Good Monday morning Caps fans, I hope you all had a restful and relaxing weekend and have lots of love in your life this week in time for Valentine’s Day (or candy, that works too).
On Wednesday we go again in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and, well, it’s going to be a tough one, there’s no doubt about it. Vanni Sartini will have his squad prepared to not back down in Mexico but this is often where things come unraveled for rival teams in continental competitions.
The sense of optimism should prevail no matter what and I’m happy to see MLS pundits taking notice of the positive display (hopefully not too much — I get nervous when people start getting too high on the Caps, having been burnt too many times in the past).
I am a regular Extratime Radio listener and flipped on MLS’ league produced podcast on Thursday and they spent a fair amount of time on the favorite topic of many league analysts who don’t have an overly deep knowledge of the Caps: Pedro Vite.
As an aside, it is interesting to me how much attention and #discourse Vite gets from these types of folks in comparison to, say, Ali Ahmed. I don’t fault people like Matt Doyle, who do a good job trying to break down and follow a lot of teams leaguewide. But it is curious and intriguing to me that Vite becomes such a talking point.
That being said, Vite was actually one of the more interesting players in Wednesday’s game, not because he was one of the top guys on the pitch (he was very good, not spectacular) but due to the fact that he occupied a deeper-than-usual spot on the pitch, serving as a deeper lying playmaker rather than a winger or more advanced midfielder, which are the spots he traditionally has played for Vancouver.
It is a potentially decisive season for Vite, who has seemingly been on the verge of breaking out for some time. I still have faith that he can and am not going to throw in the towel if he doesn’t quite get there this year. But if he does take that next step, it could be what elevates Vancouver.
His performance for country in Olympic qualifiers over the winter shows he can succeed in a more creative, pure midfield role. And he showed glimpses of that on Wednesday. His physicality in midfield is, as of now, a weakness, though that was surely in large part due to the fact that Tigres is, well, Tigres. But in terms of technical quality and adding a dimension to the game that guys like Alessandro Schopf have lacked, Vite faired very well.
This could have been a one-match tweak, designed to get through a game against a superior opponent without Ali Ahmed, who usually occupies that kind of role. But with Schopf once again struggling, Vite will likely be asked to do more of these types of tasks as we head into the season, at least until Ahmed is fit later this spring. The change was noticeable and I thought Vite did quite well with it.
When people have imagined Vite breaking through, it typically has been in more of a “secondary goal scorer” type of way, where he can make the Ryan Gauld/Brian White pairing more of a triple threat, opening up space for those two guys by presenting a real, viable option going forward. But maybe that was too narrow sighted, given Vite’s arsenal of skills. His tactical flexibility is a real asset and if Vanni decides this is how Pedro can best be unlocked, bring it on.
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Vite is, was, a U22 Initiative signing that in no way since has lived up to what that category of signing is expected to. That, adding his 2M+ transfer fee, is why he is the focus of those that don’t ordinarily spend more than a little time focusing on the team. He’s been average at best, and that’s not good enough for that investment.
I think you’re rating his performance last week and potential too highly, but that perspective aside he has in fact played most of his ‘Caps minutes in an attacking mid role and has produced very little offensively from them. I do think he * might * be more effective as a DLP / 8 but not as a pivot as he lacks the physical side of the game necessary as a pivot and the CBs behind him aren’t the most mobile or capable of stepping up and filling in gaps for him. As the ‘Caps don’t quite play with a specific AM in the CAM role, the minutes for him are likely the few when Gauld comes off the pitch or behind Ahmed and Sartini-favourite Schopf unless injuries open up those starting minutes.
My perspective on Vite: We’ve seen enough from him already, he’s not developing at near a quick enough rate and Sartini clearly favours other players in the couple of roles he might be suited to. He’s not living up to the fee and roster spot, and needs to be moved on while he might still have the value the team payed for him. Another average season won’t cut it.