Antonee Robinson has enjoyed a breakout year for both club and country, and just a month after helping the U.S. men’s national team qualify for the World Cup he experienced the joy of helping Fulham earn promotion.
The USMNT left back was honored for his outstanding form during the League Championship season on Monday when he was one of four Fulham players named to the English Football League Championship Team of the Season, joining Aleksandar Mitrovic, Harry Wilson, and Tosin Adarabioyo on the 11-player list. It was Robinson’s first nomination to the annual list in his second season with Fulham.
The 24-year-old has been one of Fulham’s key players this season, taking major strides at left back. Robinson has contributed two goals and four assists in 34 league appearances this season, starting in Fulham’s backline for majority of the campaign.
Fulham scored a league-best 99 goals, conceding the third-fewest goals (38), and posting a league-best +61 goal differential, stats generated with the help of Robinson’s outstanding form as an attacking left back.
Robinson’s confidence carried over to the international level with the USMNT as Gregg Berhalter’s side clinched an automatic berth into the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The English-born defender made 13 appearances in the Concacaf octagonal round of World Cup Qualifying, scoring two goals and adding three assists.
Fulham has three matches remaining in its EFL Championship schedule, beginning with Tuesday’s showdown against Nottingham Forest.
What I also like is that Sam Vines has started playing 90 minutes regularly so that we have a good backup behind Robinson. Not surprised by this as I recognized Robinson’s potential several years ago.
I’d rather see Joe Scally brought in as the back-up to Robinson. His versatility (LB/RB) provides great coverage in a tournament situation, especially considering the injury concerns we’ve had with our outside backs. Additionally he’s got more starts & minutes this season playing in a higher caliber league than Vines has.
I don’t think we’ve seen Vines with Pulisic yet. I think he would defer to Christian more than Antonee but I’m not sure he’s technical enough to get the ball to CP in tight spaces. Jedi does not combine very well with Pulisic, but his own offensive abilities far outshine the other options at this point. Because of his speed Jedi is probably best defensive options too. Dest works well with Pulisic but it hurts Serge’s offense on the left. Gomez I think could be that guy that can defend and work well with CP if he starts getting LaLiga minutes and of course chooses the US. Perhaps Bello can make a jump with a full preseason.
The one USMNT match I did see Vines play he looked slow and pretty awful to me.
In Belgium, he’s started 16 of 34 games, subbed on twice, missed, 6 through injury and did not dress for 3 out of their last 5 games. He had a nice run of playing 90 minutes back in Oct-Nov-Dec but he’s not doing that anymore.
Not bad all things considered but hardly a “put that kid in Qatar NOW ” performance.
Barring injury, some dramatic shift in form, or a dramatic expansion of the roster from 23 to 26, for this World Cup:
Right back: some combination of Dest,Yedlin, Cannon
Left back: Antonee, Dest
And in a pitch I’d drop Cannon and take Palmer- Brown.
In a 23 man roster after skill and talent, durability, physicality and versatility are very helpful
Vacqui- remember Vines had a broken collarbone at the beginning of the season. (16 out of the 34 matches started -can be taken out of context for people who haven’t been paying attention.) He’s starts when he’s available! He had a summer transfer, meaning he had a chance for a full European season and not coming in half a season. Bello & Gomez had to hit the ground running, lit trilly! 3 natural LBs younger than Jedi vying for backup minutes are playing in Europe. Also, Tolkin is a full time starter for NY Red Bulls. Paredes is at Wolfsburg and so is Hernandez-Foster (Youth setup). Caleb Wiley has started a few matches now for Atl United as a LW similar to Paredes. If Gomez decides to play for El Tri, we have enough depth to compensate.
It’s Ok, Kobe was released by Wolfsburg last September. He signed with HamKam in Norway in Jan. They are only 4 matches in but he is yet to dress. Things not going in the right direction for a guy I was excited about, Wolfsburg just destroys our prospects. Llanez, Kayo, KOH, crossing fingers Paredes works out.
This is indeed awesome and bodes well for his future. More troublesome is that he seems to have been on the bench a lot for Fulham. Is he dinged…or has he lost his job to Joe Bryan, who seems to be starting most of Fulham’s matches lately?
Last month of the season, Fulham has guaranteed promotion, you understand better than me, that this would be a good time to play your young or inexperienced guys, to see what you have going into next season. I don’t think Jedi not playing is much of a concern from a US fan perspective. The Championship division has 24 teams, 40+ matches, plus promotion playoffs. I think, Fulham’s manager understands, that Jedi played 270+ minutes, 2 consecutive windows for the US. I could be wrong; one would think, over usage of a player would lead to injuries.
Yeah…I hope that’s it. It’s just, Bryan is 27 and was a longtime starter before Jedi came along. He’s also had a few caps for Scotland so Bryan isn’t nobody. He also has a bunch of starts from a couple years back when Fulham was in the Prem.
Hopefully they are just resting Jedi…and trying to keep Bryan – who at the very least seems a valued backup – happy. Players do not like being glued to the bench. Especially when they were once starters.