transfer round up

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

Chatter from the sidelines

Chatter from the sidelines

• East vs West, winner hosts MLS Cup? Clint Dempsey talks changes to AT&T MLS All-Star Game format Now, off to read what baseball does with East vs West before I can understand this article


• Southampton boss Ronald Koeman relishing new Europa League challenge Southampton fans are well made up
  


• Juventus prepare move for former Arsenal and Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri Since they can't get Draxler


• Charlie Austin will reject Aston Villa and Newcastle to join Chelsea or Spurs this summer Actually, I'm surprised that he hasn't been attached to a club just yet, but the season is still young


• Bologna ready to take Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli back to Serie A Oh, Bologna <3


• Besiktas in talks over Gomez deal leaving Fiorentina ?


• Tottenham defender Vlad Chiriches on brink of Napoli move He's already there, but the Napoli boss admitted that he hasn't seen Chiriches play. Prepare for frustration, with glimpses of possibility, Napoli. But mostly frustration


• MLS All-Stars vs. Tottenham: Score and Reaction from MLS All Star Game 2015 Spurs lost 1-2. Defence, what's that all about, Spurs?

Pictures

Drogba in Montreal

Drogba is playing for... Toronto Impact?

Kenedy will be the rare young talent that's being fast tracked to Chelsea's starting XI instead of being loaned out

He's from Brazil and all of nineteen

Manchester United lost to PSG. De Gea seemingly is still unsettled, yadda yadda yadda

Vidal with Bayern. Still can't believe it. But he'll fit in. Doesn't he speak German (from his former stint before going to Juventus?

Celtic still in with a chance for qualifying in Champions League

MLS all stars 2- 1 Spurs

MLS all stars got a penalty and Kaka scored

Spurs defence went begging (again!) when Villa scored. DeBeasley is still playing football?

That's Spurs 2nd kit in action. I don't mind it? Their third kit isn't purple. I'm disappointed

Read the commentary on this, and I have questions. What's an 'expansion team' if the MLS seems to keep on expanding? Aren't all teams expansion teams? Anyway, Kaka and Villa are the first two players from 'expansion' teams to score.

That being said, it seems that Delle Ali (lad from MK Dons, boo at MK Dons) impressed, so did Winks (academy), and Trippier (formerly of Burnley). Spurs is going to be the side of saplings in a forest of trees this season. The consensus is, although Spurs have done well in moving out the deadwood, they're still behind, because they need a second forward, and a holding midfielder (they tried Dier in the role, but he's too young and reckless)

Onomah is another academy lad plying his trade. He might go out on loan

Spurs has a growing fanbase in the US. It's not as numerous as Arsenal or Manchester United, but its growing. Spurs has a narrative of interest to the Americans. The NFL connection will help

OP: done! Cheers, jeers, corrections and commentary pushback, you know the drill

Comments

Re: Yedlin...

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

So you think that he'd be suited to winger then, Gareth Bale style? I could see that happening, but yeah, the lad needs experience. He's trained with the U21s for the first half of the time he was here, and how he's spent the year in training with Spurs. According to an interview he did with Bleacher report, he seemed taken aback by how high the bar was. Like, yeah, he's speedy, but so is Kyle Walker (and Walker is kinda shaky right now).

But the thought is that his reading of the game (hence that positional sense) is supposedly lacking. I get the fact that Yedlin would be shifted around until he finds a place that 'clicks' but at his age, his place should have been identified and worked upon. John Stones, the Everton defender who is his age (21) already knows his place and is making a name for himself in that place. Yedlin is kinda behind.

Idek, but Pochettino seems open to Yedlin breaking into the first team, and like his Argentine compatriot, Simone, Pochettino is someone who doesn't seem wedded to the idea of a player. He tends to take a lot of convincing (Harry Kane being a case in point). Yedlin, to his credit seems to be keeping his head down and absorbing, and when he speaks with the press, he sounds cheerful and genuine.

RE: Re: Yedlin...

[thinkweism.livejournal.com]

yedlin needs something that allows him to use his "explosive speed" and ability to move along the flanks while still being able to defend those spots if he absolutely has to. i think yedlin has potential, i really do, so i'm a bit more open to him getting playing time before he's criticized for not being consistent/good enough. i mean, he began playing for the sounders' senior team at the age of 20 and was still inexperienced and tossed in to whichever position was open and vacant... so no one has ever really given him a definite "you're X player" or "you need to ensure that you cover Y area at all times." idk, i really love him and i think he needs time doing more than just training.

i think his coaches have done him dirty in the past by forcing him to play a variety of positions without ever telling him what his weaknesses were as a defender & how to fine tune those abilities. i don't know much about tottenham, so i won't pretend to but the american system does not favor prospective soccer players because they spend their best/peak years in college rather than doing what other leagues do. usually players in other countries are playing for senior squads at, what, 18? 20? most of the players here are still in college, going to school, traveling with their team & playing against other colleges.

yedlin is gonna be behind because of a list of reasons, just like other us-based players. his place should have been identified from an earlier age but that wasn't the case. now he's just a mash of various abilities that don't translate well to one position that he's usually played in. and the inexperience comes at the fact that most yedlin's age are only being drafted right now into the mls. that's the problem, but it's another can of worms when discussing that, honestly.

Re: Re: Yedlin...

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

usually players in other countries are playing for senior squads at, what, 18? 20? most of the players here are still in college, going to school, traveling with their team & playing against other colleges.

Yeah, in England, by the time you're sixteen, you'll have finished secondary school. If you're an academy grad, the academy hires tutors to get you through your O levels. Some footballers do their A levels (Lampard comes to mind, he got good A levels, good enough to get into law school, but decided to stick with football) but by the time they're sixteen, they're on loan and working.

In the academies, you do get a 'salary' ranging on age, and by the time you break into the first team. Then move on from there. For instance, with Harry Kane, by the time he was eighteen, he was on one of his many loan spells (Leighton Orient, I think at the time), and by the time he came back to Tottenham and got on the first team last year, he'd have already been plying his trade as a forward for the past three/four years in a professional way.

Well, Yedlin seems to be getting a chance to find his feet. They've shadowed him with Kyle Walker, and Pochettino will help develop him. Here's hoping that he comes good.