To be fair, a lot of the time Mike Petke had absolutely horrid positioning forcing Ream to cover for him.
Some of the team defending was shambolic at best. Causing everyone to be pulled out of position. Regardless, Ream had a few misteps. First game I haven't seen him as, for lack of a better term, "lights out".
Lichaj can play all over the backline and has done so for AV's youth team. As for left, anyone mentioning Greg Garza as a future potential.... i stress FUTURE and POTENTIAL... not saying he'll make it that far, but all reports ive read show alot of respect to the kid and he's also a potential U20 player in this cycle
From what I've seen, how about: The Pacifier. Completely cool and collected, smooth on the ball - calms everything down.
Almost let him down for the first time this season though. There was a point in the match against Philly when he tried to dribble out of trouble on the edge of his 18 and nearly gave the ball up. He had to scramble to clear it. To be fair, nothing came of that chance so I guess he got the job done, but I'm waiting to see if/when he becomes a little TOO calm and pays the price for it. We shall see. So far...so good.
You mean waiting to see if a rookie is really the next great American centerback? Shocking. Only on the internet can several good performances blow up a player's reputation so quickly.
Already being discussed in the Ream/Gonzalez thread. My take: Ream was consistantly great all season. Doing all the little things right, and making a couple outstanding defensive plays almost every game. He looked calm, his distribution was very good, he won almost all of his 1 v 1 battles (air or ground). Positionally he got undone a few times, but that's all. In the playoffs he had 2 great games and 1 TERRIBLE mistake. I hope that this is not his ceiling and that he becomes an even better player next season. Definately deserves a call up to the USMNT camp this winter.
It was a mistake and he got beat, but I'm not sure I'd call it "terrible". He had been holding it all together up to that point so it was a shame he had a glaring error.
He's definitely earned the opportunity to get a look with the USMNT. We won't know how he'll do at that next level until we see it with our own eyes. There have been a number of centerbacks that have done very well in MLS, but just haven't seemed to catch on with the USMNT for a myriad of reasons. (Michael Parkhurst, Chad Marshall, etc.) Well see..................
I agree that he had been playing great all season and in the playoffs. It was that one error that stood out. I disagree though and think it was a "terrible" mistake (not to take anything away from Convey who had a monster night). He reached around Convey and showed him too much of the net for an easy turn.
I think this is a very important point. There have been countless strikers and CBs in MLS who haven't hacked it on the international level. What Ream has going for him though is his distribution game, which frankly has been poor from the CB spot for a really long time. I doubt there is a better passing CB in MLS right now (unless Marquez dropped back). If I was Ream's agent though, I would be pushing to get him to Europe somewhere and in a more competitive league.
I think Ream should stay in the MLS for at least one more year to polish his game. Many times we see Americans playing abroad when in reality, they aren't ready to make the move.
After a full season of watching Ream play I can't see him not being a future starter for our team. His most obvious trait is his composure on the ball, something he has bucketloads of, and while he's no Pique with his longballs his passing is creative and accurate enough. What I think gets overlooked is his tackling. He is just as composed tackling as he is handling the ball, he goes in hard but he is methodical in his timing. He never seems to catch a defender on the wrong leg or get called for an upper body foul, and it shows that he started every game this season and only received 2 yellow cards. His main blunders this year were all positional, stuff like being a few seconds late on an offside trap, failing to follow a runner through the middle, losing a mark in the run of play. He was doing much better towards the end of the year than at the start, I think having Rafa is going to help him learn a lot.
I couldn't agree more with everything you just said. This was Ream's season in a nutshell. And yes, he was very VERY good in the tackle this year. I can't think of a single one that was reckless and unnecessary. However, my concern is that even if he does clean up his positional problems, will he be able to polish them at the international level. Impossible to know really. Have to throw him in the fire and find out.
100% agree. Definitely got better as the season went on. The irony of learning from Rafa is something I love pointing out. I think his simple Convey error in the playoffs is something he will learn from. Not everyone does, but from what I know about this kid he will. I have a lot more hope for him now than I did in the middle of the season with regards to the Nats. I think he needs some of those hectic CCAF matches more than playing against more polished teams to be honest. That's where he needs to cut his teeth.
Ream has a lot of promise but he is not ready for the top 5 Euro leagues yet. Maybe Norway or Denmark. Maybe. He should stay in MLS for at least 1 more year and get more seasoning. If he goes to europe and then stops developing, he won't get any playing time, and it will just get worse. Like what if Robbie Rogers had gone to Europe 2 years ago, he would be stuck on the bench all season in Europe. Ream was very poor in the NY loss last week. He was at fault on Convey's first goal - he mistimed his jump and lightly deflected the cross with his head onto the ground in the middle of his own penalty box instead of clearing it out in the air. Then it bounced to Convey for goal #1. On Convey's goal #2, he did very poor and got turned like Puyol by Jozy in the Confed Cup. Except that Jozy is 6'1 and Convey is 5'9 so it's even worse.
No way he should go to Europe now. No way. He is in a good place with a top player to learn from, in a league that is becoming more competitive every year. He needs to play and work on his shortcomings. I have faith that Backe will let him know when he is ready.
It was Capdevilla that got turned in the cup They are two different situations though, because Jozy simply outmuscled Capdevilla while Ream got caught trying to reach around Convey to block the pass. And trying to blame him instead of Marquez on the first goal is a little much too.
Wrong. Ream had a great game outside the 2nd goal which was a bad mistake. You have an incorrect breakdown of goal # 1. Mendes, and to a lesser extent Albright, had a better angle on that cross as Ream was nearest the touchline and had to backpeddle. One of those 2 should have managed it. Mendes being the vet especially. More importantly though Marquez let Convey drift into the box unmarked and stood staring at the ref for a handball. MORE importantly Miller let Wondo sit out on the wing all day and pump in that cross. With a little effort/pressure that cross likely either doesn't happen at all or is off the mark.
Disagree. Ream was closest to where the cross ended up and he failed to deal with it properly. He mistimed his jump and mishit the ball. Instead of clearing it out of the box he deflected it onto the ground in the middle of the box. That makes him responsible for 2 of the 3 goals = bad night at the office for Ream. Yes, I agree Miller should have put more pressure on the cross and Rafa should have marked Convey on goal #1. Still does not justify Ream's failure to deal with it properly. The guy is a good talent but he needs more seasoning. Not USMNT or Europe ready yet, which is good for NY b/c he will anchor your defense for at least 2 more years probably.
Agree to disagree. Mendes had the angle, Ream did not. Ream had to backpeddle. Not sure if Mendes DID call him off or not, but he should have. Also: Zero defensive pressure from Miller and Marquez as opposed to defensive effort and failure from Ream. Total team failure in defense.
I had a small sample size to really gauge him (two Quakes games and some partial games durig the season). Before the first game at SJ, I had read alot about his distribution and good play out of the back. Well, against San Jose, he was terrible at almost everything. The only thing that saved him was the NY played down a man for most of the game. In the playoff game, I thought that he played well. Although he could have done better on the first goal, I would not fault him at all. On the third goal, he made a rookie mistake which will be corrected overtime. Overall, he should be on the radar, but still needs a year or so unnder his belt. While his distrbution is good, it's not anything special at the moment. It's just our defense has been so poor in the past...