Normally, I’d agree. And I still think Dest should be a fullback/wingback BUT he’s immediately one of the top three most technical players in the entire pool. Yedlin.... isn’t.
I think I've mentioned this before when you've brought it up, but given our problems in the midfield, the 442 Diamond is intriguing. The 442 flat will get overrun, IMO, even with McKennie and Adams. We just aren't good enough to hold down a central midfield with two guys. Even if we swing Pulisic to a second striker spot, it's just weak. If we go 433, I'm playing Pulisic on the wing and trying only bulldogs at the #10 - Holmes, Pomykal, etc. Pomykal, McKennie, Adams. Dest helps on offense. But the diamond? Put Morris/Weah plus a pure striker up top, letting the Morris/Weah forward role play wide and provide width. Pulisic at the point of the spear and then Adams, McKennie, and Pomykal/Holmes behind as the defensive, narrow gauntlet. Let the opponent have the wings. Dest and Cannon can provide additional attacking width, with Morris/Weah or Pulisic offsetting. I think the fluidity of the attacking options -- who is going wide and who is staying central out of Morris/Weah and Pulisic would create some issues. And add that any of the central mids could come up as well as either FB and there would be a lot of ability to create unique attacking looks on the fly. That'd make prep hard for the opponent -- it's not now.
lol. WTF are you talking about? I’m talking about switching positions not replacement. Arriola is a better defender and I want Pulisic to be free to attack.
every one of these has either 7 defenders and/or Pulisic as a 7th/8th defender. that’s simply not going to to work against good teams IMO. We can have maybe two “pure” offensive players and as many two way players as we can who are first and foremost good defenders.
433 for sure. We have 1 extremely athletic DM who can move and cover and pass in Adams. We have Morales who is a great physical DM who can enforce the midfield. McKinnie who can play box to box as a CM. Pulisic, Weah, Sabbi, Amon, Morris, Lennon, Lewis, Gooch, and others can all play the wing with success and some are more defensive and others are more only offense. Good overlapping Fullbacks who can provide width if we decide to tuck in with depth in the pipeline. Some faster CBs who can cover on the counter with Adams. I just see us as being a 433 with quick counters and pressing with a mix of technical players and heavy tacklers. But thats just my opinion. Pulisic-----Sargent-----Sabbi --------------McKinnie --------Adams-------Morales
I see it more as a rover CM b2b with Wes instead of a classic CAM, with Pulisic/Sabbi at times cutting in and Dest taking up the RM spot with Adams and Morales less involved in the attack. Its not ideal but with what we have right now I think he can, ideally youd drop him back beside Adams and slot in Pomykal/Holmes. But I dont think Wes and Adams are ready to control a team with physicality yet, so we need Morales' physical play at least in the way I think we should play. Right now I just dont know we have the player who can play that 10 and be a difference maker. So you let your wingers cut inside, fullbacks overlap (which is a strength we have at the moment) and take advantage of 3 really athletic CMs who can cover ground, tackle and read the game. Wes is just further forward because I think he has the best attacking instincts of the 3.
I’m not sure that a 433 vs good opponents makes sense CD having just two attackers. our issue has been giving up too many goals and the marginal third attacker isn’t someone who puts fear in opponents IMO - were just adding a (competent) body on offense. the impact on offense is likely smaller than adding an incremental two way player has on our defense. if we were adding a high level attacker who opponents would have to game plan around, that would be different but in your example, it’s Sabbi and that doesn’t move the needle for me.
I think a 4-2-3-1 would work well on the road or even a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 on the road leaving Pulisic, Sargent and Weah to run free with little defensive responsibility. The four midfielders would have to be bulldogs.
I have my doubts on only defending with 7. Would feel different if the front three could press at effective level.
I would say a 442, diamond or 532 is about as defensive as I would get. Personally, I hate the 4-1-4-1 formation which in my opinion is the MOST defensive formation. Those formations always seem to get bottleneck in their own half, and are easy to plan against. More so, that formation tends to be better for the teams with very good technical skill where they can build out of the back and possess the ball forward. I don’t think we have that player pool. Whereas, we always seem to do best when we have more than one outlet to build the attack. It makes opponents respect the threat and keeps them from stuffing the ball back into our defensive third.
Seattle/Toronto fusion (pretty solid team, actually): ---------morris-----jozy----deleon ------------delgado------roldan --------------------bradley --morrow--moor------gonzo---? --------------gk:frei/westberg
We dont have a creative player though, so while I agree we lose the creative amid. Its more a flat midfield 3 with McKinnie going forward because he has the ability to make late runs and Pulisic and Sabbi can cut inside with overlapping fullbacks to provide width and combination, until McKinnie and Adams are physically ready, then slide him back and slot in a playmaker at 10 (I just dont see that much difference in creativity between McKinnie and the others who would play there). You could move Pulisic in there but I just dont like my best attacking player to have that much defensive responsibility. Fair enough, I just dont see an extra midfield player with our player pool not as big of an upgrade has having a true winger who takes people on 1v1. I know Sabbi is not a world beater but he does a lot we dont have in the team. But its a point we can always discuss, and I respect all opinions. Its what makes discussions like these fun.
Creativity is about being able to receive the ball under pressure, hold the ball, and place the team in more advantageous positions. We have players who can do that in the advanced areas. McKennie in the plunger role with two wing-forwards hasn't worked. Again, no creativity. Is Sabbi going to change the equation?
I think he does. With his 1v1 dribbling and passing, his track back and his willingness to shoot, I believe adding that into a midfield 3 with less of a CAM (with our current pool) is better than playing with a hamstrung CAM with deficiencies at this time. But again thats just me, others wont have that observation Im sure.
Sabbi has 4 goals and 0 assists in 12 games. In Denmark. His team is in 12th(out of 14) place. Per match, he averages 1.8 successful dribbles(49% success rate) and 1.6 key passes. Above average, but nothing special. Certainly nothing to put him above Paul Arriola, for example. Arriola averages 1.8(67% success rate) on his dribbles from right forward. It's touch and go as to whether he'd even make the U23 Olympic team, if they qualify. https://www.sofascore.com/player/emmanuel-sabbi/880765
ive been a big fan of sabbi since his striker days with the youth national teams, and very much want to get him a look in the sr team but he plays on the right (mid, in a 4-4-2, not even winger)- im not seeing any evidence or reason to think he can play as a 10. as a donovan-esque, withdrawn striker 10 maybe, but not attacking mid 10. the last thing we need is to take numbers out of this midfield.
Steffen in goal. Long and Brooks at CB Adams, Lletget, and Mckennie in the middle. Pulisic and Morris on the wings. Jozy narrowly beating out Sargent up top. The tough one is the fullbacks. Dest should be starting, but the question is on which side. Under Gregg's system he's better as a RB, but I think you have to turn to Nick Lima or Tim Ream at LB if you do that. I think Cannon is a far better option than both but that would involve pushing Dest left. I'm fairly neutral on what to do there. If we do put Dest at RB, most people think it's a battle between Lovitz and Ream (which is fair based on Berhalter's lineups), but Nick Lima should really get a look at LB
----------Sargent---------- Dest------CP-----Morris ---------WM-----TA--------- FJ-----JAB---MM-----RC
I agree with something along the lines of this. Over the past decade, I think our NT has performed the best in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I would personally put Altidore ahead of Sargent if he's healthy, which is rare, but he would open Pulisic up a bit more than having Sargent as the #9. I would have Long in front of Miazga solely because of his speed. Having Brooks and Miazga leaves our defense vulnerable to speedy forwards. Yedlin vs Cannon is a close call, and who knows how FJ is going to look these days, but I think almost everyone agrees he's been one of our best players throughout the past 5 years or so. The fact that he's still on BM's books and gets play time when he's healthy says enough.
It wouldn't be the first time that an Atlanta team bailed on a player too soon for "lack of professionalism" (that was, in part, due to poor treatment from the staff).
-------------Steffen--------- Dest---Long---Brooks---FJ ---------------Adams-------- ----McKennie----Lletget---- Morris-----Altidore----Pulisic