Yanks Abroad Flavors of the Week: 2022-2023 Thread

I think there's a good chance that the new manner won't know what to do with Aaronson. I'm concerned he may get buried, and then be depth on a squad in the Championship.

 

It's possible that Aaronson has a relegation clause in his contract and he'd be able to move on easily if they do get relegated.

But either way I'm not worried if they do go down as they'd lose a bunch of guys (Harrison being one example), and Aaronson would definitely be counted on to play lots of minutes.

 

No worry for Aaronson.
A relentless worker (player) who also a good learner can go alone with any manger (coach).

 

It's nice to want things Westeros/Waterloo but that's not happening

England Championship sides Watford and Swansea City among clubs interested in American right back Bryan Reynolds, I'm told.

Reynolds is on loan at Westerlo from AS Roma. Westerlo hope to keep him on a permanent deal as well.

Reynolds, 21, has 18 apps for Westerlo this season. pic.twitter.com/byxbo5dtGo

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) February 7, 2023

 

Here is what I see in Leeds United States drama:

1. Jessy was fired due to two reasons: a) lost the game to Nottingham Forest; b) Everton won against Arsenal as New Coach Bounce. Leeds needs a similar thing happen.
2. The apparent new coach should be Corberán who was the assistant coach under Bielsa, and he was the coach of WBA since Oct. 2022. He was able to manage a 10 games winning streak to make WBA from bottom of relegation struggler (2nd last) to a promotion challenger (5th top). Leeds wants that.
3. This WBA new coach bounce happened when Dyke returned to play.
4. If Leeds stays, maybe Corberán thinks about bringing Dyke to Leeds? (Any striker is an upgrade over Bamford now). Maybe a $20-25 fee?
5. Dyke and Aaronson work very well in the front.

A good setup for Yanks. One can dream right? LOL.

 

^ how do you consistently misspell a four letter name…

Good news and bad news

1623017630725447680 is not a valid tweet id

 

FC Juarez have officially announced the signings of Alan and Joel Soñora! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/piJ2hsFdkW

— USMNT Otaku 🇺🇸 (@USMNTOtaku) February 7, 2023

 

They just bought Rutter at ST for decent money. Bamfords issues were mostly related to health. When healthy he’s shown to be a capable goal scorer. I doubt they’d spend that much on Dike.

 

What us going on with Luton against Grimsby I’m the fa cup. 3-0, not a lovely Day at the office for horvath and company

 

Ger really likes the Vallecano guy, Iraola. Notice the pic of Iraola in NYCFC kit with Pirlo (?) in the background. Iraola must be really young. This vid is only 12m and goes into various managers. Ger makes sense. I wonder if Aaronson's appendix would affect one of these managers taking the job.

 

CCV

Celtic defender 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗩𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 has now been beaten just 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 in the air during a league match since Christmas Eve last year 🎅💪

[Data: @StatsBomb] pic.twitter.com/KzhhUJFUlm

— The Celtic Way (@celticway1888) February 6, 2023

That’s 34/35 aerial duels won in that stretch

Kyle Vassell of Killie the only guy to beat him to a header, according to StatsBomb https://t.co/lq4bTWKcub

— Sean Martin (@seanmartinTCW) February 6, 2023

Top comment from /r/ScottishFootball:

He is so far above the rest of this league. The best CB I've seen at Celtic. Obviously Virgil van Dijk is a better player, but in terms of their time at Celtic, CCV is miles ahead.

Never looked flustered, never makes a mistake and is never directly at fault for goals. He's by far our most important player.​

https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottishFo...5_aerial_duels_won_in_that_time_kyle_vassell/

 

Maybe they want to concentrate on promotion? (I don't follow ch/ship so I have no idea but it's always a possibility).

 

That's a pretty wild stat, given the general consensus about CCV as a liability in the air for us.

 

He is when he loses contact with his man, so as to not be able to take away his legs. He's a bowling ball, but he's short and can't jump. I don't think the ones when he just doesn't rise up to meet the ball like most CB's would aren't counted as duels lost. And Celtic dominates so much he's not going to face those situations much in league. He's also not tested very much athletically in Scotland. These deficiencies have more showed in UCL & internationally.

 

I'm not sure it means a whole helluva lot based on the quality of competition.

...............but it's not like CCV is 5'9".

He's listed at ~6'1".

We've had very impactful centerbacks of that height. Carlos Bocenagra is a great example. Carlos was awesome in the air, and a real threat on set pieces.

I always thought the combo of pre-injury Gooch and Bocanegra was one that really worked and was better than the sum of its parts.

 

CCV is not 6'1. This is like when people keep repeating this myth about Wes, when everybody he stands next to that is also listed at 6'1" he's much shorter than. Wes is around 5'10, & CCV 5'11-6' max.



Both of the gentlemen standing right next to him are listed at 6'1 as well.

And you may say, well, Wes is good in the air. To which I'd respond, he's a freak. He has an explosive jump. He's a force in the opposing box too. Whereas CCV is a relative non-factor, since he can't get off the ground.

 

There was a season where Boca was the leading goal scorer for Fulham mid-season. Basically all set piece headers.

 

Yeah, he's not great in the air.

He's just got getting attacked much in the Scottish League in general, and he might be on a good run in terms of aerials. I think this is probably mostly a function of competition.

But I'm glad to see him playing so well overall.

 

At some point the proof is in the pudding.

At least on an SPL level, which I'd say is roughly MLS level.............he's fine. The stats bear that out. And that should earn him continued looks with the national team.

I do remember him having some rough days in the Champions League when the level of competition was markedly higher.

But after Chris Richards at the moment, I think our CB spots are completely open. [With the understanding that Tim Ream isn't a vampire, and will decline shortly. In theory.] CCV, EPB, McKenzie, etc. should all be in that contest.

 

MLS is not proof positive, and no Scotland is not on the level. They spend much less and have worse domestic talent. It's also not a very athletic league.

It's not only UCL but internationally. He allowed free headers in multiple games in the lead-up to the WC. In his WC game he was poor at dealing w/ crosses. But that was more a lack of quickness & body control. These things are connected though.

A guy like Anthony Mason could post pretty high rebounding totals in the NBA. But he also couldn't get to anything out of his area and when he couldn't use his big body. CCV is similar. And this is a sport where single scores mean so much more. You allow free headers, it's a problem.

CCV is solidly behind Richards, Miles when healthy, Ream for the time being, as well as Zimmerman. And he's worse prospects than others. If we have to depend on him come 2026 we're in trouble. He's not at the level we need now, and he's a low ceiling guy.

 

The CL piece is kind of funny because if you think about it, the jump from top of a sub par league like the SPL to the CL, isn't like a jump from the SPL to the Championship, or say the Eredivisie or whatever. But the logic there doesn't fit as an incremental increase in difficulty when you're not moving to a different league, youre moving to the top performers from a different league.

Tillman and CCV, for example, didn't just suddenly jump from playing Hibs, or Motherwell to playing Sheffield United or West Brom, they went from Hibs or Motherwell to playing a Napoli team that went largely undefeated in the fall and early winter across all competitions in Italy and CL (Napoli lost their first CL game after already qualifying as group winner at Liverpool, and their first Serie A match of the year in January). Liverpool, though an inferior version of themselves this year was still the CL Finalist last year and probably the better side in that final. For CCV, his squad played Champions League Winners '22 Real Madrid twice, and an RBL squad on the upswing as well (Donetsk wasn't their normal selves so there's that).

That's the funny thing, there is no Real Madrid or Napoli or Liverpool in the Championship or Eredivise (though Rangers also did have to play Ajax), so going from giants in the SPL to playing giants of the literal world is more than some incremental league swap to a higher rated league, it's going from beating the boss on level 1 to having to beat the final boss w/nothing inbetween.

We all know this, but often we fail to note it when we are disappointed with poor showings from guys in things like the CL. Just because CCV looks outclassed agaisnt Real Madrid, well, do I really need to finish that sentence? Just because Tillman, a player most of us agree is complimentary right now, rather than a director/star of the show type struggles against an Italian team that didn't lose a single game in CL or Serie A all fall or winter save away at Liverpool that was post-qualification well, I don't need to say that either....There's a huge, huge middle plain inbetween Hibs/Motherwell and the like, and Napoli, or Liverpool or Real Madrid or Red Bull Leipzig. It's that world of West Brom's and Evertons and Sassuolo's and Bologna's, Frankfurt's and Hoffenheims and Real Betis' etc. That's the next move up, not Real Madrid/Napoli/Liverpool etc.

Hopefully we get a chance to see how CCV and Tillman do in that arena in '23. I suspect at the end of the day CCV is basically a bottom third of the league big 5 league guy at best, and Tillman is a mid table big 5 guy, but time will tell.

 

I'd like to think that part of the problem, when you see a difference in performance of this scale is lack of familiarity.

CCV was basically not in the program for years upon years. Called in to play for us just before and during the WC were his first caps since when, 2018. Now add to that that we experienced injuries at RB, RCB, LCB both of the starters and the backups. Is it possible that guys can have a lot on their plates trying to learn teammates, responsibilities etc and make mental errors as a result? I tend to think that is often a part of this. CCV had never played with Dest before 2022, never played with Zimm, never played with Long, or Richards. No experience with any of those guys. To my mind, stumbles in game can be as much about whats on the mental plate as anything else when you're unfamiliar (which is why I felt getting the back line stabilized, and keeper stabilized for communication's sake and familiarity was so critical).

Not about to argue he's fine or perfect at it, but I think its far more likely if you see a strength fade into irrelevance like that, its probably more about the player learning the team and the system, and making errors because of said unfamiliarity than it is about talent or being found out. I don't think CCV is Richards, or Ream this year, level, period, probably not Robinson circa 2021 (seemed to dip a bit pre injury in '22) either, but I do think he's at that level of a 2nd tier starter for us, maybe RCB #3 if everyone's healthy and RCB #2 as Zimm approaches retirement. I also think he's probably at best a 15th-20th place EPL caliber CB, not a mid table guy (whereas I think Richards is clearly a mid table guy with top end of the table ability in terms of leagues like the Bundesliga or Ligue 1).

 

Yes, but that would require nuance. Or even ... uncertainty. Could it be possible that we're not really sure CCV's level? That he might have strengths and weaknesses? That he's neither a disaster to play nor a required start or the coach is an idiot?

Say it ain't so!

It'll be interesting to see where CCV goes. He's come a long way in a few years, and while I don't think he can solve his vertical issues, he's always had talent. He's still only 25.

 

New footage of Wondo's miss vs. Belgium:

 

Yeah, I think we don't have enough data to draw firm conclusions about CCV's ceiling, but my hunch, like yours, is that he maxes out at lower-tier of the EPL, which is still pretty good by historical standards for the USMNT. We were just hoping we'd have more higher level options at this point (c'mon Neal, Craig, Wynder, and Che...don't let us down).