There’s a reason he played in every game for the French champions. He’s class and works his butt off.
Ajax is fun and weird, but it doesn’t really affect the league rankings. Both ranking systems put France in 5th. They disagree about whether Serie A is better than the Bundesliga. UEFA’s method, which just looks at the best teams of a league overestimates (for my purposes) leagues without parity, such as Austria and Scotland. And UEFA doesn’t rank MLS, the Championship, or Argentina
Jury is still out on Weah for me. Ill be in Austin at the game. What I want to see: Aaroson-Pepi-Hoppe ——Wes—- Musah— ——- Adams—- A. Rob - M. Rob - Richards - Dest ————— Steffen——-
Yes, agree, but Serie A and BL are close and Ligue 1 is probably way closer to Portugal and Dutch leagues than to any of them.
That's not just me, that's UEFA as well. PSG pulls it above, of course, but no way it's a part of some Big 5 which mostly exists only on BS. I think that top 5-6 players from any MLS team would be able to play there, and that's not the case with Germany or Italy.
LOL. MLS teams cannot even beat average Mexican League teams, yet 5 or 6 players from any MLS team could walk onto a Ligue 1 team? There seem to be no limits to MLS fanboy delusion.
Ligue 1 is closer to Serie A and Bundesliga than to the Dutch or Portuguese leagues. I watch it and MLS regularly. I'm a huge MLS fan, but no, only a handful of players in MLS would be consistently in a Ligue 1 club's starting 11.
The Best XI from this roster: ---------------------Turner Dest----Robinson----Richards----Robinson --------Musah----Adams----McKennie -----------Weah----Pepi----Aaronson
MLS teams haven't won CCL yet, but they rarely even play "average" Mexican League teams and they often beat strong Mexican League teams. Columbus literally beat Cruz Azul on Wednesday night, who is middle of the table right now but won Liga MX last year. And Columbus is currently 9th in the Eastern conference. Could 5-6 players from any MLS team get playing time (which was the comment) on a Ligue 1 team? Very probably true for at least a lot of MLS teams. The bottom of the table probably not, though. After all, the weakness of the MLS roster schema isn't in the Top 5 -- it's in the back end of the roster. For example, Atlanta has Josef Martinez (who played at Torino), Ezequiel Barco (starred in Libertadores), Marcelino Moreno (Boca and Lanus), Miles Robinson, who is outplaying pretty much every US centerback and has shut down a number of Liga MX stars in club play, and Luis Araujo ... who literally got a bunch of time on Lille in Ligue 1 just last year. Atlanta is 6th in the Eastern Conference. Are there 5-6 guys on San Jose? Eh, probably not. But much of MLS absolutely has the players.
My best XI as well. Love the depth we are starting to enjoy. Can't remember the last time the USMNT were missing arguably our top two players (Puli, Reyna) and I still felt this excited about a squad. In the Donovan-Dempsey era, we would've been screwed.
We may still be screwed because that is a very, very young lineup. Anything can happen with those guys. And I really don't expect more than 7 or 8 of those guys to start. I imagine Lletget and Zardes will get the start against Jamaica.
Per 90, for his position, Musah is bottom 40% in pass completion, bottom 1% in progressive passes, bottom 23% in progressive carries, and bottom 5% in sca. He looks to have nice potential, however, a central midfield of him, McKennie, and Adams doesn't project to have the needed creativity.
I started off thinking that those 3 were a nice starting midfield trio until I saw that none of them are really reliable forward passers. And since Adams is clearly the best 6 as far as I can tell, it comes down to EITHER McKennie OR Musah if you are playing 3 CMs. The third person has to be someone who combines well moving forward, not another bull in a china shop like McKennie. Also, have people given up on Brooks that fast, for Richards? It was literally a month ago that people would bite your head off if you said he wasn't the first guy on the teamsheet, along the backline. Now, he is almost an afterthought. My head is spinning from the quickness of that 180 by the fanbase.
Yep. Our midfield isn’t one to control the game with the ball. They are there to make plays, win the ball, move it forward quickly, crash the box, then cover defensively. I think this is why GB keeps stressing “verticality” as we aren’t so great when the opposition sits back. We are young and not very deep at CM.
I suspect part of the reason for the 180 on Brooks is that people had discreetly forgotten about his brain farts, but then those memories came rushing back a few critical times last window. And now he may be benched by his club, too. He's in really, really bad form and it's obvious. I guess we'll see what Berhalter thinks of his form when the 7th rolls around. Personally, I'm not one that's "excited" about Richards getting a start. More like anxious. He's a really good player but there's a big risk involved in putting him in. It might be a best scenario if we're in control of game 1 and he can come in as a sub for 20 minutes. No way I see him starting in Panama. Maybe game 3 at home against Costa Rica he could get the start.
Good point... I would bet on Berhalter throws him into the fire against Jamaica... it’s at home. And they’re not playing well. Seems like the most risk averse move to make.
Give a DR3 (Dest, A. Robinson, M. Robinson and Richards) in the back. MMA (Musah, McKennie and Adams) in the middle. AHP on top.
Yeah, with the view from today of Jamaica's roster it seems far more likely that Richards might actually get the start tomorrow. Before several high-profile players dropped from their roster I would have thought it unlikely. It's lucky for us that Richards might get a start earlier than I would have expected, because he's clearly got a very high ceiling and will likely become a top CB for us for years to come (knock on wood). These are the fortuitous circumstances that allow lesser-experienced players (or players who otherwise have been further down the chart) to get their shots to prove themselves. Moore benefitted from this very recently, and took his opportunity well. It's a real thing, but you've got to be there and be willing to get the chance. With the level of competition there currently is with the USMNT (and, further, the projected competition in the next few years), any player that turns down a callup because they aren't sure if they'll get PT is a doofus.
Musah showed the value of a midfielder who can drive an attack and connect with forwards. It makes everyone, the front line and the wingbacks much more effective. De la Torre showed it too, even though they accomplish the same result in different ways. Musah is best 11 right now. Not sure why Gregg believes Richard’s inexperience with WCQ/CONCACAF is any more of an impediment to a starting job than Musah’s.
He doesn't think that. He said in the last press conference that there's no way around it and that it's time to get the young CBs some experience in this window. However, you can't just stack players with a lack of experience with the team in one WCQ. And, for as possibly disatrous as it can be to have that inexperience in the central midfield, it can be even more disastrous at CB. I would be more surpised if Richards doesn't start one game than if he starts one of the next 2.