YNT-eligible MLS players: 2017/18 offseason thread

Martino says Carleton has put himself closer to first team with performances in preseason. #atlutd

— Doug Roberson (@DougRobersonAJC) February 25, 2018

 

I thought Carleton was a bit up and down, but more good than bad. Of Atlanta's 5 or so best chances on the night, Carleton was the architect of 3-4 of them. Was also part of a nice give and go into the box in addition to the highlights shown.

He looked a lot like you would expect a very talented 17 year old to look. Some ridiculous passes and bits of skill, (that one touch through ball into the box about made me double take) and also some inconsistency. There were a couple times Atlanta had an opportunity for a break and he just straight up missed the target or made the wrong decision. Then there are times when I think he could work a little harder off the ball to get involved offensively.

He also won a few balls in the midfield that allowed Atlanta to maintain possession, which was good to see.

 

Carleton is more likely to score or assist but he's also more likely to turn the ball over, the further from your own goal that happens the better.

The logic behind the "influential" argument is that you put him there to get him on the ball more and thus increase the chance that he makes the special play. It could also provide more positional freedom.

We should also be thinking about what form that influence takes and where it's needed. I sometimes divide it into control and creativity. A player like Xavi or Messi are high on both while Dembele or Ronaldo are stronger in the latter category.

 

A good argument. One I'd make for Barco, recently ranked the 10th best teenage prospect in the world by Gazetta dello Sport.. If Almiron isn't available I see Barco playing in the middle and Carleton playing the wing.

I think that at the end of the 2018 season Carleton will have played the majority of his minutes on the wing for Atlanta, and Pomykal will have played the majority of his minutes with FCD as the #10. FCD just signed Mosquera and drafted two GenAd wingers in the first round. There's no playing time there.

I think Pareja keeps putting Paxton on the wing because he's just trying to get him on the field. I'd argue that his 2nd best position would actually be at the #8 position. ​

By the way, FCD had a scrimmage yesterday against SMU that all of the youngsters participated in..........................(and of course SMU is FCD-heavy. Pareja had some good things to say about left back Eddie Munjoma after the scrimmage.)

FCD and @SMUSoccerM continue strong relationship with valuable game minutes in Saturday friendly.

Full news and notes from the afternoon affair in Friscohttps://t.co/LsgLFmyovr

— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) February 24, 2018

The starters played the first 30 minute period with Reggie starting at right back (which isn't news any more.)

The 2nd 30 minute period featured Pomykal and Servania in the positions we've come to expect them in.

The 3rd 30 minute period was even more interesting. Ferreira starting up top, and this is the position we see him a lot in. Coming into this season I've viewed Ferreira as a winger prospect, but Pareja has used him a lot in this forward position in a 3-4-3 system. And interestingly, in this 3rd period it was apparently Pomykal that played as a #6. Perhaps an opportunity for Pax to work on that part of his game?

​

Something to note. I haven't seen draft pick and former US U17 Chris Lema mentioned anywhere for FCD recently. I thought I heard somewhere that he was sent off to OKC. No sight of him in OKC's pre-season friendly yesterday, although there were "Trialists." Maybe the Kellyn Acosta injury news might put him back in the frame for an FCD contract?

​

 

Any clue what's happened to Reid? Thought he did alright last year in the USL but he's been MIA for a week or more with FCD.

 

Perhaps Reid and Lema are trialling with OKC?

 

A @zlebmada highlight stream:

Andrew Carleton, 17, went 90 in preseason today and I’ve got GIFs. A lot of them. Cuz forget what you heard: the kid balled out. And it wasn’t just the backheel flick in the box or the one-time, 40-yard, outside-of-the-boot throughball from midfield. #atlutd #usmnt

1st touch: pic.twitter.com/mw6yu7lsRn

— scuffed (@scuffedpod) February 25, 2018

 

He should've been closer to the first team several months ago.

 

According to that article Reid came off the bench in the 3rd period of the scrimmage against SMU. So he's at least still training with the first team.

Playing time is going to be tough for all Reid, Ferreira, Atuahene, and Twumasi with the first team this season. That's 3 GenAds and an elite homegrown. 3 of them are 97s or younger.

I can see all of those guys taking shifts thru OKC to get playing time.

The club really shoulda cut the cord with Colman and Tesho, but that's hard. They've invested a lot in Colman, and Tesho is the type of bench player that's good to have.

 

If by good you mean a mediocre warm body that can be inserted into the lineup but not actually improve the team's game then yes Tesho is the perfect bench player. Coleman at least puts himself into good positions and gets looks on net. Tesho is just blocking better, younger players from seeing the bench and hopefully becoming options when given the opportunity.

 

I was busy over the weekend, so here I am to summarize the friendlies:

Thursday:
NYCFC vs RSL: Sands and Lewis started, '00 Polvara subbed in for NYCFC, Glad started and Herrera subbed in for an injured Adam Henley at 19'.

Saturday:
SKC vs Portland: Lindsey subbed on for Zusi in the 62nd, Marco Farfan in for Vytas in the 69th.

Atlanta vs Charleston: Carleton, Vazquez, and Robinson started, Goslin came on in the 69th.

Union vs Rowdies: Real and Jones started for what looks like a second team lineup, McKenzie came on at half, and then Trusty and Fontana subbed in at the 60 minute mark with what looks like the starting lineup on opening day.

DC vs Las Vegas: Durkin subbed in in the 83rd for Junior Moreno. He was one of 7 subs, and looks like a lock for the first team, but is firmly behind Moreno. DC seems locked on a 4141, though, and Durkin and Moreno are directly competing, which isn't a bad situation necessarily. Moreno can't play all the minutes.

Based on the MLS website there's only one game left that features Chicago, and thus no TEs, so with this thread essentially finished there's a few things I'd like to point out.

First, only a few teams seem like they're considering playing these guys. The only real changes in playing time this year I can see would be:
-Trusty becoming a regular
-Fontana getting some minutes while Philadelphia searches for a replacement
-Real sliding his way in to the starting lineup
-Pomykal inching his way up the minute ladder
-Cannon getting 2k
-Lindsey getting random garbage minutes to start but really sticking with Swope
-Saucedo getting way more minutes and Herrera getting some subs, but it seems like Petke is toning down the rest? Probs wrong, but recent lineups have been weird
-I think Lindley has gotten some good minutes, but Orlando is weird with preseason, and yet from the last couple years of watching him I think he should be exceeding 1k easily
-Sands getting some spot starts
-Durkin and Carleton slowly becoming more involved as the season wears on

Things I don't see happening:
-Farfan or Ebobisse getting a significant increase in minutes, nor Williamson getting anything productive
-Toye getting anything useful
-Arellano playing over Hilliard-Arce
-Shaft being able to see the field from where he's sitting
-Anyone other than Pomykal and Cannon getting much for Dallas
-Da Silva wondering how he ended up on a team that wouldn't play him for the first team and closing down their second team

Typically players get significantly more minutes in these years without youth world cups, so hopefully we see 5 or so guys with over 2k minutes. I'm hoping for Glad, Adams, Cannon, Acosta, Trusty, Lindley, Yueill, and Lennon. That would pretty much blow any recent year out of the water. It's optimistic, but I don't think it's crazy at all.

 

For a more numbers-based approach, I went back and looked at minutes given to TEs back to 2010 (I'm counting TEs as players born 21 years before the year played so that the upcoming year counts '97s). As you can see, if I divide the total minutes by the teams in the league, we're getting worse and worse every year.



However, what is promising is that the age of these players is going down, which forebodes that the minutes will go back up soon.




And that can be seen here, a graph of the returning minutes for thread eligibles (also known as U20 minutes):



This is where I see the biggest trend. You can separate the even years and odd years since they depend on having the world cup, but both continuously dropped until now. Also, note that this is divided by the amount of teams, so the total minutes are increasing even faster.

 

Portland signed Honduran youth striker, Vuelto, to T2. They’ll give a Honduran youth international a shot but not Ebobisse? Fantastic.

 

Saw this on twitter. This was the best individual player USYNT performance in a competitive game that I can remember. EPB's domination of Mexico a close second.

968616519562350592 is not a valid tweet id

 

Carleton possibly gonna get some healthy minutes this next month -

Injury update: Ezequiel Barco to miss 4-6 weeks

Details | https://t.co/kSpCFAySEq pic.twitter.com/4wDvj5OqXi

— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) February 28, 2018

 

I don't believe anyone started at LW for Atlanta last year aside from Asad and Peterson who have both left the team. It's hypothetically possible for Almiron to start LW and then Gressel to play AM. In the preseason, Atlanta only saw Barco start there.

Edit: And Vazquez got a start in that last game, but he was...uninspiring in that start

This is really the best opportunity for Carleton to get some playing time, if there was a time for him to play for Atlanta, this is it.

 

Watch them move Nagbe to LW and then TAM a South American box to box midfielder and completely troll both Carleton and Goslin

 

Uh isn't the offseason over?

 

Shhh. Your destroying his snarky moment.

 

They have central midfielders available should their solution be to move Nagbe to left wing.

Just to troll @ussoccer97531 they could start Chris McCann.

 

Yeah, I guess cuz we haven't yet hit opening day I figured it would be more appropriate to post here idk

what?

 

One of the issues for Carleton is that Atlanta play on a razor's edge. Their plan is to dominate the rhythm of the game and mask their defensive line's liabilities. So Carleton needs to show more than sparking attacks. He needs to shut down the counter and press the backline.

 

He does....

 

Not very well...

ok this wasn't great defending pic.twitter.com/Hy1zz0mgv3

— scuffed (@scuffedpod) February 25, 2018

 

Both Carleton and Escobar, who is 23 and was playing in first division Argentina, went after the wrong player.