Pre-Watch Thoughts

To be honest…I was done with Julian Green. I was excited like everyone else when Klinsmann recruited the German wunderkind. Then he debuted in a friendly against Mexico. Heady days. Alas, he never broke through with Bayern Munich and eventually ended up with Greuther Fürth, a 2. Bundesliga team that isn’t exactly a sleeping giant. They’ve spent one year in the Bundesliga (2012-2013) in their history and aren’t pushing for promotion this year (currently 11th of 18 teams in the 2. Bundesliga).

Green has carved out a nice role for himself at Fürth and realistically I think he’s a career 2. Bundesliga player (nothing wrong with that btw). He got consistent caps under Dave Sarachan and even scored a goal against France during the highly depressing “watching other countries get ready for the World Cup FIFA window.”

He hasn’t gotten a shot yet under Berhalter and who knows if he ever will. I don’t think he’s a fit at the 10, since he’s never shown much passing vision, but he may be an upgrade over Roldan at the 8. Since I hear Green has been playing the 8 with Fürth this season I thought I’d give him a look. He’s currently out with some sort of MCL injury so the most recent games I could watch were a 3-1 win vs Darmstadt (12th) and a 3-2 loss vs. Sandhausen (7th).

The usual caveats to my analysis apply: 1) I know two games isn’t a great sample size, but this is a hobby and it’s what I have time for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 2) The level of competition could be better. 3) And finally…I might be an idiot. Take that into account.

Game Notes

In the Nov. 2 game against Darmstadt Green was playing on the left side of the 3 in a 4-3-1-2. He switch sides fairly frequently and eventually moved central in the second half after a couple subs had been made.

Fürth played the same formation in the game against Sandhausen on Nov. 9, but Green started on the right side of the midfield 3 before eventually shifting left (not sure why this happened). In both games he was basically an 8. Sorta similar to the role Roldan plays for the USMNT, but a much different style of play.

Note – Greuther Fürth’s offensive strategy looks to be shoot wildly from just outside the box and hope it goes in – and Julian feels this strategy deeply in his soul

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, right? Still…don’t take this one.

Julian: I know we’re in the center circle, but I’m telling you guys I can dunk this shot.

Strengths

Ball Striking

I know I joked about Green’s shot selection, but he does have quite a right foot. I’m sure most people have seen his free kick goal, but just in case:

The US doesn’t really have a set piece specialist. This would work alright. 👀

Green took all the right-footed set pieces for Furth in the games I watched and his delivery was pretty darn good. The US hasn’t had a set piece guy since Graham Zusi was patrolling (slowly patrolling) the right flank. I didn’t see it a lot, but he appears to have a decent left foot as well. This was pretty nifty.

Nice little dribble here followed by a hard, left-footed shot. Was shooting the right choice? I’m leaning toward yes.

Spacing/Movement

You’d see this a lot. Green well spaced between the lines.

Green was getting in the right spots with space between defenders frequently. He reads the runs of others and moves off the ball very well. With Greuther Fürth he was in the left or right half space often and his spacing in that pocket between the lines was good. You can quibble with what he does with the ball once he gets in those spaces, but the timing and movement is good.

You can tell he wants the ball. Some players make slow, rounded runs when they are getting into position to receive the ball. Green’s runs had a little more pace and sharpness to them. He wasn’t on the ball all the time, but you could see him working to get open.

Movement and spacing is good again. He makes himself available and wants the ball.

His offball movement looks good to me. Here he sees a teammate cutting in and makes a run that drags a defender to open space for a dribble or pass.

Keeping Possession

I didn’t expect this going in, but he reminded me a little of Darlington Nagbe. He’s not as smooth and he’s not the line-breaking dribbler that Nagbe can be, but Green rarely lost the ball. His close control is better than most of the USMNT pool as well. His job for Greuther Fürth was to connect the defense to the attack. Green kept the ball moving and did that job admirably.

Good calmness on the ball here. Weaves away from defenders and keeps the ball for Furth.

He’s pretty good at keeping possession. He shows quick feet here and draws a foul.

Room to Improve

Vision

While Green does well hanging onto the ball he isn’t very creative with it. That was my main complaint with him as a “10” for the US and you could see it with Greuther Fürth as well. He’d be in positions where it looked like some more aggressive passes were on, but then he’d slow it down and play sideways or backwards. Look at this one:

Does a nice job to create a little space/time for himself, but then can’t or doesn’t see an aggressive pass. He safely plays it horizontally to a defender with more forward options open.

Another example of safe passing. Looks like there is opportunity for a more aggressive option, but he goes horizontal instead of vertical.

I’m not sure if he’s not seeing the pass or doesn’t want to hit it, but either way he doesn’t create dangerous situations with his passing. If he gets near the box…he’s having a go.

No attempt to pass, just cut in and have a shot.

Part of me wishes more US players had this conscience-less, Iverson-esque ability to shoot the ball, but there needs to be a little more variety in his decision making.

And to be fair, there was one really nice pass. It was offside, but I had never seen this type of play from him before. Maybe there’s hope?

This was a nice, inventive pass. The attacker was offside, but still clever.

Defending

Green isn’t a great defender. The word that kept popping into my head while I was watching was “hesitant.” He’d be near the ball or a player and wouldn’t go for it.

He looks a little hesitant at times – I wish he was a little more aggressive going after the ball.

Other times he’d be in the right area, but get caught in two minds. In the clip below he doesn’t pressure the defender, but also doesn’t block off the passing angle. So, in effect, he’s a training cone.

What is he accomplishing defensively here? He’s not applying pressure and he’s not blocking off the pass.

He is a full grown man these days, but he doesn’t play like it. I think of him as a skinny kid and maybe he still does too? A bit more aggression would help in correcting some of these defensive issues.

This was the game winning goal (94′) for Sandhausen. It looks like Green has a chance to end this play before it starts, but again, he looks hesitant.

Some clumsy defending and a bad foul here.

Does He Have a Place Going Forward?

Shockingly, I don’t have much communication with Gregg Berhalter. I have no idea how he feels about Green. I think Green would be an improvement on Roldan as McKennie’s backup, but I doubt he’ll get that chance. If the situations had been flipped and Green had gotten to spend last January learning Berhalter’s system of play then I think he’d be in the team. Not really fair, but that’s life I guess.

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Random GIFS that didn’t make the cut for whatever reason

Bit of a weak challenge and then he doesn’t cut off the pass into the box

He can strike a ball. Good shot on target (slight deflection I think) that creates a nice rebound. No one there to clean it up, but a good shot nonetheless.

The mythical long diagonal. Furth scored a goal about three passes later btw.

Just can’t quite get there

Gives away a penalty here after putting his hands on the attacker