Once Philly crashes out of Champions League (probably this round with CA being their opponent) then we can really panic if Carnell barely plays him. For now there's enough minutes between it being early season and multiple competitions that the spread isn't too bad. I just wish he'd gotten more MLS minutes instead of minutes against of 3 years too old Joevin Jones and friends.
Carnell has been there one year, and his club won the Supporters Shield. That’s objectively not mediocre.
Anyone else glad to see Philly lose when Carnell doesn’t even sub in Sullivan? I thought he had a chance to start and then he doesn’t get any minutes; very disappointing.
We'll see if he starts again midweek in the CCC. After losing so many pieces in the off-season, it seems to me that Philly is trying to find its footing. They haven't started the season well. No team in the West is stuck on 0 points. Philly is one on the East that is after three games.
Philly lost multiple major contributors in the offseason and the "replacements" haven't really done much yet. They miss Quinn a lot but they also badly need a more creative force on the pitch. We'll see if Carnell gets it right eventually but they are lucky there are a few very awful teams in the east this year or they'd be contenders to be dead last.
Yes and no. Carnell's not a bad coach, and I don't think he's a guy who craters in year two or alienates the locker room. But he's a Red Bull-style guy through and through, and there really has never seemed to be much in terms of ideas or creativity outside of that. His teams play hard, work hard, and they generate their chances through turnovers and occasional moments of brilliance. St. Louis wasn't a very talented team. But somehow, they won the West, by surprising some people early with effort and getting lucky. Their underlyings weren't great and lost in the playoffs because they weren't all that good. The first round loss was bad -- KC wasn't good either -- but overall, this has to be a win for Carnell because there's not a lot there. The next year, what few offensive creators he had got hurt, they couldn't score at all and he got fired. This should not shock anyone: uncreative tactical manager + no offensive talent = no goals. Add in some regression for Burki and and they were downright bad. Now take Philly: veteran Energy drink team has a bad year prior ... but they were sixth in the East in goal differential at +7. In other words, not great, but not bad. I think maybe Blake had been hurt much of the season as well? They get Tai Baribo, Quinn takes a bit of a leap, they don't have CCC or even Leagues Cup, I think(?) and they win the Shield by playing hard and not playing a ton of games. Then they had a fire sale. Carnell's now got Iloski ... a new striker who got a red card and suspended in game 1, Quinn's out, they dealt a long time CB and their assist leader at LB ... Cavan Sullivan might be the only creator outside of Iloski on the team ... Unless Alladoh is insane or Cavan is incredibly ready ... I don't get how this team really scores much. Damiani feels, at best, like he's a year or two away from actually being dangerous. Now ... Carnell's got no plan B. That's his fault. He should be looking to Cavan more, or really anyone that can generate offense. But he's going to stay the course, right into the ground, I think. And with each loss, I think he probably gets more conservative. Which is all part of why I said I don't really hate Carnell; but I don't like him for Cavan.
Its just weird. Some of his contemporaries are breaking out and he is not in the game. There's merit in the Bruce Arena approach to player development. But it can be frustrating to watch.
Maybe. Its also true that only one player younger than Cavan has played at all this season in MLS. That was Arana of Houston, who played a garbage time minute. The guys that folks think are Cavan's "contemporaries," are older than him. Most of them are at least a year older than him. The 3rd youngest player in MLS this season has been Mehmeti of RBNY, who is half a year older. These kids like Chris Cupps of Chicago, Lucas Moisa of RSL, Cooper Sanchez of Atlanta, etc. are a year older or more. I'm fully of the viewpoint that..........if you're good enough, then you're old enough. Cavan will see a good amount of time this season. We just need to be cognizant of how young he still is. There's no need to force this or rush this. [Yes, a team like Arsenal played Max Dowman in the FA Cup against a lower division opponent. That's exactly what the Union did with Cavan in the CCC.] Its up to Carnell to decide which players give him the best chance to win NOW. TODAY. So far, its not actually resulting in winning. We'll see what changes he makes in upcoming games. They could include Cavan. There's a fine line between competing for the Supporter's Shield and not making the playoffs for a team like the Union. By that I mean, one with the model of the Union. A team like LAFC is going to SPEND to stay at the top. The Unionis going to buy low/sell high. They've been very good at it.
I think if Philly wants offense, they've got to find a way to get both Cavan and Iloski out there together. If Carnell doesn't like that defensively, then bench Damiani or Alladoh and play one of them up top. Damiani reeks of a very specific player in MLS -- the foreign born attacking player who has a bunch of skill but isn't dangerous at all. Because they were expensive, they get endless chances even though no one is gameplanning around them. Once in a while, they put it all together, but most of the time people just shake their heads and wonder why they don't break through. Kind of like a Uruguayan Josh Sargent. Sure, you can play him, but you're not going to give him any chances anyway if it's just Iloski and Indiana Vassilev behind him. (Oh, and I feel much the same way with this new FB they've moved Westfield around for -- the guy has some flash but makes a ton of mistakes, several of them dumb. They already have Westfield who's better; make that guy earn it.)
If he starts tomorrow then I’m fine with him not getting any time a couple days ago. A game against Club America is a bigger opportunity than a game against Montreal.
I asked Jon Scheer, Philly's Academy Director, about City's involvement, and he implied that they were leaving things up to the Union at this point. He basically said that Cavan has to perform with the Union first team as the next step in his career.
Nope. And ftr, it's not just a couple of rando's pissed at this point, scuffed and the US Soccer Collective dude were less than happy about what's going on in Philly w/that scrub coach in an interview a few days ago (same with Berchimas down in Charlotte). It's early, a lot can change, and probably will, but I would imagine he's not particularly happy at this point too. There are already sniffs coming around about Philly beginning to risk ruining its reputation with home growns, despite having taken the title from Dallas for the best development program in recent years. If I'm Cavan, I'm pretty annoyed I signed with Philly. Personally, I would have gone to Europe and taken the risk rather than stuck with MLS, and for now anyway, I'd be surprised if he isn't thinking that way either, but this could change at any moment this month, the next, or several months time. Just not great to be on the bench for no apparent reason, sitting behind mediocrities while playing for an --- coach who is unlikely to help you at all in your development. Hopefully this changes, but for now, feels like a mistake to have done that Man City/Philly deal.
The new left back just arrived in Philly on FRIDAY. He hasn't even trained with the first team yet........ Not sure why you are up in arms that Philly is playing Westfield at Right back where he started most of last season.... Westfield was also hurt the first two games of the season.
He's a left back........ he was on a short term loan from Union II. He's not going to be the long term starter or even backup.
In the end let’s see where his playing time is midseason where he would have the option to go to Europe this summer if it’s just not happening with Philadelphia. The hard thing is there’s not an obvious spot for him within the City Football Group. And the downside of signing for City versus a team like Barcelona or Ajax or whoever is having to wait till he’s 18.
Indeed. We're in week 3 for Heaven's sake. We'll see what his playing time is. He's played in 4 of Philly's 5 games. 142 minutes so far. I mean, one thing I don't care about is: "Podcaster is upset about Cavan Sullivan's minutes." If you tell me that Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey has something to say, I'm happy to hear it. Somebody with actual soccer expertise. Even if its Eric Wynalda. Its like people quoting Tactical Manager as some sort of expert on the USMNT. Oh, the Tactical Manager podcast says Johnny Cardoso should be called up more. Who cares? That should mean as much to everyone as Clint Eastwood's opinion on something. In other words, it shouldn't mean anything.
I trust Tactical Manager more than Landon Donovan. Have you seen how atrocious Donovan is as a pundit?
I don't think people are upset with Cavan's minute count, which Carnell seems to be tracking and mentioning in his press conferences. It was due to them being down a goal and he subbed in a 38yo and a LB rather than a playmaker.
Yes, I said he's a left back? And yet, he's getting a bunch of minutes and shifting Westfield to the right. And I guess since they are getting a new LB, that shift is likely to be permanent? I've watched Carnell coach at multiple stops -- even saw a bit of RB2 -- and I don't really see how people think he's going to come up with any kind of creative tactical solutions to generate offense. What have you ever seen out of Carnell that gives you confidence in his ability to adjust? Either the gameplan from last year (and every year) will work, or Philly will have a bad year. Unless this new LB you're talking about is great, or Carnell somehow changes his stripes, I suspect a disappointing year because you struggle to score. Baribo and Carranza made a lot of this work. I didn't think he'd do a good job of finding creative ways for Cavan to even contribute and develop, either, because again, he's a hammer/nail guy, but that's even more exacerbated by the fact that they can't score.
You apparently have never really watched Tactical Manager, either. Donovan isn't a great pundit -- he's too caught up in his own shit -- but Tactical Manager literally doesn't know anything.
Ehh, the US fanbase and especially the prospect folks are not exactly reasonable. I have zero confidence in Carnell to adjust to his new reality and I didn't think he was a great coach for Cavan, but the dude isn't a scrub, and Cavan's minutes so far have been fine. The kid is 16 and not particularly big or physically mature. He absolutely should not play 3,000 minutes this year. Nah. We're just a few games into the season with a team with CCC. Cavan, I'm sure, is impatient, but this is absolutely a fine move. If there's any issue with the signing, it's the Man City portion of it, just given the dynamics of getting into that team and Pep's timeline. But yeah, maybe he should have gone to Dortmund. Maybe he'd be playing, and then maybe he'd be effectively done by 23 like Gio. It's just not that bad that a developing body doesn't have insane workloads.
You are aware that Westfield played RIGHT BACK all of last season? The temp player didn't shift Westfield to the right. It doesn't matter who plays left back, that player isn't going to be Kai Wagner. People need to get that fantasy out of their system. Kai was one of one at that position for the Union. The new leftback just has to be sound defensively and be a threat going forward to balance the attack. Carranza has been gone for over two years now, and even with him, Curtin's teams struggled to score and create chances. Hell Curtin wouldn't even play Baribo until he was the only striker left on the roster. The east is fairly weak this season, so don't be surprised that when it's all said and done the Union are 5/6 seed in the playoffs. Their defense is still strong, and don't give up a lot of chances. When you take Bedoya and Blake out of the team, they are one of the youngest in the league. It's going to take a little time for the attack to build cohesion.