I watched the match against sc Heerenveen. Luca was very active, mostly in the midfield and playing well. What was noticeable was that he's getting smarter tactically. He's far better in taking position on the pitch compared to when he started this season. He abandoned the headless chicken running.
By the way, his coach was the head of the youth development of the DFB. As such this coach is now in the right country as a head coach and a blessing for Luca, .....if he pays attention.
Starts: 🗞 𝗫𝗜🔘 Spierblessure Silvester van der Water🔘 Basisdebuut Ahmed Kutucu#forher pic.twitter.com/I7I2qDnOCC— Heracles Almelo (@HeraclesAlmelo) February 5, 2021
Assist on the opening goal De voorzet is van Luca de la Torre, het binnenschuiven in de korte hoek van de man die zijn negende van het seizoen maakt: Rai Vloet 💪#forher | 0-1— Heracles Almelo (@HeraclesAlmelo) February 5, 2021
Starts: ... Teun Bijleveld begint in de basis ✔️🔽🔽🔽#heraja pic.twitter.com/oW3DG37boJ— Heracles Almelo (@HeraclesAlmelo) February 13, 2021
Impressed by Luca de la Torre that 1st half. Heracles was actually out playing Ajax for long stretches but Ajax was ruthless with its best chance and Heracles couldn’t capitalize on any of a bunch of good opportunities. De la Torre was on the ball a lot. Good defense too. 1-0 HT— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 13, 2021
DLT has been good vs Ajax. He looks like he’s physically caught up; running all over the pitch, which was kind of the knock on him transitioning to first team football.
If Heracles put that fat chance in the second minute behind the Ajax goalie it would have been an uphill battle for them to catch up. Heracles just were too wasteful with the chances they created. Too bad. Can you imagine American fans claiming clubs like Heracles are USL quality and outclassed by mls teams? Dunno what kind of glasses these people wear. About Luca. The coach somehow morphed him into a midfielder and he plays with confidence the last few matches. He's also trusted by his team mates as these have no problem to pass him the ball with Ajax players close to him. He really made good strides since his awfull starts at the beginning of the season. Shows what a good coach can accomplish and the player is eager to improve. In the last match I commented I mentioned he has improved big time tactically and he showed that against a tactically strong team again.
Iirc the Heracles coach did put him on the wings early in the season. He obviously flourish now in that midfield spot.
Yesterday was his 20th Eredivisie appearance, and his starts keep increasing - yesterday was the 5th game in a row that he went 90'. This season is all about transitioning to adult professional, so these numbers are good, better than I'd have expected. He turns 23 in May, so next season will show whether this is his level or whether he's got realistic opportunities to move up
It's so nice to see Luca finally getting some praise and attention. An American 22-year-old regular starter in the middle of the field in the Eredivisie is pretty great. I don't want to or mean to tear down our other guys to build him up, but there's a lot of guys (not) playing in worse leagues who have gotten a lot more press and attention than him.
I watched the second half of the game and I was impressed. From that game, he seemed like a quicker Jackson Yuiell; to be determined if he had as much defensive bite; but he was a great passer of the ball.
I always found it weird when people wanted Yuiell to start for the NT when I agree that this level would be about the best I would expect from him at his career. I hope Luca gets some call ups to see his U17 friends at some point in the future.
Although I’m certainly not sold on Yuiell, he has played the part, whenever asked. In a way, he has met the standard that we hoped for Wil Trapp, who was even more disappointing than one could imagine at the national stage. And I don’t know if Yuiell is in my 23 or not, but he’s got the inside track until one of Otasowie, Johnny, Durkin, Perea, Tessman, etc. replace him as the back up #6.