Jacob Shaffelburg

[BearcatSA]

I really like a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers and with naturally right-footed RBs and left-footed LBs providing true width in support, not cutting in and crowding the winger's attacking space in front them because their default inclination is to play inside on their stronger foot.  I saw enough of that with the Caps right footed LWBs over the last couple of seasons.  Millar playing on the forward left wing spot with an Adekugbe behind him provides more attacking space wide to utilize or fake to and then cut in land to cross or shoot.

[costarg]

20 hours ago, Shway said:

There's different playing styles to wingers. However typically the modern day winger, if you are on the opposite side of your dominant foot it means you are versatile in your ability to go inside or outside. It's what makes those players dangerous, as you don't know what they are going to do. 

With Shaffelburg he's played always on the left side, mentioning him to play on his weak side for the heck of it doesn't really make sense when he's always been a LW,LB,or LM. That's his position.

We rarely see guys anymore like Robben who always played on the right (and would relentlessly effectively cut in on his left) because it removes the width from the team, and it becomes predictable when the fullback knows the winger is going to receive the ball on his dominant foot or cut back onto their dominant foot.

That was the beauty of Robben, so predictable and so so very lethal.  Every D-man, every keeper, every person in the stadium and watching on TV knew he'd cut in and shoot for the corner.  Still couldn't stop him, he'd pull it off even when he was double-teamed.  The guy was so much fun to watch.

[costarg]

12 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I really like a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers and with naturally right-footed RBs and left-footed LBs providing true width in support, not cutting in and crowding the winger's attacking space in front them because their default inclination is to play inside on their stronger foot.  I saw enough of that with the Caps right footed LWBs over the last couple of seasons.  Millar playing on the forward left wing spot with an Adekugbe behind him provides more attacking space wide to utilize or fake to and then cut in land to cross or shoot.

Our roster is custom-made for this formation.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

42 minutes ago, costarg said:

Our roster is custom-made for this formation.

I want two decent-in-the-air, not-slow centre backs to grab those two spots with both hands before I am ready to say that.

And David needs to technically be a midfielder in those formations for me. Larin is one of our top players. (We kinda talked about this) Whether that leaves enough bulk in the actual midfield, I don't know. 

Edit:

Maybe I will explain a bit more:

For me, Liverpool are the prototypical modern 433.  At CONCACAF level at least Canada have some analogs with them (let's take their 19/20 title winning, dominant team). Davies, Buchanan and Larin are at or near the top of CONCACAF, like Salah, Firmino and Mane were in the Premier League. Similarly we have very good fullbacks with Adekugbe and Johnston, as per Robertson and Alexander-Arnold. 

We start fall down a bit in that formation beyond that.  Eustaquio is our Henderson, Kone could be our Gigi Wijnaldum, we don't have a Fabinho yet and putting David there opens you up against teams you can't blow away with offence. 

But it is still at centre-back we struggle most , we don't have for sure, even a CONCACAF van Dijk going forward.  And that year they won the title Joe Gomez was a very good (healthy for once) understudy. When your fullbacks are up the field so much, you need pace to cover there as well strength and height.  

As far as David fitting in up front, he is never going to be a Firmino and look who they have bought as Bobby has faded and now left.  Nunez and then Gakpo, who provided something different from David. It's not the Drogba of Mourinho's 433 but there is some hold- up and height required in that system. 

 

One thing that I have also noticed:  a lot of good 352 teams have beat a lot of good 433 teams since Liverpool won the title 4 seasons ago.   

Edited July 12, 2023 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[costarg]

On 7/12/2023 at 11:40 AM, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I want two decent-in-the-air, not-slow centre backs to grab those two spots with both hands before I am ready to say that.

And David needs to technically be a midfielder in those formations for me. Larin is one of our top players. (We kinda talked about this) Whether that leaves enough bulk in the actual midfield, I don't know. 

Edit:

Maybe I will explain a bit more:

For me, Liverpool are the prototypical modern 433.  At CONCACAF level at least Canada have some analogs with them (let's take their 19/20 title winning, dominant team). Davies, Buchanan and Larin are at or near the top of CONCACAF, like Salah, Firmino and Mane were in the Premier League. Similarly we have very good fullbacks with Adekugbe and Johnston, as per Robertson and Alexander-Arnold. 

We start fall down a bit in that formation beyond that.  Eustaquio is our Henderson, Kone could be our Gigi Wijnaldum, we don't have a Fabinho yet and putting David there opens you up against teams you can't blow away with offence. 

But it is still at centre-back we struggle most , we don't have for sure, even a CONCACAF van Dijk going forward.  And that year they won the title Joe Gomez was a very good (healthy for once) understudy. When your fullbacks are up the field so much, you need pace to cover there as well strength and height.  

As far as David fitting in up front, he is never going to be a Firmino and look who they have bought as Bobby has faded and now left.  Nunez and then Gakpo, who provided something different from David. It's not the Drogba of Mourinho's 433 but there is some hold- up and height required in that system. 

 

One thing that I have also noticed:  a lot of good 352 teams have beat a lot of good 433 teams since Liverpool won the title 4 seasons ago.   

I feel we're getting there with the emergence of McGraw, Bombito and Kennedy (Vitoria too while he's still playing).  They all have that aerial presence and strength.  We can balance the lack of pace in Vitoria and McGraw with Bombito and Kennedy.    

Even though Johnston does a good job at RCB, I don't feel we're better as a team or defensively with him at RCB.  So much more useful at RB.

Concerning 3-5-2 vs 4-3-3, it really only comes down to one thing, do you have the players to fill those spots?  Are you fielding 3 strong CB's or are you filling the spots with weaker or out of position players?  I feel we're doing the latter.  4 at the back brings in Adekugbe or Laryea instead of Miller for example, also lets Johnston do what he does best, and I'm all for that.

[Bigandy]

3 minutes ago, costarg said:

I feel we're getting there with the emergence of McGraw, Bombito and Kennedy (Vitoria too while he's still playing).  They all have that aerial presence and strength.  We can balance the lack of pace in Vitoria and McGraw with Bombito and Kennedy.    

Even though Johnston does a good job at RCB, I don't feel we're better as a team or defensively with him at RCB.  So much more useful at RB.

Concerning 3-5-2 vs 4-3-3, it really only comes down to one thing, do you have the players to fill those spots?  Are you fielding 3 strong CB's or are you filling the spots with weaker or out of position players?  I feel we're doing the latter.  4 at the back brings in Adekugbe or Laryea instead of Miller for example, also lets Johnston do what he does best, and I'm all for that.

I see what youre saying but its fairly academic. 

Kennedy or miller in a back 4 may be 6/10 Cb's. But they showed in WCQ they are 7/10 in a back 3. Johnston isnt much differnece imo from RB to RCB (even though he is better at RB). 

Assuming we dont want to play guys out of position, kennedy is the only LCB with speed (some others are decent but not nearly as fast). 

So In a back 4 (assuming we dont play guys out of position and we go with a midfield trio) we play

Davies, miller/cornlius/kennedy, mcgraw, johnston
oso, staq, kone
Buchanan, David, hoilett/millar?  

So essentially we bench Larin for a winger like hoilett or millar. 

I'd argue that the only way to get our best 11 players on the field is to go 3-5-2. 

[narduch]

Has a goal tonight v Colorado in Leagues Cup. 

[PegCityCam]

Goal and hockey assist.

[Gian-Luca]

Nice play by Shaffelburg but a shame to see the Priso giveaway which caused the first Nashville goal. Looks like they replaced him with Bombito a minute or two later. 

[BearcatSA]

23 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

Nice play by Shaffelburg but a shame to see the Priso giveaway which caused the first Nashville goal. Looks like they replaced him with Bombito a minute or two later. 

It has been a year since that Kaye-GAM/Priso transaction and I have to say that it's one of the very few times where I've ever seen a lose-lose trade.  Colorado has descended to the foot of the Western Conference table while TFC's season has imploded like an uber rich tourists' submersible and they look well on schedule to drop to the bottom of the East.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by BearcatSA

[blueseeka]

Looks like 2 assists for Shaff tonight

[Aird25]

He’s been good with Nashville. So has MacNaughton. Nice to see

[Wasp]

Wondering if Shaffelburg is an under-the-radar candidate for a European move in the next year or two. He's still only 23 and is producing very well on a good MLS side. I think the fact that he plays so well with Mukhtar would also bode well for a potential move, as it shows that his game gets better when he's playing with other quality players.

[InglewoodJack]

I wonder how far off he is from the getting calls to the A-team. 4G/2A in 22 games for NSH this season, and he’s one of the main offensive drivers for one of the best teams in MLS, he’s reached a totally different level this year. Has to be in that tier of players with Millar/Corbeanu/etc at this point. Might be our best MLS player by end of season. 

[Jack1997]

5 minutes ago, Wasp said:

Wondering if Shaffelburg is an under-the-radar candidate for a European move in the next year or two. He's still only 23 and is producing very well on a good MLS side. I think the fact that he plays so well with Mukhtar would also bode well for a potential move, as it shows that his game gets better when he's playing with other quality players.

If he does move, he needs the right move. Jacob needs to play for a team that relies a lot on pace In the counter attack and crossing balls into the box. If he goes to Europe he could become a huge success or just sit on the bench all the time.

[InglewoodJack]

I’d like to see him move on eventually, but Nashville is a much better team than a lot of the European “starter” teams our players go to. I am perfectly fine with him staying there as long as the team keeps rolling. He’s playing with some excellent players.

[SoCalTransport]

On 7/28/2023 at 9:48 AM, InglewoodJack said:

I wonder how far off he is from the getting calls to the A-team. 4G/2A in 22 games for NSH this season, and he’s one of the main offensive drivers for one of the best teams in MLS, he’s reached a totally different level this year. Has to be in that tier of players with Millar/Corbeanu/etc at this point. Might be our best MLS player by end of season. 

This shows how bad TFC's management is/was.

[BearcatSA]

21 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

I’d like to see him move on eventually, but Nashville is a much better team than a lot of the European “starter” teams our players go to. I am perfectly fine with him staying there as long as the team keeps rolling. He’s playing with some excellent players.

I think this current Nashville team under Smith has proven to be a really good place for him and he can hone the other areas of his game as he continues there.  

[Norrin Radd]

I just watched the highlights from the Minnesota game tonight. Shaffelburg drew a foul that got a player ejected, and he played a prominent role in three of the five goals, including a nice assist on the fourth. He's developing into a really dangerous player at this level.

[Aird25]

I think he may have earned a callup along with MacNaughton based on this tournament 

[Obinna]

8 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I think he may have earned a callup along with MacNaughton based on this tournament 

Both he and MacNaughton have definitely earned a call up to the September friendly we won't have.

[PegCityCam]

[dyslexic nam]

Anyone know what happened to Shaff?  FotMob is saying he subbed out after 16 minutes so I assume injury.  

[Macksam]

2 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Anyone know what happened to Shaff?  FotMob is saying he subbed out after 16 minutes so I assume injury.  

Yeah, he was limping after making a great run that was the catalyst for an opening goal that got incorrectly called offside after video review. 

[Gian-Luca]

They showed him going to the bench, not to the dressing room. I thought he was looking uncomfortable with his left leg even before his run that set up the goal, so my guess is a minor injury and/or precautionary move (he never went down on the field). He was causing huge problems for the Mexican team before he went off