Post-match: USA v Paraguay friendly 11/15 (R)

From what Roldan said when asked he's playing deeper and everything has slowed down. Some of these other players may get there in the next few years and even be better but he's there now. Adams is there now. It took Beckerman a long time to move his way from the #10 in the U17's to other in between to out and out Dmid. It takes a lot of experience and it's why other national teams often look better than they should because they have those experienced players and they have teams experienced with each other. US used to have that advantage when they didn't have so many good players as now. Is it better to be experienced together with lesser players or better players not used to each other?

 

Yeah, I felt like Arfsten continued to show why he is a good LWB and also why he is a poor LB. His defending was not great, and his (lack of) awareness in his own box nearly resulted in an OG. So for me it was more that he aligned with my expectations than anything else.

Generally agree that Brenden wasn't great, but again it was too close to “more of the same” for me to include him in my initial list. He is so dynamic and causes problems for opponents in both directions, but too often solves them for the opponent himself with an extra dribble or a heavy pass or a soft tackle. He is so close to being a top player, but is quickly running out of time to develop the requisite awareness, touch, and physicality.

 

I think Cristian is a bit of a sand bagger. He was Sounders team MVP in 2017, an All-Star in 2021 and best XI in the CCL in 2022. The game has been slowed down for some time. I do think CM is his best position and playing deeper lets him use his best skills which are deep passing, ball winning and making later runs into attack.

I think continuity is how Panama or the Ticos punch above their weight with lesser players. One of my pet theories that won’t ever be proven is that our results wouldn’t have been much worse in a timeline where Roldan and Delgado had been our starting 8s since 2017.

 

Brenden scored 9 goals for his club last year and has more goals and assists for the US than Weah last time I checked.

 

last year Brenden was playing Championship football. Not quite apples to apples.

Brenden' success is his work rate.

 

Brenden's stats relative to positional peers in top 5 leagues tell the story.
Brenden Aaronson Stats, Goals, Records, Assists, Cups and more | FBref.com

99th percentile in tackles, 97th percentile in interceptions, 99th percentile in blocks, 89th percentile in clearances.

All of these metrics that we can consider hustle and workrate measures, the guy is friggin' elite. [I'm sure there are more sophisticated metrics out there.[

But he scores very poorly in metrics involving goals, assists, progressive carries, passing, etc. etc.

9th percentile in passes attempted. EEK!

He is who he is.

I believe we can all think of a role for this type of player off the bench. If we're protecting a lead in the second half, this kind of workrate animal has value.

That FBref page suggests players with similar metrics across top 5 leagues. An interesting comparison is John McGinn of Aston Villa. Sure enough, the same kind of metrics. We'd probably all take John McGinn on the USMNT.

 

What about the goals for the US?

The Championship is one of the top 10 leagues in the world by pretty wide acclaim and at least as good as MLS. An attacking midfielder scoring 9 goals with no PKs is notable.

 

Weah, had it tougher in the Italian league. He didn't get to start as much; there was more competition for him than Branden.

Weah is faster, stronger with a good outside the box shot, but he does have some deficiencies. He is mostly a right-footed player.

 

He was 74th percentile in the Championship last season. Scored .23 non-pK goals per 90 as a 10. That’s good. The “last 365” and “top 14” leagues adds too much noise for me. In his last full season, in a very good league, he scored at a good rate and lead the team in chances created too.

https://fbref.com/en/players/5bc43860/scout/12525/Brenden-Aaronson-Scouting-Report

 

It’s not that there was more competition for Weah, Brenden just won a job and wouldn’t let it go. He replaced Rutter, who they sold for huge money and the team for better in attack and defense. Brenden is beloved by coaches who want to win games.

 

That's much better than I expected in Premier League. I knew he would be very good in the work rate category but those are unicorn numbers.

 

this is what I was trying to say. Thx for doing that legwork

 

...and Luna helped his campaign with a solid performance tonight against Uruguay. Lots of pressing and a nice side-footed finish for a goal.

 

Was this Uruguay's A team?

 

Yes

 

I posted in the wrong thread lol