I havent seen anyone hate Turner or "anyone else in MLS". Now I have seen people unfairly crticize goalkeepers that play in Europe and hype just about any American MLS player who is average or above. Remember when Dike was the locked in starter for many on here? Pretty amusing how wrong people on here were about his game. I love Pepi, but the view on him will come back to reality at some point here, with a good chance it over shoots to negative first.
Lol (it's you, buddy, but you already knew that). Dike has gotten back to form after his shoulder injury in the Gold Cup (you probably don't think that had anything to do with his play in that tournament). He's averaging .89 G/A-90 right now. That's pretty decent, but he needs to keep it up if he wants to break into the squad. His header yesterday was great, but I'm sure you've got something to say about it.
Well then you are wrong again. Dike isn't ready for the USMNT. He has only been decent against poor teams. He had looked out of his element in all but two games and of course you guys are trying to make it seems like he was only poor at the GC because of his injury.
I guess a better player wouldn't have had any problem playing with a separated shoulder. I like Dike a lot, but you haven't seen me griping about his lack of callups since the Gold Cup. He's got to show more to get another callup--which is exactly what I just said in the prior post. But, given how the rest of our striker crew has looked in their opportunities, he can't be that far behind.
Why do you write stupid stuff like this? It isnt surprising he couldn't raise his game with the injury. He just isn't good enough at this point in time. He is young and has time to improve. The question is will he work on the things he needs to.
You acted like his separated shoulder had no bearing on his play so I made a snarky comment in response. It wasn't stupid in the first place to point out the injury. Back to Pepi, though! Pepi is a really good player with a very promising future (and present). I'm excited to see him again this window.
No, I didn't. He definitely played worse after the shoulder injury, but it wasn't a huge drop off. Dike was poor against Haiti and Canada before getting injured.
Dike has scored three straight games and is back to physically dominating, after recovering from his summer injury. This is a bad post.
Dike's touch, movement, and hold up play was well below the level needed. Being physically dominating has nothing to do with any of that. The only time he has looked ok he was making direct runs towards goal. He isn't ready to beat out Sargent, Pefok, Pepi, Zardes, or Hoppe.
Shrug. Dike dominated the Championship level on loan. Folks forget that he was a rookie in MLS last season. He's refining his game and still learning. Pepi is only 18. He'll have ups and downs too. What I do know is we shouldn't be putting all of our eggs in the Pepi basket just yet. Its beyond clear that Berhalter wasn't satisfied with his #9s in the last window. Hence the exclusions of Sargent and Pefok in this one.
I watched the second half. Thought he was invisible though, in fairness, Minnesota had most of the offensive play, and FCD's CM sub (Ricuarte) was absolutely killing any forward play. I mostly looked for Pepi, but the only time I noticed him is when he was working back into defense, really. Not a good sign. At no point did I look at him and say "yeah, he's too big for MLS and ready for Europe." I, for one, think he's going to have many bumps on the road. Frankly, I expect Jamaica to swallow him whole if he starts.
Are you thinking due to Jamaica’s size and/or speed? Or just due to a very young player making their way into the senior international game?
The only people who need to be reminded of that are the folks who were claiming he was the undisputed USMNT starter, now acting like the only reason he struggled at the GC was due to injury, and now should be back with the USMNT due to a few games. Hopefully he is learning fast because his game needs a lot of work.
Both. I think CBs who play in PL and Championship have the size and speed to manage an 18-year old who is just learning his trade. Don't think Pepi'll have the room to maneuver, and doubt he can physically impose himself on the game. As much as Zardes is hard on the eyes, he seems a better match-up. Pepi saved the day vs. Honduras. But I don't think he'll surprise Jamaica.
I saw the game on replay. He did not score. He was active, a bit frustrated not getting the ball where he wanted.
I think there is every chance Pepi would struggle. Then again, all of our strikers have struggled in most games. We've seen basically one competitive game where we have had a striker shine and that was Pepi. We have rarely been dangerous in that position regardless who is playing it. I'm not aniti-Zardes, but I don't know that he has ever shown himself to be someone a team like Jamaica will fear any more than they would fear Pepi. And playing in the same league, Pepi is outscoring Zardes by a decent margin, even adjusted for Zardes missing time for injury. Coupled with his excellent showing against Honduras, I see no reason he shouldn't be considered to start over Zardes.