Kellyn Acosta is one of the MLS contingent that I feel is consistently better than people give him credit for. As long as he's kept at the 6 and "understands the assignment." This reminds of Kyle Beckerman in the 2014 cycle. Every damn day there were people mocking Kyle on these boards demanding that Klinsmann replace him. It wasn't until we got to the World Cup, and he played well at that level, that people showed him the proper amount of respect. He turned into a cult hero. Kellyn Acosta is about to reach the 50 caps mark. 50 caps and you're an influential USMNT player over a period of time. Heck it won't be too long before he passes Kyle Beckerman's career cap total. Should be this year. And he's only 26.
Acosta has had good matches as the single pivot in a 433. Last cycle, he had good matches when paired with Bradley in a dual 8 setup. He has never excelled as an 8/10 in the single pivot 433, however. That's not his game. From a NT standpoint, I'm hopeful LAFC uses him as the single pivot in a 433.
Acosta's bread-an-butter is his free kicks. he does make bone-head plays from time to time. He has been flawless against Mexico.
How many of his "bad" games have been the games where he was played other than a 6? How many of our players have played "great" against the top teams? 1 or 2? If we excluded guys who weren't "good enough" or of "international quality" we'd have about 5 players.
of all greggs regulars...acosta is the one I want standing over a free kick...and second place isnt particularly close (its important for the team ....that said, I really want the team to start to be able to generate chances from the run of play) (btw the usmnt under ggg never ever seems to shoot from outside the box and i dont like that) acosta has had some good showings vs concacaf as a dmid (been bad further upfield, imo) Still, Im not convinced hes actually better than players like taylor booth, duane holmes, tanner tessman, busio, cappis, and all the other players in the pool that can play center mid etc///even if he is ahead of playes like busio or tessman...I dont imagine he will be for long.
I know. I was a Beckerman convert myself. I hated seeing that hippie out there until some point (I couldn't possibly recall when) I realized that he was absolutely phenomenal in his role and how crucial his play was to the team. Now, I'm sure that a lot of the disdain for him was because he wasn't always phenomenal in his role, but grew into it and improved and became very consistent.
Yeah I remember that and thinking to myself it was out of Pulisic's range. Acosta is actually one of the few free kick takers that can take them long, medium and far. Most are good at only one and sometimes two. I actually wonder if he could take them left footed as he is as two footed a player as exists. I will add that doing free kicks on turf in 20 degree weather isn't easy for anyone. Turf itself is very hard as I watched Beckham never be good on turf. The ball doesn't rest right.
I think the functional difference between Adams and Acosta is much closer than often acknowledged as a defensive 6. I do think we benefit from Adams extra jump and quickness and he makes cleaner passes. But, Acosta is physically stronger and adds the element of taking set pieces that this team often lacks. I think we have several better options than Acosta more forward at the 8 so I have no desire to see him play there, but as a 6 he does a job. I'm not sure I wouldn't play Adams at the 8 if they both had to be on the field at the same time (which I really would be pretty unlikely to do anyway) just because while I think Adams is better at the 6, the gap between how he performs there vs more forward is much less than the drop off when Acosta moves up.
I really like Acosta. I have a theory that he seems to play better the more space he has to cover. Last night we he’s roaming the midfield covering for players upfield or against Mexico last summer when he was constantly putting out fires, he’s really in his element His passing and set pieces click when he gets to run all over the field. It goes well. It’s like having to do everything sort of simplifies his job. When he he less space and has to decide how to share it or combine, he doesn’t seem to be as much in his element.
My hope is LAFC uses him exclusively as a #6. He could have a late career blossoming like Beckerman did. He actually could be much better as he has range on both feet and has good to great free kicks. BTW, I've watched him since he played the same age group as my youngest at around U9. He was a forward that converted to sweeper (a lot of coaches moved their best or one of their best there to cover up team weakness). He played for a tiny Brazilian coach who had what I would call free for all practices. Very unstructured but maybe replicating Brazilian street football that everyone says we don't have. Knew a parent that complained about it. My son wasn't on that team (too far) but practice / tried out a few times. Acosta would then move to d mid/c mid and both outside back spots along the way. Maybe he's been hurt by being so versatile?
I have seen Adams deployed further up the pitch, with the goal to high press and create TOs in the other team's territory. It can work in short spurts and as long you have a guy with a motor behind who can cover when the oress is broken.
You mean another Adams? I think he's in a mini slump at the moment. He was clearly our most unreplaceable player six months ago but with the way McKennie is playing and how Acosta can at times that's not the case at this moment. For some reason his short passing has become sloppy recently and that used to be near perfect. Maybe he's nursing some injuries we don't know about.
I don't know why.....................but Adams was a turnover machine in that last window. I was shocked by his performance against El Salvador. Awful. If Acosta had played like Adams did in that game, people would have tarred and feathered him already. As long as Acosta keeps things simple, he can do a job for the USMNT. He has a huge engine, can cover a lot of space, and be a disrupter. Just get the ball to the playmakers. Take set pieces. Simple. I, of course, keep going with Adams with the A group. He's the kid with the high ceiling. But if he's not playing well, injured, or is suspended due yellow card accumulation, etc....................I don't have an issue starting Acosta against ANY CONCACAF opposition. The USMNT has a great record with Acosta starting against CONCACAF. A poor record starting Acosta against better competition. That's not all Acosta's fault, of course, but true nonetheless. I remember when the banshees on BigSoccer were adamant Kellyn Acosta should be expelled from the USMNT in favor of Jonathan Gonzalez. Remember the outrage when Sarachan called up Acosta, McKennie, and Adams to play that Portugal friendly in 2017? [Adams and McKennie debuts.] Every one of those posters should go back and apologize for the nasty things they said about Dave Sarachan.
I wonder how Gonzalez would have done had he chosen the US. I doubt he would have stayed in Mexico if he wasn't getting minutes. No way of telling if he'd be better or worse off but it sure seems a predatory pick. If a few more turn out that way it will be easy for US coaches to give that cautionary tale when trying to recruit dual US/Mexican players.
The amount of shiny new toys who coaches were idiots for not starting immediately, who have fallen away and been discarded is massively high. Not one of the shiny new toy posters ever acknowledges that. It wasn't here, but oh man, do I remember some of the things said about Danny Williams (who I actually kind of liked)! Sorry -- Premier League Starter Danny Williams.
Impossible to know. One thing about Jonathan is he's nowhere near the athlete that Kellyn Acosta is. Technical ability? Sure. But every year the modern game is moving more and more to great athleticism. That actually benefits the American player. Brenden Aaronson is one hell of an athlete, for instance. The USMNT has had frickin' athletes at the #6 position for a while. Michael Bradley in his pre-injury prime was crazy. In 2014 he ran almost 34 miles during our four World Cup matches, averaging 8.5 miles per game, according to FIFA. That’s more than a mile farther than runner-up Marcelo Díaz of Chile covered over the same period. Folks should go back, watch 2014 WC matches, and only follow Michael Bradley, Unbelievable. [Of course at time Michael played the 8 with Beckerman behind him at the 6.] Adams and Acosta are also friggin' athletes!! I think people underestimate it. McKennie and Musah are too.
Yeah. And it's interesting because after he failed to commit the tactical foul against Mexico years ago, he's never made the same mistake again (for the US anyway). He made another excellent tactical foul I believe in WCQ this cycle, which ended a lot of the criticism he'd gotten prior.
Turner probably still gets back to save that IMO....people just assuming it was an automatic goal from 45 yards are tripping!