Weston McKennie is young, he is American and comes from the Bundesliga: for once Madama also follows the trends of the moment. But what kind of player is the Texan? Flexible, they tell us. In extreme cases, he also plays full-back. He covers all the roles of the midfield. Sometimes he was also an attacking midfielder. More than a filter, the media in some cases are just a blender. Better to go to see his games directly and analyze them calmly. That’s what I’ve been doing these days, a real feast. Result? I was hoping to come out more enthusiastic, I’m honest. I had recently seen him play a BVB-Schalke 04, the first post-Covid day in Germany, and he certainly hadn’t stolen my eye. Oh well, then I was studying the gialloneri … So I put my mind to it and I recovered the recoverable. McKennie is not a phenomenon but he is a fairly complete player. He has the physique of a wide receiver, but his feet are both sufficiently educated to the game of ball, just as contemporary football demands. In the middle of the field, therefore, he is not embarrassed. Nonetheless Weston is certainly not a “builder”, to use Pirlo’s up-to-date covercianese. In short, the American has all the credentials to become a low profile darling of Juventus supporters.
GOAL AGAINST HOFFENHEIM – The goal he scored against Hoffenheim on 7 March can come to our aid for several reasons. Of the three scored in the championship (his personal best), he is the only one that comes from an action. The other two, the one against Fortuna Düsseldorf and the other against Frankfurt, come from a firm ball: Weston jumps like a cricket, he’s not a headache. But let’s go back to the Veltins-Arena, in Gelsenkirchen, where Wagner’s Schalke take on Schreuder’s Hoffenheim. The hosts, the miners (die Knappen), play with 3-4-3. McKennie is in the two midfielders, on the right.
His teammate is the Austrian Schöpf, the side are Kenny on the right and Oczipka on the left. Ahead, Burgstaller is the apex of a trident made up of Raman and Matondo. And here’s McKennie’s interpretation of the role in this particular circumstance. Weston goes, attacks space: it’s an invader.
As I said, the technique is ordinary but not without sudden and unpredictable peaks, both positive and negative. Here, for example, McKennie manages to turn around while running and control the ball gently with the instep of his foot.
It is not over: after having oriented himself towards the goal with the first check, the Texan uses the movement of the first striker with personality to concentrate towards the heart of the area. It means having a kind of confidence in one’s weak foot.
The left-handed shot is effective, a dry low shot at the near post. It seemed to me a good example of dynamism, this breaking away from the midfield duo to attack the space and reach the conclusion. And dynamism is another key word in Pirlo’s lexicon.
DEFENSIVE PHASE – As I mentioned in the last article, the 3-4-3 sometimes risks breaking in the defensive phase, leaving the three forwards above the ball line. For this, having a midfielder with McKennie’s athleticism in the middle can come in handy.
Below even Schalke transforms the 3-4-3 into a real 5-4-1 very, very low. It is DFB-Pokal’s quarter lost 1-0 to Flick’s Bayern. They have the ball from start to finish, nothing to do. Schalke defends and starts again, when he manages to restart, on the counterattack. McKennie is always there, on the center right.
Below we are in the second season of Domenico Tedesco on the miners’ bench, the coach who practically launched McKennie (in the first year, that of the second place in the Bundes, the twenty-year-old Texan makes 22 appearances, 13 as a starter despite the breaking of the collateral in winter). Here, however, we are at 6 February 2019: still in the cup, and this time the opponent is Fortuna Düsseldorf. We find Weston in a two-man midfield, but in a four-player game system, that is 4-2-3-1. Note the presence of Bentaleb alongside the American. A builder, Algerian number ten. To understand, no, McKennie was not taken as an alternative to Locatelli. They are very different profiles.
IN NATIONAL – With the USA McKennie played for two selectors: the over-sixty-year-old Dave Sarachan, who preferred 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1, and Gregg Berhalter, a 47-year-old who mainly adopts the 4-2-3-1 / 4-4-2. Here is a friendly match between the United States and Mexico, on 12 September 2018: with old Dave, McKennie starts from the left midfielder and then exchanges with Adams, the American from Nagelsmann’s Leipzig.
In this system, the midfielder even goes out on the defensive centers of the opposing teams during the ball round. It’s a very expensive role, there are important races to do in both phases. In any case, confirmation arrives: in a three-man midfield, McKennie does not make the low construction summit. Trapp takes care of it.
The following image is taken from the Gold Cup final. We are in July 2019 and Gregg Berhalter already sits on the bench of the Americans, therefore 4-2-3-1. The opponent is still Mexico. Notice McKennie inside midfield along with Bradley. Captain armband, by the way. And always on the center right.
Finally, a more recent race, albeit slightly, dating back to 7 September 2019. Needless to say, the opponent is Mexico. McKennie is now even deployed as an attacking midfielder, with Pulisic passing to make the winger on the left. In the middle of the field Morales and the usual Trapp play.
But look at what happens in the construction phase… McKennie ducks down and goes for the right midfielder, Trapp rotates towards the center and becomes the low vertex of a three-man midfield. Basically the Texan covers two roles in the same race. More dynamic than that …
