It has been a while since I’ve scored a game. I’ve had the itch to do it for a couple weeks now and McKennie’s debut seemed a good time to get back on the horse.
Watching Juventus was an enjoyable, but odd experience. I used to watch small doses of Serie A on the Fox Soccer Channel way back in the day, but have seen very little in the past 10 years. Generally, I checked scores to see who won and hoped Juventus lost so the title race would be more interesting. I’m also not a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. I’ll leave my specific beefs with Ronaldo aside, but for those two reasons, rooting for Juventus was strange.
I will say that watching Americans play for very good teams that dominate the game and are expected to win is a nice development/much more fun than watching…Schalke for instance. 😂 Anyhow, to the grades:
If you haven’t read one of these USMNT (+/-) Player Grades articles before click here for an explanation of the system.
*One other note* I actually re-watched this game at .8 speed. Belz suggested a handy little Chrome extension (Thanks, I think?) a while back and it allows you to control the video speed very easily. I’ve gotta stop adding stuff that makes this take longer. 😂
Grading Beverage: Balvenie Scotch
The Grades
| 15+ | Excellent game |
| 9-14 | Played well to very well |
| 5-8 | Solid |
| 0-4 | Not great, Bob |
| Below 0 | Listening to my kids argue 😑 |
*The Adjusted Total uses the Elo ratings to take into account opponent and competition factors.*
MOTM – Aaron Ramsey +20
I vaguely remember Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal and people being excited about the talented young Welshman. Since he got his Premier League debut in 2008(!) there have been many injuries and much time spent on the sidelines. None of that matters for this one game, however. Ramsey was excellent. He was all over the field breaking up play and was very skillful in the attack as well. He had 23 total notable events and was the only player to have a positive score in all four phases of the game (that I grade – I know some of you nut jobs say there’s like 37 different phases).
This is a good example of what Ramsey brought to the table. He surprises the Sampdoria player, steals the ball, and plays Ronaldo in on goal for one of his 17 different scoring chances in the match.
Who knows if he’ll stay healthy, but this was an excellent showing. I hope for his sake he has a nice run of health.
Other Notable Positives
Leonardo Bonucci (+13)
I, like most soccer fans, am aware that Bonucci is a well-regarded defender. This is the first time I have watched him this closely though. He is so good. Smooth, untroubled, and pinging the ball around wherever he wants to place it. He was the “controlling #6” from center back for Juventus and he was magnificent. Can the US just develop one defender like this someday before I die? Almost all (one exception) his positive events came in possession because Sampdoria was dreadful in attack and the defense didn’t have to do much actual defending.
Kulusevski (+8) and Ronaldo (+7)
I wouldn’t say either of these guys were great, but they both put in solid performances. Kulusevski wasn’t involved very often, but looked very good in those limited involvments.
Ronaldo on the other hand, was involved all over the place and flashed several moments of crazy skill. He also did this though:
And he’s not even on screen when Sampdoria eventually gets a shot off that goes just wide. What does a coach do with that player if his name isn’t Ronaldo? He did score a goal, get in good spots, and connect play very nicely, but it wasn’t his best performance.
What about Weston McKennie? (+7)
You knew I was going to devote a whole heading to him, right? About a year ago I thought Paxton Pomykal might push McKennie out of the USMNT midfield. It doesn’t look that way anymore, does it? (Please remember that I’m an idiot, but feel free to keep reading.😂) McKennie was fairly quiet to begin the game and slowly grew into it. I didn’t have him down for a notable event until the 14th minute and I thought he looked more like “vintage Wes” in the second half than he did in the first. I jokingly tweeted out a “Weston Dudes Knocked Down Counter” out during the game, but that should sort of give you an idea of how he played.
All in all, it was a very nice start for McKennie. You could tell the crowd loved him and he got positive reviews from the Italian sources that I’ve seen. He’s got some tough competition for spots coming (Bentancur looked amazing – he was +4 in 22’👀), but he’s playing at Juventus – that was always going to be the case. (The replies to the tweet below are fun to read)
Un aggettivo per l'esordio in ⚫️⚪️ di @WMckennie? pic.twitter.com/dFI5AXzFSi
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) September 21, 2020
A midfield where two of the three players are Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams is going to be thoroughly miserable to play against no matter who that third player is (Reyna, Lletget, whoever). It’s been a while since that’s been the case and I can’t wait to see it. (November?🤞)
Room for Improvement
Adrien Rabiot (-3)
Most of the time, I take a look at the scores at half time so I sort of have an idea of how the grades are trending. I didn’t do that this time around and I was surprised at how low Rabiot came out. It’s not that I thought he was great, it’s just that -3 is pretty low. Looking back on it though, he had three turnovers that were pretty bad. Take a look at this one:
What is that? Is he just being too casual? What if that had gone in? I’m not sure if Pirlo sees Rabiot and Bentancur as interchangeable players, but I’d be worried about my spot next weekend if I were him.
Wrapping Up
There were a couple other guys I could highlight with low-ish scores, but the low totals were mostly due to the almost total lack of goal threat coming from Sampdoria. I think Cuadrado could have done a little more going forward, but I don’t want to be overly harsh. Looking at the schedule – Juventus has Roma coming up on Sunday. I think Juventus may have replaced the Lions as my Sunday afternoon sport to watch and that’s okay with me if their first two games are anything to go by. Let’s hope McKennie retains his starting spot and performs as well or better in Rome on Sunday.
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