Agree. Most of the time starters will be in the best leagues but if a guy has proven it with the full team then someone needs to beat him out and not just by virtue of playing in a better league or for a better team. Morris isn't in the Donovan stratosphere but he was MLS with a few off season cameos thrown in and no one ever said so and so with X should play ahead of him because he's in a better league.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of Akinola for TFC. He is 20 yrs old, has speed, is physical and looks like a 9 to me. He is eligible for US, Canada and Nigeria.
Doyle, from some guy called Chris Reifer, commenting on Portland https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...d-bad-every-team-mls-back-tournament-thus-far Three things have been important this week: The Eryk Williamson-Diego Chara partnership has been really functional in balance and their ability to step into the final third and add a body to the attack or switch the point of attack They’ve really nicely used positional flexibility in the attacking midfield level to create overload and width without... Bombing on their fullbacks early in possession, which has limited the number of times their center backs get isolated in space. Co-sign all of that. The above seems like the anti-Berhalter philosophy. Williamson was the college kid from U of Maryland who was so good for U20's he replaced Adams at central dmid
One of the first things I noticed in this tournament is that neither Timbers FB is getting upfield much. There is zero reliance on this anymore. They would be looking good if this was a normal season. They look really, really good given the circumstances. Williamson has finally gotten some real minutes and he's been solid.
Not sure where the best place to post this is (but decided that we don't need a new thread). Just saw on the ESPN ticker that Mexico has announced a friendly vs Netherlands on October 7 in Amsterdam. https://www.fmfstateofmind.com/2020...-mexico-vs-netherlands-amsterdam-october-2020 There's no telling if the game will actually happen, but clearly those two federations think there's a possibility. Mexico isn't really in a much better boat than the US right now, so could we see the US schedule a game yet this year? It obviously wouldn't happen in the US, but could conceivably happen in Europe. Further, if the ban on American travel to Europe holds (I'm gonna guess it will) then this could be the European Camp Covecake a number of people have been wanting.
Williamson didn't replace Adams. He started alongside Adams as 8/10s in front of Zelalem. He was ok in the tournament; he didn't stand out as either good nor bad. Adams was two years younger.
The way I remember it, EPB went to CB and Williamson and Jones handled the dmid duties and Adams was kicked upstairs to the 10, when they faced Venezuela in the last game of the tourney. It's no biggie. Adams, as you say, was on the young side. But if we are looking at mitigating factors, let us not forget that Williamson was plying his trade with the Terrapins at the time.
No biggie. Tab had Adams higher. But it was mostly a left side/right side thing than a pure 6,8,10. Williamson has made some strange career decisions no doubt. He and Ian Harkes have probably made the most confounding decisions.
The dumb decisions made could be a whole thread. No shortage of them. Anytime we say player X should move to Europe there should be a standard boilerplate statement adding but only if they don't make a really dumb decision on where.
Can someone explain to me why putting Yueill behind Adams and McKennie and in front of Brooks makes the team better? clearly not on defense as separating Adams from Brooks isn’t helpful. how does it help us offensively? How does it put Pulisic and Reyna in places which accentuates their strengths and mitigates their developmental areas?
Not only that, adding Yueill is subtracting either Morris or Reyna. There are 5 spots between the backline and whoever the striker is, Pulisic, Reyna, Adams, McKennie and Morris. That's it, those are the 5, nothing else makes a lick of ********ing sense. This is just wrong. This isn't just coaches preferring this guy over that guy, or something. This is crazy.
We need 7 defensively-inclined players. Another deep MF gives us another defender, more or less...someone here said something like that once
completely disagree. Long and Ream are adequate defenders as a CB but CBs are better defenders than most two-way players. furthermore, Yueill isn't a strong defensive player - we're thinking of playing him because he's good for the offense rather than the defense as I stated originally. In other words, our structural defense is better with a third (meh) CB with Adams and McKinnie in front of them while it's worse with Yueill He's being played for offense not defense
It's another body in a position to play defense. You want 7, this will give you 7. If you prefer another CB, fine. But, presumably, Yeuill sitting in front of the CBs would be better than 4-2-3-1 with Reyna/CP/Morris/Sargent up front, right?
better than what? If you're asking whether I think that Steffen Dest-CB-Brooks-ARob McKennie Adams Reyna/CP/Morris Sargent is worse defensively than Steffen Dest-CB-Brooks-ARob ---Yueill--- McKennie Adams Reyna/CP Morris I think the 4231 is better defensively as Adams and McKennie will be required to stay back and protect. Conversely, I don't think that Weston and Tyler will be able to press as hard as we'd like as they'd know that there are defensive holes behind them. That being said, I think the best defensive lineup is Steffen CB-Brooks-CB Dest McKennie Adams ARob Reyna/CP Morris I also think it's more than good enough offensively as it allows Dest/McKennie/ARob to attack offensively knowing they have good coverage and will also best allow Weston and Tyler to press/counter attack at speed.
Shame this guy could never be our manager because he doesn't speak English. He's not the type to win, he's more the type to give a solid foundation for the future. For that, hiring the right man is a must. And it goes well beyond just playing the game, it has to do with integrity, with passion, with never underestimating the rival.