eh wes sacrificed defensively with schalke and he was great at it its all mental and choice...his workrate is lower now. some of it may be different scheme, different directions...idk.... good teams need runners ...yeah....thats a strength for wes....but its not that amazing if it comes at the expense of not playing defense. players can usually do either one or the other.....so this isnt groundbreaking news here. i think wes likes the ball.....he wants it. not sure where that came from ...but i disagree....he gets rid of it fast...but he wants it. i wish he would go back to playing like he did in the bundesliga.
I think they were complimenting Wes, though I was also initially confused by the phrasing. I think they were saying that it's rare and valuable to have a CM who can frequently find himself so far advanced in the attack without the team needing to sacrifice its defensive structure to achieve that.
oh ok yeah that makes more sense this is why i was so excited when tyler adams and wes were young players...i thought with both of them as your 2 CMs....you can cover everything defensively and also have some offense from them as well......while getting another attaker on the field i would like to see them in a 4-4-2...but no one plays that anymore
Yeah, one of the best things an in form McKennie brings to the game is that ability to impact the game in multiple areas. He can be a defensive presence and still give you moments in attack. He's not clean on the ball and likely never will be. But, he moves well on the field and gets into positions to help out on both sides of the ball. When he's fit and focused, you can practically give him two jobs and he'll get them both done.
I'm not saying that he is afraid of the ball or anything, he doesn't want the ball to dictate tempo. As you said, Wes gets rid of it fast, he doesn't take a lot of touches. Look at his touches in comparison to his teammates. He doesn't take a lot of touches and misses a lot of passes. That just isn't his game. Over his career, he has averaged a pass% of 76.5 and 37.6 touches per game.
When he isnt spending too much time at Mickey D's. He looked like he was wearing lead boots this summer but good for him if he has his arse in gear.
So I just watched the Champions League post match show (P+) and Thierry pointed out it was Wes that got the “ball rolling” for the Yildiz goal, basically a secondary hockey assist! Hopefully his performance today will get him more starts.
that was my fav play mck’s involvement was so understated but he read the aerial clearance perfectly and bumped his opponent off balance, without fouling, so the ball dropped to him while shielding pressure quickly distributed to a nearby teammate and yildiz did the rest
He does at times make bad passes in bad spots but a lot of his missed passes are when he tries to spring teammates in advanced positions. That was the difference for me between McKennie and Tillman yesterday. Tillman played a lot od safe passes that look good on the rating sheet after the game but don't do anything to put pressure on the defense while Wes is willing to look foolish at times but can make that quick pass to spring his teammate or a long run to be in position to make that easy finish.
Completely understand what you're saying but will push back slightly on Wes. It is what keeps him a good midfielder and not a great midfielder. If he could understand when is the right time to do it and when it is unneeded. He had a terrible give-a-way yesterday with a needless flick from the right touchline into the center of the field in our defensive 1/3. Ultimately it didn't lead to a goal against, but it puts the team in a tough situation for no reason. If he does that in the attacking 1/3, no harm because that is what creative players need to do. With that said, that would be the next step in his evolution as a player and if he can do that...watch out! IMO.
So... you are looking for a MF that never misses a pass in their defensive 3rd? Good luck with that. In all seriousness... I think there are MFs out there that are more secure with the ball... but I don't understand how you can fault that performance. It was masterful outside of that pass. If he played like that every game there wouldn't be a team in the world that wouldn't want him.
Players miss passes in their defensive 1/3, it happens. The blind backheel to the middle of the field to no one that was the problem. Otherwise It was a great game from him, I wouldn't call it masterful. You're right though, if he played like that every game, he would have had many more suitors than Aston Villa and Turkish clubs.
That missed pass/flick for me was bad given where it happened. I’m not sure Wes even knew exactly where his target and defender were so can’t say whether it was mishit or just poor decision making, or both. Thankfully, nothing came of it.
I didn't see the pass in question but he also killed a nice series of passes out of the back under pressure by passing to the wrong team. It wasn't a terrible mistake but unfortunate given where it was and how it was avoidable. But some rust is also understandable and mistakes happen. The other pass sounds more ill advised.
“I like Weston, like all other players,” Motta said. “It was his time to start today. It’s a good result for starting the competition. Now, we must recover for the next game. Weston is part of a strong group... The important thing is not my decision. This is my duty. I must field the best 11. I am happy for McKennie. Like all the others, he’s working to improve. The important thing is that the team won today.” It's late to be tweeting out my "morning update" but here it is, including:- Breaking down Juve vs. PSV- Important performance from McKennie- Motta's thoughts on Weston- Thoughts on Ledezma and Tillman- Pulisic scores- MLS Wednesday preview- & morehttps://t.co/rtvHft7D3O— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) September 18, 2024
"We're really glad that he decided to sign his extension so he could be re-integrated back into the club"
Juventus's plan since first offering a new contract in early 2024 was not to give McKennie a 1 year extension that let's him sit in the driver's seat and have everybody revisit the same summer transfer scenario in 2025. But it was good to see Juventus backtrack. McKennie is fine either way as he continues to have options.