Luca de la Torre is a walking paradox | Player breakdown & scouting reel

Ok, so everything shows up in the stats. You just have to have the right stats. If there was a metric on amount of times a players chin moved, and when even abstract things like 'vision' would start finding corollaries in the stats, and abstract things like 'vision' show up in things like key passes per 90 and chances created.

In the case of intensity, it shows up in the stats in ground covered. He covers I think top 5 maybe even top 2 most ground covered in the Eredivisie. It's in the stats. The Dutch call him "super fit". That's your intensity, or a big part of it. His intensity is in his work rate and in his heat map and you can measure those things. Compare Busio, that seems to lack it.

The walking paradox is his lack of aggression and courage in the final third.

And finally, someone is talking about the fact that when he shoots he eyes lock with the keeper and not the net. That is probably in the statistics too if you could dig enough (percentage of on target shots saved).

You mentioned his passing weight, and that's a problem but it's not the only problem. The really infuriating thing to me is that defenses have learned how easy it is to steer LDT wide. He has a habit in the final third of faking inside and then going outside like every single time, and defenders just herd him like a sheep dog herding a sheep away from the goal. I don't know how many times I've seen him beat a player or even two in the midfield and then get one on one with a defender and just run himself to the touchline. It makes me want to pull my hair out. You made a comparison with Reyna in terms of deftness of his passing, but I want to compare here with Aaronson and Pulisic who are similar players, similar talent, similar potention, but who charge the goal consistently. LDT has so much verticality in space, but when it gets to when he could be dangerous, he turns into Lleget.

He fails all the test that matter: the scoreline.

Busio is better going both ways and he can do more with his final ball. Musah is vastly better at possession and connecting passes. LDT had a solid outting but let's not pretend he's created a lot of scoring chances or denied a clear scoring chance. He also did it against a team that mailed it in and the other games were friendlies. says a lot about a guy that can't score or get an assist in the Eredivisie.

OK so who do we sit to play him?

I agree with everything Luca says about himself.

Silky aggressiveness combined with confidence that's how I'd describe LDT

Brilliant analysis! Intensity, competitiveness, and consistency are arguably the three qualities the USMNT need most right now, going into our most crucial, difficult, and dangerous qualifying round. We need this young man on the team going forward.

Don't say "Luca De La Torre is shooting up" ever again!

Please 🙏

Thanks. 😇

Great analysis. However, in my eyes, there is no debate in saying that LDLT is a depth piece in this national team. He did well against a weak opponent by Concacaf standards or any standards for that matter. I want to see him play like that at the World Cup and outplay Musah while he's at it. Even if he's starting for his club and among top 10 in the league at what he does, Musah is playing at a drastically higher level, for a somewhat relevant club, unlike him. Just because we're Americans doesn't give us the right to downplay this. Musah has to work harder for minutes and he's getting them, and doing something with it. So there is no debate on the pecking order here and more importantly, there is little chance that it can change any time soon. Doing it for teeny Heracles doesn't guarantee that he can take his game to a high enough level when we need it. That's the difference. If he cleaned up his deficiencies and played for PSV or Ajax at the very least, this would be a closer call, imo.

DLT shows promise. Sublime passes and plays like Anders Herrera , a pit bull.

IMO…he is a poor man's version of Gio. But without the range on his passing and his shot. And excellent observation on the weight of his passing. In the Panama game, several of his passes were either too light or too heavy. But he gets props for actually seeing the runs and at least putting the ball into play in the space. Versus Gio who was spot on with pretty much every ball he touched.

I would take DLT over Musah. He’s simply better at setting tempo and IMO has a better pass completion rate. Musah is good, but can be slow at making decisions. I like a Musah and DLT together, but when Mckennie is back I’d prefer DLT out there because he gives you a different look. And has the vision and I’d argue one of the best technical players on the roster.

let him start and let him play like he said he's been on form and he needs to be playing in the World Cup if we want to win and advance I hope the manager plays him and doesn't hold Luca back he needs to play simple as that him and Pulisic will be amazing and can take us past the round of16 maybe this is our time

Genuinely feel this kid is in the upper echelon of talent the USMNT has.

You're absolutely right about the numbers not being the story. Soccer isn't a linear sport. There are just those guys whose decision trees on the field simply obviate many of the situations we find ourselves in with any of a dozen other guys at the same position; going both ways. He's that guy who may never do anything spectacular, but whatever side he's on in practice and scrimmages is always the side that wins. His passes don't always hit the correct foot in stride, but that's because he passes to move the defenders around and torture them. Which he does, all the time. Put it this way; there are a lot of big clubs and countries that Modric or Xavi Hernandez wouldn't have started for. I have a feeling that would include any side run by a Berhalter or Arena.

Man I’m so happy channels like yours exist

homie should be starting. the tenacity of this man.

he plays at my club

This man doesn't know what a turnover is. He's so press-resistant and his awareness of his teammates' positioning is superb. I'll be kinda sad if he's not on World Cup roster, but I know that might be an unpopular opinion.

USSF licensed coach meaning you got your grassroots diploma online for $50.

If I had to place a play style on him it wouldn't be modric, the closest play style I see is park ji sung! Which I think park was an absolute insane key player in man united. Park was a better shooter, less power, but his placement was top notch, often you'd see his goals kind of drift into the goal just out of reach of the keeper. But mostly his value came from his insane work rate, world class progressive play be it runs or passing, and if he came on as a sub, somehow it felt like he could single handedly apply pressure to the entire opposing team and force turnovers all by himself. If LDLT can up his shooting and make himself an actual threat in the final third, that feels like the missing piece to make him an insane value for the usmnt or any club, because then teams would have to play around him more defensively, opening space for other attackers, hopefully producing more assists for him as well.

Most under rated US player, end of story

He move like Ilkay Gundogan