Pepi created a great chance for Finnbogason with his head in the last couple minutes but it wasn't converted and Freiburg hang on to win 2-1.
Checking back in here as we're 4 appearances into Pepi's Augsburg career and I'd made the painful, loose prediction of 1 goal and 1.5 total xg after 10 games (not per 90 -- that wasn't my prediction). He's at 0.47 xg and 0 goals thus far with an average of ~60 minutes played in the 4 appearances. We're really early still and I am still hopeful, but I had a feeling it would be rough sledding due to: a) the adjustment as a young player, b) a squad that isn't particularly good (and is now mired in a relegation battle), c) and a player who was had a very unsustainable run in goals-to-xG in MLS. Hopefully we check back in here in another 5 weeks prior to the next window and I'll be proven completely wrong! For now, it's pretty unclear what he's doing to stay ahead of guys like Pefok and Sargent for call-ins over the last 3 months outside of the burst of goals against Honduras/Jamaica (albeit more form for the nats than Sargent has really shown ever, although I think it's time to try him again now).
Yeah, they started him a couple of times then won the next game where he sat so of course, causality. So now they spent a ton of money on him so he can get 10 to 15 minutes a game. Hardly showing any faith in him. He isn’t even the 1st sub on when the team needs a goal.
He went to Augsburg to [x] make more money, [x] develop. The development takes time. You don't get much time to develop at a relegation-threatened club. This is why it's not a good choice for a young player. However, there is still some season left to get minutes. He will make the best of it.
The pressure of a relegation fight on top of the pressure of being a young player going abroad on top of the pressure of being the club's most expensive purchase. Not the most enviable spot to be in.
It's odd. He seemed to be building into being a bigger part of the team in January, then it's as if he left Augsburg for 10 days, regressed as he returned unfit and mentally off having tuned and retuned his soccer mind to different systems, and for the last several weekends he's back to square one. It's just strange, and probably unpredicented that a young player would struggle with that kind of lack of routine, inability to focus and get comfortable in a new system. Not ideal, but it's not as if he will be called away again at just about the time he would have been getting back into the groove, meaning a repeat of the issues he is now fighting through.
He's trying. I just think it's a good general rule for young players, making a big move, esp their first, to leave them alone for 3-4 months, or as long as possible. Let them get their club play together, then (in Pepi's case) you're calling on a more complete player when you call him in. as it is, the chop and mix approach Pepi get in this season means he won't be fully settled until after a summer of training, and we hope not for life in the 2BL. When he has four BL seasons under his belt, it's not as important. Seasoned pros figure out how to make it work.
Is anyone really confused about the rules of this forum? There is a YA thread in the US forum if you want to talk about players here in the national team context. Repeat offenders will lose access to posting.
The US forum is a cesspool. There's a reason people violate the rule to post here all the time. It's also impossible to completely separate a player's career into club and international play. One affects the other. Posts that are like "bErHaLtEr iS dUmB" are obviously useless, but the national team is the driving force behind everyone's interest in the most popular threads here. It's weird to pretend otherwise. Keeping this forum primarily club-focused makes sense. Trying to keep it exclusively club-focused is silly.
Agreed. I hadn't followed the USMNT forum for many years, but went over there to follow some of the in-game threads during this last cycle. Shocking. So much vitriol, especially towards Pulisic. Much worse than the Chelsea fan boards (not that they win any prizes either, but there's no comparison). I wouldn't blame anyone else for sticking over here. I never realized how friendly and (usually) non-toxic YA is until I went elsewhere. OTOH, I always make it a rule to have one point in every post that is relevant to the thread just to make sure I don't get yelled at by the mods.
Well, I tried to leave the Berhalter comment alone - in the context of national team coach effect on club career - but when people start talking about Joe Scally, I think it's pretty safe to say that it's out of bounds. There's also leeway in talking how a player has done internationally vs. for his club team but if you're bashing the National team coach in this thread, you're really in the wrong place. I don't think it's that hard to avoid and like you implied, this forum isn't a cesspool. We would like to keep it that way.
Here's a thread where you can spend as much time as you want talking about YAs and call-ups: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/yanks-abroad-flavors-of-the-week-2021-2022.2119035/page-66
as a new guy, I wasn't actually clear about this until I had some posts snipped... and it was further explained here. I appreciate the explanation, even if I'm bummed I can't just talk about the specific player in all contexts in one spot. but if there's really that much problem in regards to the USMNT involvement and thoughtless posting, I guess I get it.
Here's Pepi's USMNT thread. I wade through it and come out feeling relatively clean: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/ricardo-pepi-thread.2117334/
Why would he not be? I get that some players have relegation clauses, but Augsburg just made him their record signing. As they bought him knowing relegation was a very real possiblity, they'd have been insane to include a relegation out clause
Actually, they'd have been totally sane to include one. It's just that Pepi would have been daft to sign in that case