...unless they're looking for a small tax write-off. $5 million to a billionaire is a rounding error.
Not many posters who actually watch soccer around here so yes I am stirring the pot a bit. Asked on YA Flavors who actually saw Tessmann's last match where he got a FotMob 4.6 and ... crickets. We see tons of posters talk about how well Tessmann is playing for Lyon yet it turns out nobody is actually watching his play.
I didn't realize that I owe thanks to Griffin for both the Pochettino hire *and* being able to see that Basquiat in the Chicago art museum. It's an amazing piece, but apparently like Poch, not universally admired.
The last full match i saw was a couple of months ago. He looked good to me but only Poch matters. Matches and replays are available on DAZN if you want to check him out. Why do you ask?
I saw you mention somewhere Reynolds as Freeman before freeman and someone else maybe you felt poch should be tracking. I definitely dont have time to watch belgian league let alone many others so was curious if you felt strongly about that as a miss of some kind.
Yes, this is a hilarious reality here. People will express very strong opinions about players playing at their clubs, and complain about how stupid Poch is for not calling them, or playing them enough, or whatever. But they don't even watch the player at their club. Like, at all. It's especially egregious when they're talking about players that HAVEN'T been called up for USMNT duty in years--which means they haven't seen the player AT ALL, in any context, and they STILL think Poch is an idiot because "X is playing well in Germany/Belgium/name a country in Europe".
There's a bizarre assumption that if a player isn't being called up, then he isn't being scouted. All one has to do is read the existing information in the public sphere regarding the Talent ID and analytics departments at the USSF to know that their data science tools are pretty sophisticated. That's even with like.....................down to the earliest youth national team levels. And its like people think there's no way for the USSF scouts and staff to view Bryan Reynolds. Hello? Do they live in caves in Belgium? They don't record the games? There's no way for Pochettino and staff to get footage of Bryan Reynolds without being in the stands for gameday? The truth might be more damning. I don't know why its so hard for people to believe that the scouts and USMNT staff have seen Bryan Reynolds, Marlon Fossey, etc. and have decided Freeman and MLS options are superior. Is that so hard to believe? Really? Reynolds and Fossey are on bottom half teams in Belgium. They don't play for Real Madrid. Do people think the USMNT staff doesn't know Kristoffer Lund exists? Pochettino has literally called up Kristoffer Lund. Why does he prefer Arfsten and Tolkin for this camp? Beats me. But they know Kristoffer Lund exists. A reporter should ask him.
Article about Jesus Perez, Pochettino's right-hand man. Jesús Pérez: Mauricio Pochettino’s right-hand man and the USMNT’s eyes and ears - The Athletic
Fotmob currently rates Reynolds as the 29th best fullback in the Belgian First Division, so he should walk into the USMNT.
Yes, but I don't know that Griffin intended to fund the coach of the US for years. Maybe ... maybe not. Of course he can afford it, but he didn't do it until this situation, and he could afford it a while ago. Donors like a say in how their money is spent in most cases.
No I don't feel strongly that Fossey, Reynolds, Wiley, DeJuan Jones are big misses. I think those players are around the same level as Arfsten and Freeman and should get similar opportunities. I think Poch knows this; He talked about how Freeman does not get the opportunity to play if Dest was in the Gold Cup camp. IMO Poch is a good evaluator of player talent, he is not making the kinds of egregious evaluation errors that Berhalter did.
It’s one of those things where it’s probably easier to find someone to pay the salary the bigger the name. For Pep or Klopp for instance (not saying they’d consider the job), I bet they’d have an easy time finding the funds. Whereas for a less big name foreign manager might be more tricky.
Yep. People largely do this for the status and rep. It's massively easier to fundraise for capital projects that you can slap a name on than for operating expenses, etc.
Did you find it weird that THE iconic German clubs runs its practices in English? I sure did. Is Kompany from the Walloon part of a Belgium or the Flemish part? Because IIRC Flemish is like Dutch which is like German, so you’d think Kompany could adapt.
So long as the plan is to play 3 ATB, I’m more than content with Arfsten as Robinson’s presumptive backup, and maybe starter (depending on Jedi’s health). The other day I made the distinction between MLS good and MLS great, and the last half of this season, Arfsten has been MLS great. I wish we had a Crew fan or three here to give us a more full scouting report, but lately, Arfsten routinely beats his man 1v1. Routinely. He’s MLS unplayable, which to me means, he’s probably in the squad; if a player isn’t merely MLS good but he’s MLS great, he’s absolutely got to at least be in the pool. All else being equal, the smart move for Poch probably is to take Jedi as the starter, but bring both Arfsten and a better defender, probably Lund or Tolkin. That way he’s got options if Robinson gets injured, or card accumulation. If it’s a 26 man roster, that’s a no brainer. Freeman just got named to MLS Best XI. My recollection of the Reynolds sale was a) it was based solely on potential, which obviously hasn’t panned out and b) the consensus here was surprise. We’ve played Freeman with the Nats and he’s passed the eye test. I’d be shocked if any player not in a top 5 league or on an elite club in a league like Belgium, is better than him. In part that’s because my take on international play is, the tactics aren’t as refined, so a superior athlete is more valuable. He can better exploit the more-common tactical gaps. Freeman’s athleticism is top drawer.
Most German clubs will conduct training sessions in German but English is considered the bridge language so depends on the manager.
So…FC Hollywood is one thing, but yo yo clubs are basically German through and through, is what I’m hearing.
The Athletic has a breakdown of the 3-4-3, which seems relevant here https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/67...fc_newsletter&campaign=15514283&userId=708167