I know everyone will be wanting to talk about Castillo and Akindele but Ulloa has been playing so well that I'm beginning to wonder how good he can be. When he makes a bad pass I find myself surprised now because he's so automatic usually. He anticipates plays moves into position to receive passes and wiggles out of pressure. He also has a decent long range shot that he's just starting to show. Is he a guy who should start being talked about as a US callup?
A couple of weeks ago I was pretty frustrated with Ulloa's passing but I think he is going to be one of these guys that learns a little bit each game and we will swtich from "who is the new guy" to taking his solid play for granted. I am so happy OP has given this guy, and Mose, and Acosta, etc...... a chance.
Odd how we fans only look at what a player does wrong. Contrast his few errant passes with those from the Quakes. I think theirs were much more damaging. What is his passing completion rate and total touches? I bet both are pretty high. I also believe Acosta may turn out to be even better but they may combine for years together (or until a marauder buys their contracts).
I've been impressed with him all season and seeing him improve and grow in confidence has been great. It's funny that just earlier this year it looked like he was going to go the way of Luna and Leyva as the group of early homegrown players that didn't work out(Moises Hernandez from that group has done well too). Credit to Oscar for giving him a chance in preseason to win a spot and huge credit to Ulloa for taking advantage of that chance. Makes you wonder where he'd be if we wouldn't have been able to get Pareja from Colorado. As far as a US call up goes, it's probably a little early for that but he's still only 22 and getting better. If he continues his good form and helps us to a good playoff run, then who knows? Looking to the future there seems to be a bit of a question mark for the national team around central defensive midfield. Out of the midfielders we brought to the WC that can play that role, it's possible that Bradley is the only one back for 2018. So there's some spots up for grabs and in my opinion no one has stepped up and staked their claim yet. Between friendlies, January camps, Gold Cups, Copa America and possibly the Confederation Cup, there will be plenty of opportunities. He just needs to keep improving and listening to Pareja.
What has surprised me is I thought the team was in trouble once they lost Thomas and felt once Diaz got healthy they would have to revert to a 4-2-3-1 and have two d-mids as Thomas was the teams only player who could be a solo d-mid. Ulloa has stepped up again and now I am interested in if he and Diaz could play together as center mids in a 4-4-2.
For me, Ulloa, more than any other player except for perhaps Castillo, exemplifies the gigantic coaching gap between Hyndman and Papi. Here is a guy who, we were told, was not good enough to even get clean up minutes in an injury-riddled losing season, despite being the engine room of dominant U16 and U18 teams. A guy who the FO were willing to just forget about, a homegrown experiment gone wrong. Thank the soccer gods Papi gave him a chance to show what he could actually do. Sure, Castillo and Akindele would be grabbing the headlines, were there any local coverage of the team outside blogs, but with all the injury problems that Thomas, Moffat, and especially former captain Jacobson have had, Ulloa's emergence has been the real story for me. It does make me wonder though, if Ruben Luna and Brian Leyva had had a first team coach that believed in them, pushed them, and actually taught them, as Pareja does for his young players, would there even have been a need for Akindele and Diaz?
Something that is, at times, interesting to me is the different perspective of fans. People talk about Ulloa on this forum as if he's Jimmy from Hoosiers. The timeline in my mind has him more like the fat kid Sams from Lean On Me.
Haha US call up, really? I get we are all impressed with his play, but he still makes his fair share of mistakes, and I am not sure he plays if Thomas is healthy. He has been a great contributor to this run, and I am happy he has taken his chance and run with it, but international call up is a pretty big jump. Let's just enjoy his growth and not force the issue more than need be.
I couldn't give 2 shits about national team call ups. Keep our players off of needless injuries on internationals. He's played a huge role in our season and long may it continue.
The Ulloa story is a great one of persevering and making the most of the opportunity when it comes along. Kudos to Victor for doing just that and becoming an important piece of what Oscar is building here. Completely agree with Hitman that he is a deserving fan favorite. That said, he has been given a very limited role and is able to focus on playing defense and keeping it simple. Props to Oscar for clearly defining this role for him and putting Ulloa in a position to succeed by doing so. However, at some point...especially if we hope to stay in a 2-striker formation, we are going to have to ask for more from Victor going forward. I hope that his solid performances to date will give him the confidence to be able to eventually provide that - whether it be getting in position to take a few shots, looking for more incisive passes or the occasional jaunt forward to try and score himself. He had a nice shot this weekend so maybe the process is working. I am enjoying watching him develop as a player and hopefully he can be part of this thing for a long time to come.
Why? Couldn't he be that simple, tough solo D-Mid in a diamond 4-4-2 with Diaz above him we'd all kill to see work effectively in Dallas? There's nothing wrong with "playing defense and keeping it simple". Ulloa is what he is, and I'll use the finest explanation given to me by a FCD coach: "Victor is a crab, he'll move side-to-side and bite you if you get close". I don't think he needs to develop an attacking game for him to be more valuable to this team. If he can just improve his positioning, tidy up his already rather tight passing game and continue to win his 50's, but be able to do that without someone along side, his value would go off the charts.
If he could be that solo DM at the base of a 4-4-2 diamond, I think everyone would be ecstatic. I just haven't really seen enough yet to justify a belief that he can cover enough ground and be physical enough to play that role...maybe (hopefully) he will grow into it like you suggest and I agree his value would skyrocket. Still, if we are going to play a significant amount of time in at flat 4-4-2 and it looks like we are given the personnel available and injuries to Diaz (and everyone else, every season), then I think it would be great to see him try and improve in the attacking side. If he can consistently play more vertical passes, then we only become more dangerous. To be clear - I am not talking about Pirlo/Beckham 60-yard darts as a regular thing for Victor, just occasionally playing vertically on the ground to Castillo or Blas rather than connecting from LB to RB (btw I think he is already getting better/more confident in this regard). Nor do I expect him to be a CAM or even a true two-way CM like Bradley...heck even Spicoli (Beckerman) and Ozzie Alonso (two of the best DM in the league imo) try and play the occasional forward pass. It catches teams off-guard and can be a real weapon, especially with our team speed.
Here is Victor's completed passes (36) chart from Saturday. For a guy playing a deep lying center mid, there are plenty of forward, attack/possesion minded passes, but sure room for growth (especially if compared to Beckerman) and for comparison, here is Michel's in the same game (28) Here's Ozzie's vs RSL (51) and, lastly, Beckerman's vs SS in the same game (69) I think what we see here are a few things: 1) Kyle is a badass, and the one not like the others, 2) Ozzie is probably the player Victor is most like (and that's ok) and 3) Michel's value is in setpieces, not midfield play
If he becomes Ozzie 2.0, we will be well-positioned for a nice period of stability. Finding a good partner for him (aka not Michel) is an area where we have options...whether it be Acosta in a more flat setup or Diaz in the diamond. As you stated from the outset, some more experience to improve positioning and getting even cleaner in possession will be huge for Victor and FCD.