The Good: Green. We may have found our other winger. He needs to pair up with Weah. The Bad: McKennie. Hope he's ok. Also, he's looking quite mediocre TBH. The Ugly: Shaq is not our answer at RB. Yedlin is our clear #1, but our fullbacks are not good defensively. We did enough to beat a very terrible Mexican team. We're lucky to be in a weak confederation, though. When we play the Top 20, the flanks are going to get exposed.
I'm pleasantly surprised. First half was atrocious but I think it made a few things even more apparent. (1) Sarachan is scared and has no creativity … Acosta at RM? Really? (2) Will Trapp is surplus to requirements. He doesn't have the athleticism to cover for fullbacks and his passing between the lines is still too slow. (3) There's a need for a 10 out there The craziest part … Holy shit, Julian Green is that 10. He was quick with his decision, tidy with the ball, and made a clear difference. I hope this pushes McKennie deeper into the midfield. Him and Adams are athletic and smart enough to handle the back 2 in a 4-2-3-1. Loved to see Robinson come back so strong. Loved to see the balls on Matt. Loved to see Steffen continue to look strong. This group needs a new coach ASAP and just for everyone to grow up but I'm excited. Scariest part for me is still how much rides on Sargent to be that guy to put away opportunities. I love the kid but all our eggs might be in his basket.
I will write what I wrote in the PBP thread … Steffen (outside of the slip and fall at the edge of his box), CCV, Robinson, Adams, Green and Weah were all good in their respective stints this evening.
Our backline should be Robinson-Brooks-Miazga-Yedlin for every competitive match until next World Cup. No knock on CCV as he was solid, but Brooks and Miazga are a class above the rest of the CBs right now.
Great to get a win but it's officially time for Sarachan to be done. The decision to have a midfield of Accosta-McKennie-Adams-Weah was not good and was a huge reason for the lack of creativity early. I feel like McKennie at least should have gotten a rest (and I think the fact he was an early sub backs that up). Team looked much better once Green and Robinson came in. Trapp had a good second half after a very poor first half. Wish we would have gotten to see more from Rolden and Delgado. But again, to me Sarachan really showed today in terms of initial strategy why he should not be seriously considered. I know as a country we aren't exactly blessed right now with a lot of international offensive talent, but I feel as if Sarachan didn't even attempt to put a coherent attack together and instead continued with the strategy of trying to have Adams and McKennie make everything work.
Would have been nice to see what Acosta could have done centrally. He had the 'secondary' assist. The pass to Robinson. He played well vs Portugal in that position. Unfortunately we must force WT90. So..........
We have to do a 4-4-2 diamond with Pulisic, Sargent, Weah the attackers. We are so thin right now on wingers
Weah and Steffen imo entrenched themselves as starters by the U.S.' normal standards going fw. That was the most important development. Miazga, Adams, and McKennie I already thought were clearly. Hopefully McKennie is alright. Robinson is a lean as a starter. Still need to see more though, and maybe some improvement. Obviously the Brasil match was rough. Green makes the squad going fw as a bench spark. He's played hard for the national team when given opportunities the last few years. Not a hard choice because it's slim pickings at an a-mid spot he can play. Tremendously disappointed Dave didn't make an attempt to build anything at CF, or alternatives at rb, cm, and depth at a-mid. Trapp experiment is a lot of sunk cost. Stop compounding it. Keeps circling back to the Acosta fascination even though he shows little in exorbitant opportunities. Usage as a-wing made it even nuttier. Moore's chances are pretty inexplicable, at a position where we have a lot better options. I'm not really worried about CB. That's really a product of the pool though. If any of the first few tiers of the next generation were played it would have proven a big upgrade. And sadly some were ready toward the end of the hex. To still have been having problems there was inexcusable!
I'd be very worried about our CBs if we were in South America. But not in C-CAF: they're fast, tall, strong. That should do.
1st half was a bit reactive (better than vs. Brazil) but Mexico did indeed have the better of it. Nice to see we didn't give them many good opportunities, though. Red card certainly tipped the game more in our favor, and it was very nice to see us take advantage. I too was impressed with Green centrally. He did much better than on the wing vs. Brazil where he largely backpassed and looked hesitant to try and take on his man. Plenty of getting involved, a bit of dirty work going for the ball, some nice work. Passing in general looked more crisp and so did first touches. Still some pinball-like stuff when the ball was in the air (we still seem to have some accuracy problems directing headed balls to teammates), but overall, I'd say a better shift.
Think Sarachan shorted himself. He could have found a way to field 6 central/defensive/box to box mids. 4. Pfffftt