Spaghetti Weston: McKennie at Juventus

And people are nice here compared to some on Twitter, especially those paid by MLS.

 

Adams’ first game back (right before winter break), he played in midfield and was fantastic. Almost had two assists while breaking up shit in midfield all day.

He just isn’t a good attacking wingback, doesn’t have the offensive ability. He’ll likely never have as much impact there as he will in the middle of the field

 

adams plays with complete purpose in central midfield while as a wingback doesnt really seem to know what he wants to do. does finish his runs and probably annoy whoever it is marking him, but thats not a lot of tangible output

 

FWIW, the guys on the "Football Show" (SirisuXM FC) this AM, were quite disappointed in McKennie's Saturday performance, characterizing him as "positively pedestrian" with "feet like anvils."

 

I agree with a lot of what you’ve said. The other differences with Adams is he has slightly better agility, endurance, and overall speed which gives him an edge as a prospect.

There have been games where McKennie’s passing is pretty elite, but they’ve been rare. I do wonder if we would see more of that if he was on a team like Leverkusen who tends to dominate and go forward more often.

 

I think Adams' "einstellung" is better than McKennie's, if I understand that term correctly.

Ironically, while BS is firm on Adams at the 6 and McKennie at the 8, the fact is that Nagelsman has Adams playing more of an 8 and Wagner shifted McKennie to the "single pivot 6 (as they call it on BS)" in the second half vs Dortmund.

 

Actually, if you watched this weekend, you saw Wagner shift McKennie to "single pivot 6 (as they call it here) at the half and Nagelsman continued his use of Adams as a fb/cmid corresponding more to an 8.

We should (imo) avoid falling into the trap of putting Adams at a restricted 6 with the rationale that he is so good there and releases McKennie's inconstancy into the 8 where we can pretend he is a "destroyer" in the mold of nostalgia fave Jermaine Jones.

 

Adams being played as a RWB means he's been set up to fail.

 

Or Ethan Horvath?

 

I am not sure I would go that far... but it is certainly not the ideal slot for him. It could be argued that if he is as talented as many of us think he is then he should be able to succeed at RB.... but right now he just doesn't shine at the position like he did at RBL at the 6 last season. Also, playing RB means that he will likely be subbed out in most games as Nags has a tendency to sub out the wing players in every game while the dual 6s often go the whole 90. The only positive I can see from him playing this position is that he is getting a bit further up the pitch. It would be nice to see him cash in.

 

An RB and an RWB aren't the same beast: they play in different parts of the pitch, have different roles and (very) different prioriites

 

I really don't think the differences of which you speak change anything about my post. It is not his best position, but if he is as good as many of us think he is then he should succeed there anyways. It is also a position that his coach subs out in most games... and it will give Adams a chance to get up field a bit more.

At any rate, I think it is pretty common for people to just write the acronym RB when speaking about RWB. Yedlin often plays RWB and his thread is littered w/ "RB". Chandler has often played this kind of position at Frankfurt [although he excelled as a forward this year] and the title of his thread explicitly says "Right Back". That being said, RB and RWB are different positions with different priorities so I will try not to be as lazy with the acronym moving forward ;->

 

To be fair, fullbacks in most modern systems are pretty much wingbacks, though there are distinctions. Not many teams play flat fours any more. I guess the big difference is their roles when not in possession.

 

I wonder why Nagelsmann hasn't considered flipping Laimer and Adams. Adams is much better inside as a 6 and Laimer can cross the ball, which isn't something I've seen Adams do. Maybe it comes down to defensive ability, but like McKennie, Adams is not comfortable or instinctive in his ability to play the outside back/wingback position and can get caught out because of it. He has the recovery speed to kind of make up for it, but it still seems like square peg, round hole.

I assumed when he first got put there that it was temporary because of injuries, but now I'm not so sure. Since both of the starting outside backs are able to play, you'd think that there would be better options. Hopefully he'll move back into the middle soon.

 

Adams is not better than Laimer at the 6. The two together can work well but Adams has to interpret his position the right way.

 

Weston is playing very well even though they’re losing and he’s playing a hybrid role.

 

I didn’t turn the game on until right before Weston was subbed out. Was he struggling?

 

he had a bad giveaway and fouled to break up the resulting danger. resulted in a dangerous free kick which was saved

 

Carlos Gruezo is the best ex-FC Dallas midfielder in Germany

 

Unfortunately, he also had an early giveaway that led to the free kick that Augsburg scored off of.

 

Augsburg won 3-0

Weston McKennie for Schalke in a 3-0 loss to Augsburg
73 minutes
77 touches
0 shots
1 key pass
90.6% pass completion
2 aerials won
4 tackles (team high)
2 interceptions
3 clearances (team high)
3/4 accurate long balls#USMNT

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) May 24, 2020

Based on the pass completion percentage just about every incomplete pass was in a dangerous area.

He was playing as the 6 though he would drop back as a center in back 3 in possession

 

Pomykal

 

McKennie is just a a few polishing strokes away from greatness. He really did have a good overall game except, the couple dud plays he had were notable. Personally, I think he will keep developing and improving. He hasn’t peaked yet.

 

He is still only 21 and has had to play a lot of different positions... so I think there is a lot of room to grow. IMO, his major weakness is shared by many young players... he tends to have lapse in concentration at least once or twice a game... especially on D. That is what happened today. He played a very good game but had two gaffs that led to chances. He was still a significant net positive but in time he should be able to get through more games w/o any and then he will be a true candidate for Team Captain... because he shows all of the traits necessary to be one.

The main question mark remaining for his development is just where he is best suited to play.?.? It is clear that his ability to win challenges and start counters is one of the main reasons why Wagner plays him near the back... but the team is really struggling to create chances and some of the best opportunities Schallke has had to score over this non-winning streak were when Weston was playing forward. It could certainly be argued that the ability to win challenges and create turnovers is just as important on the offensive side of the pitch. Weston played his best game of the year playing at offensive midfield against Hoffenheim just before the break... he scored the last goal Schalke has had. Why didn't Wagner keep him there?