Weston McKennie’s first start of the season for Juventus will go down as a memorable one.
McKennie delivered his first goal of the new campaign as the Bianconeri defeated PSV 3-1 in their UEFA Champions League opener. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder logged 75 minutes from the start, helping Thiago Motta’s squad to their first three points of the new league phase format.
Kenan Yildiz propelled Juventus in front after only 21 minutes before McKennie doubled the hosts lead six minutes later. Nicolas Gonzalez raced into the PSV box before a fortunate deflection fell to the feet of McKennie, who slammed home.
It marked McKennie’s fifth Champions League goal of his career.
Gonzalez would further extend Juventus lead in the 52nd minute thanks to a curling finish into the left corner. It capped off a Man of the Match performance from the Argentinian forward.
McKennie was substituted off before the final whistle, finishing with an 88% passing completion rate, one duel won, and one tackle completed.
Ismael Saibari pulled one consolation goal back for PSV, but it was Juventus who walked out as winners on the night.
The remaining four USMNT players also featured in the match, with Malik Tillman going the distance, Richie Ledezma playing 86 minutes, Tim Weah logging 21 minutes off the bench, and Ricardo Pepi playing 13 minutes off the bench.
“McKennie is a guy who has a lot to contribute in all parts of the game,” Motta said postmatch about McKennie following his first start of the new season. “He has technical abilities, he has physique and occupies space well.”
Juventus will next host Napoli on Saturday in Serie A play while PSV travels to Fortuna Sittard in Eredivisie action on Sunday.
Nice job! Now maintain whatever focus and intensity that got that starting spot for the entire season and the remainder of your career! Let’s go!
if you notice both the mckennie goal and pulisic’s are “get out and run” and not 120 yard build water torture. watching the goals one might think maybe pulisic is a central 9 or 10 who should be going straight to goal, and weston maybe a wing box poacher.
wes to me is not really the guy to consistently win MF balls and hit accurate long transition passes. he’s the guy to crash the box on the other end of the transition pass.
Pulisic is in the channel that Pochettino is likely to play him in from his RW position. People are in this falsehood that possession has to be rigid and prescribed. Wes was on the lineup sheet a DM but was often interchanging with the attacking players getting into the box.
monkey see monkey do. we tried mckennie when he first started NT at DM and while good for the odd long track back and tough tackle, he’s not great at consistently doing it.
pulisic is running face first at the defenders within the box edges, not facing back to goal showing back, then trying to juke his way in from by the flag.
On Weston, you’re saying don’t believe what you just saw.
On Pulisic watch a longer clip. He gets the ball out wide a dribbles to the box, why would he have continued to dribble wide when ahead of defenders in the final third. I guess maybe if his club coach taught him that in the nineties.
JR: what are you even talking about. re mckennie, regardless of what he played for 90, what he is scoring from is the left wing slot. he’s garbageman on the back post. i think that’s what he’s good at, is we put balls in the box and he finishes or heads it. and that’s not really 10 or 6 stuff, is it? you can now response, but 6 or 10 is what he usually plays. aka monkey see monkey do. the man has played everywhere.
i don’t think he’s a starting 10 — too sloppy, too many turnovers for too little created — all he does most of the time is play diagonals to the flag. i don’t think he’s a 6 because he’s not consistently in position, dives in, not a motor guy.
i think he has a starting spot on the team based on reputation and sheer repetition. as i have explained 20 times, i don’t think any of the fanboys pushing this have thought about it like a coach, like, why don’t we win, why doesn’t the soccer work. it’s just “start the guy who plays for juve.” but i watch this and he’s getting a box crasher goal back post. just like these days he often scores for us on set pieces. that’s not starting AM work. dude has like 0G 2A for the nats in the last year. whoop de do. how does that plus abundant turnovers and inconsistent defense make you a lock in the midfield engine?
he should be a swiss army sub and one use would be actually in the wide slots as athletic garbageman crashing the box.
i know exactly what i am seeing. it’s my point.
re pulisic, leave it to you to turn a run where i am watching the guy dribble down his channel from the half line, and turn that back into “he should be a wing forward” because he’s running down the right but steadily tracking in.
you are missing my point. dude should be running at teams in transition like this. running facing the net and going to goal. dude should not be standing around at the edge of the box waiting on a pass. pass it sideways a couple times. then try and fake someone out. he is overrated trying to fake people out. he has a game closer to landon’s. get him the ball running at people. no james harden slowed down iso ball. he’s already running when fed, and he steams at the opponent.
he’s a 9 or 10. he’s good on the run and semi technical. he can finish when he concentrates.
and you can now pout and fish about whether i am speaking from 50 or 40 or 30 year old select and college knowledge, which is nunya, but my assessment is perfect. he’s a 9 or a 10. he’s not a chalk winger. and he’s no ronaldo or messi or di maria where you just play him into the flag and he’ll juke his way to a goal.
quit trying to verbatim recreate what the coaches are doing now that anyone paying attention knows doesn’t work. i could get your beefing in 2019. when GB just started. give it time, blah blah. this is 2024. we have been trying this look for years. maybe the formation and tactics are dumb, the selection off, and the wrong people wrong places.
but then you used to lecture me over and over reyna was a wing too. i take your analysis in that same manner. sure, let’s take one of the 2 reliable creators and finishers we have and stick him wide. sure. whatever. cause i’m like, when we needed a goal in qatar, it was wright and pulisic.
we went through this on dempsey and donovan. high hopes for the strikers. but not enough production. at which point if dempsey and donovan can out finish the 9s who frustrate me, why are they playing 9 and he’s playing wide in alaska or maine or siberia someplace? make the best guys who produce the focal points who get the ball most often.
IV: Gregg is gone, Poch doesn’t play at the same methodical pace.
“if you notice both the mckennie goal and pulisic’s are “get out and run” and not 120 yard build water torture. watching the goals one might think maybe pulisic is a central 9 or 10 who should be going straight to goal, and weston maybe a wing box poacher.”
???? ” get out and run”???
Weston’s goal was classic midfielder-arriving -late-in- the- box- burying- late- or deflected- 2nd – ball.
It was not at all what Pulisic did. It was the sort of goal you would see from Michael Bradley or Frank Lampard.
you’re missing my point on weston. in his normal slot — and even where juve normally plays him — he’d be the one 30-50 yards back upfield in the mids trying to win the ball and make the upfield pass. not the guy finishing. my point is that what i saw is he should be the guy crashing the box from a wing spot and tapping it in.
it’s how he got goals on cuba which are a good chunk of his career total. garbageman on the weak side. except in that case what happened is he cleaned up balls as an AM that sargent kept not getting to for lack of foot speed. normally you don’t want your AM routinely getting that far upfield or you get countered on.
re pulisic you seem confused. i said he should play 9 or 10. 10 is an AM. you then named 2 AM and said his goal reminded you of them. as opposed to wings. where he plays here.
thanks for making my point for me.
IV: Berhalter is gone, how Berhalter used these two is irrelevant. Pochettino is likely to play these two in very similar positions on the field as they played under Berhalter but because his tactics are different their opportunities to influence the game will be very different. Pochettino, Klopp, Guardiola, Berhalter, Southgate, Bosz, Martino have all used a 4-3-3 and none of them could you say play the same.
Good to see him back. US Needs a motivated Mckennie.
A motivated yes….but he also needs to be fit. Both factors were sorely missing at the COPA America this past summer. Maybe now that we’ve got a new coach players will take things more seriously and be held more accountable.
Quality was the factor of this game……..
——–JUVENTUS————————————–PSV———
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—————-15—————SHOTS——————-13———
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—————–6————SHOTS ON TARGET——5———–
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—————–43%———–POSSESSION———–57%——–
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——————85%——–PASS ACCURACY——–88%——-
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Ledezma, Mckennie, Weah, Tillman, Pepi………all of them saw the field today.