I got halfway through a long reply then realized I am probably spending too much time on a kid who is not thread eligible. Happy to discuss this in his YA thread.
How so? He was the leader of that team and easily one of our best players. He made a couple of mistakes but was still an outlet for the whole team to maintain possession. I'd have liked him to have made more progress but it is apparent that he has improved in all facets of his game. He's been covering a lot of ground, is stronger on the ball, and improved in the attacking third. There's an every touch video of one of his games (Motherwell I think) that can give you an idea of how he's playing.
You haven't missed much. Given the dire state of the league, you can't draw any conclusions from watching him against the likes of Motherwell, Partick Thistle, et al.. And of course when he has come up against the only decent opposition in that league (Celtic and to a much lesser extent Aberdeen), he's looked decidedly mediocre. As someone who saw him a fair bit at Fulham last season, I don't see a player who has progressed that much since last May...
He actually wasn't that bad against Celtic... he does struggle when he teammates start hoofing the ball. I don't know what tell you if you can't see the difference since last year. I'd guess you are spending too much time worried about the quality of the league and not watching the player.
I'm much more in your camp than the old school (circa 2005) gotta play veterans on the road in qualifying. It's about getting as many players into the program and letting the younger (higher potential) players have a shot. We have no idea how good or how much players like Hyndman, Miazga, Perez, etc could help our team. The easiest way to find out is by inviting them into camps and seeing how they stack up. It's not about new pu$$y. It's about understanding how quickly a player can go from not playing to being a critical player for us. The conventional wisdom around here was that Wood sucked 2 years ago. Pulisic hadn't played a professional game 15 months ago. Lletget went from not playing to lighting up MLS immediately upon getting into the league. Arriola looked like he belonged and was a replacement (he didn't become a regular starter until January).
Eh, this was the first match he'd played since he moved to Rangers against an opponent of similar quality to what he saw last season in the Championship and he didn't look much different against them than he did a year earlier (misplaced passes, caught in possession, too easily muscled off the ball, etc.). Maybe a little better, but not much. Nah, unlike far too many around here I actually understand that the quality of opposition the player is facing is an important factor to consider when making player evaluations. And as I've said before, while I'm certainly not as high on Hyndman's long term prospects as some others around here (like those who believe he's going to become a lynchpin in the MF for the national team) I certainly could end up being wrong in that regard (wouldn't be the first time). However, I am a hell of a lot more confident in my near term analysis of the kid and my view that the calls for his immediate inclusion with the national team (along with claims that he is our most in form midfielder) are silly.
What blew my mind was how bad he got worked by Concacaf teams. He literally was completed over matched. I honestly don't think he will ever crack the USMNT full time. Way to much competition coming through the ranks right now.
I don't recall that. The u20 WCQ is vague to me but didn't have a negative impression. I don't recall him being particularly strong in Olympic qualifying. I thought he was our best player down in Colombia and decent in the second leg. He did quite well handling a very physical Colombian team while being played out wide as one of the youngest players on the field. He is a late developer and has always played with bigger players. His touches are incredibly clean, he constantly shows for the ball and finds nice pockets of space, is an overall "smart" player, and seems to be very focused with a good head on his shoulders. He looks to have added some muscle as well. I think he should be in the pool now. I suspect he is better than Lletget and he can do what Nagbe and probably add more. He doesn't have Nagbe' s physical tools but asserts himself more on the game. I don't see a lot of competition for the type of player he is. Besides those two, maybe Zelalem and de la torre. I view akale, Perez, Pulisic, Carleton, etc as amid/wings. McKennie, Acosta, Adams, etc as more 8s who can play a 6. Hyndman is a possession player who is has improved on making final passes and runs into the attacking third.
All three of these arguments are reasonable to me. My conclusions are slightly different though. He wasn't all bad againt Celtic. It was a mix of some good and some bad. I thought he started well but then had a few miscues. The first one I recall was him just slipping as a ball was played to him. He had his fair share of them, but thought Celtic was much better on the day and don't really recall anyone from Rangers standing out. I discount this game for a number of reasons. I'm not surprised that a young player may struggle a bit when playing a significantly better opponent. He had moments that he looked strong at times and hopefully it's just a matter of calibrating to the speed and physicality. It is hard for central midfielder to get into a rhythm when the team starts bypasssing it by playing more direct. It is only one game. They play Celtic two times at the end of the month, so will have a little bit larger sample size. Absolutely. As I mentioned above, style of play matters too. Rangers and Fulham aren't ideal matches for Hyndman's strengths/weaknesses. I have hopes for his long term success but understand why some would think it unlikely. The comments about being the most in form midfielder are slight hyperbole, but not far off when taking everything into account. Our midfield is a mess right now. Competition for Hyndman is basically Lletget and Nagbe (apparently arena picks), older guys who don't offer a ton more in Kljestan and Feilhaber, and then dmid/freelancers in Bradley and Jones (forgot Acosta, not gonna waste time on McCarty) MLS season had just started up and Guys only had three games under their belt. Hyndman was in mid season form having started 8 games in the previous two months going 90 in all but 1 of them scoring 4 goals with one assist (decent quality on some, but as you've pointed out weak competition). My argument is as of mid march he was in good form against competition that isn't significantly worse than Honduras or Panama, is comparable to Lletget and Nagbe, and 4.5 and 6.5+ years younger, respectively.
I get your drift - it's just the "breakout youngster thingy." By OP guidelines, that's U-20, uncapped. Good having you around anyway.
Lots of excuse making and rationalizing here...which is par for the course here when folks get infatuated with a player. But it is...
Either he or Parker was our best player against Colombia in the Olympic playoff, and he's stood out against the garbage teams at least he played for the senior nt. I think he'll be fine and projects to contribute to some degree. Maybe not the world beater and our best cm in the pool which some extremists on that issue think, but a useful rotation regular/viable starting type.
I will also tend to agree with the majority of your post. I love Emo's natural ability I am just concerned with what I saw from him covering ground, he was a liability defensively. Technically he is fantastic - maybe he just needs to be paired with a more effective #6 as i don't think emo will ever be anything more than a #8. On another note this is just an awesome list of prospects. Haji Pulisic Akale - McKennie - Emo - Carelton/Perez That is an absolute frightening attacking front group. Zelalem and de la torre. I view akale, Perez, Pulisic, Carleton, etc as amid/wings. McKennie, Acosta, Adams, etc as more 8s who can play a 6. Hyndman is a possession player
Although you, it seems, only come out of hiding when one is infatuated with this particular player. Maybe had he stayed at Fulham?
Nah, you're new here but bsky can attest to the fact that my, let's say, skepticism about Hyndman goes back to his time in SW6 and that I was not particularly bothered seeing him leave FFC this past summer.
He's definitely one of my favorite players. That doesn't mean I can't see his weaknesses and areas of his game he needs to work on. I guess you can call what you want. I just want talented players that have high potential, and don't really care where they play. We have players in the whole spectrum of leagues and don't think they any of them should be excluded based on where they play or one game. Hyndman isn't a finished player but pretty much none of ours are. Playing at rangers isn't ideal, but he's done a pretty solid job while he's been there. I guess if he wanted a chance at playing in the Hex, he should have gotten a loan to FCD. How is honduras that much better? Speed of play? Technical ability? Tactics? Physicality? I don't really have any interest in this debate but would curious to know why you think they are so much better and a player like Lletget is such an obvious over Hyndman.
Well, at least in that case he'd be playing against significantly better competition than he is currently...
I used to think he would just be an 8, but I think he offers something in an advanced role as well after the last couple of years. He isn't a great defender but think him being a defensive liability is exaggerated. I haven't caught all of his games but when I have I've noticed that when in an advanced role he covers a lot of ground and others have made similar comments in games I haven't seen. He's looked better to me in that role and actually prefer these guys in 433. I'm not sold yet on Haji or Carleton. I'm aware Haji is tearing it up with Shalke's u19s but he did the same thing with our u17s and then trailed off. It seemed more mental than anything else, but there is no way I would know. Carleton has tons of talent a lots of swagger. I could see him turning into a beast or end up not being that focused. The mental side is the hardest thing to guess at as a fan. It was something that was evident in Pulisic at a young age (obviously not at all as much as has become apparent in last year plus). Wood, akale, Perez, Hyndman, and all the guys I have as dmids below seem to have tremendous drive and are very focused. I'm a big fan of Zelalem and still think he has big upside but he seems a bit passive and quiet. Maybe he's a quiet assasin... who knows. ----------------------------wood/Wright?-------------------------- Akale/Carleton------------------------------------Perez/Arriola ----------------Pulisic/taitague?---Hyndman/Zelalem------- --------------------Acosta/McKennie/EPB/Adams------------
I don't know what "better" means. I generally think anything in UK outside of the premier league is crap, but there are plenty of challenges playing in those leagues. MLS is pretty uneven of a league across rosters, so issues there as well. Hopefully, all these young kids in these threads end up in quality teams in top 4 leagues, so we don't have to deal with these quality league discussions much longer.
Hyndman not being good at U20 qualifying is a fantasy. He had a direct hand in 4-6 goals and my biggest criticism of him was that he wasn't on the ball enough but overall it was positive. That was, in part, a function of our shift to direct play into Spencer with BJIV running off him because our team attacking structure/system was not good enough.
I thought he was good in qualifying, but struggled when we played some teams that had a possession advantage, which was most of the games we played against good teams in the U-20 WC. What did you think of his play in that tournament?