100%. It seems the coach is using 9 outfield players for his tactic, and throws Wes in and tells him, go be a target in the box and run around as hard as you can to get the ball back when we lose it. Either that or Wes is completely disregarding the Mister, which seems unlikely.
I heard he chose Swansea because they were the only Championship side that strictly enforced the locker room no smoking policy.
I think that is the case when Morata isn't starting up front. Kulusevski, Dybala, or Ronaldo prefer to float around the box as opposed to being a focal point in the middle to occupy CB's. Wes can certainly do that, especially if that means that the more creative players like Dybala and Kulu don't have to worry about banging in the box with the CB's.
It had racist overtones when Joe Biden said that about Obama. However, when interacting with other cultures Americans have this stupid entitlement syndrome where we believe our “values” (which are not values at all...they’re narcissistic ideations). The best way to go about interacting with others from different cultures is just to let them have their own values and join them in friendship and companionship. I can’t tell you how many lifelong friends I have made by shutting up and listening. You also learn and grow.
I don't totally get the rancor about Artur's comments; Wes' reputation as a driven, intense competitor was probably only known in USMNT and Schalke circles. It's great to hear and I was giddy with the "one of the best in the world" line. This is from a guy who's played for Barca and the Brazil NT. It's unbelievably high praise IMO. It's also why Wes will be such a great captain one day. He obviously brings it every day and is the kind of guy to hold himself and his teammates to a higher standard (without being the abrasive annoying prat that maybe someone like Ronaldo once was). If you get by him he'll dig in and track back. If he misses a pass he doesn't pout, he tries to make up for it. I think every player could learn a few things from modeling an attitude like that. Forza Wes!
It was a garbage penalty call. Mertens throws himself into Wes's shoulder and makes contact and starts going down before Wes's foot gets him in the leg. It was the soccer version of a flop to try and get a charge. Luckily, ball don't lie.
You are very right but is this not something endemic to all cultures? We presume our values are the same whether we are Japanese or Saudi or from Burkina Faso. Now it may differ whether it is a big deal or not, but I don't believe it is uniquely American (perhaps we are just loudest about it). It could be interpreted in some foreign lands as the "Ugly American" stereotype which has gone hugely global in recent decades. You're a smart/well spoken American by simply speaking not like a moron.
I think it might even surprise Wes on some days. Seriously. If you'd told him back in January 2020 that he'd be signed by Juve in July and starting in key Serie A and CL matches before October, he'd have said "in 2023? Yeah, that's my target. Juve or someone like them, but next season? Naah."
I think it might even surprise Wes on some days. Seriously. If you'd told him back in January 2020 that he'd be signed by Juve in July and starting in key Serie A and CL matches before October, he'd have said "in 2023? Yeah, that's my target. Juve or someone like them, but next season? Naah."[/QUOTE] Or that he would score a scissor goal against Barcelona. He would probably tell you to put the pipe down and step away from the table.
It can be a compliment at best and offensive at worst. I find it offensive when there's an implicit condescending scoping of "how surprising or unusual for said group" after the "very well spoken". I don't find it offensive at all if it's said with sincerity. I personally find both Tyler and Weston well spoken by the standard of any young male. And given their strong work ethic and other leadership qualities, I think they'd both make fine captains over the next couple of cycles.
I mean it is a simple reality that much of America doesn't educate itself culturally because why would it? America has to be the western world with the smallest amount of passport holders. So when we travel we do it mainly for tourism. It's a small percentage of those travelers that really want to engage with a different culture. Add that to our wealth and for sure we deserve that stereotype. Doesn't make it any more true or false. I remember impressing a British traveler in Patagonia that I even knew about the Falklands War! And we were in Argentina!! The bar is set so low. Back to Weston though. It's really exciting to have called his floor in this thread a couple of years ago as a rotational option for a Champions League team and see him ball out. I don't know where his career is going to end up but guys that play roles like his? Teams hate losing those guys. HATE IT. So it's really up to Weston IMO how long he stays at Juventus if he keeps up this type of play.
It's a small percentage of any nationality that really wants to engage with a different culture. You sound like a person that thinks he's a traveler and not a tourist.
Personally I would amend your criteria from 11 to 23. Would this player make a roster of 23? That makes classifying Weston as World Class a little easier, because it highlights his potential to fit many systems as well as being versatile. I think a lot of times we underrate those qualities when talking about "World Class".
I'm not saying it isn't. Just got an uppity vibe from Surfjan's post. Similar to many travel related posts I read.
Uhm, I have a feeling percentage passport holders inversely correlates strongly with country size. And since you limited your stat to Western world, that would put the US as the largest in geographic size, with the smallest percent of passport holders. Should we be surprised?
Nice results today for Juve. They're still 10 points back of Milan but with 2 games in hand. Crazier things have happened.
From Pirlo's pre-game press conference, he answers a question about Wes. ''McKennie è un giocatore molto importante, ha tempi di inserimento e dinamismo incredibili. Per noi è molto importante“ Even though I don't speak italian, I think I got the gist of it, as I'm sure most of you can as well. Lots of "very important" and "incredible dynamism" and "his timing of attack", etc.
A passport-less American can travel thousands of miles further than a passport-less Brit. Morgan Grant, a 22-year-old student from Maryland, got her first passport this month. She's already been to the furthest US states - Alaska (4,000 miles away) and Hawaii (5,000 miles) - as well as the US Virgin Islands (an American territory in the Caribbean, 1,500 miles from Maryland). Also it has been historically recommended for EU residents to take a passport when traveling even within EU countries. Those are the 2 main reasons why, not some ignorant cultural leanings. If 26 counties were an hour or two away from me I'd be going every month or so. They are not.
Americans take the second most trips in the World, behind the Finns, as of 2013. Most of them are domestic, but citizens of Spain, Australia, Japan, Mexico, South Korea all take a similar or less average international trips a year. Even Italians don't take that many more trips. Scandinavians make a ton, interestingly, probably because it gets dark and cold and they get a lot of vacation time. A large portion of our population never leaves our country, and I do think that's a shame in terms of seeing other cultures and other things. A big part of that is how much we have to see here -- we have New York and New Orleans and Miami and Utah and Hawaii and California has about 30 trips in it alone... ...but let's not kid ourselves. There's also a huge part of the US completely uninterested in leaving the country. I'm sure that exists in other countries as well, but I imagine our group is larger. It's just not the disparity people make it out to be. Italy's awesome. I think everyone in the US should go catch a Juventus match to watch Wes or perhaps Roma to catch Bryan one of these days.
They are uninterested in large part because of time, expense, and difficulty in traveling thousands of miles. We don't have 26 countries within a few hours of 90% of our population like Europe does. If every European country was the size of the US with only 2 connected countries and the 3rd closest European country was thousands of miles away across the ocean costings thousands of dollars to get to, we'd be saying the same thing about them...