soccer soccer soccer

[bukie]

Without McKennie, I'd like to see the team go 4-4-2 with Adams as 6, CP as CAM and Musah/Gio on the wings, with Pepi/Aaronson up front.

 

What's going to happen, though, is probably Acosta in place of McKennie and no possession on his side.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Without McKennie, I'd like to see the team go 4-4-2 with Adams as 6, CP as CAM and Musah/Gio on the wings, with Pepi/Aaronson up front.

 

What's going to happen, though, is probably Acosta in place of McKennie and no possession on his side.

 

Acosta is definitely going to play at the Azteca given what we can reasonably expect in terms of possession. The other 2 games though, LDLT impressed enough that I think he's gonna be heavily considered for those games where we'll have lots of the ball. And as much as some might hate it, those 2 games are a solid fit for Lletget too, especially if he starts the MLS season hot(he had a goal on a nice finish last night).

[wolf stansson]

Acosta has also played well against Mexico. It’s just his kind of CONCACAF style of play that he’s very comfortable with.

 

 

Pulisic-Mount-Havertz are doing some beautiful soccer, but they just can’t finish. Liverpool are getting rolled, even with some great moments of their own. Carabao final is fun. TAA is getting smoked to the filter.

[stitchface]

Acosta has also played well against Mexico. It’s just his kind of CONCACAF style of play that he’s very comfortable with.

 

 

Pulisic-Mount-Havertz are doing some beautiful soccer, but they just can’t finish. Liverpool are getting rolled, even with some great moments of their own. Carabao final is fun. TAA is getting smoked to the filter.

 

Is TAA the worst defender in the premier league?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Acosta has also played well against Mexico. It’s just his kind of CONCACAF style of play that he’s very comfortable with.

 

 

Pulisic-Mount-Havertz are doing some beautiful soccer, but they just can’t finish. Liverpool are getting rolled, even with some great moments of their own. Carabao final is fun. TAA is getting smoked to the filter.

 

Is TAA the worst defender in the premier league?

 

Defense is never going to be his strong suit, but I think a fair amount of his shortcomings are tactical decisions. In general Liverpool play with an incredibly high line which is going to put him in space/isolated against attackers a fair amount(a situation very few consistently succeed in). After Chelsea made the Lukaku and Werner subs, Liverpool dropped their lines a bit and even with fresh legs running at TAA, there was far less danger created. The other part is that with the ball, TAA gets used like a central midfielder, so when the ball does turn over he's more regularly going to have to burn energy to get into position to defend wide or be in suboptimal position to prevent attacks. The heatmap for him v. Azpilicueta/James is a good representation, especially considering Chelsea was in a back 3 so the comparison is to a wingback.

[bukie]

Well, FIFA banned Russia and ejected them from UEFA World Cup qualifying:

 

 

EDIT: Something had to be done, as they were scheduled to playoff against Poland in 3 weeks, and Poland refused to play them.

[stitchface]

kudos to Lewandowski and Poland for refusing to play.

[stitchface]

Acosta has also played well against Mexico. It’s just his kind of CONCACAF style of play that he’s very comfortable with.

 

 

Pulisic-Mount-Havertz are doing some beautiful soccer, but they just can’t finish. Liverpool are getting rolled, even with some great moments of their own. Carabao final is fun. TAA is getting smoked to the filter.

 

Is TAA the worst defender in the premier league?

 

Defense is never going to be his strong suit, but I think a fair amount of his shortcomings are tactical decisions. In general Liverpool play with an incredibly high line which is going to put him in space/isolated against attackers a fair amount(a situation very few consistently succeed in). After Chelsea made the Lukaku and Werner subs, Liverpool dropped their lines a bit and even with fresh legs running at TAA, there was far less danger created. The other part is that with the ball, TAA gets used like a central midfielder, so when the ball does turn over he's more regularly going to have to burn energy to get into position to defend wide or be in suboptimal position to prevent attacks. The heatmap for him v. Azpilicueta/James is a good representation, especially considering Chelsea was in a back 3 so the comparison is to a wingback.

 

 

yes, this is why Van Dijk was the signing that put them over the top but TAA has no clue how to mark anyone even when he is back. Agree it's their model but he defends like a 9 playing as a back.

[wvcbxl]

Jesse Marsch is the new Leeds manager

[stitchface]

Jesse Marsch is the new Leeds manager

 

not sure this is a great move for him . . .

[wolf stansson]

It’s high risk, high reward. I think there’s enough talent and systemic discipline to apply the high press, shore up the defensive buy-in, and play some good soccer before the relegation fight is over.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm curious what the likelihood is that they'd keep Marsch for the Championship if they do get relegated. Right now they're a couple points clear but functionally tied for a relegation spot when considering Burnley's PPG and games in hand. The only other team between them is Everton, and Everton have a lot more control over their finish given their talent than Leeds or Burnley. If Marsch stops the bleeding and looks like he's building to something coherent, do they let him keep the job post-relegation? If that's a reasonable option then I don't think there's a ton of risk, the only real downside would be sabotaging his reputation if he fails hard, and there's never going to be a great fit for a fired coach without a ton of European bona fides to find a notch between Salzburg and Leipzig to rebound with anyway.

[stitchface]

I'm curious what the likelihood is that they'd keep Marsch for the Championship if they do get relegated. Right now they're a couple points clear but functionally tied for a relegation spot when considering Burnley's PPG and games in hand. The only other team between them is Everton, and Everton have a lot more control over their finish given their talent than Leeds or Burnley. If Marsch stops the bleeding and looks like he's building to something coherent, do they let him keep the job post-relegation? If that's a reasonable option then I don't think there's a ton of risk, the only real downside would be sabotaging his reputation if he fails hard, and there's never going to be a great fit for a fired coach without a ton of European bona fides to find a notch between Salzburg and Leipzig to rebound with anyway.

 

I'm not even sure what fail hard would look like - they are in total freefall. I guess they could play uglier and still get relegated? The good news is they played a brutal stretch of schedule - the bad news is their best players are all injured. Commenting on my own post, maybe there isn't much risk - if they get relegated is his reputation worsened? Leipzig's upswing (inevitable probably) since his dismissal hasn't helped him much.

[wolf stansson]

Their owners are American, which absolutely hurt Bob Bradley at Swansea more than it helped because of how the fans reacted to that much American influence, but Jesse is a different coach with a much different rep. He also has a much more open and lighter touch with players and the media than Bob. He's much more respected in Europe than Bob was because of his time in the RB system and his success in Austria. He's about to get his best players back from injury in the next 10 days according to reports. I also think the Brendan Aaronson interest from Leeds has a lot to do with Jesse because Aaronson's original transfer to Salzburg had a lot to do with Jesse.

 

If you add up the owners being American and the fact that they already want to bet big on one of Jesse's "guys" in Brendan, if he doesn't succeed here, he's probably just not good enough. He won't find a better big time opportunity than the two he's already gotten at Leipzig and now Leeds. It's put up or shut up time for Jesse Marsch.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If you add up the owners being American and the fact that they already want to bet big on one of Jesse's "guys" in Brendan, if he doesn't succeed here, he's probably just not good enough. He won't find a better big time opportunity than the two he's already gotten at Leipzig and now Leeds. It's put up or shut up time for Jesse Marsch.

 

This is the thought that's been circling my head since his Leipzig experience. Blitzing teams with a high press/chaos soccer and little else doesn't really work in MLS anymore with the growth in spending, and winning the Austrian Bundesliga with Salzburg but not doing anything noteworthy in Champions/Europa league is a replacement level outcome for that job. He finds that extra tactical gear with Leeds, because he's gonna be at a talent deficit in the league in way more games than he has been for a long time. He seems like a thoughtful and smart guy so I'm guessing he's going to learn from his mistakes so I'm optimistic.

[stitchface]

If you add up the owners being American and the fact that they already want to bet big on one of Jesse's "guys" in Brendan, if he doesn't succeed here, he's probably just not good enough. He won't find a better big time opportunity than the two he's already gotten at Leipzig and now Leeds. It's put up or shut up time for Jesse Marsch.

 

This is the thought that's been circling my head since his Leipzig experience. Blitzing teams with a high press/chaos soccer and little else doesn't really work in MLS anymore with the growth in spending, and winning the Austrian Bundesliga with Salzburg but not doing anything noteworthy in Champions/Europa league is a replacement level outcome for that job. He finds that extra tactical gear with Leeds, because he's gonna be at a talent deficit in the league in way more games than he has been for a long time. He seems like a thoughtful and smart guy so I'm guessing he's going to learn from his mistakes so I'm optimistic.

 

the Bundesliga narrative seems to be that he refused to adapt his style to the players at Leipzig - I think it is a frequent mistake of commentators to think coaches can't get better but the good ones adapt. If he is a good coach, he will assess what he has at Leeds and who he is playing and adapt accordingly with the sole goal of staying up. Then he can build for next year.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

US Soccer's new media rights deal is going to Turner, though I think this is basically friendlies for both USMNT and USWNT and things like SheBelieves Cup. Fox still has the Gold Cup and the World Cups in 2022, 2023, and 2026, and CBS still has Nations League.

 

[Rex Buckingham]

WC qualifiers too

[Transmogrified Tiger]

WC qualifiers too

 

Correct, though the expectation is that the men won't have any for 2026 as the host.

[wolf stansson]

ESPN really got out of the USMNT business, huh? It’s a shame because their production was really top notch.

[wolf stansson]

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/balogun-united-states-arsenal-national-23284177

 

He is also eligible to play for Nigeria, although it's understood that Balogun will follow in the footsteps of former Arsenal academy product Yunus Musah who switched from England to the USA.

 

We love it, don’t we folks?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't want to be greedy, I just want one of them to hit. Sargent, Pepi, Dike, now maybe Balogun, all of them are 22 or under, just one of them make the leap, please.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Also, sometimes I think about an alternate reality where we hire someone like Tata and we don't get all or even any of Musah, Dest, Dike, or Pepi, and it is a dark timeline.

[wolf stansson]

I think Balogun is the best of that bunch.m, but we’re definitely running out of time for someone to hit.

 

I’m also super intrigued to see what happens with Pefok. That dude is productive. He’s going to get a move to a better level. I feel like he has the highest floor of anyone right now.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Gonna need a wellness check on imb