Pause at 0:15 to see the two older Chivas fans thoroughly disgusted that their club has now come to this.
Aaronson isn't a guy who spends a lot of time on the ball, but the fanbase has made him out to have no offensive talents whatsoever, and that's not true. What he's struggled with is finishing, primarily, and then that cascaded to his confidence. That's a fixable issue. The other problem that's bigger, though, is that it can be tough to have a low usage player in those spots. To play at the level the rest of his game is at -- which is a top 5 league -- he either needs to up his production or find a sport where the team doesn't need a ton of offensive production. Even at his best, he's not going to be more than a 5 and 5 guy at this level, so you need what Lille did with Weah, etc. Or he'll have to drop down. He's going to the right type of teams -- play against the ball, press, defend, but on those teams you need to convert at a decent rate then.
I'm not convinced that's a "fixable" issue at this point. He's never been a goalscorer. He's never been somebody that racked up goal contributions. That's just not who he is. He's not a 17 year old prospect any longer. That's not to say he doesn't have attributes that bring value to the National Team. Of course, he does. When we look at 2022 WC members whose positions are under threat, Brenden Aaronson has to be near the top of that list. Cuz there are wingers and attackers coming up thru the U23s and U20s...................aplenty. Lots of them. Paredes, Booth, Yow, Gutierrez, Luna, Bajraktarevic, the list goes on and on. Koleosho if he commits and recovers well from injury. Cade Cowell, Paxten Aaronson, Kamungo, Sealy. Not all of this list will develop, but some of them will. Pulisic, Reyna, Tillman, Weah, etc. aren't the ones likely to lose their places. Its Aaronson.
The problem is that nobody does what Aaronson does, as well as Aaronson does it. His main problem is being priced too high which killed his opportunity to pick the right situation which would develop him as a total player.
Sure...............but is that something we definitely need on the national team? Leeds paid more for Aaronson than AC Milan paid for Christian Pulisic. So there's also this issue of perception. He is who he is. That's not to say he doesn't have value or can't contribute to the national team. All we're saying is that at some point one has to gauge whether to retain Aaronson or whether Gutierrez, Luna, Bajraktarevic, Cowell, Booth, Paredes, etc. etc. deserve a chance. We have a bunch of predicted Nations League roster in the other thread, and many people didn't have Aaronson in their squads. He's definitely on our bubble.
I think this situation will solve itself over the next 2 years. Most of the young up and comers should be relatively well understood by the end of next season and it will be hard for guys to break through by winter '25-'26. As you listed, there's a ton of guys coming up, some who've already been capped, some who will be, and then on top of that you have guys like Sargent and Wright who've played plenty of matches at WF who have that versatility that can allow, if need be, for Berhalter to take 3 or 4 strikers, and just 3 wing forwards if he simply isn't happening enough with whats happing in that WF #3 through WF #8 on the depth chart positional grouping. Form my own perspective, Aaronson played his way out of a March call up the past 18+ months or so. That may not be how Berhalter sees it, but it should be. This is the last window to look in another direction before we play in the 2nd most prestigious tournament we've played in in the past 8 years. I am very hopeful, he'll stash Aaronson in his backpocket, reminding himself to keep an eye on developments with him in Germany, and take a closer look at guys he hasn't had as many opportunities to watch over the past 2 years. I'll definitely be annoyed if he doesn't use the March window to experiment. It's his last chance to be convinced of particular edge players in groupings like WF, he needs to use it. We aren't learning anything we didnt already know with Aaronson, other than how far he's fallen since '22, which shouldn't be a surprise. Take advantage of the opportunity. See what some more of the kids to do to simplify your decision in May/June.
im liking this move more and more. Cade is going to have to peel the Mexican chicks off of him. and shout out to that “good game” at the 25 second mark, that was great form.
For me Aaronson and LDLT are the bubble guys being squeezed out by Tillman, Sargent, Paredes, Cardoso and Maloney. Think of them as the Arriola of this cycle. One of them gets a reprieve if McKennie is unavailable.
Club play gets you into camp for me. Performance in camp and with the USMNT gets you starts, minutes and spots on the depth chart. Paredes hasn't done much in the USMNT shirt, and I don't see why he'd be over Aaronson for a competitive match until he actually has a good game. And Paredes is the only guy I want to play at a winger position on that list. I've never been Luca's biggest fan, but he's the only 8 on that list other than Johnny, and since he's been played LW/LM for club, he has some position flexibility that a number of those others claim but I haven't seen them be effective at it. I'd love to see Tillman shift back, but that's not really what he's doing with PSV and I've never seen it in action. Maloney didn't look up to it in his first run, so I can't see putting him there yet. I'm not sold; I feel like there's a lot of starting in the Bundesliga that will fade away like Alfredo Morales when his team fades. There's just a lot of club hype here and just a lot of it seems to be based on lower levels or overhyped performance at higher levels. I mean, Heidenheim's defense is tied for the worst in the Bundesliga in xGA -- are we really sure Maloney is that effective? I'm not saying you don't call those guys in and give them chances at all. But I think people are also writing off someone like Aaronson -- who is younger than Lennard Maloney, by the way -- for guys who have short but unimpressive stints in the shirt so far.
zero lies detected., I mean I think we can calculate an injury as inevitable always though so I love the depth i respectfully disagree with Maloney but that’s a minuscule quarrel I won’t have
On transfer fees you have to remember that the years left on a deal greatly impact the contract buyout amount (aka transfer fee). Aaronson had more than a year left on his deal and his fee was full freight while Pulisic was in the last year of his deal and half off.
I’ve refrained from talking about Brooks while he has been moved in and out of the Hoff lineup and seems to be a 3 ATB, 3rd on the depth chart option. That said what explains his team’s record with him is incredible finishing luck. With him on the field Hoff’s xGD/90 is -.05 compared to when he’s not playing but their GD/90 when he’s on is +1.02 on vs off.
For me, I give good value when a player is able to get the ball out of few guys encircled him. Jonny can do that as Musah. Right now McKennie is petty good, of course Gio is good too. Malik is also good but needs more consistency. Those are my midfield guys.
The last time Tillman played, he was on the wing and was by far the worst player for us...... oddly, Peredes was 2nd worst. I don’t judge players on their first run, so Peredes gets a pass..... but Tillman? Not on the wing for me and I’m not sold on him in the middle either (time will tell).
Within the context of the US pool of CBs, Brooks obviously belongs in the 23. He has been blackballed. There's nothing else on the player.
Aaronson's main problem is performing inconsistently and not developing his game in the final 3rd. He showed early on at Leeds he can be a helluva creative influence at the EPL level. But the player himself largely fell off and failed to produce. And that has now repeated for the current 14th place team in the Bund.
incredible finishing luck anywho 🍒 Tyler Adams is back in group training at Cherries. Is set for some minutes soon with the development squad, before a first team return.Iraola: “He is doing really well.“No pain and he is training well.” #afcb #usmnt 👇🏻 https://t.co/t91O7Qjzrt— Tom Crocker (@TomCrockerEcho) February 26, 2024
There’s also just a premium that EPL teams pay versus non EPL teams. If there was no EPL interest, Aaronson would have had other teams in other leagues interested, but they would have paid far less. No league can compare with the financial might of the EPL.
I think both were the victim of too many changes. The best way to introduce new players is into a stable lineup where the other 9 outfielders know exactly what their role is.
I agree with the concept, but honestly, Tillman just had a stinker. Tons of bad touches. I don't know if the field was terrible or what, but there was a lot of poor executional stuff. Though I'm sure having a fairly new frontline didn't help.
To this day, Malik Tillman has only played 277 minutes with the national team. We've only used him in 3 games that mattered, all against lesser opponents in the Nations League. The most recent being 25 minutes against T&T when we were down a man. Kinda meaningless. This is a player who will probably get more opportunities and more minutes in the coming months and years. Maybe starting in this game against Jamaica.
1762571544335630617 is not a valid tweet id im deeply disappointed the celebration isnt shown...i can only assume he ran in a little circle like a dog chasing its tail. how do you congratulate the goal scorer when the goal scorer is you?