Yanks Abroad Flavors of the Week: 2022-2023 Thread

Bummer, but its that time of year.

Christian Pulisic 'has a heavy cold' per Graham Potter and is likely to miss Chelsea's match against Aston Villa tomorrow.

Gio Reyna will also miss Saturday's Der Klassiker due to a cold, Edin Terzić confirmed.

Tough 🥲 pic.twitter.com/iTVrmyY5ao

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) March 31, 2023

 

https://martini.rangersreview.co.uk...-tillman-rangers-prediction-paid-off/?ref=rss

The problem with the idea that Gregg should have taken Malik to play 8 at the World Cup is that his manager in Scotland didn't start playing him at 8 until December and he talked about how Malik was learning on the job.

Beale said a few weeks ago, "If Malik is going to fulfil his potential which I think is very, very high, he needs to tick the box as a running No.8."

Has performed really well in that role ever since.https://t.co/bewktYb8tf

— Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) January 21, 2023

 

Sabbi scored today.

 

Imo, the reason people think of Adams as a "weak" passer overall is because he just likes to sit between 2 cb's as a solo 6 and is usually covered by forwards. Stat sites like fbref have him as the best ball progressor of the MMA set by far. Not sure how well that holds up after a half season with Marsch where Adams got to play the way he likes but Adams' passing with Nagelsman, e.g., was on the up trend as Nagelsman took Adams out of his comfort zone and forced him to face his fears.

the way to compensate for the less than desirable passing in midfield is to set up Scally like a midfielder - a fb who hangs around the halfway line - and utilize him as a passing hub like the Grenada game. Will it endure higher competition? Critics would point to Scally v. Uruguay but the result was 0-0 and there was a lot wrong with our effort besides Scally's debut performance for the USA. Debuts are almost always rocky : Zendejas v. Serbia, Matt Hedges' performance which cost him his USA career - you can go down the line. For some reason there are players who are forgiven and others who are told to never wear the shirt again. Go figure.

 

I've been saying this about Scally for a while. I think he's a very good player and his passing seems very much above average.

Given the fact he wont probably get placed above either Jedi or Dest then this would be a way to solve a couple of issues and at least worth trying.

I personally like what he offers in some ways more than either Jedi or Dest....but that's just me and we all have our own opinions.

 

I'd like to see him more as a mostly stay at home RB providing a different option to Dest. Particularly if we are playing Reyna in the midfield (and on that side). I think it frees up spacing a bit more, and getting him on his right foot will make him much more dynamic in the build up and when he gets forward.

He's a fine defensive left back but I doubt the left foot gets good enough anytime soon, or if at all, to really naturally not have offensive limitations over there. This team has a lot of players who love to come in centrally -- we don't need to create one by playing an inverted fullback if we can help it.

 

Passing stats are fun, but they are so context dependent, they are fairly useless in this kind of discussion except at a high level. You are right that a central midfielder like Adams -- especially one who really isn't much of a ballhandler -- can be easily marked.

But even when he's on the ball, he's simply not creating danger on the pass. He doesn't do line breaking work. He doesn't go over the top. There's no switches -- it's easy pass after easy pass.

He is not a bad passer on the break, but that's a small portion of the time.

I think people would be absolutely shocked to see the difference in functionality if we got a plus passer back there.

Eh, that's a waypoint on the build-up. It works in that limit, but it doesn't generate advantage in any way. That's not really what I am worried about. I think Scally's a fine passer, and I think that could work on the right. On the left ... he's easy to shade, it clogs the middle, and his range of passing is much more limited.

I'll wait to see him on the right to see how incisive he can be. On the left, a good team is going to force him into a small subset of decisions.

 

I don't agree with you on either count but the explanation requires a TLDR.

 

2 goals today for Malik Tillman for Rangers.

 

Paredes assists the match-tying goal with a cross in the final moments of a 2-2 draw for Wolfsburg against Augsburg.

 

Tillman x2

MALIK TILLMAN GOAL 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦅 20-year-old born in Nürnberg, Germany thumps one past Dundee goalkeeper to give Rangers the lead. Bayern loanee now has 9 league goals this season. 🙌pic.twitter.com/wuMttWVJq8

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) April 1, 2023

🚨 MALIK TILLMAN BRACE

The USMNT midfielder has added a second goal for Rangers against Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League taking him to double digits on the season. Many Rangers fans hoping the Bayern Munich loanee makes his move permanent. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/jSI7j4eopc

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) April 1, 2023

Paredes assist

1642188570956800003 is not a valid tweet id

Jedi close

IF ANTONEE ROBINSON SCORED THIS 😱

(via @MenInBlazers) pic.twitter.com/u0ELdjGUAq

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) April 1, 2023

 

The development of Paredes and Tillman will go a long way to giving us the kind of depth we need to make a deep run in 2026.

 

Malik might be in the best XI soon.

 

I don't know why I turned on the Dortmund-Bayern game. Was anything more predictable?

 

Leeds need to break the bank for milesRobinson. They desperately need improvement in the back

EPB and Troyes lose to another relegation rival. They’re looking like they’re going down.

veneziamerica getting some breathing room and clawing further from the relegation spots from this lost season

 

I don’t think anyone needs to break the bank for Miles Robinson. His contract expires at the end of the year and he’s eligible to sign a contract with anyone he wants this summer.

And if someone does want him this summer, Atlanta can’t really get away with asking too much for him.

 

What about breaking the bank in the sense that they need to offer him a very sizable salary to keep him away from all the other leagues/MLS he could go to?

Ethan Horvath left his backup spot at Brugge on a free and ended up being one of Forest's highest paid players, even though he wasn't the starter there either.

It'll be interesting how much teams will need to offer Miles per year to extract his services. Got to think at least a couple mill. Atlanta will offer him that & Walker makes it w/ Nashville already.

12 Leeds players make 2 mill or up. Miles will be coming w/ no transfer fee. And would be a good candidate to start. So if teams of their ilk didn't offer it they were just being selectively cheap.

 

Will they though? They tend to spend their money on attacking players. Almada's replacement isn'/t going to come cheap either. Plus Giakoumakis and Araujo are already taking up 2/3 DP roster spots.

Would Robinson want to fo to Leeds to play in the Championship should they get relegated? I hope he could go to a Bundesliga Club.

 

Yes, they will. They already wouldn't sell him for $8m. Their beat guy was indicating his price was $10-15m. So they obviously value him highly. And they tend to pay a premium for guys who help them win now. He's proven to do that.

He would be moving in winter. We'd know where Leeds would be at by then. Obviously this is contingent upon them staying up and being relatively stable next season too.

The EPL is ideal for players because they can pony up the cash to compete for US nat'l teamers in MLS. Zimmerman was on a free twice. He ended up coming back back for more $ when the offers were from the Bundesliga. I don't know if Miles wants to make the sacrifice and try to climb the ladder at 26-27 yrs old. He's in a Cameron to Stoke type spot.

 

They are a bit hemmed in by current rules. Both Araujo and GG are too old to be young DPs and I don't think either can be bought down. They have 3 U22 guys.

So they either need to move 2 U22 guys, or move one of GG and Araujo to offer Miles a DP contract. They can, of course, offer him up to $1.7M or so, but I kind of assumed that's what he turned down.

Now, only one of their U22 guys is any good, so they could do that. But that also means that they can't replace Almada then.

Tough choices for Atlanta.

 

Personally my view of Tillman (and Booth) for that matter was always too fold:

1. If we're going off what they were doing at the time, neither really deserved it, again, the Pepi exclusion was always the blatantly obvious idiotic exclusion. Neither Booth nor Tillman were hot or breaking out at the time (and Pefok, was cooling down considerably as well).

2. What complicates the exclusion which was reasonable on each individual level was the actual inclusion of guys like: Shaq Moore, Roldan, and Morris, none of whom carried value that was in the same universe of guys like Pepi, Tillman, or Booth (who was beginning to show by then, but only "just").

I don't think anybody would be upset about any of these clear and obvious mistakes if they weren't, clear and obvious mistakes.

Shaq Moore was always straight up WTF?!?!?!. And I like Moore and I know he isn't as bad as he looked, like Ferreira, he is not nearly as bad as he looked in those appearances, but like Ferreira, when you consider who was left out: Pepi, Tillman, Booth etc and who was brought in, out of form, never tested strikers, never was relevants like Roldan, and not close to this level types like Moore, or just not good enough for this level coming off injury like Morris, that's where the problem erupts into crazy town.

And it looks worse w/each passing day.

Now add that either LDLT wasn't fit, or Berhalter was utterly clueless, either way, Berhalter either had to use LDLT to rest that CM so it didn't collapse against the Dutch, or he simply needed to take someone else, hell I'd have taken Williamson or even Tessman if he didn't like other options, but taking LDLT was also an enormous mistake if he wasn't fit for the sub role, or if he didn't trust him.

That's the problem in general people have.

On their own, each exclusion really other than Pepi, could be explained, but when you add the inclusions that came, all of which were god awful and proven so in terms of performance and metrics, or non-performance etc, that's where the critique hinges.

Its okay to leave Tillman or Booth at home if you're using Arriola (and bringing him) or using LDLT, or using Scally etc, but if you're sitting Scally, and Roldan and LDLT because you can't play them, and inexplicably playing Moore, and Ferreira in their worst form and matchup possibilities etc, then everything looks infinitely worse.

It's over, nothing to be done w/it now. Everyone can acknowledge only getting 4 or 5 guys on the roster wrong is actually de rigueur historically, but the way he got these wrong, maxed the worst of all possibilities (utterly useless subs that were used, desperately needed subs that weren't used or weren't in the roster, and players left at home that obviously were far more talented than players that were brought and could have made a difference in games that hinged on finishing and fatigue, two problems that were huge in the cup). Wasting spots on some guys, not taking others, drastically exacerbated what appeared to be small mistakes at the time.

 

What an incredible developmental season for Tillman, just what he needed, but he mustn’t go back to Scotland. He needs a new challenge.

 

Except that Atlanta has already offered him a new deal. Miles has chosen NOT to sign that offer. Selling price and wages are two entirely different things. We also need to remember that they have new leadership in Garth Lagerwey as well. Seattle hasn't really paid a premium for Centerbacks during his time there. That's also a position where teams can find value at, and still maintain a high level of play. It all remains to be seen though.

Would not be surprised if he signs a pre-contract with a team in June. That team may elect to pay a small, yet reasonable transfer fee to get him this summer too.

 

Agree. Tim Tillman was the big miss.

 

They offered him a new deal when he hadn't returned from a torn achilles & was not on the open market yet. The number could be multiplied by now.

From him not signing the deal, one could glean he's dead-set on going abroad. But money talks. If their offer now is multiple times more generous, he could be more willing to listen.

I'd bet on him going abroad. But never underestimate the spending power of some MLS clubs on US int'ls & team's abroad underrating any player here who's not a teen.