bear results. - Crazy that all three attackers will likely feature on the US U20 team. So young, lots of potential. Time will tell, but lots to like. - Long and CCV were a good partnership in the back. They partnered well, covered for each other, and for the most part kept play in front of them and minimized Peru chances. - I really liked Cannon. It will be no surprise if he emerges as the first choice right back. He stays tuned in and keeps his head up, and his combination of size, strength and speed makes him really tough to beat. Yedlin continues to have critical lapses in concentration you would expect him to eliminate at this phase in his career. When play is in front of him, he is very good. But he loses defenders ball-watching too often when the threat is coming from the other side. Sweat got better in the second half, but does not look like the answer on the left.
I still think his distribution could use a little polishing, even though I love him as a player. I'm not sure he's ready to be out there on an island against top international teams. Certainly not opposed to giving him a couple auditions, though.
Peru completed significantly more passes from zone 14 in the second half and especially after the 69th minute.
omfgggg pic.twitter.com/l8d1eFhpfg— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) October 17, 2018 His touch before his cross, when he should have squared it or cut back inside the closing defender and across his trailing marker and then played Weah in, actually brings the ball left and more into the center of his stride and away from the closing defender. That makes a left footed pass easier and an outside of the foot cross aimed wide to his right more difficult. The more elevated sideline angle that shows Weah's run is the best one to evaluate when the pass should have been released.
Doyle prefers European options more often because more often than not they are the better option. He doesn't need to prefer MLS players by and large to not be a "eurosnob" which people who don't rate Trapp highly are always accused of being. He just needs to have a respect for them, which he does. No one is saying or arguing the bolded. Someone doesn't have to be a Kante-level player defensively to be more effective than Trapp. And I don't doubt his positioning or awareness, but that is the bare minimum that should be expected out of the position. I can't help but feel the irony in being accused of being an anti-MLSer while arguing a need for more athleticism, aggression, and mileage out of a midfield position- as well as the idea that strong 1v1 marking, blocking passing lanes, or being an effective aerial player are now considered "flashy" plays. Goals against per game is not relevant whatsoever when it comes to individual defense. We've given up less goals per game in Cameron Carter Vickers' starts than Trapp, but I haven't seen you use that to argue in his favor (you shouldn't of course), and that's even more so his area of influence.
numerous times vs. peru trapp auto-backpassed when he had a lot of space and time to turn...his default is backpass scared caution.....those few times he couldve turned and moved the team forward - potentially dangerously - are precious and cant be wasted..... how many times did trapp even pass the ball forward or do anything that wasnt completely cautious safe and insignifcant i.e. scoring? how many time did he do anything even remotely dangerous with the ball? can he do anything to threaten the other team at all??? trapp plays very similarly to bradley...and any "6" dominating a midfield playing the way trapp does...will be on a team that struggles to create chances and score.....