Yanks Abroad Flavors of the Week: 2022-2023 Thread

TBD how likely a summer move for Joe Scally may be. Mönchengladbach wouldn't want to lose him & he's first choice at a good Bundesliga club. We'll see if/when bids start coming.

Also, for whenever he does move: NYCFC have a sell-on clause as part of Scally's original transfer. https://t.co/7IQUx2vhWk

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) March 28, 2023

 

Tyler Adams is out for the season. Leeds and the USMNT are going to have to survive comps w/out him. It's more troubling from Leeds' standpoint because there's more riding on theirs. For us, it gives us chance to experiment. In both cases, Wes is going to have to pick up much of the slack.

Tyler Adams has reportedly had surgery on his hamstring and will miss the remainder of the season.

First reported by @DiegoMendoza29_ pic.twitter.com/kY6ZQVzAlv

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) March 28, 2023

From a personal/career standpoint, I worry about his future. This cat had used about 7 of his leg muscle's 9 lives already. It took him a few years to get back to near where he was initially, which was a little worse version of N'Golo Kante. If he can't be at these levels, I worry about the USMNT too, because that's a notorious weak spot going fw. We may be depending on him.

 

Injuries are just part of the deal.
A nation like France can have a bunch of their key players out, and still make the final of the World Cup. They just plug and play.

Gotta build depth, depth, depth.

Adams being out will force us to develop that depth. Early in the cycle, perhaps that's a silver lining.

 

Or change formation.

 

It'll force us to try out options, whether personnel or tactics.

But just giving minutes to guys isn't going to develop a capable six.

I would like us to both look at destroyers and people who can maybe pass for a change of pace.

 

I see people saying Aaronson had an appendectomy. Hard to believe given when he came back into the game. I assumed he was being treated with antibiotics. Not trying to be argumentative but wonder if you actually read somewhere official that he had an appendectomy?

 

A wing player who never wins 1v1 or stretches vertically like Weah crowds passing lanes in final third for everybody because he never threatens the defense to have to shift towards him.

I don’t have to explain why a CM who gets bumped off the ball is bad for the entire side.

 

He's a winger? cudda fooled me.

Did Teddy Roosevelt play soccer? Probably not. Anyway, I liked his style:
“The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer,” he said. “A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities—all these are marks, not ... of superiority but of weakness.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

 

Every report about the supposed appendectomy can be traced back to Tom Bogert. Of course he was struggling before he supposedly had the surgery.

Brenden Aaronson made the bench today for Leeds United despite being hospitalized during the week for appendicitis, I'm told.

Aaronson got out of the hospital Wednesday. Big surprise he was even made the bench. (That's why he wasn't in any of McKennie signing videos like Adams) pic.twitter.com/88khsHJnM8

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) February 5, 2023

 

I can't wait for Aaronson to score the goal that keeps Leeds up.
[a la Dempsey, when he scored his first premier league goal against Liverpool in 2007 to keep Fulham up.]

 

It's so weird to watch the constant pendulum on players.

Aaronson at Philly: he's no good, not potential, doesn't get on the ball enough.
Aaronson at Salzburg and early on at Leeds: Aaronson's amazing, should take Pulisic's spot
Aaronson now: he's crap and he'll never be anything for the US.

Every sport has fans that swing violently, but for some reason soccer is really susceptible to it.

 

No one here says Aaronson is crap and will never be anything for the US. Even if it was a couple of people, that's not an indictment on soccer fandom, just a couple outliers. Still, I may have missed it but I don't see anyone ascribing those attributes to Aaronson on here.

I like him and think 'upset the applecart' mode from Aaronson is useful as a sub and spot starter. I'd like to see him clean up his holding game in order to get even more minutes, but I'll take him as is.

 

double pivot - the 4-2-3-1 could be the ticket. It didn't look horrible vs ES. We generated opps - but were too slow to recognize them in time. Sound familiar?

 

Q&A with Brenden Aaronson:

https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2023/03/27/aaronson-on-leeds-usmnt-and-brother-paxten/

 

1641473060858474509 is not a valid tweet id

 

not again...

1641510742141591565 is not a valid tweet id

 

Richards is starting to remind me of Cory Gibbs. Always a small knock with an occasional bigger injury.

 

Ironically, Gibbs is (or at least was) Richards' agent.

 

It’s crazy how similarly timed the injuries are. He went down @ the end of March ‘19 as well just starting that post WC cycle and was out for 8 months. Got injured again the following winter but Covid camouflaged how long he would’ve been out, again. Odd how frequently he gets hurt in late winter.

 

Passed on an injury virus? Only afflicts very short time FC Dallas players?

 

Adams’ passing is fine. Love it to be better, of course. But that’s way down the list of the Nats’s problems.

 

I still find myself wondering sometimes “what if” Cory Gibbs could've remained healthy. Physically imposing, Ivy League sharp and ambitious player. Among the most promising USMNT LCBs in the last 20 years. As much as I liked Boca, for reference, I think Cory was on track for a better career. Was gutted when he went down with a knee injury (against Morocco, I believe??) after being named to the ‘06 roster ahead of 3G.

Sorry for the Off Topic but where else can I eulogize USMNT Shoulda Beens?? Don’t get me started on Holden—I still pray I run into de Jong in a back alley somewhere

 

Why not pick up Miles Robinson too? That will be a great back line.

 

Well, I didn't say it was high on a list of problems or even a problem specifically for Tyler. Simply that I would also look for someone who could pass from there.

Passing is a compounded problem for the US. Adams isn't a strong distributor. Jedi isn't great in possession. McKennie is the only guy other than a couple of centerbacks who will make a long switch but his short passing is awkward at times. Musah is a dribbler, not a passer. De la Torre is a good dribbler and a very nice passer on the break, but doesn't switch much or work incredibly well deep under pressure (better than most). Even Dest is far more of a dribbler, short passer.

Our team doesn't have a lot of good passers, and certainly not consistently line breakers. Ream, McKennie (erratic), Reyna (if he plays deep). Zimmerman once in a while over the top.

We simply compensate a lot to try to put together a jigsaw puzzle of being effective in build up, defend well, create space, etc. Jedi's verticality and defense are fantastic, and if we had a stronger passing midfield, we'd care far less about his erratic on ball play, but we don't. I'd love to give McKennie more of a free role, but we can't.

It's not like Adams is the only person who could stand to improve, but having a six who can hit a long switch, hit a line breaking pass, and absorb pressure simply frees up the rest of the roster selection and tactical choices so much. That's all.

I don't know if it is high on the list of the team's problems, but it's an improvement that solves a ton of problems and has a massive impact.

 

Acosta may not be great at breaking pressure but he can definitely hit long switches with either foot. Pomykal also if he's there. Seems FCD (academy) midfielders have to be able to do that (McKinney).