David Kerr’s top 50 prospects

Great content

 

Hey David, cool list! Sort of a tangential question for you, since you obviously spend a huge amount of time watching these kids play -- What is your biggest frustration with how players are developing in this country at this point in time? Are there specific things you wish kids would be working on more? Are there bottlenecks in our overall system that are holding people back?

You spend a lot of time praising the kids (and I appreciate the positivity!) just curious if you have any general thoughts of what we could be doing better.

 

I haven't watched much youth soccer at all, so I have no reason to disagree with your assessments, but I'm curious what type of track record you have in projecting youth players. I get excited to hear that you think we have so many future champion's league players in the pipeline, but I'd like to know how successful you've been in the past, to help put your ratings in context.

 

I do not have a top 50 list but try to watch alot of youth games and my frustration is an umbrella issue that has a few sub points. Its how the game is played and understood at the highest youth levels. Meaning high level game tactics. Our players have improved tremendously with ball skills over last 20 yrs. But they are not drilled or taught on how the team plays together to make passing easy and quick. Players off the ball still walk or face the wrong way on the pitch. A player doesn't move 3 ft to the right to make the pass easy. Players don't see obviously open players 5 ft away from them to the right. We don't react to the play on the pitch we think passes are prospective instead of passing to complete them. The game is too linear with too many players just passing forward to players not open.
Instead of staying close to each other and know where to always be the team wanders and thinks they have to play a position rather than play in space. Nothing irritates me more when a player over dribbles when he had numerous open players to get rid of ball before it's hit away from him. He sometimes gets lucky to complete a pass then stops to run back into his 'position' instead of understanding that new space he's in is his new position. Our weakness is from the neck up rather than the knee down. We have too many players good at taking in the ball but then not knowing how to decide what he does with the ball to complete the next pass. We often choose the wrong skill or pass.

 

Interesting write ups.

I agree with some of it, don't agree with other parts, but it's good to see more people who are taking interest in this very under-covered part of the sport. There are not many.

 

I think you've said previously that this is a ranking of players with the highest "potential." I'm curious what exactly that means to you? Are you ranking your best guess of how good they will end up being? Or the highest ceilings? or something in between?

 

You need to add a up/down arrow with the number they have risen/dropped since your last review...would make it even more fun. Good stuff BTW!

 

Great effort. But having a player reminiscent of Neymar outside of the top 3 and one of Virgil van Dijk outside of the top 15 looks a tad strange. It appears that you want to create a following for your content so I would recommend a bit more restraint with comparisons- even if you don’t mean it literally (which I know you don’t).

What are the chances Uly Llanez is as good or better than Christian Pulisic? Personally, I have it at 0%, but even if you had it at 10%, surely there is a better comp for Uly than Neymar. You might say that Llanez has a better right foot than Puli (which is debatable imo) and therefore the Neymar comp is more apt, but I would forego the comp entirely if Neymar is the only name that comes up. It looks silly when a player who isn’t even close to Pulisic’ level (another LW who cuts in on his right and has a functional left) is compared to one of the best attacking players of his generation.

 

First of all I want to say I don't have anywhere near the qualifications (watching youth teams, coaching etc) to make a real judgement on this but for me, one of the best ways to understand some of what you mention is to play different positions. I think there are two aspects to what you say: 1. the run off the ball and 2. the pass.
forwards can benefit from playing defense (defender...not just defense) because they can understand better which types of runs and movement in the offense gives the defense the most trouble. they can benefit from playing mid because it gives them a better understanding of the run and how it affects the midfielder's ability to make the pass. A midfielder can benefit by playing forward because it gives him a better understanding of how the forward will/should be running and which passes are most dangerous.

All of these things can be taught using film, etc but I think actual playing gives a deeper understanding. At a young age, it is definitely detrimental for a kid to play one position (IMO). Specialization later when these concepts are intuitive for the players. Of course film and other methods can still be used in conjunction with playing "out of position". I don't know how prevalent this idea is at the higher levels of development.

 

Jesus, relax. Either read or don’t. We all read things we don’t agree with, but not many of us are spending the time to write 10,000 word articles. If you don’t like the content, move on.

 

You are a very wise man, I often plead this case with players, fellow coaches and parents.

 

I suggest cutting to 25 and adding some nuance. USSoccer can’t hit the side of a barn with his projections (Reyna at #6 when he was already at Dortmund, I’m not sure if Kayo was in his top 200) but his content is descriptive and lucid.

In fairness to USSoccer, I think he’s lost some interest in projections and adult soccer as a whole. His focus seems to be squarely on the youth teams and their successes/failures.

I watch as much Y-USMNT as I can. So I’m genuinely interested in these takes.

 

Appreciate that.....not sure how many people agree with you but i do appreciate it.

 

Thank you! I’ll take your vitriol my way as a compliment. @David Kerr should, as well.