Frankly, I don't think there many defenders faster than him, what he will face is men that are smarter than him and position themselves better to counter his speed. That is when he needs to have a plan "B" to keep the defense off-balance.
Thanks for posting that video. Konrad is a great kid - I’m rooting for him to keep growing and going. He’s only 19 and has only played half a dozen professional 3rd division matches. He seems capable and in a great position to go far. we can dissect every match and opponent - but way too early in my opinion to get to excited Or discouraged by the game by game progress he makes over the course of this year. I hope he moves from Barca B to another first division team so we can see him grind through more first division games where he has to adapt to different players, style, tactics.
So your criticisms is that a youth player should be criticized because when he dominated the defense in this particular game, he should have dominated the defense with more of a variety of dribbling moves? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?
Incorrect. Attacking moves fail most of the time. In this video, his attacking moves actually succeeded most of the time. That makes it a great performance. The fact that some moves worked and not others is normal--there's always a degree of randomness. To say this video evidences problems with his game is ridiculous, particularly it appears to be his first game against a second division team as a youth player. The problem might be that you are watching soccer through a basketball lens and don't truly understand what is happening on the field.
If you look at his interview video that I posted he has more than one move in the final 3rd even as far back as 3 years ago. He may have shown the kick and run more than once in his last game but he has other moves, perhaps he thought the defense gave him the touchline so continued to take it.
I'm watching through the lens of someone looking to see if what he's trying to do results in an advantage gained by him, the defender or neither. There appeared to be a lot of wasted effort on his part. Every single player has things they are good at and not so good at. I don't understand the need to gloss over the negatives, just because he's a young guy trying to break through at Barcelona. He needs to improve. I hope he will, but it's not like as fans we can will him into the Barcelona first team by ignoring his faults.
I haven't seen much film on him, but would you not agree that when he did try to dribble past a fringe second-division defender yesterday he struggled to do so? Dest would have dribbled circles around that defender. So would Pulisic. If Konrad has any hope of making it with Barcelona as a wide player, those (Dest and Pulisic) are the levels he will need to get to.
No-one is glossing over the negatives. Or arguing that he doesn't have areas for improvement. But the video evidence here does not support your review of this particular game. He didn't even lose the ball on the plays you mentioned. Barca fans (and Koeman) are offering much more positive reviews--I doubt they are trying to will him into the first team.
The YA archives are full of flattering quotes by world class managers about young YAs who never amounted to anything close to world class. But fine, I can see this thread is more of a campaign rally than a town hall event. I'll quietly slide out the door until I'm ready to pledge allegiance to complete and total positivity, or a few others decide to start having a real discussion about the player.
Not sure which video you are watched but in his last game he was giving the defender 3 steps cushion and still beat him. Now after he beat him easily he tried to round him and that part failed.
I am not sure it matters how many moves a guy has. If he is able to get past defenders and/or is always able to keep moving the ball into more dangerous attacking spots, he’s successful. Landon Donovan, likely one of our top 3 players ever, didn’t have multiple moves. He knew how and when to push a ball past a defender and use his speed to retain the ball. Not everyone has to have the 7 step over move of CR7 to be successful. It’s a results oriented game. If a player continually scores or creates goals and he continually makes his team better, that’s all that matters.
For Barcelona and LaMasia what's expected is not how you play individually in one on ones but how you create space and timing with those moves in order to incorporate the players around you and continue to move the ball. It is knowing when and how far to go forward, when to cut back, when to try a tight through ball and where you go after you play it. Watching the game I believe that's what impressed the coach. It is playing with purpose and knowing where you are vis a vis the players around you and the defenders.
He was young. That's all. He'd put out a nice move and the defense would catch up before he could do anything with the separation. People don't realize how fast kids grow up, can put on muscle and can literally improve athletically over a short period of time at this age. Go back and read the reviews of Tyler Adams when he was underaged by the same amount at his U20 World Cup. People called him unathletic, without the upside to really make an impact for the USMNT. Age means SOOOOOO much at these ages.
as others have already pointed out konrad did look slow and struggled to beat anyone 1v1 during the u20s and it wasnt until after we found out he was trying to play through a knock. he was also young at the time, so it could definitely be physical maturity on top of that too.
Do you have a source on the knock thing? I don't remember that at all, and it wasn't detailed at the time, like McKenzie's.
Brian Kleiban relayed it. If it was Gary I would have taken it w/ a grain of salt, but Brian doesn't seem the type to completely lie about it. He could have over-exaggerated the severity. Didn't hear what the "knock" was. But you shouldn't expect 17 year olds to not get by 19 year olds some of the time, unless they were injured, slow, or super predictable. Llanez was the same age & he managed it. Pulisic did it at 17. You see no shortage of guys doing it against men in MLS at those ages. So I don't think physical growth tells the whole story. He doesn't even look much different.
A 'kick and run guy' only would not be allowed near barca's first team.... I really suggest you guys watch his other highlights in thus thread.
He definitely looks quicker, faster, and stronger to me now. It's more than just physical though, his speed of thought looks better. He seems to have improved tactically, particularly off the ball. Granted, that observation is based on watching the all touch videos, but the difference is obvious.
Yeah, was just curious as I hadn't hurt it. I am firmly of the belief that he doesn't even need a knock to explain it. You grow up quick at this age. I do really wish there was an easy way to see whole games. I see a pretty competent player in the highlights, but that's a huge range in possibility.
I have never once bought into the knock narrative just because Kleiban allegedly said it. Did he even say it with certainty? Or did he allude to is as a possibility based on information he'd heard? Konrad looked no different physically at U20 World Cup than he did a few weeks prior in Barcelona. The only difference was older, vastly superior competition relative to the competition he was facing in Division de Honor.