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RE: Yedlin... thinkweism July 30 2015, 14:12:21 UTC
a lot of the lack of positional sense is that when he played for seattle & akron that they really didn't know where to place him. so that's why yedlin is shifted as a RB, wide midfielder, etc. he's really forced to play different positions based on who he is playing for - seattle would force him to play as a right back some matches and in others they made him play as a defensive midfielder. so his lack of sense is based on the fact that he's never had a true designated position TO play. klins is super guilty of reinforcing this in yedlin, bradley, zusi, etc. when they're called up for the mnt - he makes them rotate and tells them to do a good job & never gives them a formation to really stick to.

i'm so sensitive about yedlin because he is pretty remarkable with his speed, but it's obvious he really loves to come forward and press the attack. he shouldn't be a defender, but that's what coaches & co. play him as a lot of the time. he used to be a very offensive player, as his youth coaches said, but they gradually tried to shove him into that defending mold and it is not good for him.

yedlin does need to be loaned out, he def needs experience.

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Re: Yedlin... jazzypom July 30 2015, 14:29:48 UTC
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.

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RE: Re: Yedlin... thinkweism July 30 2015, 14:46:20 UTC
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.

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Re: Re: Yedlin... jazzypom July 30 2015, 15:09:50 UTC
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.

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RE: Yedlin... the4thjuliek July 30 2015, 15:51:30 UTC
His style of play is a bit like Bellerin's, from what I've seen so far. Hector is also extremely fast, attacks a lot (see his goal against Liverpool) but he's able to track back quickly and tackle well. Although, in Hector's case, his situation is opposite of that of Yedlin's. Wenger converted him from a winger to right-back and it's turned out splendidly. I think Pochettino senses that he could do the same with Yedlin, with some loan experience first (Hector was loaned out to Watford and did quite well with them, I think).

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