It is a strange fantasy around here to have EPB be a DM. Strange in the sense he has never played a professional minute there and strange in that the USMNT has a Champions League caliber DM already. The need for the USMNT is to find a right footed CB that can pass the ball and complement Brooks.
i agree on not looking at epb as a mid. i think the problem is that we have long, robinson and epb as options and people tend to get a little too creative in moving players around from their optimal spot. personally i think miazga is- in a vacuum- a better player now than any of those three rcb options i listed, but i understand the argument of wanting a more complimentary player to brooks (our best cb full stop). berhalter seems set on long, im open to/hopeful robinson surpassing miazga. but to circle back to your point, i agree this discussion has nothing to do with the central defensive midfield position- if for no other reason than, in berhalters view, it would be a matter of epb supplanting/backing up jackson yueill, not tyler adams.
Above-average Championship not a bad level for the US. Zardes, Guzan, Ream, Yueil, and Arriola all started in the 4-1 victory over Canada. None of them would realistically be described as above C'ship level, or even above above-average. He has experience at a number of positions.
True enough, and I want to see him with the NT at this point. What sometimes worries me is the tendency to inflate our guys too much. If what I read in these forums were true about our players, we'd be a solid QF contender in World Cups. Truth be told, we're around #40 in the world when accounting for pool of players (23 man squad) alone. Add to that iffy coaching and we're very lucky to be in the second weakest continental confed.
Ok, The point is we have been starting guys who are slightly-above-average MLS players. One of whom has 3 goals and 5 assists in 2,300 minutes and one who has 6 goals and three assists in 2,500 minutes. Holmes should certainly be getting looks.
SMH. No one has stated that Holmes is a core player or even a difference maker. The discussion about him is that he deserves a shot even if he isn’t an MLS player. the players generally over-rated here are MLS lifers: Roldan, Cannon, Long, Yueill, Morris, etc. who are often thought of as equivalent to multi year major league players. While it may be true, it’s pretty unlikely. I do agree with your assessment on Holmes though.
i think some may see the deciding characteristic between say, pomykal and holmes (the most similar players in the pool), is that holmes is overtly tenacious. he goes hard. while i think pomykal is a better player across the board (with room for growth), it feels close cause i love holmes' fight in his short minutes with the nats. i think its the same with morales vs roldan- more than pedigree or any particular skill comparison for me is i see fight in alfredo. and that fight wins a LOT of favor with fans, especially when theres a general "carried over puddles/walking to take the corner with your world cup life of the line" malaise around your team. so in that sense i think holmes is a little...emotionally "overrated". the opposite of timmy chandler, if you will.
I think Holmes and Pomykal are pretty similar and bring much of the same thing. That thing was not the profile that Gregg was looking for. The profile Gregg had led him to Roldan or what he thought Roldan could do. Pomykal and Holmes are better than Roldan overall imo, but Gregg disagreed or Roldan does something better that Gregg overvalues. Of course, Gregg "chose" his team before Pomykal or Holmes really broke out and then Gregg stuck with those guys mostly. I'd even say Morales is more like Roldan than the other two. Morales is better and a bigger presence on defense than Roldan, but their games as 8s are similar. Green too would be similar. None of those three would break lines on the dribble like Holmes and Pomykal. For some reason (even excluding injuries), we've never seen an Adams-McKennie double pivot or even as a 6-8. So, I wonder if we will ever have a midfield of Adams/McKennie/Holmes. I think that midfield, given time to gel, could play with any team in the world. If Holmes can work his way into the EPL, we might see it. But I can't get my hopes up. I think if Holmes can get a run of games, in the form he was in earlier in the year, and stay healthy, he will get bought by an EPL team, if Derby is not promoted.
Pomykal didn't really break out until late and then he got hurt, so it's hard to say how Berhalter sees him. But I do think that Holmes was somewhat a victim of Berhalter's positional inflexibility. In general, I think because he wants borderline players to learn their roles, he's been pretty inflexible with how guys are played. And I think Holmes is clearly a Left Side 10 in his system. And that means early on he was behind Pulisic, and then he was behind Lletget, and then he got hurt. I don't think Berhalter ever considered him v Roldan. Regarding Holmes, I really like him and would love to have him on a USMNT roster. I can't figure out what position he would play or get time at in the EPL. He could get time with a promoted Derby; I think he's got to make a leap to have someone purchase him. I don't mean to say that he couldn't play in the EPL -- tons of Championship level players could. But I don't see someone paying money to acquire him specifically.
The EPL might not be there. They are so awash in money, it became almost embarrassing to buy Championship players there (like MLS and USL). Chelsea did show that a top side can get good value from players from the EFC. AC Milan certainly were looking for a left back there. Maybe a Serie A team comes in for him. But the bottom teams will buy from the Championship (Aston Villa bought a few). But I think he needs to stay healthy which has been hard for him. He has not had big injuries, but it does seem every run of great form is then followed by a 4-6 week lay off and having to re-establish himself. Rooney at Derby put a lot of eyeballs there and Holmes was playing some of his best at that time.
Yeah, I just think top leagues are generally checking the Championship for either the very best performers or heading for potential. Holmes is 25; there's little upside there compared to Tammy Abraham or Antonee Robinson.
Holmes was one of the top performers across his last 7 full starts. Antonee Robinson had interest from Milan and Chelsea. Plenty of space between those clubs and the lower leagues. Enough for Holmes to squeeze into, if he maintains.
Can you provide a quote? The only 2 Concacaf teams ranked inside of the elo top-40 are the US and Mexico.
Pomykal is not a DP-level player, especially not a Vela, Pizzaro, Pozuelo-level DP. He's a good bargain on a team that doesn't spend money that lacks top-end talent. If he were beating out the guys on LAFC, I'd be impressed, but his competition is FCD's next 16-year-old HGP. If he's not in Europe in the next year or two, he's going to be another Kellyn Acosta. That's who I think he's comparable to, by the way. He's a solid MLSer with good experience for his age, but he's close to the ceiling of whatever MLS can teach him. I would not call Pomykal's performances "dominating". The stats don't show it, and neither does the eye-test. He's a tireless worker, and he makes the easy passes, but he's a cog on a team of workerbees, not a dominant player. I think the top-end of MLS compares favorably to the middle and bottom of the Championship, but mainly there's a difference in the speed of play, even if the technical side is probably on par with MLS. The Championship, much like the EPL, is extremely physical and fast-paced. MLS, especially during the Summer months, has a slower speed of play generally. Pomykal being younger doesn't mean much to me. If you're trying to win a game tomorrow, a 20 year-old or a 25 year-old isn't going to be an issue. Neither of them is a Gio Reyna-level talent that forces himself onto the field.
Carlos Vela, Pizarro, and Poezelo are 31, 26, and 28, so not really at points in the career similar to Pomykal's As of last year, Pomykal had interest from Milan, and clubs in the B1 and the EPL. It's reasonable to conclude the market regards him as more than a 'good bargain' for FCD. Staying in MLS would not make Pomykal another Kellyn Acosta. Suffering more serious injuries--which was what made Kellyn Acosta Kelln Acosta--would, however. Gio Reyna plays in a different federation, has little pro experience, and hasn't played with Pomykal at senior national team level. Little points for superlative comparisons.
He's already much better than Acosta ever was. And while he's not Carlos Vela, he absolutely is comparable in effectiveness to the more rare non-attacking DP. I don't even know where to start if he are comparing Kellyn Acosta to Pomykal in terms of skillset. The stats actually do show that when he was healthy, he dominated the midfield. No, as my posts clearly delineated, he was not creating goals like a Vela, but that's not what I said. He was leading the league or near the top in duels won, interceptions, etc. - those kinds of stats - and FC Dallas -- which doesn't have a ton of talent around -- was routinely controlling the midfield and possession. When he went down hurt, so did FC Dallas' ability to control the midfield. The stats and the eye test do show it. If you are defining dominating as only in terms of offensive productivity, he's not even the best creator on his own team. But that's not what I was saying. Do you have an argument about Pomykal with respect to Holmes that's not "Championship!"? I missed it. And age is absolutely relevant. At Pomykal's age, an increase in performance is far more likely to be a real and permanent increase, whereas at Holmes' age, there's a greater chance that it was simply a hot streak or run in form. Both of them have improved quite a bit in recent times; I think both deserve a look. But there's a decent chance Holmes' streak of g+a production is a hot streak. Whereas Pomykal's improvement is more likely to both be permanent and increase rapidly over time.
You seem to have missed the point in favor of inane factoids. It does not matter what "career point" Vela is at. What matters is that he's a player who is clearly a cut above his teammates at LAFC. Even good players like Mark Anthony-Kaye or Latif Blessing, are clearly a cut below guys Vela. Pomykal's a Vako-level DP. When he transfers and plays, I'll believe the "interest" hype. We're not as thin in midfield as we are at striker or LB. Maybe, I don't recall a ton of Acosta injuries, but I'll take your word for it. Certainly, I remember an injury at Acosta's peak in Dallas, which cost him an Eredivisie move IIRC, and he subsequently fell out with FCD and got shipped to Colorado. It's possible that COVID prevents a Pomykal move, for example, but that's why I want him to move this year or next. Was it really too complicated for you to understand why Gio Reyna was brought up? Reyna is a special talent. If you want to win a game tomorrow, old age is less of an issue, which is an advantage that lends itself to older players. Pomykal is 20, Holmes is 25, neither age is a deal-breaker in a game played tomorrow. So, what you want to look at is current talent. And neither Pomykal nor Holmes is, IMO, a top-end talent that you start tomorrow. Reyna, however, is such a top-end talent. Depending on wing depth and how you rate him, Llanez might be another such player (I happen to be increasingly skeptical of Arriola as a backup, so I wouldn't mind Llanez taking his backup role).
We can't compare Pomkal and Acosta? Really? What universe do you live in where we can't compare players who played similar positions (IIRC, Acosta was more box-to-box at Dallas compared to more of a 10 at Colorado) on the same team 4 years apart? 1. Acosta was FCD's latest "He's going to Europe and is amazing!" piano-carrying midfielder. FCD is like a factory with these kinds of players. He too attracted European interest at 19, this time from PSV and Schalke. 2. They both had seasons as 19-year-olds with 2 Goals, and 5 assists, the difference being that this was Pomykal's first season as a starter and Acosta's second. Pomykal went over 3 months (17 games) without a goal or assist to end the year. The idea that you can call his performance a "permanent increase" is absurd when he's already fallen off production-wise. We'll have to see how he does in this year's tournament to see if it's a permanent improvement, but last year it sure as hell was not. I can't be bothered to do the research on whether or not he was "leading the league before the injury" in the categories that you mention, but it's worth noting that he ended the season far behind multiple FCD teammates in many of these categories, even when you account for the fact that some of them (e.g Bryan Acosta, 200 more minutes, 65% more interceptions) had more playing time. That's leaving out the rest of the league, where he's nowhere near the top. It's a bad sign if you're saying that someone's a great #10 because of all of the things he does defensively, especially when they don't stand out statistically.
First step is going 90’. After that is how how often can he go 90’? I have little doubt he will get there but it is all a process for a young player. He is in a good situation at Dortmund and the current 5 player sub rule only helps.
To go back to an earlier discussion, I'd submit that the 2nd division players we've tended to rely on have been well above average players in those leagues. Let me know if I'm missing anyone, but the players I can think of in the past 20 years who have started a decent number of key matches for us (let's say at least 3 Hex qualifiers or World Cup matches so we have some objective marker here) while plying their trade in a major second division: Cherundolo - starter for Hannover the year they were promoted (after which he played over 300 Bundesliga matches with them) Lewis - narrowly missed out on promotion by the thinnest of margins in back to back seasons with PNE and Leeds before being named Leeds Player of the Year and then being purchased by a (admittedly awful) newly promoted Premier League side as a starter. Berhalter - captained Energie Cottbus to promotion to the Bundesliga before transferring to 1860 Munich where he was again immediately named captain. However didn't do a lot at Crystal Palace earlier in his career while still starting some key matches for the USMNT. Convey - in contention for league best XI honors starting for statistically the best Championship team ever (Reading 05-06) the year they were promoted. Demerit - named runner up for Watford Player of the Year the season that Watford were promoted, and later named captain of the side (for a spell) Ream - named Fulham Player of the Year the season that they were promoted. Reviews of his club performances are becoming more mixed as he soon turns 33, but still a regular starter for a top 3 Championship side. *Kirovski and Pearce are the two names I found in my search who narrowly missed the cut, as they each started two Hex qualifiers while they were at second division clubs, and I don't believe either of them were standouts there. There are others like Wolff or Findley who struggled in second divisions, but by then the USMNT had for the most part long moved on from them. I mention all of that not because I believe that all of our players are above-average Championship level (see the aforementioned Findley as exhibit 1), but because it seems to me that USMNT managers have been reluctant to rely on average second division players in a way that hasn't necessarily been the case with average MLS players.
I agree that Vela is a comp because we should only be looking at the very best players in MLS. I also agree age is important because any 18-21 yo that approaches that level, in MLS, is probably a top prospect. Pomykal has been hurt in some way for some time. But when he is on the field, he is a class above. That is my eye test. He just seems to be moving at a different, faster, speed than the rest of the players. Adams looked like that in the Fall of 2018. Pomykal is not a DP, true. But he is highly paid for an American in the league and especially for one at his age. He doesn't seem to have the burning drive to get to the Champions League as Cannon, but I don't know what kind of diagnosis he has on his injuries. He might have needed to take the money and sort out Europe later. Pomykal was great in U20 WC up until the France game. He was largely invisible in that game but made an important play to win it at the end. Personally, I would have both Holmes and Pomykal integrated already. Holmes himself only started to add goals and assists recently after breaking out 18 months ago. The more I think about them, the more similar they seem; both in how they took a development step out of nowhere, how they play, and how fierce they are for their size.
Anecdotally, off the top of my head, I would say that most guys with multiple years in the Championship have performed well to good for the USMNT, historically. This is also true for other CONCACAF teams. Many of the former British colonies have and have had some and they tend to play us well. But many of the players you listed also had top division experience. Plus it is a little cherry picked as there were other Championship players never called; so were not able to look bad. Leaving MLS aside since January camp and proximity probably means more marginal players are seen, I would say ECL players have performed better than Liga MX players by far.