Apparently Berhalter met with Bryan Okoh during his recent European tour and the meeting went well. Okoh just has to get and stay healthy
Interesting. The Swiss called him up to cap-tie him before he made a senior first team appearance for Salzburg but he ruptured his cruciate ligament and couldn't play.
Scally just had a strong game on the right side of a back 3. Ditto Reynolds. Cannon has played there too. An evolution to watch.
The question is: how many of these players can play CB in a four-man back line? In the 2021 Gold Cup we found that Sands was effective in the middle of a three-man back line, but was a step slow in a four-man back line. It's really the same problem that we've seen with Brooks and Miazga. Meanwhile, some of the converted fullbacks (e.g. Cannon, Scally) might be undersized for CB in a back four. Tessmann, Maloney, and Reynolds seem more promising, and Lund has played CB in a four-man back line a few times. I'm not ruling out playing three at the back, but any player who can only play CB in a back three isn't really helping our CB depth that much because we still need two other CBs to play alongside him.
These position changes will have to occur mainly at the club level. Especially at CB, I would not be in favor of playing someone at a position where they don't receive at least some PT with their club.
Did anyone watch Atletico 6, Celtic 0 in CL? I didn’t see it, but I thought it might be a good chance to see CCV against better competition. Score line is very bad but I didn’t see it.
This is me starting the Philippe Sandler train, it’s pushing off station now. He’s getting great reviews from NEC this year. 27 year old center back…… late bloomer. Count me as interested
Think we go with Ream-Richards for now. I see Trusty pushing Ream out in the next year or two. Ream looks like he’s probably on his last legs EPL wise and even if Trusty goes down, I think if he’s starting for an EPL challenging squad in the Championship the US doesn’t have anyone better outside Richards. Richards appears as if he’s going to be an EPL starter moving forward and will be a fixture for the usmnt. CCV could be in there battling with Trusty to take that LCB spot. Miles Robinson staying in MLS is disappointing. I thought he performed quite well for the usmnt but other young options are pushing and playing at higher levels.
Wasn't Trusty getting trashed by Sheffield supporters for recent games? Also, what exactly killed Palmer-Brown's NT chances?
I don't think he's been trashed by Blades fans. I saw him get criticized by Match of the Day pundits. He does seem to have improved as the season has gone on but I'm just about to watch highlights of the Bournemouth match.
Palmer-Brown seems to have been out since September with some significant issue. It's described on transfermarkt as "bone marrow swelling." II have no idea what that is, but it doesn't sound good. I guess that's the same as bone marrow edema. One wonders if there's some longer-standing issue with why EPB hasn't progressed like we hoped he would.
Nobody comin close to Vampire Ream yet. That's a testament to him and a slight at the rest of the pack. Absolutely nobody is close to unseating him, not even Richards. In fact, if anyone, Richards should be very aware that MRob and CCV are alternatives right now. This tournament, Richards had the McKenzies.......hes good for at least one bonehead play a game unfortunately. I hope he shakes it, but his spot should be up for debate.
Unfortunately the only thing coming close is father time and he always wins no matter what. At this point the only question is how many more great games can we get out of Ream.
Absolutely, and when Father Time tackles him too, we will know. He aint there yet. Hes my #1 going into the copa. I was hoping two centerback prospects would be able to take it from him outright. Doesnt even look like one is up for it. Mildly concerning. Hopefully that Vampire strength is strong for the Copa. Hes one of the guys for sure if not injured.
Thiago Silva played 11 games for Brazil at the age of 37. Or, as a buddy of mine joked, Carlos Alberto was 36 for 5 years in a row with the Cosmos.
We're well stocked at CB for the Copa with Ream, Robinson, CCV, Richards, and Maloney. I don't think Ream is cut above the others, but he's still quality.
A big plus for Ream is his complementary relationship with Robinson and the close understanding they have, based significantly on the number of times they have played together. Ream hasn't played much for Fulham for the past month or so - we'll see how much he plays the rest of the season - but he benefitted from sitting out the semifinal v Jamaica. Dest was also fresh and bursting with energy. Richards seemed somewhat lethargic v Mexico, heavy-legged at times, after 120' v Jamaica. Anyway, with our frontline, midfield, and outside backs looking very promising, CB (with Ream almost certain to age out soon) and GK are most concerning.
Ream's minutes for Fulham for the remainder of the season are wholly dependent on Calvin Bassey's health/availability.* Tim lost his starting job back in December once 1) Fulham got healthy at CB and 2) Bassey (who is comfortably Fulham's best LCB) got up to speed with the PL. Tim got a few matches earlier in 2024 while Bassey was at AFCON, but I'd expect Bassey to start pretty much every match he's healthy for for the remainder of the season. *Bassey came back early from int'l duty with Nigeria due to some kind of (potentially minor???) injury. Would be a real blow for Fulham to lose him as they've been MUCH better with the CB pairing of Tosin/Bassey (18 points in 9 matches compared to 20 points from the 20 matches with a different CB pairing).