Both DeAndre Yedlin and Cameron Carter-Vickers played for Totteham Hotspur in their 2-1 friendly defeat to Juventus in International Champions Cup action on Tuesday.
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After a shaky start Spurs looked bright in the second half and both Yedlin and CCV did things which will have impressed manager Mauricio Pochettino despite the defeat in their preseason opener in Melbourne, Australia.
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How did the U.S. national team duo perform?
Let’s take a look.
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Minutes played: 90
Rating: 6
After a poor start which saw CCV and his young central defensive partner Dominic Ball struggle to lock down Paulo Dybala, the U.S. youth international recovered well.
On Juve’s opening goal Ball was caught in possession and CCV then slid in but didn’t take the ball as Dybala was set free and scored. There were a few other shaky moments in possession but overall CCV recovered well in the first half, standing his ground and making some important blocks inside the box to snuff out any danger.
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In the second half his positioning was slightly suspect at times, especially when Miralem Pjanic was set free over the top and CCV hadn’t noticed his run on his back shoulder. That said, Carter-Vickers’ distribution improved throughout the game and he picked out good long balls forward and helped Spurs build back into the game. He played the full 90 minutes while Ball was hooked off in the second half and there is plenty for the 18-year-old to take from this experience. As a defensive unit Spurs struggled massively in the first half but that wasn’t just down to CCV.
He has captained Spurs’ reserve team since Pochettino arrived at the club and the Argentine coach obviously rates his ability. He didn’t look lost out there and along with Spurs’ other promising youngsters, he looks to have a bright future. With Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Kevin Wimmer ahead of him, don’t expect CCV to break through just yet but with Vertonghen out injured and set to miss the first month or so of the new season, expect to see his name on the bench.
Jurgen Klinsmann will watch on with intrigue as Carter-Vickers looks ready for the next step in his development which is likely a loan move to a team in the Championship or League One in England. The bruising center back is developing well after plenty of experience with the U.S. U-20 and U-23 teams in the last few years. Now, it’s time for him to learn from coming up against a quality team like Juve and take the positives from it, of which there were plenty.
DeAndre Yedlin
Minutes played: 45
Rating: 8
He came on at half time and Yedlin was impressive. The 23-year-old played at left back for 30 minutes and then switched to right back for the final 12 minutes of regulation plus stoppage time.
At left back he had plenty of opportunities to get forward and he used his pace whenever he could to try and support the likes of Vincent Janseen and Erik Lamela. Yedlin propelled himself past Juve’s left back and whipped in a dangerous cross late on as we got to see exactly why he was sent out on loan to Sunderland last season.
The Seattle Sounders product has definitely become more polished on the ball, just as we saw for the U.S. national team this summer at Copa America. He looked calm in possession and was certainly one of the major bright spots for Pochettino in the second half.
Now it’s all about seeing where Yedlin slots in on the depth chart. With England international Kyle Walker the first choice at right back, is Yedlin better than Kieran Trippier as Spurs’ back up option? Quite possibly. Trippier didn’t really get going at White Hart Lane last season and the former Burnley full back may be reluctant to spend another season behind Walker. Southampton have been linked with Trippier and that could open up a spot for Yedlin to be a squad player at Spurs.
Having shown his versatility at left back and right back, plus he can also play as a winger with that searing pace and fewer defensive responsibilities, would it be a good thing for Yedlin to hang around and try to get 10-12 games under his belt for Spurs this season? Probably not. He needs to be playing regularly and as we saw last season at Sunderland, he got better as the campaign wore on.
It will be an interesting few weeks to see how much Yedlin plays in preseason and how highly Pochettino rates him. That said, if he keeps playing like this then there’s no doubt other PL clubs will be queuing up to take him on loan.
