Kohfeldt mentioning Selke and/or Füllkrug are capable to start and not just sub. Rashica should also be back this weekend. Pretty sure Sarge will still start, but man some actual goals/assists would be nice from a striker! Looking back several months when the pressure was on Sarge because of all the other injuries I’d have to say that he didn’t make a great use of his shot. Yes, he’s a fine player and helps all around, yes he gets no service, but Sarge has not shown he can make things happen on his own and be a difference maker. He has not been clutch (ie, look at Bartels against Bayern yesterday, or that last minute header by Dinkcis or whatever his name is)). I’m not saying Sarge never will, I think he has the goods and he is still young. I was just hoping against hope he’d have a few clutch moments in these past months since he was given a LOT of playing time. Still looking forward to the Rückrunde...he has to make the breakthrough at some point, he’s too good IMHO not too
Kinda makes me think of Jozy's first goal for Sunderland against Arsenal that was wrongly called off. Might have helped with his morale that sank lower as time went on.
Had he not gotten a crap ton of minutes after that game, I would agree with you, but he was just not at the level of that league. Similarly, I think Josh is probably not at the 1BL level as a striker. He can do a certain job in the collective to the satisfaction obviously of his coach, otherwise he would not be playing as regularly. But as a striker whose job it is to produce goals, I think we have enough data by now to know he is probably at the level of clubs in the relegation spots and top third of the 2BL, IMHO.
Are you saying he's not at the level for his career, like Jozy, since that is sorta the comparison? Or are you saying just this year?
Not wishful thinking, but I respectfully disagree with you. I’m sure you’ve watched Bremen matches. We can all see how poor their midfield is. Josh constantly is coming WAY back to hold up ball and then gets NO service up top. It is frustrating as a US fan to watch. He has the skills but lacks the components around him to bring out his goal scoring. I’m not saying he’d be Lewandowski if playing on Bayern, but would be nice to see him play in a More balanced system to finally see if he could thrive.
It's just tough to say, but even on a bad side, a top striker needs to produce, otherwise, he is not a top striker. I'm sure there are professional scouts who can come up with fine data points to look at to plot a mutlifactorial regression analysis to compare strikers across good teams and bad, probably his own personal xG or some such stat. I'm not that clever so I'm going to leave it there. There is absolutely some truth in what many say how terrible his team is in the attacking third, etc, etc. But at some point a guy at that level has to do something extra-ordinary, otherwise, he's just ordinary. The world is full of those guys. I haven't seen him do something extra-ordinary in a loooong time.
It's great to say he needs to score more, and we'd all like to see more goals, and have been disappointed in the lack of production. But to say he is, or may be (not sure what your answer is), a BL2 level player because he's not scoring enough as a 20 year old is way past the level of reasonable takes. As I, and others, have posted here, no 20 year olds light up the score sheet, outside of generational guys like Haaland. Sargent will likely be a BL-level player his entire career, imo. But even if he isn't, I'd still give him to age 23/24/25 before I'm going to say he's shown he doesn't belong, simply because it takes strikers quite a while to develop. I've said it before, but if this is 5 years ago, Sargent's performance (lock BL starter, MOTM against the best team in the world, one of his squad's better players), we're all ecstatic and he's probably the 2nd player on the team sheet. Now? Well we still don't have a striker, but the plethora of talent makes him look worse. He's not overperforming, he might be slightly underperforming, but I still think he's in a good spot for his age. If he's still in the BL and hitting 1 goal in half a season 3 years from now? Sure, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong. Though if Hoppe continues banging em in...
So let me get this straight: You are using his age to justify his lack of production on the goal sheet? If so that's fine and it's entire reasonable. My quote is that he is not currently on the level of a 1BL striker. As I said in my post above, he is a capable squad player on this team within the collective effort that his coach demands. Otherwise he would not be getting the playing time he is getting. But if you were to ask any of the teams above them in the table if they'd rather have today's Josh Sargent or their current strikers, I don't think a ton of them would be jumping down your throat to get him. If I'm paraphrasing you correctly, you would posit that in 2-3 years Josh will be a better striker and will be scoring at a higher rate. If that's what you're saying, that's what I'm saying as well. He is developing his game. All of this debate is meaningless though, as he'll stay with Bremen until his coach is canned or he starts producing, and will probably continue to start because of what he does on the field outside of scoring or making assists. All good.
Yeah I just thought you were comparing him to Jozy, and saying he's basically not a top 5 league player. Sounds like I misunderstood tho. Just think people are overreacting a bit to a 20 year old struggling to score, since there aren't many doing so in the BL.
EVERY time the ball is in the 18 for Werder Bremen (not often enough), Sargent is flicking it on, running on to it, or is involved with building up the attack. He’s poised to say the least. Imagine him up top and getting service from CP, Reyna, Dest, and McKennie. I’m salivating.
I have said it several times before but I refuse to make a judgement either way WRT whether Josh can be a good striker at the highest level. It is impossible to tell when he literally goes entire games w/o getting a single ball at his feet in a dangerous position. I watch so much soccer and Bremen has to be the worst offensive team around due to their abysmal midfield. I really can't remember the last time the midfield played well. They would be better off IMO just trying to throw long balls over the top and trying to beat the offsides trap. They literally can't pass w/ accuracy or with any sense of a buildup. They are hot garbage as an offensive unit. Josh does do the little things you want a striker to do... in that he creates good flick-ons and passes well out of hold-up play. But when was the last time he had a ball at his feet in space within the 18? TO make matters worse.... since it is such a rare occurrence for him to have a legit scoring opportunity if he does get one and fails it makes it seem worse. But when you watch the vast majority of football teams the striker is generally getting served balls and interchanging inside the 18 5... 10... even 15+ times a game. Not a single example of this during the first half of this one. He had one fantastic flick-on header off a corner that he put in the perfect place.... but no one was there. I feel for Josh. Again... I refuse to say he is a good/bad striker until he gets some relatively consistent service near the box.
Isn’t Kohfeldt praised as some tactical genius? For what playing unwatchable soccer. It looks like an American high school game. They’re defending through the middle with SIX (they also have full backs) and every time they win the ball they boot it up field. When they transition it looks like someone has edited out the player between the central midfielders and the attackers, this team has players who would make a lot of bundesliga teams better, including Sargent. It’s not even like you can complain that they don’t have someone who could do the connecting. Take out one of your three CMs who don’t progress the ball and put in Chong, tell him he can start in this team if he cuts out that overdribbling and he can open up the field. If you don’t trust him put in Bittencourt. But they need to put someone there to do it, hell put Sargent there, anything so I can stop hate watching this team of good players look bad. Someone can play in these wingers and strikers, you don’t need a stud. I would be embarrassed if my most progressive plays were by my striker and my CB.
Sargent doing everything. Just had a chance and the keeper’s toe nicks it wide. Ugh. So close for Josh.
Finally gets a bit lucky on a rebound and shoots well.... keeper makes a great save to keep it out of the corner. When it rains it pours. EDIT* Also had a perfect hold-up and then thru ball earlier in the 2nd half but the receiver squandered the opportunity. That was a great pass. Could easily of been an assist.
I will say based on the goal scoring stats you’d think Sargent isn’t up to this level. And while I can’t blame you guys for not watching these games. Sargent is one of the best players on his team.
Best way I can describe Sargent is that he’s a teammate’s forward and not a goal scoring forward. Not that this is a horrible characteristic, but I would love for a team to buy him up that will invest in developing this missing part of his game.
Two times in 30 seconds Sargent is wide open with a simple pass... one is completely shanked and the other ends up as a goal fro someone else. LOL. Sargent is WIDE open both times and he doesn't get the service.