Entered in 66th: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changesVolland for Behrens, Aaronson for Laidouni#RMAFCU | #fcunion | 0-0 | 66'— 1. FC Union Berlin (English) (@fcunion_en) September 20, 2023
I thought he looked fine. They almost pulled out a great "upset" draw. It might just be me, but it's irritating that there are like 50 match ratings for the RM players and like 2 for the UB players (of course I know why, this is true, but it's still irritating. Couldn't reporters go just a little bit out of their way to rate BOTH sides?). Kicker gives Brenden the gratuitous 4.5 (quite bad). There is absolutely no way he was that bad, but three things in life are certain--death, taxes, and Kicker giving Americans poor ratings. Fotmob, OTOH, gave Brenden a pretty good rating--best of all the subs.
Something must have happened to change the lineup because Aaronson is now starting. Brendan versus John Brooks. edit: commentator just said he replaced the guy who was injured in warmups
@NorcalHockeyhooligan waves his wand, and Aaronson starts! {Someone's been practicing his Photoshop skills.} "Following the knock Alex Kral picked up against Real, just to be careful, Brenden Aaronson will start instead of him in midfield."
Crud! Aaronson is the one sacrificed for a formation change. I can stop paying attention to this game now.
Frankly I think this level is a bit too much for his pay grade. He's a very enthusiastic, active player, but he's not good enough, IMO.
My opinion is that he's too good, actually. He took the ball right off the feet of Kramaric in Hoffenheim's box. Union Berlin have a problem in the attacking line but it's a team problem. We'll see how good the manager is. The haters are going to say it's all Aaronson's fault.
I don't think Aaronson is "too good" for where he is. I do think that he's got some real standout attributes and might be a very good player as he gains more experience. But he's not a very smart player, and that will mean that the experience will give less of a bump to his game. It also means that he'll be likely to succeed only when he's in a structure that really needs his skillset. I don't think he's smart enough to adapt very much. For comparison, McKennie and Weah can play in a variety of ways (and positions), depending on what's asked of them and still excel. For Aaronson to excel he'll have to be in the right situation and system.
I wouldn't necessarily venture into impugning the guy's level of intelligence. A lot of successful adaptation comes from good coaching. Will coaches at a high stakes club be patient enough and willing enough to coach him up? A lot of it also comes down to the versatility and diversity of a player's skills and attributes. I think this area is actually a bit more narrow for a kid like Aaronson than it is for players like Weah and McKennie.
BA not part of the 1st set of subs for Union. Quite a fall, both in terms of his career, and season. He began as a starter for them. I think there's some revisionist history about what he's been. He was a success in UCL for RBS & then top 10 in chances created in the EPL for the 1st few months. This after having a 35m transfer fee. He was saucy and getting major praise from neutral commentators. He's already been good. You can't take that away from him. And if he didn't have decent fb i.q. he wouldn't have accomplished what he did because it's not like he's selling great physical and technical tools. He changed post WC, and hasn't recovered yet, if he will. But let's be honest about what he's already shown and root him on.
Damn, BA could have been the hero there. Flew in for the header, but missed. Probably should have hit the target.
Heartbreak for Union. Braga score at the death, and comeback from 0-2 down, to win 3-2. BA associated w/ another bad result, fair or not. But they all are for Union ATM. 6 games winless. They're reverting to the mean I guess.