Americans Abroad: Patrick Agyemang sends message to Mauricio Pochettino, Tyler Adams scores stunner, but Chris Richards' Crystal Palace fall to Manchester United

GOAL reviews the major takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, including Agyemang getting back to his best.

The USMNT have a few good strikers to work with. What they don’t have, at least not yet, is a great one. This crop is full of ideas, full of talent, but none of them are the finished product. And that in itself comes with a certain appeal: the familiar excitement around what a player isn’t quite yet, but maybe could be. Could Folarin Balogun become world-class? Possibly. But he’ll need a few tweaks - and a sustained run of fitness - before that conversation gets serious.

That uncertainty is what fuels the weekly churn of the U.S. striker discourse, a position where relevance is gained and lost by the game. Patrick Agyemang was barely mentioned a few weeks ago; now, after a well-taken goal in a defeat, he’s back in the mix. Josh Sargent is still struggling to actually put the ball in the net, but a much-needed assist nudged him into the conversation again. And then there’s the mercurial Ricardo Pepi, who scored and assisted for PSV as his manager shifted to a two-striker system just to get him in the side.

And even in a week in which Christian Pulisic missed action due to an injury, and Chris Richards misfired for Palace, there remains reason for optimism for USMNT hopefuls and regulars alike.

GOAL looks at the major takeaways from this weekend's Americans Abroad.

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More to come from Agyemang?
Agyemang's signing with Derby was a puzzling decision at the time. He was scoring goals for Charlotte FC, performing at a high level, and at the very least giving Mauricio Pochettino something to think about. Sure, the money was always going to be better in the EFL Championship, but he had things pretty good in MLS.
Yet when Derby beckoned, Agyemang answered - and saw his income jump dramatically, from $104,000 at Charlotte to a reported $1.5 million. On the pitch, though, the move hasn’t always made sense. Since returning from the injury he suffered in MLS before the transfer, Agyemang hasn’t consistently looked like a natural fit for John Eustace’s side, alternating between No. 9 and No. 10. He’s a fine footballer, but also a fairly one-dimensional presence.
Still, the form is coming. And on Saturday against Middlesbrough, he scored a truly lovely goal.
It was a proper striker’s move - reading the bounce, accelerating away from his defender, and shaping the perfect angle to slot past a helpless goalkeeper. Agyemang isn’t quite the finished product yet, but he’s a regular starter and already has six goal contributions for Derby.
After the match, Eustace praised him. Odds are, there’s more to come.

Adams defies logic
Have a hit, yeah, Tyler? Sometimes, watching football is hard to comprehend why, exactly, a player does what they do. Sometimes it's a silly decision: a backpass that goes awry, or an ill-advised attempt at a nutmeg. But on Saturday morning, it was Tyler Adams deciding to shoot from 50 yards. And why? It seemed, in real time, a truly puzzling move. But as the ball floated, and the camera adjusted accordingly, his whack down the field looked a stroke of genius.
You will see few better goals this season than Adams' long-range clip, the American midfielder recognizing in an instant that the goalkeeper was 15 yards off his line for no apparent reason. It capped off a fine performance in defeat for Adams. He seems to have three lungs these days, a perfect element in the middle of Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth machine, all whirring legs and instinctive moves. Bournemouth lost 3-2 - but if football is about individual moments, then Adams had the best of the weekend, by far.
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Richards fails to deliver against United
Sunday morning's game against Manchester United felt important for Crystal Palace. It will, in all likelihood, be a tricky season for the Eagles. They secured European football last year, but didn't invest enough over the summer to prove that they can stay there. But big results, such as a late win over Liverpool earlier in the season, showed that there remains plenty of fight here.
And Richards will be central to that effort. He has performed wonderfully on the right side of a back three for Oliver Glasner for over a year now, and has been part of a well-drilled defensive system. Man United seemed to be a good test. These are the kinds of games that Palace should win - especially at home. Instead, they were a little mixed. Richards won his headers, but wasn't quite convincing when the ball was on the ground. To be clear, he can't be totally blamed here, but Palace really shouldn't have conceded twice. And the American was part of that letdown. There will be better days...

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Moments you might have missed
+ Ricardo Pepi scored and assisted in PSV's win over lowly Volendam
+ Brenden Aaronson came off the bench in Leeds' 3-2 loss to Man City
+ Christian Pulisic missed Milan's 1-0 win over Lazio with a knock
+ Weston McKennie played all 90 minutes in Juve's nervy 2-1 win over Cagliari
+ James Sands went the full 90 but couldn't make an impact as St. Pauli conceded a 93rd-minute winner to Bayern Munich
+ It was a frustrating one for Malik Tillman, who couldn't quite make an impact as Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund
+ Folarin Balogun was feeding off scraps, but Monaco got the job done in a 1-0 win over PSG
+ Josh Sargent finally found a bit of form and grabbed an assist in Norwich's much-needed victory against QPR
+ Tim Weah played all 90, but Marseille threw away a late lead against Toulouse
+ Yunus Musah did not play in Atalanta's 2-0 win over Fiorentina
+ Tanner Tessmann shined in Lyon's 3-0 win over Nantes

More to come from Agyemang?

Adams defies logic

Richards fails to deliver against United

Moments you might have missed