Weston “Royale Avec Fromage” McKennie (46 Viewers)

[Nenz]

I find him difficult to judge. He does a lot of good but there is a lot of weak play too e.g. for a CM of this level his passing is poor.

I think he needs to develop his passing and tactical awareness/positioning to be a starter. His shooting also needs work. But he brings good energy and seems like he has a good attitude to improve so no reason why he can't.

Indeed. He's rough around the edges. Liable to fluff a pass, or run in people's way which he did once or twice against Cagliari. He's definitely not a bit afraid to tackle. Some of his tackles have been unreal - types of tackles few players would commit to. But I do wonder whether he's going to cop a few reds in his time going in as hard as he does.
He's shown certain qualities often enough to warrant suspicion that he can become a top class player though. At first I saw how busy he was and thought 'here's another Matuidi', but he looks technically capable save some of the clangers he makes from time to time.

The problem is that I can't remember the last player this club actually developed from raw talents into top players since Marchisio and Bonucci I suppose could be included. Dybala hasn't drastically improved since he came, he more or less hit the ground running. Same with Pogba and Vidal. Danilo was a proven star in Portugal. Cuadrado was already fairly coveted at Fiorentina and has Rabiot improved on his best by any great margin this year? Then you think of players like Pereira who didn't hit the ground running but showed good signs but was never able to improve a great deal from his time here. Bentancur has obviously grown a lot but he still seems limited and, at the moment, isn't touted as a starter in this side.

My point being that this club hasn't really made stars all that often. Usually they were bought for either record fees or bargains.

 

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[U Picciriddu]

I find him difficult to judge. He does a lot of good but there is a lot of weak play too e.g. for a CM of this level his passing is poor.

I think he needs to develop his passing and tactical awareness/positioning to be a starter. His shooting also needs work. But he brings good energy and seems like he has a good attitude to improve so no reason why he can't.

I like that he seems to know how to attack and defend. Maybe we finally have a useful box to box player again. Should start next match, I want to see a full game of him.

 

[Boksic]

I like that he seems to know how to attack and defend. Maybe we finally have a useful box to box player again. Should start next match, I want to see a full game of him.

I'd be slightly concerned about him starting at CM at the moment, especially if the other 3 are available.

In that Ramsey type role he played vs Spezia there is less positional responsibility and I'd be happy enough to see him there, but then I'd prefer Kulu or Chiesa or Dybala ahead of him.

 

[pavluska]

Lol. Strange little man.

 

[Snobist]

@Alen are you giving tips to Morata and Cuadrado?

 

[piotrr]

McTexas playing AM

 

[Boksic]

I think him playing AM is purely because he offers very good movement (usually) and can''t really be trusted in the midfield 2 role.

But he was anonymous today and lost the ball in the only instance I can remember him having it in an attacking area. If we hadn't been managing minutes for others I don't think he would have played.

 

[Gigiventus]

Sturaro level. Cant believe the club paid so much for him.

 

[Alen]

I don't think Pirlo has much hope in this guy, despite what he was (supposedly) saying earlier. Against Roma, he saw the McKennie's passing will be a huge liability and a former passing master will never have that. Afterward, he played him only on the wing, but the boy is not a winger. I'm not sure where else Pirlo will try him. I assume he'll put him back in central midfield, but only against weaker teams or in case lots of our midfielders are injured.

In another thread, someone said that Pirlo is learning from his mistakes. I think one of the lessons he learned is - do not buy American players, ever.

 

[Cronios]

Its really weird why he started him though...

 

[Gigiventus]

Its really weird why he started him though...

Ferencvaros at home in a super packed schedule. With all the returns from injuries and illness the whole squad needs to be involved. Its a bad transfer, but now that he is here he must play some games, if anything to give rest to the rest of the midfielders.

 

[Tak!]

I don't think Pirlo has much hope in this guy, despite what he was (supposedly) saying earlier. Against Roma, he saw the McKennie's passing will be a huge liability and a former passing master will never have that. Afterward, he played him only on the wing, but the boy is not a winger. I'm not sure where else Pirlo will try him. I assume he'll put him back in central midfield, but only against weaker teams or in case lots of our midfielders are injured.

In another thread, someone said that Pirlo is learning from his mistakes. I think one of the lessons he learned is - do not buy American players, ever.

Unless it's Alexi Lalas!

 

[Stevie]

5th choice backup midfielder that was played out of position. You guys are expecting too much from him. We are in the middle of an extremely tough schedule and we were playing at home to what was on paper a really weak opponent... Calma.

 

[Albo]

I don't understand his position, he is like a hybrid between am/winger, it doesn't suit him .

 

[JuveJay]

Was it just me or was his position mostly useless in the sense that Cuadrado just ran into his position on every attack? He might as well have gone into the hole behind the strikers and played there pressing their defenders, with Bentancur coming across slightly. I don't think he had a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

 

[Hydde]

Pirlo has in par to be blamed because this guy is played everywhere

 

[Suns]

Was it just me or was his position mostly useless in the sense that Cuadrado just ran into his position on every attack? He might as well have gone into the hole behind the strikers and played there pressing their defenders, with Bentancur coming across slightly. I don't think he had a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

I feel like he was used as a dummy to make runs to stretch the defense. Cuadrado never even looked to pass him the ball. We need to reward him for making all of these runs. He was so effective at it when he played against Spezia.

 

[juventus4life]

I feel like he was used as a dummy to make runs to stretch the defense. Cuadrado never even looked to pass him the ball. We need to reward him for making all of these runs. He was so effective at it when he played against Spezia.

Agree. Against small teams, he's up there in most attacks waiting for a chance.

 

[MikeM]

I don't understand his position, he is like a hybrid between am/winger, it doesn't suit him .

|He's supposed to go into the half-space between Cuadrado and Morata. And CR7 goes into the opposite half-space between Berna and Morata.

Then when we lose the ball, he's capable of running back into a 4 man midfield, while CR7 stays forward.

Ideally, we use Kulu or Ramsey (or Dybala, but I think Pirlo is trending away from that) in that position because they can actually do something with the ball and also can put in a decent effort to come back into midfield.

Right now when McKennie plays, he's mostly used as an off-ball player to drag defenders around. Because obviously, he's not going to do much in that Dybala/Kulu half-space (he's not going to curl a shot with his left foot lol).

 

[U Picciriddu]

Was it just me or was his position mostly useless in the sense that Cuadrado just ran into his position on every attack? He might as well have gone into the hole behind the strikers and played there pressing their defenders, with Bentancur coming across slightly. I don't think he had a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

I think that Pirlo gave him horrible instructions. As we know Dybala and Ronaldo both don’t occupy the space that a real 9 does, so McKennie covered that ground with Cuadrado having his flank as usual. It made McKennie look totally lost.