Decided to take a little break from grading the 2010 World Cup (frankly very few people seem interested/are reading it) and take a look at an exciting young prospect coming up for the US.

Brenden Aaronson is a homegrown player out of the famed Union residency academy. It looks like he might be the first graduate of said academy to make a mark with the national team. He’s been getting some buzz lately and started for the USMNT against Costa Rica at the end of January camp. I’ve also seen a tweet or two like this:

Glad to see you coming around on Aaronsen, who at the moment is getting more big league love than PP. — Susaeta (@_Susaeta) April 11, 2020

The generic praise I remember hearing about Aaronson is that his movement is good and the criticism is that he “lacks end product.”

The world rn

Aaronson hasn’t exactly had time to prove himself/answer those questions yet since only two games were played before the world ended, but he did score a goal against LAFC in his second match. Last year, in 25 starts and 1,722 minutes he scored 3 goals and had 2 assists. Soccer is a game that can’t be measured in goals + assists and there are lies, damn lies, and statistics…but still you’d like to see a little more production there.

The procedure is the same as usual; I watch two games, in this case, the only two available (FCD and LAFC) focusing only on Aaronson and try to draw some conclusions based on the footage. (There’s a chance I’ll re-watch the US game from February and update this with additional clips)

Strengths

Movement/Finding Space

I’m not entirely sure how he does it, but the kid is constantly finding open space. It frustrates me sometimes when I hear “his movement is really intelligent,” but then there is no explanation. So how does he do it?

My first answer is that he reads the defense pressing well. When a defender steps out to pressure one of his teammates Aaronson runs into the space that player just vacated. A couple examples:

He sees Monteiro drop back and moves over into the space vacated by the pursuing defender

Spots Palacios at midfield and tries to get in behind

Hollingshead (left back) follows his man across midfield. Guess who spots that and ends up in the space a left back should be covering? Doesn’t get the ball, but good recognition.

So that recognition of where opposition defenders are is part of it, but there’s more. He’s also open a lot on delayed runs down the field. He stays behind the line of defenders running back to cover so they can’t see him, but in front of the retreating midfielders. It was actually mildly frustrating to watch. His teammates need to be aware of this and get him the ball more in these positions.

The kid is constantly in space. He’s open all the way down the field then finds a spot between the left back and the center back.

Another part of his ability to get into space is his anticipation. There are moments where you can tell Aaronson recognizes where the ball could end up and this prescience lets him get there before anyone else – meaning he has space. Watch this clip below.

You can see Aaronson recognizing that the ball could get headed back across and sprints for where that ball would probably end up. Doesn’t happen, but he was in the right spot.

He can also be a sneaky little bugger. Aaronson will trick a defender with a very small movement and that movement opens up space to run into.

Clever fake with right foot opens space for the cross

Here Przybylko is pinning two defenders and Aaronson alters his run to get behind Atuesta and in on goal.

Aaronson appearing at the top of the box

Finally, I can only assume he uses Jedi mind tricks or has some sort of Romulan cloaking device. How do seven LAFC players not notice Aaronson loitering to the left of the penalty spot before he scores? I know he’s managing to be behind the back of four of them, but really it seems like someone should have picked him up here.

Finds space at the top of the box again and Przybylko should have played him the ball.

Press Resistance/Close Control

Being press resistant is a buzz word these days, but it is important because pressing has become so ubiquitous in soccer. Aaronson is able to keep control of the ball in tight spaces before playing it to a teammate to break pressure. These quick moves in small areas can be risky, but I didn’t see him lose a ball in a dangerous area in these two games. I can see how this would make him an appealing option for Gregg Berhalter and the national team.

Good press resistance – beats a man and plays the ball out wide to start a counter

Holds the ball, draws a couple defenders, and then plays it wide into some space. Also, look who is running free at the top of zone 14 at end of the clip.

Really good close control here to break the counter press and play the ball into open space

Passing/Vision

There weren’t a ton of these clips, certainly not as many as there are of him being in space, but there were a couple notable examples. Aaronson is able to see and play a through ball that puts teammates in very threatening positions.

Look at that ball. If Santos hits a better cross here that’s a quality scoring chance. Aaronson wouldn’t get an assist on the play, but that through ball was the most important, skillful part of the chance.

Good touch and turn here followed by a nice pass

Room to Improve

Physicality

I feel kinda dirty writing this. How many times have we heard people criticize US soccer for prioritizing big, fast players over players with skill? Is it a crime to want both though? Aaronson is 5’11” 146 lbs, but he’s still a kid. He hasn’t developed that man strength that comes with growing into your body as a twenty something. I think this will improve over time, but for now he gets pushed around a little.

A bit light weight. He can be shoved around.

Gets knocked down again here

The Final Ball

This is the critique I’d heard about him so I was watching for this. There does seem to be some validity to it, but I’m not real concerned. There was a time when Pulisic’s go to move was a low, driven ball into the box and it didn’t change up often. As he’s aged CP has added more variety to his final ball. I don’t know that Aaronson has a go to move, but I think his end product is improving. If the season had continued he would have been my guess to “Pomykal” this year and add goals/assists to his game. Hopefully, the season continues at some point and we can see.

Aaronson does well to create space, but then he isn’t quite accurate enough with the cross.

Not sure what’s going on here. Could have been bad communication, but it looks like this could’ve been a more dangerous situation that it ended in.

Nice touch to get open at the top of the box – pushes the shot wide

Conclusion

I’m more excited about Aaronson now than I was when I started writing this. It’s not that I wasn’t hyped before, but watching him this closely has me more convinced than ever that he’s really good already and the arrow is for sure pointing up. I wish I could watch full games of Ledezma so I could compare better, but they might not even be competing for the same spot. Aaronson played that right 8/10 for the US in February so maybe there’s a chance that Ledemza and Aaronson could play together at some point in the future. Whatever the case, Aaronson is an exciting young piece to add to the depth chart for the USMNT midfield. I really hope we get to see these guys play again soon. 😑

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Cutting Room Floor

These clips didn’t make it for whatever reason, but I thought they were noteworthy enough.

He’s an intelligent pest. Here he closes down his man quickly, but also stays in the passing lane to central midfield as he does so.

Aaronson miss-controls the ball and Dallas proceeds to score on this play. Whoops.

Good first touch, passes forward and makes a darting run toward goal. Santos had it pretty well covered, but a good pass may have been able to put him in on goal.