The conundrum with him is can you trust him in a double pivot? Part of why Schalke constantly moves him around is I don't know if he has a position. Maybe CB is his best? I don't know. I'm sure people have argued about this constantly on here. I don't think he can handle pressure on the ball well enough to be a CM at a high level. There is a disconnect between the stat based vs. opinion based ratings on him. I think it's part of why watching matches is so important to evaluate. McKennie has a lot of positive defensive actions like interceptions, aerial duels. But the mistakes are just so bad. Yesterday's error changed the entire match and was really avoidable. Ausberg could sit and sit and sit once they went up 1-0. So you look at all of his actions on paper, and it looks good. But if you actually watched the match, you know his error was the biggest moment of the match. The #1 goal for any DM should be "don't make massive mistakes that lead to goals" and that is his biggest issue. That's what concerns me. You can play well 89 minutes but if your error directly leads to a goal (and you never contribute to goals) then did you have a good match? I mean, the point of soccer is to score more goals than the other team.
If I put aside that he plays in the BL, he just doesn't look very good for either Schalke or the USA. Based on what I have seen with my own eyes, I just don't think he is an especially good player. I would take Adams over him in a heartbeat.
This is my main worry. He doesn't seem to have the sixth sense that lets him know when he has someone right on his back, or if he does recognize the pressure, he gets too flustered. The good thing is that that can improve with experience and coaching, though some players never seem to pick it up.
If you ask me (and you didn't but that's never stopped me before!) I think there are 2 different answers to your question. This Schalke team is a good fit for Wes in that they can't afford much "fancy" play - they need athletic, smothering players who can counter. But I don't think it's a great set up to "show" Wes (or, probably develop Wes) because much of Schalke's game is dependent on athletics/pressure and not enough on skill/technical abilities. To my mind, Wes is most useful in on a counter-attacking team with a strong backline with a decent holding middie with him where he can get back to defend in an ersatz 4-5-1 but get forward fast to shift to a 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-1-2 kind of attack. I think he'd also be a good RM or CAM in the right kind of "defensive" 4-3-3 that didn't rely on ball-circulation out of the middle. If he could get on a side with a pesky CF who stays up on the shoulder of the last defender, Wes is a guy that can help execute a jail-break type attack. But to my eye, he doesn't yet have the technical skills on the top level to be part of an elegant, flowing, ball-control team. That said, it would probably be better for him as a player to be on a more technical, controlled side, but with a technical deep-lying play maker. I could see building a decent team with Wes as a Swiss-army knife midfielder next to a less athletic holding/deep-lying playmaker who doesn't have the speed/mobility to get back/defend as much as one might like. I think playing like that would help his development as him working on playing on a "circulation" side works on his shortcomings.
His second error early in the match where he just panicked and played the ball back, into the center to no one was much worse than the error that led to the goal. It showed zero composure and was just a bizarre moment. After that, it seemed like Wagner instructed him to play more as a CB. I got killed in another thread saying this but if the US wants to be good in '22 or whenever the hell the next WC is, at his current level McKennie is a depth player. Maybe he's a RCB or a CB in a back 3. I don't think you can afford to have him play CM unless he really cuts out on the killer mistakes and/or becomes better in the final third. I'd agree-- if Pomykal was ever healthy. I think his potential is higher than McKennie because of his technical skill. But he needs to play in matches. Part of why McKennie is so hyped IMO is the pool is just so horrific right now. I mean there is a massive gap in age group talent especially in CM. I agree with others that he's 21 and should improve. It's just the mistakes he makes and lack of composure on the ball is concerning because I don't think it's improved much in the last 18 months. EDIT: I do think on my last point... Moving from Schalke would be good for him. I think they're a mess. Maybe he'll develop more in a better environment. Or maybe he's just not that good? Best way to find out is him leaving the club if they don't improve quick.
I am wishy-washy on McKennie because he is inconsistent. He is not, however, incapable of taking over a game in the Bundesliga, and that is saying a lot. People that question his talent have missed some spectacular performances of his against good competition. Unfortunately, he still sways to other side of the spectrum too often right now. Perhaps expecting such consistency from a 21 year old with his type of pedigree is unfair. Perhaps being down on his ability after these first two games back under such crazy circumstances isn't the most logical thing, either.
Not many people are questioning his talent. Everybody is questioning those 2 plays per game that he must eliminate. They aren't just bad, they are horrible. You can be an inconsistent forward, not an inconsistent keeper or #6.
Agreed, but not many 21 year olds have shown the upside that he has either. You can't ignore either fact, here. I am not sold on Weston, but his potential is very high, and the things that he needs to correct seem to be more fixable than not.
At the moment he's playing for a side that has deficiencies just about everywhere and his versatility means that he's constantly being used to fight different fires. With him being relatively young at 21 but almost guaranteed to start, IMO he should wait and see who Schalke bring in between now and the end of next season, how they perform and whether the reinforcement are giving him chances to develop as a player. If he's not satisfied, he should get his agent to push for a move and not take no for an answer. Over the last 20 years Schalke have a history of being a big club that spends big money and produces small teams. He needs to make it plain to the FO that he needs to find his best position and master it in order to win silverware. If he can do it at Schalke, great. If he can't, he has to move on.
I think there's a big difference for any player when asked to move the ball through the midfield based on numbers, opponent, etc. Wes may not be Iniesta, but he's perfectly capable of passing through the midfield as long as we don't put him in places where we're expecting him to beat the defense one on one every time. That's why Berhalter has tried to create midfield numbers, and it's why he's trying to establish patterns of play that the players can get down. He's also got very good vision for the through and the skill to pull them off. So while he's not consistent, especially in tight spaces, it's not so simple as what you say. And the possession battle goes both ways -- and Adams and McKennie are going to take the ball back A LOT.
Bad news for Schalke. Serdar out for the season with a knee injury https://www.kicker.de/776165/artikel/schwere_knieverletzung_saison_aus_fuer_schalkes_serdar
I agree with this a lot and I think this is why USMNT fans were excited from the jump. In a lot of ways Weston shares a lot more in common with the protypical mid 90s-mid 2010's USMNT midfielder. Physical. Work rate. Can punch above his weight on occasion. Either way he's obviously far from the complete project. That being said, it's really encouraging just how much gametime he has gotten at the Bundesliga level. If you want to compare him to Bradley everything up to now matches Bradley's time in Holland. So yeah he's scored a lot less, but next year (by age) would have been Bradley's first year in the Bundesliga. What does any of that mean? I think next season is the make or break one for McKennie. If he really makes a leap forward I think he gets bought after the end of the season. OR? He stays on Schalke for a couple years, maybe longer. But it's clear this season didn't really tell us much more about him, except highlight areas that he clearly needs to work on. I'm still high on him. I like the athleticism. I like his work rate. I think he's a competitor. You can tell he HATES to lose.
To be fair, Bradley was a key player on a side constantly fighting relegation. Weston is a key player at a big player playing beneath themselves.
Exactly. That was my conclusion as well. But we have to remember he was skyrocketing despite on a sliding team around him and then Covid-19 happened. At worst, he is an inconsistent 21- year old who is a Europa-level game changer. Very few americans have ever reached his level by the age of 21. His last game before Covid-19. Europa-Level Match-up. 6th place Schalke vs 8th place Hoffenhiem. Mckennie takes over the game including: 1) scoring a goal by maneuvering through 3 players and with his weak foot 2) showing sublime footwork in tight spaces and a nice dummy at the top of the box 3) excellent one-touch passes 4) multiple classy through balls between multiple players in tight spaces 5) dominant defensive force all over the field.
says you. First USMNT 1,250 minutes: Weston McKennie: 6 Goals, 3 Assists Michael Bradley: 1 goal, 1 assist. And we already started building around the lower guy within his first 200 USMNT minutes.
Well, part of it might be that he's starting for a team in one of the best football divisions on the planet. Regardless of how he's playing right now, and what we think of him, there are not a ton of Americans that can say that, not just now, but ever. Right now, we have him and who else that is a consistent starting central midfielder in a top league? Adams will likely be a starting player once his health and form is squared away, IMHO (I think he's that good and likely better than Weston, but who knows where RBL will play him consistently?) I get the reservations we have, but let's pump the breaks on all the negativity. The kid is showing a pretty decent manager that he's got the chops to play at this level.
Actually, there is an opta-based stat called 'concentration', which is defined as the frequency of own goals and the frequency of errors that lead to opposition shots on goals. McKennie's concentration metric is rated as 'Very Weak', a mark I haven't seen on any other player. And there are almost certainly more nuanced propriety stats out there.
I’ve gone a bit sour on Mckennie recently, but I still have hope he’ll be an important piece for us in the future. Mckennie hasn’t always played great in a US Jersey, but he was unplayable in the gold cup against Trinidad and Jamaica, so so good in those games. Even if he stays at that level and doesn’t progress, having a guy that can dominate mid tier CONCACAF is useful, especially compared to someone like Roldan whom has never played well for the USMNT, no matter the opponent.
He's not playing particularly well ATM, but then the entire Schalkle 04 team is playing poorly ATM. Maybe there's a relationship between the two? He's not playing particularly well for the US MNT either, but then the entire US MNT is playing garbage ATM, no? Maybe there's a relationship between those two as well? In the meantime, consider this: BL1 is a Top 3 league and, per Transfermarkt, there are 530 players in BL1. McKennie is an automatic starter for an EL-chasing side in that league, which makes him one of BL1's 100 best players. Next time there's an American playing DM/CDM/CM that you can say that about, start questioning his relevance to the MNT lineup. Until then, people ought to sit down, take a sedative and play some soothing music.
How many games has he played at ATM this year? Two? Three? His best game of the year was the game he played ATM right before the covid break... and it was very good game IMO. Perhaps his other best game was early in the season when they had him pressing high up the pitch against RBL. That was a huge win and Wes was wreaking havoc in the 18 disrupting the passes of some very good CDs. I will reserve my judgement about how skillful he is at ATM until he gets some consistent opportunities to play there. It seriously seems like he has played only a couple of games in an attacking position this season and the rest has been at CDM, CD and even RB. In the few games that he has been asked to attack he has shown real promise.