more complete, but some limitations still considering they're still green & developing, so are as advanced skill-wise in their mid teens as collegiates in their early 20's The physical & mental maturation is still needed for most academy products like Dunbar & Paredes. But Cowell is more advanced in this area, outside of maybe the acumen part.
As always... very well thought out and adept comments... but a couple I contend with this time... Lennon isn't impressive defensively? I disagree with that statement. IMO he has been very impressive getting back to challenge on D. Also, pointing out that a 20-year old striker is a little flawed isn't a stretch. I am not sure there is a player on my list that doesn't have a flaw or two and striker is a tough position to master. In the end, the sheer number of young US players getting valuable minutes paired with the legit rise in the level of play in the MLS heartens me for the future of the USMNT.
He should, considering he's playing wing, after manning the fb position for years. But for a fb, he wasn't very good at reading the opponent's move or rotating. He's your classic tweener as a perimeter player. Which is why I'd like to see a team put him in situations to take advantage of his ball striking more. As of now it heavily comes out on crosses that teammates need to get him in a position for. He's also a freakishly powerful header of the ball for his size. And he's always known where the opening was in goal. Made good runs. But in the positions he's been those opportunities are fewer & further between. Incidentally, Atlanta is chockablock w/ striker options after losing Josef & culling Vazquez. So they might as well try it some.
Atlanta sure needs to do something to mix it up. He put the ball on a dime twice yesterday and both strikers were found wanting.... although Jahn did make up for it. I would have to assume based on the way he has targeted the limited number of header opportunities he has gotten this season that if the roles were reversed Atlanta would have won the game. Which is crazy considering how much they were dominated in the 1st 60 minutes.
Morris has improved his passing by leaps and bounds since returning from his severe injury. Not sure he will ever be elite at it but he makes up for it with his crazy athleticism/pace and ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
They’re different players. Cowell looks like a premiership wing. Explosive and direct. He has a long way to go, however. But he already has the wow factor and loads of heart.
Yeah... wow factor indeed... and he certainly has a ways to go... but getting minutes and a few starts at 16 in the MLS is a fantastic sign. So much raw talent and athletic ability... hopefully the technical aspect of his game will continue to improve. On to tonight's games. Again, it really bothers me that the MLS decided to play so many games at the same time. There are no fans in the stadiums... why can't they space them out throughout the day? Obviously Sept is still a hot month but I assume they could take that into account and find a game or two that could start earlier in the day. It isn't all that hot in the New England area during this time of year... they could start at 4PM EST / 1PM PST. At any rate... really hard decision as to which game to watch 1st between the NYRB/Philly and NYCFC/DC_United games. I will probably go with the former because Aaronson probably has the highest ceiling out of the related prospects but I love watching Sands play CDM and am eager to see how Paredes continues to perform. Again... because it is a full slate I will need to turn off the forum until the AM to avoid spoilers. Enjoy everyone!
Had to check in early after that strike... Wow. Aaronson!... That is the type of shot I have been waiting to see.
Aaronson had a fine overall performance. McKenzie continued his solid play. Matt real and Anthony Fontana showed well in short cameos as well.
You're going to keep that Paradise thing going, huh. I think he was decent. Hard to look overly good on the ball w/ all that congestion, limited options, and space you have to cover as a corner defender in a 352 bunker. But sometimes he evades well w/ a shimmy shake and puts a slick ball in to maintain or advance possession. That's mixed in w/ plenty of TO's. He's adapting to showing good defensive awareness to thwart opposing chances. Plenty of chances. The style is indeed brutal. Paredes could mainline some protein shakes too.
Union - NYRB I was too excited when Aaronson made that strike to not come immediately to post about it on the thread. I have not seen him strike the ball that well before and if that is a sign of things to come then this kid could be even better than I thought. I am hoping the strike will give him even more confidence moving forward. He also had a perfectly weighted no-look pass to start the run on the 2nd goal. With all the talk about a move to Europe I have to wonder if it would be better for him to stick around until the Winter Window. He is in a great position right now with the Union and I think it might do him good to try and help take this team to a title. Either way, I think his stock went up today. McKenzie had another solid game. He still makes some mistakes now and then but he is definitely one of the better CB prospects we have right now. There is also talk about him going to Europe but heading over the pond makes no sense to me unless you find the right landing spot. I have serious concerns that Cannon didn't find the right spot in Portugal and I am pretty sure Celtic wouldn't be the best move for McKenzie. Perhaps he should wait it out too and try and up his game. Besides, we are in a pandemic and perhaps the Winter Window will provide more opportunities. Not much to note from the Red Bulls. Duncan looked pretty good defensively but missed a lot of his passes in this one. As a matter of fact, his passes have been a bit sloppy during the entire Phase One of the return. He did set NYRB up with arguably their best opportunity with a perfect horizontal cross into the box... but all-in-all... not his best game. NYCFC - DC United You know by now that I hate spoilers and the announcers for NYCFC are the worst at it... doing their best to ruin the games happening at the same time. I know they are probably paid to do it but I always have to have my mute button ready during certain broadcasts. At any rate, I tuned into this one primarily to watch Sands and Paredes and I wasn't disappointed: Sands didn't have the toughest job in this one as DC United sat back for almost the entire game... but I am pretty sure Sands completed all of his passes. He also won several duels both in the air and on the ground and somewhat miraculously didn't pick up a yellow card. It seems that the Destroyer is getting a bit of a rep. I didn't think he should have been given a yellow in one if his recent games and in this one he got a foul for making a perfect tackle. One of my main gripes about Sands has been his inability to put his head on the ball during set pieces so I really focused on that in this one.... I had a lot of opportunities because there were so many corners for NYCFC. And after a few of them I realized that Sands isn't even trying to get a touch on the ball... his job is to block defenders and make space for teammates to attack the ball. On the last corner he actually took out three defenders at the near post. That being said, he does pretty well heading the ball in the midfield and I would like to see him get some opportunities to score on set pieces. On to Paredes... he was playing LWB and he wasn't perfect... but IMO he more than held his own. He did a ton of defensive work that may pay dividends if he can develop into a LB option for the U23s and then the USMNT. He made a last ditch effort to help keep a score out in this one and made quite a few tackles. He also gave the ball away a few times so there is that to work on. But oddly enough, one of his best moments of the game came against Sands... he took him on one-v-one and sent him in the opposite direction. It was a stark enough cut/fake that it got a slight ooh from the NYCFC announcers. All-in-all, still has a ways to go but he appears to be the regular starter now and will be getting valuable experience down the stretch. Minnesota - RSL So the only player I really root for on either of these teams is Dotson and he was not in the starting lineup. But another injury to Olonso required Dotson to sub in at co-CDM where I think he is at his best. Minnesota started slow but really played well after Dotson entered. He played well throughout but his assist on the 4th goal was fantastic. He is one of my favorite young CDMs for the US and I would put him ahead of Sands at this point because he brings more going forward. Mason Toye also made an appearance and did nothing of note. Not a fan of any young players on RSL either. Baird is solid but will be aging out of my list in a few months and I don't think his ceiling puts him on my radar.... unless he can put together more dribbles like he did to assist against the Timbers a week ago. Galaxy - LAFC Araujo moved back up to RW for this one which brings more of his dangerous crosses into play. Kind of surprised since Feltcher has been so bad and Alvarez scored playing RW in the last game. Well... Feltcher started this one poorly giving away a ridiculous ball that should have led to a score but did get an assist towards the end of the game. Still... I counted at least 5 times that Feltcher was made to look silly along his endline. I know he was going up against good opposition but he doesn't look very solid defensively this season. If Alvarez can take hold of that RW role then I think the right side of the D would be in good hands with Araujo at RB. Araujo was relatively solid up front in this one especially when trying to win the ball back in the midfield. One such play led to a red card foul from Kaye. He also showed elite pace a couple of times but the final product just wasn't there for him today offensively. I will say that I think it is no accident that this Galaxy winning streak started when Araujo got moved into the starting 11. He brings skill, pace and toughness/killer-attitude to this team. But I do think his best position is RB and hope he plays there more. I no longer consider Tristan Blackmon a prospect for the USMNT at RB... so I was happy to see him at CB again where I think he has played his best this season. He shows good straight-line speed and tackles well when going vertically. Also, his best passes are of the long thru variety where he is able to skip the midfield and go directly at the forwards. After they go down to 10 men LAFC takes out their best offensive threat and Blackmon moves back to RB and had very little impact. His best moments in the game were at CB and I hope to see him there more in the future. I am still intrigued with the idea of the USMNT going with 3 athletic CBs and Blackmon could fit in that mold. At any rate, the Galaxy continues to roll and LAFC looks like a trainwreck all of sudden. Sounders - Timbers What a game for Williamson in this one. Seattle dominates for a lot of the game but Williamson snatches the win with his 1st MLS goal (and it was a beauty) and a game winning assist which was also picture perfect. Also made two perfect tackles in the midfield that should have led to breaks but the ref inexplicably called them fouls. Very impressive. Dude needs to be considered for USMNT CDM duties... especially in a primarily MLS window. Seattle coach must be kicking himself for subbing Morris out... A minute afterwards his substitute misses a clear chance. Morris is too old for my list but Seattle has a lot of interesting young players... it is just that most of them have been moved back to the USL.
I am not worried... dude is 17... they can't all look like Cowell at that age. At any rate, it is great to see him get so many minutes at a ripe age but it is unfortunate that he has such a poor supporting cast. DC United is pretty poor at the forward positions and the midfielders are not that great either.
I'm a supporter of Sands, but he has to know when to expand his passing range. It's fine for him to defer when it's a 2-way game or counter, but when the opponent is bunkering against him, he needs to ping balls over the defense to beat the overload. NYCFC still should have scored a goal or two w/ their opportunities. That said they were still too meager w/ DCU sitting in. This was partially Sands. He's a destroyer & safety valve who rarely makes a mistake on the ball. Serves them & us in some situations but not in others. Then he should play cb. And I still contend this is his better position, he's just versatile. Hayes is another youngish cdm who still holds some intrigue. He's broken out this season & Minny has been much better w/ him on the field. But his minutes are sporadic. The Loons have impressively stockpiled talent thru drafting & finding diamonds in the rough, after their inept start to their MLS history. Still, I think Dotson (at rb & cm), and Hayes at 6/8 should be on the field more. Hayes is winning the physical battles, making great runs, & sufficient on the ball. CF is where opportunities have been very available, but Toye hasn't taken them. His sophomore slump is immensely disappointing. Throwing away talent.
The Columbus vs Cincinnati game had a fascinating matchup of Nagbe vs Amaya. Amaya has been one of my favorite young players to watch this season. Those two going back and forth against each other would have been worth the price of admission.
I don't understand the bony soccer players. Making teenage boys strong is one of the easiest things on Earth to do. You don't have to add bulk either. It's like soccer is still in an 80s mentality on this.
I watched the 1st half... but even with Amaya Cinci is just a very hard team to watch. Probably the worst O in the league. At any rate, the whole team was fouling Nagbe constantly and then Amaya fouled him and got a yellow for it. at this point, I just wish Amaya were on a different team.
I want to see Sands be more aggressive moving forward too... but it seems like they task Parks to do that in the dual 6 and they want Sands to stay home. I too am interested in seeing Sands at CB but in a 3-man backline... Perhaps Brooks at the center CB and two very athletic CB/CDM/RB/LB tweeners helping him with quick dribblers. Sands and Blackmon are the two I have in mind.
Pines is crushing it in a 3-man backline. Cincy vs Nashville. It's close as to who has the most unwatchable attack.
Nagbe is such a beast. And yes Cincinnati can look anemic in attack most times, but that team has come a long way from where they were in their first MLS is back game. I like watching Amaya with them because he is an important piece to break pressure and get into the attack. I understand it usually falls apart from there, but it’s fun to watch Amaya link the D with the Attack, Funny how Nagbe jumps ship on ATL and that ship sinks, and hooks up in Columbus and now that ship is floating to the top.
Nagbe's a good MLS player, but Atlanta lost a ton of quality besides him since last season - Josef, Gressel, Pirez, Pogba, Villalba, Meram, etc. Recently sold Pity too. So you can't attribute their drop-off much to Darlington's departure.
Of course Nagbe isn’t solely responsible for ATL’s drop, but that ATL midfield is certainly missing him. Also Columbus’ midfield is much stronger with him this year than in the past without him.
Saw Ricardo Pepi playing in MLS for the first time and wow. That kid is an ox for a teenager. Raw as can be, but he's got both physical and technical tools that look promising. Anybody have much to say about him?