soccer soccer soccer

[wolf stansson]

What a weird game. Glad they won, but other than really good young central defenders and the energy from the young midfielders, the whole camp lacked a coherent game plan. Very glad they beat Mexico in embarrassing fashion, tho. Miazga clowning Lainez and Yedlin clowning Neymar shouldn't be the best part of an international break but we'll have to take what we can get until there's a permanent HC.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I can't figure out why they went with that formation again for Mexico. That player pool(and really the player pool at large) seems really set up well to do a 4-3-3 that retreats to a 4-2-3-1 against good teams. You've got a bunch of young defensive mids with some attacking prowess(McKennie, Adams, Acosta, Roldan, kinda Trapp, Delgado if you're gonna waste time calling him in, Canouse I think), and guys like Weah, Pulisic, even Zardes/Wood to an extent would seem to have better roles in that setup than the 4-1-4-1 they rolled out there. Yedlin and Robinson can add width if you're worried about too many central players too.

[stitchface]

Champions League! Game of the day did not disappoint and good day for Pulisic.

[stitchface]

long but interesting . . .

 

https://www.footballclubdavis.com/single-post/2018/09/19/The-Fight-For-American-Soccer-The-Story-of-FC-Davis

[Hairyducked Idiot]

long but interesting . . .

 

https://www.footballclubdavis.com/single-post/2018/09/19/The-Fight-For-American-Soccer-The-Story-of-FC-Davis

 

I hope the U.S. never gets a promotion/relegation system just to spite the people who won't stop complaining about it.

 

The rest of the story was cool, though.

[stitchface]

Pretty ugly for the US last night . . . the defense was awful. Seemed like every 1-2 worked for Colombia and no one was ever at the top of the box on the pullbacks. Where was Bradley?

 

On the plus side, Weah and Sargent look like they can take on defenders. Pulisic's injuries are pretty worrisome to me.

[shnsajax]

Sounding like Pulisic to Chelsea for $70million might be done. Was hoping for Arsenal or Liverpool, but at least not ManU.

 

 

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[Transmogrified Tiger]

Even in a friendly against a US B team where they have like 75% possession, Italy can't help but spend the entire game gooning it up with cynical gamesmanship

[Thunderbolt_47]

But deep down we all know that it would be boring as hell to watch Italian teams play if they only played fair and didn't tiptoe on the line between "unpleasant, but still legal" and "red card" at all times. They'd be sad and bored, we'd be sad and bored, they'd lose, it'd be terrible.

I mean, watching Italian soccer compared to what happens in other countries is like listening to metal instead of usual rock, folk or whatever. It's brutal, most people will stare at you in disapproval, but it's... fun?

[wolf stansson]

https://theathletic.com/677178/2018/11/26/zack-steffen-manchester-city-transfer-columbus-crew-mls/

 

The great Zach Steffen to Man City. Would love to find the posts deep in this thread from his u-20 cycle where we first saw his potential.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I like Steffen a lot, but it’s weird that this move comes after a season where he was wholly unremarkable in MLS. By one measure there were over 30 keepers better, and he definitely wasn’t in the top 5 this year.

[wolf stansson]

It's a marketing gold rush for Americans who look like they might be somewhat worth the cost. Pulisic is about to move for like $20 million more than he should.

 

Going to be the biggest transfer window for Americans ever.

 

I think Steffen absolutely has the potential to eventually start for a team like City, unlike the keepers who were statistically better and obviously more consistent this year but it's a long shot. If we weren't 4 years away from the next world cup, id be more wary of this move.

 

Makes a lot more sense why he won keeper of the year despite not being a top 5 guy this season. Bet the league have it to him to help his case for a work permit.

 

Regardless of pointless awards and statistics at a difficult to quantify position, he's clearly the most talented keeper in the league and I'm happy he's taking such an ambitious hack at his career.

[wvcbxl]

I think Steffen absolutely has the potential to eventually start for a team like City, unlike the keepers who were statistically better and obviously more consistent this year but it's a long shot. If we weren't 4 years away from the next world cup, id be more wary of this move.

 

ManCity already have four keepers under contract; two of those are internationals (Ederson with the Seleçao, Bravo with Chile) - most likely Steffen will be loaned out initially (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think Steffen absolutely has the potential to eventually start for a team like City, unlike the keepers who were statistically better and obviously more consistent this year but it's a long shot. If we weren't 4 years away from the next world cup, id be more wary of this move.

 

Makes a lot more sense why he won keeper of the year despite not being a top 5 guy this season. Bet the league have it to him to help his case for a work permit.

 

Regardless of pointless awards and statistics at a difficult to quantify position, he's clearly the most talented keeper in the league and I'm happy he's taking such an ambitious hack at his career.

 

That's fair, and I agree that he has easily the most potential. In a perfect world for his development it'd have been nice if he was moving back to Europe for a team that wanted him as opposed to Man City hoovering up assets where he might get stuck in loan hell(especially as a keeper where playing time is pass/fail), but hopefully he can make it work in La Liga(I saw Girona's name floated) or wherever so his time there is more fruitful than his time in Freiburg.

[wolf stansson]

I think Steffen absolutely has the potential to eventually start for a team like City, unlike the keepers who were statistically better and obviously more consistent this year but it's a long shot. If we weren't 4 years away from the next world cup, id be more wary of this move.

 

ManCity already have four keepers under contract; two of those are internationals (Ederson with the Seleçao, Bravo with Chile) - most likely Steffen will be loaned out initially (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

Bravo is done for the year. I think he'll be ederson's back up for the year and then be loaned out in the summer window.

[jersey cubs fan]

[wvcbxl]

I think Steffen absolutely has the potential to eventually start for a team like City, unlike the keepers who were statistically better and obviously more consistent this year but it's a long shot. If we weren't 4 years away from the next world cup, id be more wary of this move.

 

ManCity already have four keepers under contract; two of those are internationals (Ederson with the Seleçao, Bravo with Chile) - most likely Steffen will be loaned out initially (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

Bravo is done for the year. I think he'll be ederson's back up for the year and then be loaned out in the summer window.

 

They recalled Muric from his loan spell at NAC to fill the backup role.

[wolf stansson]

 

ManCity already have four keepers under contract; two of those are internationals (Ederson with the Seleçao, Bravo with Chile) - most likely Steffen will be loaned out initially (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

Bravo is done for the year. I think he'll be ederson's back up for the year and then be loaned out in the summer window.

 

They recalled Muric from his loan spell at NAC to fill the backup role.

And then they bought Zach Steffen.

 

While I don't watch a ton of Kosovan (Kosovoan?) or NAC Breda training sessions, I'm fairly confident Zach Steffen can compete and beat out a 21 year old with no first team experience at the senior level for club or country for the back up job until Bravo is fully fit. At which point Steffen probably goes to be the #1 at Breda or whatever the City group's affiliate is in Spain. Really appreciate your contributions regarding the keeper pool for city football group tho. Any thoughts on Sean Johnson or Mark Birighitti? Do I have to worry about them being ahead of Zach Steffen too?

 

If you're trying to have a conversation about why Zach Steffen isn't a fit for Man City, I'm happy to go a tad deeper than just the players he's competing with who he is clearly already better than (Zach is probably the third best keeper in the City football group pool and as mentioned, the second best is out for a long time). My primary concern is less the competition and more the style. Zach is a potentially elite shot stopper, but that's not high on Pep's priority list for his keeprs. He's primarily concerned with distribution and the ability to go long periods without action while remaining focused and ready. I can't speak to the second part, but I know Steffen isn't close to being an elite distributor. I think it's the part of his game that needs the most work. I don't see him being a long-term fit for Pep's system unless he really improves on that, which he can, but is going to be a big hill for him to climb.

[jersey cubs fan]

[wolf stansson]

Good. I really missed giving a horsefeathers about USMNT games. I like Berhalter's style. They didn't go about the search the right way, but they landed on the obvious candidate I think.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Good. I really missed giving a horsefeathers about USMNT games. I like Berhalter's style. They didn't go about the search the right way, but they landed on the obvious candidate I think.

 

Ditto. I'm maybe most excited that soccer twitter can take a momentary pause from shrieking about every coach that didn't get interviewed, on the grounds that they know they're a good candidate without having interviewed them.

[wolf stansson]

Good. I really missed giving a horsefeathers about USMNT games. I like Berhalter's style. They didn't go about the search the right way, but they landed on the obvious candidate I think.

 

Ditto. I'm maybe most excited that soccer twitter can take a momentary pause from shrieking about every coach that didn't get interviewed, on the grounds that they know they're a good candidate without having interviewed them.

The Lopetegui one is particularly annoying. Tata Martino I get. He's here, he has a fairly strong grasp of the pool and the I'm sure the vagaries of the US Soccer set up, he has coached at the highest level successfully for club and country, but Lopetegui would be an awful, awful hire. When I saw people bitching about that I was ready for Berhalter so we could just get going.

[wvcbxl]

Bravo is done for the year. I think he'll be ederson's back up for the year and then be loaned out in the summer window.

 

They recalled Muric from his loan spell at NAC to fill the backup role.

And then they bought Zach Steffen.

 

While I don't watch a ton of Kosovan (Kosovoan?) or NAC Breda training sessions, I'm fairly confident Zach Steffen can compete and beat out a 21 year old with no first team experience at the senior level for club or country for the back up job until Bravo is fully fit. At which point Steffen probably goes to be the #1 at Breda or whatever the City group's affiliate is in Spain. Really appreciate your contributions regarding the keeper pool for city football group tho. Any thoughts on Sean Johnson or Mark Birighitti? Do I have to worry about them being ahead of Zach Steffen too?

 

If you're trying to have a conversation about why Zach Steffen isn't a fit for Man City, I'm happy to go a tad deeper than just the players he's competing with who he is clearly already better than (Zach is probably the third best keeper in the City football group pool and as mentioned, the second best is out for a long time). My primary concern is less the competition and more the style. Zach is a potentially elite shot stopper, but that's not high on Pep's priority list for his keeprs. He's primarily concerned with distribution and the ability to go long periods without action while remaining focused and ready. I can't speak to the second part, but I know Steffen isn't close to being an elite distributor. I think it's the part of his game that needs the most work. I don't see him being a long-term fit for Pep's system unless he really improves on that, which he can, but is going to be a big hill for him to climb.

 

I personally think the primary concern for any young keeper should be playing time (not just Steffen, the same was true for Courtois when he first signed for Chelsea). Given where Steffen is in his career, I think he's better off playing every week (even in Breda, I'd even say especially in Breda) instead of watching Ederson from the bench and just playing in a handful of FA or League cup games.

[wolf stansson]

I personally think the primary concern for any young keeper should be playing time (not just Steffen, the same was true for Courtois when he first signed for Chelsea). Given where Steffen is in his career, I think he's better off playing every week (even in Breda, I'd even say especially in Breda) instead of watching Ederson from the bench and just playing in a handful of FA or League cup games.

I agree. I think it works out fine. MLS offseason has started for him and training camp is back in late February, so if he is City's back up for the back half of the season and gets some time in the league and/or FA cup, plays the Gold Cup over the summer and then gets a loan somewhere in Europe where he's the #1 for next season, he wouldn't lose much playing time. He would basically be trading a half season as City back up for a half season of Columbus' #1. That's a great scenario as long as he gets a loan and establishes himself somewhere as the regular #1.

[stitchface]

I personally think the primary concern for any young keeper should be playing time (not just Steffen, the same was true for Courtois when he first signed for Chelsea). Given where Steffen is in his career, I think he's better off playing every week (even in Breda, I'd even say especially in Breda) instead of watching Ederson from the bench and just playing in a handful of FA or League cup games.

I agree. I think it works out fine. MLS offseason has started for him and training camp is back in late February, so if he is City's back up for the back half of the season and gets some time in the league and/or FA cup, plays the Gold Cup over the summer and then gets a loan somewhere in Europe where he's the #1 for next season, he wouldn't lose much playing time. He would basically be trading a half season as City back up for a half season of Columbus' #1. That's a great scenario as long as he gets a loan and establishes himself somewhere as the regular #1.

 

 

Girona would be great - especially if they stay up. I agree that he won't stay with Pep if he can't play with his feet but how long will Pep even stay at City? Bravo is on his way out - I don't see him as an obstacle at all - he is past his best and would do well to find a starting gig while he still can.