Realityist

Realityist nobody.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@ak22_7 @typhalive True enough. Good to bring in for counters when they grab a lead.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@bvbnewsblog @FabrizioRomano They want Adeyemi why, now? Oh never mind. Have to close this before they come to their senses.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@Odinsson17 @typhalive I assume that they will at a minimum (maybe at a maximum—ha) bring in a loan player with that profile.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@typhalive @Odinsson17 We finished second!!!!

[Realityist @Realityist]

@typhalive @Odinsson17 We must not endanger season goals. High floor is far more important than maximum ceiling. Changing systems would be scary!

[Realityist @Realityist]

@Odinsson17 @typhalive Well, BVB does not have the correct personnel for 4atb, so we have to play players out of position in a 3atb. (This is apparently the logic—don’t blame me.)

[Realityist @Realityist]

@typhalive Well, let’s be precise — it probably didn’t take Ole Book a full season to figure this out.

[Realityist @Realityist]

Fast-forward to December: “Emre is like a new signing for us.”

[BVB Newsblog @bvbnewsblog]

One thing the club has realised, despite all the improvement shown by Jobe Bellingham over the course of the season, is that a formation with Jobe Bellingham as the sole number 6 is not an option for the foreseeable future. He certainly has the defensive strengths, but when it comes to building play, he needs a partner in midfield, such as Felix Nmecha, although more will be expected of Bellingham in future to get into shooting positions more often, so that he can regularly showcase his rarely seen good shooting ability. This second season is set to be one of consolidation for the Englishman. He will go into pre-season as the first-choice player in the double-six role. However, he must defend this role with greater consistency and further improvement, as a new player is still expected to arrive for this position.

🗞 @kicker

#BVB

[Realityist @Realityist]

BVB to Bellinghams: “please have another child.”

[BVB Newsblog @bvbnewsblog]

One thing the club has realised, despite all the improvement shown by Jobe Bellingham over the course of the season, is that a formation with Jobe Bellingham as the sole number 6 is not an option for the foreseeable future. He certainly has the defensive strengths, but when it comes to building play, he needs a partner in midfield, such as Felix Nmecha, although more will be expected of Bellingham in future to get into shooting positions more often, so that he can regularly showcase his rarely seen good shooting ability. This second season is set to be one of consolidation for the Englishman. He will go into pre-season as the first-choice player in the double-six role. However, he must defend this role with greater consistency and further improvement, as a new player is still expected to arrive for this position.

🗞 @kicker

#BVB

[Realityist @Realityist]

@ManagerTactical I have trouble seeing how that expands the investment in the longer term without the nationwide demand to pay to watch teams at every level. Without that it very quickly becomes a risky investment.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@_grzejnik_ @Kevin_Kinkead In all seriousness, he was a fantastic athlete and with his quickness I wouldn’t doubt that he would have excelled at just about any sport that he put the time into.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@EO_Halloran

[Realityist @Realityist]

@Bibz_14 Main issue is that he makes absolutely 0 sense unless Guirassy is moved, and Guirassy seems like he would only move if a prominent club came calling. The quality of BVB material out there is really low, meaning they’re either keeping things under wraps or there’s nothing to leak.

[Realityist @Realityist]

Key point completely missed nearly everywhere else:

“in other countries, the top 1% or so go to academies and everyone else plays grassroots which is either free or about 300 bucks a year. Those academy kids have pretty sad outcomes on the whole.”

[Realityist @Realityist]

Finally, some sense

[kang @jaycaspiankang]

One thing that’s discussed in the book is that the problem w youth soccer is that everyone is training ‘like a pro’ whereas in other countries, the top 1% or so go to academies and everyone else plays grassroots which is either free or about 300 bucks a year. Those academy kids have pretty sad outcomes on the whole.

In the USA, MLS academies are much smaller in number and also less part of the culture, you have no system to definitively separate the 1% from the 5% or even the 50% at, say, u9. That isn’t really a problem in of itself but what it has encouraged is the expansion of pay to play, which has coincided w the gutting of rec leagues.

Parents feel like there is no ‘normal’ option bc rec feels inadequate bc all the kids w a shred of talent went to pay to play. But pay to play seems absurdly expensive and time consuming. Most parents given that choice will choose the ‘better’ option and that’s how you have clubs that have 4 ‘competitive’ u9 teams. To justify the cost and to compete w the other clubs in the area, those kids will then train all the time and get the nicest 450 dollar uniform kits and most importantly, do everything to win bc that’s how they attract more customers. That means mostly picking fast big kids and kicking it long or in some instances using ‘tactics’ that 9 year olds cannot and should not be thinking about. The time and financial investment leads to toxic behavior throughout the system and the kids suffer from it, burn out, etc.

More pro academies where the kids are seen as investments to be sold down the line (but don’t have to pay) would probably help USMNT. And a more robust public rec system wouldn’t make the cut off age at 8 for when parents have to decide whether they want to possibly bankrupt themselves to chase a dream. This would allow late bloomers to enter the pool of the 1% and possibly become the 0.1% (it is true in soccer a late bloomer probably means like 11 years old just bc you do need to learn ball skills very early which is why it’s ridiculous these clubs motivated by winning are just playing hoofball to the fastest kid).

But ultimately the problem is that outside of immigrant areas we don’t have a culture where every 7 year old is doing tricks in front of the project buildings in les banlieues or in the favelas or whatever. If a kid that age wants to play soccer their parents have to find them a game and eventually they end up paying 3000 so their kid can be on the c team and r FC Columbus Ohio or whatever.

Pay to play is not going away if you start opening a lot of NWSL or second div boys academies (those teams can’t afford to run those academies anyway so the question is mostly moot). And it is its own problem (a lot of this is discussed in the book as well as the history of how we got here).

We should fix the public rec/grassroots system bc it’s the right thing to do and would make 95% of parents happier and would allow kids to learn to love the game and not have it be their job starting at age 9.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@typhalive That said, the first important date is the summer training camp.

[Realityist @Realityist]

@typhalive There were even reports that BVB wanted to get their business done early, and then you had Book six weeks ago saying he was optimistic about a transfer “within the next few weeks.” So to me it looks like they lost out on something they thought they had.

[Realityist @Realityist]

How much does Adeyemi make? It stands to reason he couldn’t clear enough additional salary to exceed the additional signing bonus associated with leaving on a free, but I guess it all depends.

[Aro10 @AroooBVB]

🗣️Die Zeichen stehen auf Abschied: Zwischen dem #BVB und Karim #Adeyemi gibt es keine Fortschritte bei einer Vertragsverlängerung. Eine Einigung ist derzeit nicht in Sicht. Konkrete Angebote für den 24-Jährigen liegen dem BVB bislang aber noch nicht vor.

🗞️rn

[Realityist @Realityist]

@asc74O @GonzoGeorgism What “successful senior clubs” do you have in mind?

[Realityist @Realityist]

@StefanBuczko @typhalive Funny how paying players way more than they are valued in the open market ends up burning BVB.