archer21

On the bright side, it could make him a more well rounded player in the future if he is able to become better at playing with his back to the goal. No better way to learn than to fight through some adversity. As long as he keeps getting starts, this could help him. If he starts being stuck to the bench then I'd worry, but not until then.

He was playing at Botev in January 2020. None of us even knew who he was, he didn’t even have a page on this forum yet.

I really wish we could have capped him too, but it’s hard to blame Herdman. When Yankov showed what he was capable of, Herdman got him to commit. If he would have tried to get him to come to the Iceland friendlies, there’s nothing saying Bulgaria wouldn’t have caught wind of it and stolen him then anyways. And I’m sure everyone would have been chirping at Herdman for calling up a player at Botev to those matches instead of a CPL or MLS player.

I hadn't realized how crazy the Euro Qualifiers are this cycle. Seems a bit ridiculous to give a team from League D of Nations League a big doesn't it?

It's a shame Kamal Miller hasn't gotten much playing time this season. He looked solid for us when called upon, I was hoping he'd put himself in that top tier with Cornelius/James/Henry/Vitoria. I honestly haven't seen Jakovic play much recently so it's hard to comment, but he is getting a lot of minutes on a good team so he has to at least get a look.

I wouldn’t say we are going to qualify for sure. If 3-4 teams qualified for Olympics I’d be pretty confident about our chances but only 2 teams from CONCACAF get in. Mexico and USA will always be favourites in that situation.

Hopefully he lands at a club that gives him playing time and allows him to play free, attacking football. I'm sure he and his family will be mindful of this after being stuck in a rigid, defensive system at Kilmarnock. It would be great for his career to start scoring and assisting goals in a competitive league. I kind of hope he ends up in Netherlands for this reason, although I admittedly don't know anything about Zwolle's system. I just know the reputation the Eredivisie has for development, and that the Championship can be a very tough, physical league like Scotland, albeit at a considerably higher level of play.

Kind of makes the tournament more pointless than most years though. Obviously, Herdman is right to prioritize WCQ but it'll still be frustrating to watch our best players miss the tournament if that's the case. Hard to get excited for a match against the USA when their depth is clearly better than ours and our best chance is to have our stars take over the game. Like you said though, it will be a good opportunity for young/fringe players to get some good experience.

Like I said, I didn't watch the game so I'm not totally letting him off the hook. For all I know, he could have made an obvious error. I've just never really been a fan of zonal marking on corner kicks for that reason. Why have a 5'8" guy marking a zone, when the attacking team can just put their biggest player in that zone and lob it to him? Its never made any sense to me.

Looks like Romeo has started all their games this season, so hopefully Okello can get a lot of minutes as well.

Any word on Tabla? He’s been out 2 months and was expected to return in September. Sunday would be their last match in September. Anyone know if he is at least training yet?

Didn’t see the game, why was he marking Jakovic on a corner? Can’t really blame him for being beat in the air by a CB that’s half a foot taller than him.

Not sure I’d say it’s highly unlikely that they start together. They’ve started together in many key games for us in the recent past. Sure, Eustaquio may steal one of their jobs sometimes but I don’t think that is a sure thing either. And Kaye isn’t in the best form recently. Until I see Herdman do something else, I’d expect Osorio and Arfield to start together regularly.

I think you’d need 3 qualifying matches to be cap tied as well. 1 “tournament” match cap ties you, not 1 “official” match

Right, I forgot he played for us already. He has only played friendlies though so he isn't capped yet correct? Not that I'd expect him to be switching or anything, just checking.