Sorry Mods, but wanted to acknowledge Chris serving as Captain last night with the USMNT. I’ve been watching him since he was a youngin’ in Deutschland. So cool to see a Black kid from the Deep South rise to captain our side. I’ve been watching this USMNT squad for a long time, and honestly never thought I’d see the day. Big ups, Chris! Congratulations. Here’s to the future!
Eddie Pope, from the the South (not Deep South, from High Point, NC) wore the armband for the USMNT four times Sean Johnson, from Lilburn Georgia, wore the armband for the USMNT once.
Deep South for me and my region is Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, but regardless thank Ya’ll for the info.
Both sides of my family and I was born in Southwest Georgia about 15 miles from Alabama near Dothan. It's very deep south as a border region. And I am also very happy for Chris. So awesome!
Georgia isn't considered deep south? Huh, with those accents I'd have thought more so than Louisiana with the Cajun stuff.
thing is notice about richards game is that he is PASSIVE he plays with zero personality i think all of the years being the junior player at big clubs has taken whatever personality he had in his game completely out of it...hes deferential to a fault now to be so good at such a young age, you expect a player to grow into a beast that dominates.....but if he doesnt learn to assert himself more on the field....will be another story of wasted potential
I agree but use Haji as an example of someone growing into their skin. Richards is in a somewhat similar spots as a player in a position that matures later. I'm hoping he starts using that big frame to intimidate and actually saw a few signs in the two games that he was starting to do that. His coaches need to get that out of him.
I don't know if this idea fits the facts, but I feel part of Richards' coming development will be stepping into a larger role at CB, or at least a more balanced role. Last year, he had to play DM to get into the lineup. When he did play CB, Andersen was the captain/dominant force, with Guehi (when not injured) second in command. We don't talk about the MNT here, but it would be interesting to compare Richards' performances with Ream (Richards more deferential) to those without him (Richards more independent). Or Richards with Dest/Weah (more incentive to attack on the right) vs without. Andersen has left CP - he's at Ream's ex, Fulham, now - and Ream seems likely to give way on the MNT side. These developments should give Richards (more) room to grow. Anyway, it seems futile to wonder whether Richards will develop. He has to, period! And if he does, that will only solve half our problem - who plays next to him? Coming up ... Sat v Leicester City Tues @ QPR (EFL Cup - maybe w/ Turner?) Sat v Manchester Utd
i think he has the potential to be a dominant cb in bth sides of the ball...and really add a lot to the game. and i think he has always had a support player role just to get on the field at an earlier age.....deference has been ingrained into him...and it needs to be uningrained. from what i've seen even in situations without ream etc...he still doesnt know how to put his stamp on the game....but he has that ability, imo
Glanser seems covenant-married to a 3-4-2-1 and he sold Andersen on the 30th while bringing in Lacroix (purchase) and Chalaboah (loan) on the same day, while July signing Riad did his knee in the second game and is out for a while. That's a lot of turnover, especially for a side that's taken just two points so far. The coach has to have seen last night's game as a chance to give his first-choice defensive unit some PT and Chris, who's started 5 out their 6 games went 90'. You'd have to be captain of the Nervous Nellie first XI to say that Chris has problems right now.
FWIW, Glasner gave some quotes the other day that said that during Palace's last Premier League match against Leicester, he rested almost all of the international players that had left on national team duty (including Richards), because most of them came back pretty late in the week. https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/first-team/glasner-its-our-duty-to-take-carabao-cup-seriously/ “We could see it was just Daniel Muñoz who was starting [against Leicester on Saturday], who played 90 minutes during the week [with Colombia]. All other [international players] were on the bench, because both the Colombians came back on Thursday at four [PM] in the afternoon. Chris Richards and Matt Turner came back on Thursday in the morning. “So, with the time difference, they also cut their break."
Richards starts! Palace hosting Manchester Utd, 3 CBs, Richards right, Guehi stuck in the middle, Lacroix left. Big test!
life of such a club. Richards might be on the move next summer if he keeps up this more than adequate play at the back as a young athletic CB with some technical quality.
I'm always curious what attributes are used to evaluate one's 'athleticism.' This is just my opinion, but the first 3 things that come to mind for me are speed, quickness, and jumping. Under that pretense, I would hardly consider Richards to be athletic; He's not fast, certainly not quick, and appears to be just about average at jumping.