On Dest and the title.......Im sure given the circumstances theyll give him as much burn as they deem necessary to win the title. They are in "risk it all" mode for the trophy. The ultimate point of business is to win trophies.........and this one is being offered to them courtesy of Ajax in a way nobody ever predicted. The paradigm has shifted. Hopefully its not 90 but ya know........theyll push him this time. Just like a WR or CB coming off long injury for the super bowl........that coach will risk it if hes at least 50 percent (and Dest looks to be above 50 percent). If PSV werent up big early, I think they would have done it today too. They had the luxury to take him today, and that was smart. Theyll need all 110 percent of him final match day
That's certainly a statement. Goals and assists aren't everything, but in terms of npXG+xA/90, Malik is 11th in the Eredivisie. More relevantly, perhaps, the top three in the Eredivisie are his PSV teammates. deJong, Til and Saibari, if you are curious. Saibari had the same number of goals as Tillman and 10 more assists in less total minutes. There are seven PSV players in the Top 19. Clearly there's an abundance of attacking talent on the team that I am fairly certain works as a multiplier in terms of making everyone more productive. I have no idea who the best player in the Eredivisie is this year, but I'm not sure how you can be so certain that Malik was "clearly the best player in the Eredivisie this season" even if you handwave that pesky availability.
Saputo uses a lot players and coaches from Bologna on his Montreal team but other than getting runner-up in the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions Cup, he hasn't won anything yet.
Oh, I mean Bologna tho. Just won a trophy and is jostling for champions league again......has been in that spot past few years now (if not actually in champions league, close to it).
I don't think they will make the Champions League but with this win, Bologna are guaranteed a place in the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League. It isn't as much money as the CL but it is still pretty prestigious.
I don't know about Dest. He did his time in La Liga and Serie A. He's given it a go. It didn't work out like he wanted. Particularly at his supposed dream club, Barcelona. He gets paid exceedingly well at PSV according to capology. He must be within the 5 highest paid players in the Eredivisie. He could say "I'm extremely happy here and want to stay." Pepi has never been shy about his ambitions. Since he was 14. He's the kind of delusional (in a good way) athlete to say that his goal is to play for Real Madrid. If there's a step up the ladder available to him, he'll take it.
It is hard to know with Dest as he is a particular attack first outside back. There are a lot of teams in between PSV and Barca though and a few might be good fits. That is the key for him though is a good fit. He actually kind of had that at Barca at first but after the coaching change he was a square peg in a round hole. As for ACM it's funny the chance he got and the left back they have now Theo who is also an attack first back and he doesn't even try to play defense most of the time and he always starts.
absolutely think that they can. Would love some yanks to get on board with that project. The biggest challenge of playing for Bologna? Fitness.......legendary food would be the ultimate first world problem.
I was just checking out that Serie A table. Its not out of the question that if Venezia can get one result in their last two games, they can pass Parma. Parma's last two games are against Napoli and Atalanta. They could get tanked by Napoli in particular. Maybe Venezia can overcome that GD to Parma. I know I'm stating the obvious, but that game against Cagliari looks so large. They're in such better form than Cagliari. Let's go Busio!!! Like PSV winning the Eredivisie, I'd kind of given up on Venezia. Was starting to think of where they could sell Busio to.........................
There's a discussion to be had. I'd have to think about it. Is this season the best ever for an American in Europe? Even with Coppa Italia loss, Christian Pulisic has had the best-ever season by an American man in Europe | USA | The Guardian
This season was always going to be our best chance for survival. Ive professed it from beginning of the season, the bottom third of Serie A is BAD, like big big big bad. And it probably will be next year too. All the more reason its necessary to survive and consolidate this season. Yeah, I gave us up for dead too, and we should be. It defies logic that we are still in this and alive and kicking. I think many other seasons we would have been down a long time ago. Thank goodness for Cagliari, Hellas Verona, Lecce, Empoli, Parma, Monza and the like. Someone else brought it to my attention a W at Cagrliari assures survival. That would be so big.
You are correct when you say Gs and As aren't everything. As far as scoring production Twente's Stein with 24G 7A or Feyenrood's Igor with 16G and 10A would be the top player. De Jong 13G 8A, Lang 11G 10A and Saibari 11G 11A. Tillman is the top player because he is very good on offense and very good on defense which is why he is WS's top Eredivisie player : https://www.whoscored.com/regions/1...erstatistics/netherlands-eredivisie-2024-2025 ESPN NL just did another feature where they pointed out his importance: Multifunctional Tillman is a rest point and ball collector A player who will definitely be on the pitch against Heracles is Tillman. PSV's collapse and subsequent revival after the winter break are almost synchronous with the injury of the multifunctional midfielder. With Tillman in the team, PSV scores an average of more than one point per Eredivisie match. At least as important as his creativity on the ball is Tillman's defensive insight. In Bosz's pressing football, the American is almost indispensable. Tillman understands the art of standing half/half , with which he often closes two passing lines by anticipating well and PSV can keep both center backs behind for cover. His good anticipation in pressing is also reflected in the statistics. On average per ninety minutes this Eredivisie season, only Almere City striker Charles-Andreas Brym wins more balls in the highest zone of the field than Tillman. https://www.espn.nl/voetbal/artikel...ten-tillman-en-dest-psv-veel-beter-voetballen
Are you using whoscored? Good lord. Let's not do that. ESPN is largely trash. Malik is a good player, and productivity-wise, he's one of the better players in the Eredivisie. I really don't see anything here that says he's "clearly the best player in the league." There's a lot of really good players on PSV alone; I really don't see how he's clearly better or more irreplaceable than any of them.
Don't trust sources that contradict my point. Tillman has produced in UCL, which suffices to underline his talents.
Betis and Johnny playing Rayo today, already down 2-0. They lose today they’ve basically iced the Europa, which has been their usual standard the past few years……. And a good standard at that. Hopefully next season they can get it to the next level
Another tidbit to underline Tillman's quality- Players in the Top-8 European leagues with at least 5 league-play goals scored from outside the box: Tillman(1831 minutes) 6 Bruno Fernandes(2853) 5 Cunha(2491) 5 Federico Valverde(2854) 5 In Champions League play, Raphina(1225 minutes) led the pack with 3. 9 others, including Tillman(534), followed with 2 goals. Among those 9, only Jhon Duran(238) had fewer UCL minutes.
Dempsey had 17 goals and 6 assists for Fulham in 2011-12. I would say Premier League is still harder than Serie A, and Dempsey played for a mid-table squad. What about the year Pulisic won Champions League with Chelsea? Could argue that was better year, even if his individual performance wasn't as large. Beasley making semis of Champions League with PSV in 2005 also pretty good. He had 6 goals and 7 assists in the Edervisie that year. McBride had 9 goals in Premier League in each of 2006 and 2007.
Top Seasons by an American in Europe this century: 1. Brad Friedel: 2002/3 EPL Season. He made PFA Team of the Year. 2. Clint Dempsey: 2011/12 EPL Season. He finished 4th in the FWA Footballer of the Year voting. 3. Tim Howard: 2003/4 EPL Season. He made PFA Team of the Year