If anyone wants to see the car crash, you can check it out on Paramount+. Even before today though his form dipped. 3rd sub-par match. Very streaky guy. Some jumped the gun on making him our starter or even a senior player off a few good games in League 1.
For those who haven't dug into this new UCL format here's the sort version. 1. 36 teams put into 4 pots for the draw. Each team draws 2 matches against teams from each pot for 8 matches. They are also drawn for home or away. 2. Teams awarded standard 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. 3. At end of "league" teams are ranked 1-36 by points. Usual tie breakers are used. 4. Spots 1-8 move on to Round of 16. Spots 28-36 are out. No further European play. 5. Spots 9-27 are seeded and drawn to play hoime -and- away series. 8 winners are then drawn against teams 1-8. Then it proceeds with Round of 16 down to the final just like in the past.
Why do you hire a guy and give him 2 months? Its pretty silly to me. Shoulda kept the other guy then.
Then you're just being stubborn and don't care about winning. Senior nat'l teams aren't for your predictions about who'll be the best option in 5 yrs. We can cross that bridge when we come to it, & in the process not lose much more than if we play Schulte, Freese, Turner, Celentano, etc.; or whoever's proven more in better leagues.
I agree. He does play with effort. He’s just not typically running around at high intensity…he picks his spots and does a good job of making sure he’s creating shapes and space. It’s probably one of the reasons why he ingratiates himself with his coaches over time.
It's Italy. This is nothing new. Last season, Rudi Garcia was hired in July and fired in November 2023 while Napoli sat 4th in the Serie A. Presidents (who are usually the owners of the clubs) are scared or relegation or being eliminated from the CL or EL and fire coaches at will.
Juve PSV Eindhoven 3-1, le pagelle della partita di Champions League | Sky Sport MCKENNIE: voto 7 dal 69' WEAH: voto 6
While PSV’s Americans Malik Tillman and Richy Ledezma, who made his UCL debut, struggled, McKennie (“always in the game”) received high marks from Gazzetta della Sport. Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in the 3rd minute of AC Milan’s 3-1 home loss to Liverpool. It marked his ninth goal in his 55 UCL games. Americans in 2024-25 UEFA Champions League Tuesday: Christian Pulisic (AC Milan) 90 minutes, 1 goal in 3-1 loss vs. Liverpool. Yunus Musah (AC Milan) on bench in 3-1 loss vs. Liverpool. Weston McKennie (Juventus) 75 minutes, 1 goal in 3-1 win vs. PSV. Tim Weah (Juventus) sub 21 minutes in 3-1 win vs. PSV. Malik Tillman (PSV) 90 minutes in 3-1 loss at Juventus. Richy Ledezma (PSV) 86 minutes in 3-1 loss at Juventus. Ricardo Pepi (PSV) sub 13 minutes in 3-1 loss at Juventus. Wednesday: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty (Celtic) vs. Slovan Bratislava Gio Reyna* (Borussia Dortmund) at Club Brugge Thursday: Folarin Balogun (Monaco) vs. Diego Kochen (Barcelona) * Note: Reyna is injured.
Good numbers from Tillman and Ledezma in a losing effort. Ledezma(RB in 433) 2 key passs 1 big chance created 104 touches 78/83 passing 4/6 ground duels 0 dribbled past 7 recoveries SofaScore(7.1)4th Tillman(LF in 433) 2 key passes 1/2 dribbles 31/34 passing 5/11 duels 3 clearances 4 recoveries SofaScore(7.1)4th
I watched him play today. The guy is always in good spots and is goal dangerous during nearly every attacking sequence. He could have had two today because of his positioning. He contributes well in combinations in the middle or toward the sideline. I think the next step is for him to become more selfish and to want the ball more. Hopefully Pochettino can get some of that out of him with the national team. If Im Pochettino, Im looking for Weston to be the guy that kind of helps Reyna in two ways: positioning and combinations. Weston can push Reyna higher and out of the midfield, where Reyna is more effective and can focus on offensive contributions. Weston can also help the ball to flow to Reyna in a way that helps Reyna get the ball with proper spacing and timing so that he can receive and react rather than trying to dribble the perimeter of the box. West is a good, smart combination player who could help draw out the best in Reyna.
To elaborate on nope, he was pulled, for a second, to the overlapping run by Cambiasso, which gave Yildez the opportunity to cut in and put a precision shot into the upper corner. No smoke detected.
Yeah that shot shot was a season highlight type and one you just tip your hat to. Curling from medium distance of the post and in. Ledezma did seem timid and really never attacked down the sideline. Probably instructions as the kid needed constant watching. Tillman was very anonymous even if his passing was accurate according to the charts. Just a lot of safe passes and lackadaisical presence. He needs to be spitting fire and he's chillin'.
A team can often afford to carry one passenger - I call them opportunists or hilite players. Teams of Juve's caliber don't really need a passenger type. A guy like Tilman can stand around looking for opportunities for PSV and score in bucketfuls, e.g. That makes sense for PSV. Is that really what you want for the USA? When we come up against a top 8 team, it will be curtains - Leeds redux. In the meantime, have fun fantasizing. McK had 38 touches in 75 minutes. 6 duels, lost 5 of them. 1 dribble and it was lost. He didn't foul anybody and wasn't fouled. Teams can win with a passenger. Argentina won a WC with Leo Messi. Weston is no Leo Messi. That's the long and the short of it.
Gio is a good defender but not good enough to play for 2 men. Wes can't press and Gio is a 2nd line defender working on recoveries and interceptions in the middle third on the counterpress like McK would do because Wes can't press. Again, it's a problem carrying a passenger. What happens when you lack certain skills on the pitch? Top level opponents sniff it out and take advantage of it. Alternatively, we will be unable to operate under changed conditions. Here are McK's stats from our 1-2 loss to Panama in Copa which got Berhalter fired and featured a red card to Weah early. Boom, thud. wha' 'appened? Fotmob stats Minutes played: 90 Accurate passes12/14 (86%) Chances created1 Expected goals (xG)0.07 Expected goals on target (xGOT)0.73 Expected assists (xA)0.55 xG + xA0.62 Attack Shot accuracy0/1 (0%) Touches26 Touches in opposition box2 Passes into final third3 Accurate crosses1/2 (50%) Accurate long balls1/1 (100%) Dispossessed1 Non-penalty xG0.07 Defense Tackles won0/0 (0%) Blocks1 Clearances1 Defensive actions2 Recoveries2 Dribbled past1 Duels Duels won3 Duels lost6 Ground duels won2/4 (50%) Aerial duels won1/5 (20%) Was fouled2 Fouls committed0
Not 100%, but he wasn't great on the play. It was a great shot, but he absolutely WAAAAT overcommits on the run to the baseline and overruns Yilmaz' position, leaving him completely unpressured on the shot. The above really demonstrates Sofascores's massive issues. Tillman got a 5.5 and Ledezma a 5 from the newspaper. To give them sevens in a game in which they were roughed up badly is kind of ridiculous.
Watch the goal again. Ledezma is slow to get out to him, then way overcommits to stopping a baseline run, getting to the point where his back is turned and he's even not really in between Yilmaz and goal anymore. It's a great shot, but it was super easy for Yilmaz to shoot it. That's pretty bad defense.
Freeman is behind, IMO, one of the best RB’s in the league. Somehow Papi has convinced a good CM to play RB.... kinda like what is happening to Ledezma. Papi wanted Halliday to be OC’s RB a few hrs ago, but he kept pulling hamstrings.