The Kid's alright - Getting the last L'OL: Tanner Tessmann at Olympic Lyonnaise

Up 1-0 at the half. TT shown as CM in a 4-3-3 on the webz, fwiw. Not watching this one.

 

Finished 1-0 Lyon, an important result, with Tessmann playing the full match.

Ligue 1 appears stratified, at least for the moment. Everyone has played 20 matches, 14 to go.

Points (GD)

48 (+27) PSG
46 (+18) Lens

39 (+24) Marseille {Weah}
39 (+13) Lyon {Tessmann} - have won ten matches in a row in all competitions!

32 (+4) Lille
31 (-1) Rennes
30 (+8) Strasbourg
30 (+8) Toulouse {McKenzie} - 5th/6th within reach

28 (-4) Lorient
27 (-1) Monaco {Balogun} - have fallen like a stone
26 (-4) Angers

Top 3 direct entry to Champions League (CL)
4th CL Qualification
5th Europa League
6th Europa Conference League Qualification

Lyon are still alive in two cup competitions. Next up is the Coupe de France match at home on Wednesday against Laval.

 

Lyon in a cup game today. I'd imagine TT will appear.

 

Tessmann entered late (79'), as part of a triple sub, and voilà, the 0-0 tie was broken immediately (Endrick @ 80'), 1-0 to Lyon, counting down ...

Now Moreira scores - Lyon 2-0 Laval is the final score. Late subs made a difference, Tessmann +2 for his 15' or so.

 

Talismanic Tessmann

 

Or maybe an example of the adoption of the "finishers" idea from in rugby: you keep a number of your best players on the bench until the final quarter to unleash them on tiring DMs and backlines.

 

Tessmann started, played the full match, and Lyon won. So what else is new?

Well, Endrick got an early yellow and then a straight red, for a bad foul (apparently - I haven’t seen it - but the fouled opponent had to be subbed out, injured). Then old-school Fonseca decided to soldier on with the same 10 players, subbing only twice toward the end.

Anyway, good practice for Tessmann playing down a man - might come in handy one day.

 

USMNT World Cup roster watch: Tanner Tessmann's rise continues as Lyon surges toward Champions League - Yahoo Sports

 

Tessman easily the best American midfielder.

 

is this sarcastic?

 

I'm not Italian, but I suspect Weston's current employer prevents a Rossonero from handing the title to him

 

He's definitely the best alliterative US midfielder and it's not even close. (Ok, ok, Tim Tillman is pretty good too)

 

If they meant central midfielder and are accounting for current injuries and form, they are probably correct.

 

I guess in a world where we pretend Wes is not playing midfield anything can be true.

 

Wes has no vision. Tessman does.
He's elegant. Not sure we've ever had a mf like this.

Highly underrated

 

I can't even recall the last time I saw Wes play in a standard midfield role like Tessmann as a CM or Defensive Midfielder. He's been playing some wild hybrid forms of wingback/attacking midfielder or as a CF/second striker/CAM role: sometimes playing higher up the pitch than David.

 

All true, but also it's kinda impossible in normal footie nomenclature to say Wes is "not" a midfielder. Certainly not a "tradition 6, 8, 10' but still he's not "not" a middie.

But he and TT definitely have different roles in the midfield. I agree that TT is underrated - and is a very steady-eddy CM with a high level of proficiency in many of skills. Some folks heads will probably explode, but he's got a lot of MB to his game, in the best ways.

But Wes is still the better midfielder overall at this point in his career. Very few folks selecting the recess team would pick TT before Wes, all else being equal.

 

I loved many things about MB, and one of my favorites was his battling mentality. He would meet fire with fire. He could always read the temperature of a game and respond accordingly. I don't know if TT has that same edge

 

Michael Bradley was an insane competitor.

Of course all pros are to some degree but I haven’t seen the Bradley level of insanity in Tessmann as of yet.

 

I think that is a crazy take but each to his/her own.

 

I like Tessman, but I would definitely rate McKennie, Adams and Tillman above him.

 

Those three are better players than Tessmann, but Adams is injured and the other two are best utilized outside of the 6 or 8 roles. That’s the only angle I’d agree with.

 

The long diagonal?

 

Adams is limited and struggles against non concacaf midfield. Agsinst the Honduras of the world he's Edgar David's.

I've never been a fan.

 

Hard disagree. He’s proven to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League. He is always at or near the top in tackles and interceptions per 90 and also very high in passing percentage, though he plays it safe. He’s pretty much an elite level destroyer who can keep possession when his team has the ball.