.@KristianRDyer reporting Brooks Lennon was being heavily shopped around MLS in the summer. Reggie Cannon has interest from Belgium, 4-5 teams in Germany and 2 EPL clubs.— MLS Transfers (@MLSTransfers) August 17, 2019
In the 2019 regular season @realsaltlake are 11-3-3, +19 goal differential when Justen Glad plays.When he doesn't they're 1-7-1, -15 GD.That's Chara-esque.— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) August 18, 2019
I didn't see the game (other than the highlights), so can't comment on the whole thing. From what I've seen over the last several weeks, the whole team looks gassed. This isn't a deep team. And what they do have is pretty young. FCD also has its usual summer swoon (the Texas Rangers do the same thing) as the heat of the summer down there takes its toll. All of the practice, training, games, etc. in that weather is draining. You can minimize training...………….but then you're not prepared as you should be. People used to always complain that Pareja didn't rotate the squad during the summer, and the guys just looked increasingly gassed. Same thing here. To me Ferreira and Pomykal need a break. Cannon isn't playing particularly well either over the last several weeks. And at some point in a season "rookie mistakes" can't be tolerated for a team trying to make the playoffs. The Ferreira in midfield experiment has to end. We have natural central midfielders available. For some inexplicable reason he was playing really deep last night, and played a nice square pass to a Montreal player for an easy goal. Can't happen. I don't care if a player is young or not. I don't care if he's playing slightly out of position. Can't happen. That's a terrible mental error that cost the team. In week 2 we can call it a tough lesson. Right now it can't be tolerated. I'm glad Bryan Reynolds got his first ever start, but really? Of all the options we had to start on the left wing, we chose Bryan Reynolds? The kid we've been training at right back for the last two years? I mean, we have loaned out three players who can play there (Aranguiz, Atuahene, and Twumasi)………….for that? Play fricking Badji on the wing, and put Ferreira up top. Or rest Ferreira, and play Ondrasek. I think the Cobra might start next game. He's got some fight in him at least.
Bummer for Sands, who'd been having a breakout season: We've learned that James Sands has a broken collarbone, suffered in the first half of #CINvNYC - Sands broke his right arm in the first match v. #FCCincy at Yankee Stadium & missed the next four matches #NYCFC @NYCFC #MLS @MLS— Glenn Crooks (@GlennCrooks) August 18, 2019 “It’s not good news for us because I love this player. We need this player. Sometimes the soccer is not fair & right now it’s not fair w/ Jimmy-he’s an amazing player. It’s bad news for us.”- Dome Torrent after James Sands suffered broken collarbone #CINvNYC #NYCFC @NYCFC @MLS— Glenn Crooks (@GlennCrooks) August 18, 2019
I'd also say that Luchi has made a mistake in putting Pomykal higherer on the field than he was early in the season. It seems he's lost a lot of his freedom that he had, and he's not driving games like he was instead having to rely on others to get him the ball instead of picking it up himself. Considering this and Ferreira's positioning, I wonder how much of this is a developmental thing. It's like Luchi is purposely putting them in positions that at not as comfortable/suitable for them so that they will develop in those areas. It goes with the developmental philosophy of Luchi and the club, but it's risky when there is a playoff position on the line. As far as the break needed, again, maybe part of that is Luchi telling guys like Pax that this is a long season -- you have to figure out how to be at your best during these times.
I just think that when we had a trio of say.....……….Pax, Acosta, Grueso...………...the roles were pretty well defined. I do think folks underestimated the skill level and importance of Carlos Grueso for FCD. Very good player. Losing him was a bigger blow than some anticipated. His quality #6 play provided the base for Pax's freedom out there. FCD is in 8th place. Crazy as it is, they're also only 5 points out of 2nd place. Their next three games are against Houston, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Three teams that are outside of the playoff positions right now. So if you're an FCD fan, you're hoping for a run here against weaker opposition. Anything less than 7 or so points from these 3 games, and they're in trouble. [Most of the West has games in hand on them. 7th place Portland has 3 games in hand. 6th place San Jose has 2. Hence the sense of urgency.] What's good from this thread's point of view is that Luchi continues sticking with Pax, Ferreira, and the kids thru tough times. Last night's Reynolds start was an example.
Doyle made a great point in that the HG's aren't really hurting Dallas, it's their god awful foreign signings over the past few years and Dallas I believe is the 8th highest spender in MLS the last 3 years. Had Dallas hit on at least some of their foreign signings, these HG's could shine even more playing with better players.
Every quote from Torrent regarding Sands is him raving about his quality. Hopefully next season we hear the same from him about Haak. I would have Sands on our Olympic qualifying (MLS based) roster. Be the 3rd CB behind Robinson and Glad, and he has the versatility to play DM.
Yes...…………...8th highest transfer spending since 2015 was the number. FCD isn't some "little club that could" based on spending. Just to prove your point, FCD's DPs at the start of this season were Aranguiz, Grueso, and Acosta. Colman was a DP last season. He was "paid down" so he's not a DP anymore. Two of the 4 aren't here. 1 was awful, and then got hurt. Has done nothing. Acosta seems good, but not sure he's DP value. Other foreign players folks probably have already forgotten from 2018. Anibal Chala. Anton Nedyalkov. Marquinhos Pedroso. FCD has also had four first round draft picks over the past two drafts. None of them are playing with the first team: Montgomery, Atuahene, Twumasi, Nelson. Two are on loan. Two are with NTSC. So Luchi is going with the domestic academy kids, but the kids do look like they've hit a wall. People have mentioned Ferreira and Pomykal. The FCD insiders say that Pepi seems to have hit a wall. Maybe Roberts too, but he's been out with a couple minor injuries in a row recently. I was hoping FCD would sneak into the playoffs with this roster. They may be first team out in the West.
Look at his touch at :07. Pepi has incredible feet for a player his size. He's a CF you can launch the ball at, and he'll hold it up. 1162931477425852417 is not a valid tweet id
I think when it comes to Sands' injury issues it's a combo of his aggression while being very thin. The former compensates for the latter, but makes you more susceptible, like it did with Stu Holden. He should take the offseason to build up his body a bit. He's not in a spot where finesse helps him anyway, and if anything his speed would get better from a little muscle while still not making him bulky.
In the late ATL-POR game last night, I thought Robinson was again fantastic. Atlanta is opening up for a much more attacking style in the past month or so (similar to last season a little). I think that kind of style places a lot more emphasis on Robinson's 1 on 1 ability and he is flourishing. One small thing I do notice about Robinson though is that he always starts slowly. Every game he makes a small misread or loses a duel very early in the game and then it barely ever happens again. Not a big deal, but something to keep a eye on going forward.
I'd say he was a plus in being able to break Portland's lines too. He can't play long and isn't a good line splitting passer either, but he is pretty prolific in taking the space ahead of him on the dribble and then finding the man ahead or squaring after he's drawn the opposition to him. And he's very underrated in using his off foot. He seldom makes a mistake too. He's improved to an average ball-playing cb I'd say. How much of a factor was he in winning Campeones and did the Mexican sides take it seriously? I wasn't even aware it was going down.
Good point, there were a couple really good runs into the midfield to relieve pressure and break Portland's shape. He is definitely doing that more often. Well Club America essentially played a 4-2-4 formation for most of the game, so he featured pretty heavily in that game (although he only played about half the game). I read that Club America played about 8 of their usual starters, which is about the same that Atlanta did. Speaking of Robinson against Mexican teams, the first time I thought to myself "Whoa Robinson is a viable USMNT option" was against Monterrey in the champions league. I thought Robinson did as good as you could've hoped against Funes Mori. My final point on Robinson (because I'd talk about him forever) is that Robinson has really needed to be very good this year because his centerback partners have been extremely sporadic. Robinson is seen as the rock of the defense this season
I most recently updated it prior to this weekend's games and the pace has increased since late June in both MLS and USL. Domestic U20s are now on pace to play 128,098 minutes in MLS/USL. Domestic U17s are on pace to play 22,616. In chart form: pic.twitter.com/7B80CGlNoc— natfan9.bsky.social (@NatFan9) August 20, 2019
It’s a big deal man. He’s a CB. Robinson was awful in the first half. Gave the ball away a few times. He thought it best to go to ground 40 yards away from his goal in an attempt to block a pass- not put in a tackle mind you- but block a pass and the man with the ball simply sprinted past him. He let Ebobisse front-side him on a cross basically giving him a free header. Yes, he can run, takes great recovery angles and he’s silky on the ball. But he’s subpar in every other facet. From what I’ve seen, just terrible in the box. That’s a big problem.
I uhh don't think I saw what you saw. The only glaring mistake I saw early in the game was when he got turned by Fernandez because he misread the ball. He only had 4 misplaced passes the whole game and the Atlanta system consists of their CBs pushing 40 yards forward like LGP, Pogba, and Robinson. I don't think he "let" Ebobisse in front of him, I think he could've bodied Ebobisse a bit more, but I think it was a inch perfect cross and Ebobisse's mark was switching from LGP to Robinson at that moment. What do you mean by "terrible in the box" here? As in he gets muscled off the ball? In no way do I think he is perfect or even should be a USMNT full-time starter yet, but the improvement he has shown in being a starter one season has been pretty great and I do think he should get another callup.
🚨ROSTER NEWS: Union sign Academy product, Jack de Vries, to a first-team contract, effective January 1, 2020. He becomes the 12th Homegrown Player in Union history 🔥🔥Welcome to the squad, @jackdevries1011 👉https://t.co/ZVQXPy4Jfc#DOOP pic.twitter.com/u3XWxQqem0— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) August 20, 2019
Could be nothing.......................but several sources indicated that Paxton Pomykal was "missing" from FCD training yesterday.
Apparently de Vries did have the vague "European interest." PSV and FC Copenhagen were the teams interested in De Vries.— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) August 21, 2019
The signing release indicates Dutch citizenship, which likely explains the PSV interest. Considering recent quotes about how they're scouting USYNTs heavily and the fact that he might even have some Dutch roots in him, it makes sense that they'd at least want to give him a look. Apparently he was raised partly in Brussels so it's possible he even speaks Dutch.