Comments on: Brek Shea … a left back in the making?

By: mvktr2

mvktr2 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:05:03 +0000

Until there is some real polish on his career this discussion will continue to crop up, especially when talking about him switching clubs. It was just a couple years ago that people were bragging about the genius, and somewhat questionable at the time, move of putting Shea at LM. It was only a couple years before that when people were arguing and wondering where his landing spot would be. Seems the argument is still brewing.

It’s quite the testament to players such as he and Cameron that they have both the physical tools (height, speed, foot speed, etc) and skills to switch around and be quite versatile. I like him at LM and hope he stays there, it’s an especially good skill set-match to a 4-3-3 formation for the Nats. However if Cameron were to get moved inside and Shea at LB, the idea of them playing together at club and country for the next half decade or so would be an exciting and impressive proposition.

By: tarotsujimoto74

tarotsujimoto74 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:57:43 +0000

American Jordi Alba?

By: capsfan19

capsfan19 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:49:47 +0000

On the one hand its cool to see him go to england, but stoke it a bunch of goons

By: petewlsn

petewlsn — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:37:40 +0000

I’m a country over club guys so i always look towards how does this benefit/hurt the USMNT. I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Brek a shot at LB. Not too long ago CB was the move and a La Liga club wanted him at that spot too (generation adidas spain trip), so he must have some defensive skills. if it came down to who would i rather have in the final third Fabian Johnson or Shea, i go Johnson. every time

By: tylerbetts

tylerbetts — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:14:21 +0000

I don’t know.

Maybe I overvalue the moment, but his work to create the game winning assist at Azteca remains the narrative on his potential as a creative playmaker able to set others up.

He might have the physical skills to play left back, but I feel he’d be sacrificing a bit too much in terms of creativity in attack to play that far back. Especially, as you pointed out, in a defense-first team like Stoke. I think Brek works well in a system that’s designed to defend well and make their chances off of counters. That’s exactly the system he’d be playing in at Stoke as a midfielder.

Now, as a Left Back for a team in the Netherlands or something? That might be a better question.