Yanks Abroad 2017-18: Pulisic & Friends

"His profile is special," says Reinartz. "We usually don't see players scoring this many goals and creating as many assists as he does without being extraordinarily good at bypassing defenders with killer passes, making deep runs to bypass defenders as a receiver or taking up good positions between the lines to bypass players as a receiver. He's merely at a reasonable level in all of these departments."

The data suggests that Pulisic is excellent at creating dangerous moments in the final third, even without beating many defenders, but that he doesn't do much to help his team get there in the first place. Reinartz suggests that these characteristics meant the teenager was particularly negatively impacted by Stoger's unconvincing attacking game.

Unlike Tuchel, whose detailed patterns and processes ensured Dortmund regularly arrived in the opposition box, where Pulisic comes alive, Stoger had a harder time getting his team into good final-third positions. Attacks often broke down well before Pulisic could apply his telling final touch.

He is not a player who can do things alone, without the help of joined-up tactics and productive teammates. At least, not yet. But Pulisic is only 19 and his performances must be seen in the context of his age group. Pulisic might have only reached average levels of output as an attacking midfielder, but for his age he has been outstandingly good.

"A comparison with Bundesliga attacking midfielders under 20 shows that only Ousmane Dembele (Dortmund) and Kai Havertz (Leverkusen) have done better over the last two seasons," says Reinartz. "Scouts read his profile as that of a very talented player who is great in the final third and can still progress in all other departments."

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InstaFace said:

Pulisic article? Pulisic article.

Summary:
- His playtime was a lot higher this season than last, but his performance suffered in parallel to that of his team, given the squad and managerial turnover
- An advanced value metric used in the Bundesliga rates his skills without the ball even more highly (82nd percentile in the bundesliga) than his skills with the ball (43rd percentile), attributed to him winning the ball back in offensive positions under Tuchel
- His team let him down by being so conservative that it didn't often get to a position where his talents were useful; that's why more offensive-minded clubs are so interested in him, since they'd reasonably think Dortmund would presently undervalue him.

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Titans Bastard said:

There's a very loose rumor on Reddit that Giovanni Reyna is headed to Borussia Dortmund this summer. In December, it was reported that he was pursuing a Portuguese passport for which he has eligibility through his grandmother (Claudio's mom). If the passport has come through, he will be eligible to officially sign in Europe this winter after he turns 16. Without the passport, he'd have to wait until 18.

Reyna is an attacker who is viewed as one of our better 2002s.

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Titans Bastard said:

A youth player named Ismael Ido is apparently heading to Nantes.


I've never heard of him before. From some googling, he's from MD and played high school soccer rather than the DA. I wonder how Nantes found him.

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Titans Bastard said:

Marsch definitely isn't a manager-in-waiting at RB Leipzig because Nagelsmann would be viewed as a potentially long-term move, but maybe he can parlay this into a job elsewhere in Germany.

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