The Odyssey continues: Erik Palmer-Brown at Panathinaikos

I don't think our central defensive pairing has been the issue though. Indeed Berhalter has one of the best defensive records of any USMNT coach.

And in the Canada game we started Chris Richards, a center back starting and playing well for a Bundesliga team and Miles Robinson who was one of the best performing players with the national team last year. Robinson didn't do great on the goal, but he was fine the rest of the game. I don't think at this point that EPB is better then him or Richards (or Zimmerman).

I do think if he continues to play and have this form there's a very strong argument for EPB over McKenzie. He'd be playing more regularly at a higher level.

 

It is NOT a good idea. Let him settle at his new club. It could be
quite disruptive and unlikely he'll get a lot of minutes anyway.

There is always a chance in summer to give guys like him a look for
a final spot on roster.

 

I mean he’s been there since the beginning of the season and we’re talking about a window that’s six weeks away. If you think he’s one of your best four center backs you of course call him up and it’s not really that disruptive. This is the last window of World Cup qualifying, this is precisely the time Berhalter should be calling up his best possible roster.

 

After looking like his career is in the tank, he finally gets his shot and is playing great.

Why would you want to mess with that?

It is incredibly disruptive to play 1/2 way around world (and lots of flying during those days) and back during these breaks. It is just a bad idea to pull him away, try to integrate him on the fly with teammates he's (basically) never played with, and hope the results will be good. (that is- if he gets on the field)

I'd rather see Brooks (who started this weekend)

 

I mean I'd like to see Brooks get called up too, but it's not at all a bad idea to call up EPB if Berhalter deems him worthy. It's a do or die window in terms of making the World Cup, but also it's not like clubs are generally doing a ton during international breaks. If he's good enough he should be there. And if he continues to start and look as good as he's looked, things won't be so fragile that one trip during an international break is going to mess with that.

And I'm sure EPB himself would jump at the opportunity to be on the roster if it's there.

 

Why would the Canada game be anything to go by when Robinson hadn't played a competitive match in a few months and then was thrown into the toughest tilt in all of qualifying?

It also wasn't the complement of Robinson-Zimmerman that's proven so reliable. It was Robinson-Richards, which was oil and water the previous time they played together too.

The issue was Berhalter's man management is suspect not to do things like give players out of his offseason the easier game too (El Salvador) to get re-acclimated. The same thing happened with Aaronson who also struggled at Canada. But he's had a good wcq'ing campaign and that shouldn't sully it.

And he has tinkered too much with the cb pairing after he found a combo that worked because the calls to integrate Richards were too loud. He either should have integrated Richards before wcq'ing or little if at all during it w/ no friendlies in-between. Richards has been very bashful about progressing the ball, hasn't been on the same page when it comes to ball reception, or covering for each other. It's one thing to rotate, sub in, and tinker w/ attackers. It's another to do it w/ your defense.

Miles, Zimmerman, & Brooks should have been the main cb's. Rest would just play out of desperation. And going fw the likes of EPB shouldn't be tried out until summer comps to see if they may help you at the WC.

 

I believe very strongly that you’re really exaggerating here. How many players have to do this every international window? They manage.

 

4-1 with 10 mins to go now.

 

I really hope he's done enough to be called into camp next month. Even if he's only say 6th in depth, it'd be a nice reward and some proper motivation for him to keep going.

 

Palmer-Brown went the full 90 minutes as Troyes lost 5-1

 

He's going to be a rock on Ligue 2.

 

not getting relegated

why do you always seem to predict the worst case scenario for all of the yanks abroad?

 

Because he can.

 

It's in the hope that he can eventually post his "Told ya".

 

They aren't exactly in the strongest position. One point out of the relegation zone, with all three clubs behind them only one point back. I don't know if they will go down or not, but they definitely are not in a secure position at all.

 

Once the spirit is broken, it often never recovers, and leads to a lifetime of cynicism and nihilism. Another way to put it...the failure of Project 2010 hit some people really haaaaard.

 

He's as least as likely to be sold (or more likely loaned) to another Ligue 1 side as retained for a promotion push.

His wages aren't sky-high, but they'll be a heck of a lot for a Ligue 2 side, especially not one of the yo-yo sides, and he'll be one of their more saleable assets.

If he performs as well as he has recently, Troyes will have a more valuable Ligue 1-caliber player in August 2023, whatever league they're in then.

 

He's really had a progressive career upswing. Went to the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and now showing he belongs in Ligue 1.

Not too shabby for a youth NT star. So many of those fall off.

 

With his 6th straight start

👉 Voici 𝗟𝗲 𝗫𝗜 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗻 ! ALLEZ l’ESTAC ! #SRFCESTAC #TeamEstac 💥🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/EdIlkOoTDe

— ESTAC Troyes (@estac_officiel) February 20, 2022

 

Unfortunately they got stuffed 4-1.

EPB was subbed off on 82'. Troyes had gone 3-1 down 5' earlier, so it was probably tactical to chase the game.

 

1492894633642315780 is not a valid tweet id

 

I couldn't clearly tell who was EPB (these twitter videos are always really grainy on my computer and I don't know why), but if my guess is correct then it looks like he bore a lot of the fault on each of those goals.