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US Men's National Team (3 Viewers)

Tillman was through on the GK at the end of the half... Clearly brought down, but was also looking for it- no PK.

Just had an exquisite volley 1 touch layoff to dejong that dejong flubbed. In other words, Tillman's been active, but in a blowout.

A blowout against Paxton, who like his teammates, hasn't had a chance to do much today.
 
TV Announcer proclaimed dest motm. He was eating up the defense at will and hitting some great crosses... Deserved a goal out of it. Hell, I dont think he even had an assist, even though he had a really nice hockey assist on Chucky's goal at the death.
 
I tried to watch Paxton once I realized he was playing part way through the 2nd half. Vitesse was already down 4 or 5 goals, so tough to say how he actually looked.

What I saw was him floating around as an 8, but I would've expected a lot more movement from him. Down so many goals, hell- take a chance and make some runs... But I saw him walking a lot when I also saw some good spots for him to get forward to. That said, his team lost the ball so much so cheaply, it might've been tough to commit to that. But just too much walking for me.
 
gianmarco said:
Pulisic on the bench and Musah with the rare start.

And rewards them with an assist to bring Milan back, down 1-2 now.
Click to expand...
Just saw the "assist".

5 yard ball to Leao 40+ yards out who then beats 5 guys dribbling at goal for a stunner from inside the box.

"Just give the ball to Jimmy!"
 
NewlyRetired said:
Tessmann scored today. Venezia up 1-0 at halftime.
Click to expand...
Tessmann with a brace for a 2-0 win.

Venezia are assured of no worse than a promotion playoff spot. They are 3 points back of automatic promotion with 5 games to play. Venezia hold the GD advantage so they just need to make up the 3 points.

Of the 5 games Venezia have left, 3 are against the bottom, the 2nd from bottom and the 4th from bottom teams. They can go on a run here.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Anthony Elanga is not yet cleared for Forest this weekend which could mean another start for Gio, in a critical game against Everton

Dest is negotiating with PSV to make his loan permanent.
Click to expand...
I also saw Ajax was interested in getting Dest back.

Did you see Dests quotes recently about returning to Barca? Basically shot the whole idea down, based on the quotes. Kid needs to learn to play the game a little more diplomatically... It's not that hard.
 
Musah looking like Nagbe 2.0 out there today. Literally embarrassing guys on the dribble in midfield, but can't find an end product to save his life.
 
The Z Machine said:
encaitar said:
Musah looking like Nagbe 2.0 out there today. Literally embarrassing guys on the dribble in midfield, but can't find an end product to save his life.
Click to expand...
I don't know what it takes to coach that final ball... I suppose if I knew I'd be doing the coaching.
Click to expand...

The bigger picture concern is that Musah has not improved at all in this area since he was 18. Different teams, different leagues and his skill set remains identical to what he was at 18 when he broke in.

Our two most important young players were Musah and Reyna and neither have developed in the ways we would have hoped (you could even argue Reyna has gone backwards at club level).

Both are still going to massively important to the national team program obviously but I had much bigger hopes for these two players specifically.
 
NewlyRetired said:
The Z Machine said:
encaitar said:
Musah looking like Nagbe 2.0 out there today. Literally embarrassing guys on the dribble in midfield, but can't find an end product to save his life.
Click to expand...
I don't know what it takes to coach that final ball... I suppose if I knew I'd be doing the coaching.
Click to expand...

The bigger picture concern is that Musah has not improved at all in this area since he was 18. Different teams, different leagues and his skill set remains identical to what he was at 18 when he broke in.

Our two most important young players were Musah and Reyna and neither have developed in the ways we would have hoped (you could even argue Reyna has gone backwards at club level).

Both are still going to massively important to the national team program obviously but I had much bigger hopes for these two players specifically.
Click to expand...
I think a coach out there needs to be practical and stop trying to play Musah as an attacking player. He has the skill to be a very good facsimile of Kante IMO. If he'd get taught to be a box to box ball winner and told to play simple passes I think he could become very very good. I think as long as he's continued to be used as a dribble first playmaker he's always going to be limited.
 
encaitar said:
I think as long as he's continued to be used as a dribble first playmaker he's always going to be limited.
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This is the problem. He's not really a play maker. While he can obviously shuttle the ball from defense to attach, he's not a playmaker.

I agree with you that he should focus on being a non-play making #8. It will give up some dynamicism in attack, but could pay dividends with the right setup that allows other players to get into dangerous positions and link up passes to crack open a defense if they are not also asked to progress the ball up the field. Weah would benefit from such a situation IMO.
 
gianmarco said:
Weah starting, McKennie on the bench.
Click to expand...
Juve have looked so bad the last month plus.

Not that they've looked great this season, but they're even worse lately.

Yeah had an early nice turn and shot he really should've done better with- blasted from close right at the GKs hands (who didn't know anything about it).

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
 
El Floppo said:

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
Click to expand...
Another oddity is that both Reyna and Weah look better playing for the US than at club level.

Musah looks roughly the same.
 
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
Weah starting, McKennie on the bench.
Click to expand...
Juve have looked so bad the last month plus.

Not that they've looked great this season, but they're even worse lately.

Yeah had an early nice turn and shot he really should've done better with- blasted from close right at the GKs hands (who didn't know anything about it).

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
Click to expand...
I would agree.

The only silver lining is, I look at Pulisic and McKennie, and it's not as if it's too late.

And Dest, on the flip side, has taken that next step.

So, let's just hope.
 
gianmarco said:
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
Weah starting, McKennie on the bench.
Click to expand...
Juve have looked so bad the last month plus.

Not that they've looked great this season, but they're even worse lately.

Yeah had an early nice turn and shot he really should've done better with- blasted from close right at the GKs hands (who didn't know anything about it).

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
Click to expand...
I would agree.

The only silver lining is, I look at Pulisic and McKennie, and it's not as if it's too late.

And Dest, on the flip side, has taken that next step.

So, let's just hope.
Click to expand...
Dest.. he's been great. But tbh, I don't think hes grown as a player. Still doing the same filthy stuff from day one and still not really having to learn how to really defend. Probably not a coincidence he washed out in Italy but gets love in Holland.
 
The Z Machine said:
NewlyRetired said:
This is hard to watch. Meola breaks down during a CBS interview

Click to expand...
Refresh my memory about what happened back then and why he stepped away?
Click to expand...
I don't know. From what little I can gather from the interview he had family problems.

I followed the team as close as humanly possible in those days but even saying that, our access to news and information was REALLY hard to come by.
 
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
Weah starting, McKennie on the bench.
Click to expand...
Juve have looked so bad the last month plus.

Not that they've looked great this season, but they're even worse lately.

Yeah had an early nice turn and shot he really should've done better with- blasted from close right at the GKs hands (who didn't know anything about it).

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
Click to expand...
I would agree.

The only silver lining is, I look at Pulisic and McKennie, and it's not as if it's too late.

And Dest, on the flip side, has taken that next step.

So, let's just hope.
Click to expand...
Dest.. he's been great. But tbh, I don't think hes grown as a player. Still doing the same filthy stuff from day one and still not really having to learn how to really defend. Probably not a coincidence he washed out in Italy but gets love in Holland.
Click to expand...
The biggest thing for Dest this year is it is clear he can play offensively on both sides of the field now. This means that we now finally have cover for Jedi.

In an ironic flip, the team is now lacking depth at RB instead of our perennial LB depth issues. Scally has not been able to produce much at all when given his chances at rb.
 
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NewlyRetired said:
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
El Floppo said:
gianmarco said:
Weah starting, McKennie on the bench.
Click to expand...
Juve have looked so bad the last month plus.

Not that they've looked great this season, but they're even worse lately.

Yeah had an early nice turn and shot he really should've done better with- blasted from close right at the GKs hands (who didn't know anything about it).

Andy mentioned Gio and Musah stagnating or worse in their development. Timmy is right there with them. 3 big guys who could be giants for the US, going backwards for their clubs.
Click to expand...
I would agree.

The only silver lining is, I look at Pulisic and McKennie, and it's not as if it's too late.

And Dest, on the flip side, has taken that next step.

So, let's just hope.
Click to expand...
Dest.. he's been great. But tbh, I don't think hes grown as a player. Still doing the same filthy stuff from day one and still not really having to learn how to really defend. Probably not a coincidence he washed out in Italy but gets love in Holland.
Click to expand...
The biggest thing for Dest this year is it is clear he can play offensively on both sides of the field now. This means that we now finally have cover for Jedi.

In an ironic flip, the team is now lacking depth at RB instead of our perennial LB depth issues. Scally has not been able to produce much at all when given his chances at rb.
Click to expand...
I think this is recency bias. He's definitely in a dip in form for both club and country, but he was actually quite good vs Canada last year in the NL final.

I don't think he's a great fit for what Berhalter wants his FBs to do though and he looks like a fish out of water (the NL last year was BJ roll the ball out tactics), so your overall point is probably correct. His best position is probably RCB in a back three.
 
Sargent with an assist today. Busio scored the game winner as Venezia came back to win 2-1.

These two and Tessmann have really stepped up their games this year. In most eras in our history, having 3 young players dominating in 2nd divisions in Europe would be the talk of the town.
 
NewlyRetired said:
OptaJack
@OptaJack


80 - Joe Scally's assist on Saturday was the 80th goal contribution by a #USMNT international in the top 5 European leagues in 2023-24, 20 more than in any season in the last 20 years. Presence.
Click to expand...
This is impressive on its own with no qualifiers, but there are two worth mentioning.

1) Gio and Balogun under performed in this area fairly significantly compared to expectations

2) This cut off of top 5 leagues keeps the Netherlands players out of the equation as the 6th ranked league.

That includes the following league goal contributions:

Tillman: 16
Dest: 8
Pepi: 8
Booth bothers: 8
Aaronson: 2
 
NewlyRetired said:
NewlyRetired said:
OptaJack
@OptaJack


80 - Joe Scally's assist on Saturday was the 80th goal contribution by a #USMNT international in the top 5 European leagues in 2023-24, 20 more than in any season in the last 20 years. Presence.
Click to expand...
This is impressive on its own with no qualifiers, but there are two worth mentioning.

1) Gio and Balogun under performed in this area fairly significantly compared to expectations

2) This cut off of top 5 leagues keeps the Netherlands players out of the equation as the 6th ranked league.

That includes the following league goal contributions:

Tillman: 16
Dest: 8
Pepi: 8
Booth bothers: 8
Aaronson: 2
Click to expand...
I've been thinking lately that we really don't talk enough about Tillman. He's in great form at the club level and he's always played solidly for the USMNT as well. For whatever reason, we have lots of guys that are one or the other (club OR USMNT form) and he's one of the few that has been consistent and actually consistently pretty good for both.

He's only 21 and, as I've mentioned here before, I like to check player values every once in a while on transfermarkt and was very surprised to see him at $17M. That's a significant jump as he was only at $5M less than a year ago. That ranks him 9th amongst all USMNT player values right now. I think he's starting to warrant discussion that his USMNT involvement should increase.
 
Here is a new name to watch. The kid (19) is tall at 6'4". Born and raised in US but looks to be dual nat with Nigeria. He made his Bundesliga debut last month but is really a reserve player. His scoring stats are astounding for the reserve team

=======

https://twitter.com/eastdeflection
@eastdeflection


Another brace today for 19 yr old forward Joel Imasuen with Werder Bremen's reserves. 9th consecutive reserve squad match with at least one goal, averaging a goal every 40 minutes

His season total is now 33 goals
 
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