USMNT: Tyler Adams must find central midfield minutes

Tyler Adams still believes that he is best-suited to the defensive midfield position. However, the USMNT star has mostly played at right-back or right wing-back over the past two years. He must change that.

Positive player development is dependent on many factors. From the attitude of the player to the ability of the coach; from the environment of the club to the patience of the fans. There are numerous influencing components.

One of the key ingredients is playing time. It is very difficult for a player to improve if they are not playing at a challenging level on a regular basis. Sitting in the reserves is not helpful for any young player who has aspirations of playing for the first team. Equally, throwing them into a match they are not able to handle or loaning them out to a league that they are too good for also stunts growth.

More from MLS Multiplex

While playing time at the right level is critical, though, there is an added element that must also be considered: playing in the right position.

This is where U.S. Men’s National Team star and future prospect Tyler Adams is currently going wrong. Adams moved to RB Leipzig a little over a year ago. It is the perfect place for his development. Leipzig are renowned for their willingness to start young players, Julian Nageslmann is a sensational coach who has a proven track record of improving the players that work with him, and they are competing at a high level in perhaps the second-highest-standard league in the world. There is just one issue: Adams is playing a lot more at right wing-back than central-midfield.

After missing the first half of the season with adductor and fitness issues, Adams has since featured in eight of the last 12 Bundesliga matches. Of the four he missed, three were through injury and the other was his first appearance back in which he sat on the bench for the entire match.

Of those eight appearances, seven have been starts and he has played the full 90 minutes in just two. Three of the eight appearances have come in central midfield while five have come at right-back or right wing-back. Six of the seven starts and both of the full 90-minute appearances came at right-back or right wing-back. Adams also played 34 minutes against Spurs in the Champions League, also at right wing-back.

Nagelsmann uses a 3-4-3 system at Leipzig that does not really suit Adams’ central midfield qualities. The USMNT man, who has rotated between midfield and right-back roles for the national team, is a pure holding midfielder. He is excellent defensively, breaks up play very well, and is more athletic enough to cover vast spaces in protection of the defence. In Leipzig’s 3-4-3, the two central midfielders must provide more. They have to carry the ball, pass through the lines, create chances, and even score goals. These are skills that Adams is still developing.

Nevertheless, he believes that his best position is central midfield, as he revealed to Taylor Twellman and ESPN this week:

"“For me, it’s where I’m able to do what I’m best at. You go onto the field and you feel almost free in a sense. It’s natural, everything is natural. When I play, obviously right back, right wing-back, I’m definitely capable of playing there, I can have success there I believe. But I think there’s obviously still little things where you go into a game and you’re like, yeah this hinders me a little bit, all these little things where you can’t take as much risk. That’s obviously something that I think about a lot.”"

But Adams is not currently being handed the opportunities to develop his central midfield qualities. He is learning a different position, mastering the different skill set that is required to play that position at a high level, and is subsequently spurning time that he could dedicate to becoming the best central midfielder that he can be.

Next. USMNT: Weston McKennie proves where he should play. dark

This is not something to be massively concerned about at present. He will still waltz into the USMNT midfield with little competition. But if Adams wants to be a central midfielder and believes he is a central midfielder, at some point, he needs to play there.

Home/U.S. Soccer