The best and the worst in one game. Too many give always against a counter type team. Lack of pace in our right back. Soft middle, in the beginning. But, the emergence of a young striker, the continued fine play of LDT and Lennon. I was impressed w EPB and Derrick Jones. Truthfully, I haven't heard of him. He is in the Toure-Viera mode. Our first touch needs polishing. That was a great game. Very American.
Well, I can be fair to him, but I don't find your portrayal to be correct. The angle of the chance on goal 1 wasn't that great, yet he came sliding out, missed, vacated the goal, left a wide open net for another player. Probably should've been sent off, and gave them a higher percentage chance than they would've otherwise had. Brave effort, but he missed, and created a better chance for them. The second goal he was beat near post. Sure, I don't blame the whole thing on him, don't even blame it mostly on him, but it was certainly savable. And then goal 3 was awful. He had one nice save after Herrera decided he was going to stop playing. The long shot was right at him. A nice save, but one a goalie should always be expected to make. The strike on the ball made it look tougher than it was for the goalie. And I credit him for saving a goal, but he also put one in his net. I wouldn't say his net lost/gained was anything above zero for this game, and considering goals 1, 2 and 3, you could say it was less than zero.
On the third goal, the backline has got to be moving to better positions to offer better options for the keeper. They just stood and waited for him to boot it upfield, which he never really got the chance to do. The left back is just standing there watching the whole thing happen. He needed to be moving left. They nearly had the same thing happen about 10 minutes earlier, when Klinsmann came out of the box and tapped it over to a nearby defender. The defender never thought to be looking for it. This is a sign of poor coaching and lack of refinement. But I suspect that's not on Tab, but on American youth coaches and just generally too much reliance on clearing the ball in the American game.
Is there any reason to even argue about the first two goals? The play he made on the third would have gotten the keeper benched on my sons' u14 and u12 teams. To do that at this level is just selfish. It's not just that it's a unbelievably bad decision - it's that it's an unelievably selfish one - attempting to show off your ball skills with your feet rather just clearing and letting your teammates support you.
A few months. Still, he can't join a big club yet. Has to be 18, and there are no 2000's around the world playing for any "big clubs" in Europe, nor even on the first team's at all. He'll get his shot eventually. He's going to sign somewhere good probably in the Summer 2018 window.
and the backline sometimes cannot handle the pressure well, so many wrong passes that made scaring moments, especially one of our CBs, I cannot figure out it is EPB or Redding.
I liked what I saw from Sargent, DLT, Lennon, & Jones If the US can avoid dumb mistakes, it's actually a pretty good team Jones is really good
Klinsmann is paying for the sins of his forefathers. I think hes a good shot stopper. It must have been difficult to play behind the sloth pace of that rb. He was getting skinned for dinner. First game of the tournament, he likely had nerves. Tab did not protect that backline. It took an injury for him to be forced into making the correct tactical decision. Hes an easy target. I think hes a promising keeper.
Lennon is a good bit faster than those guys, I could see him making a pretty successful transition to right back at some point.
Zelalam didn't suit the gameplan at all. Unfortunately, I think Gedion Zelalem's career isn't going to end up well. This tournament was crucial for Gedion to show himself off, and that injury looked BIG. Gedion's definitely not playing this tournament, and he'll be injured for awhile probably. To be honest I don't think he's that good of a player anyway. Zelalem has no real position, Zelalem can't shoot well enough on goal or get foward enough to be an attacking mid, and he's not physical enough to be a Dmid. Zelalem is only a passer, unless he has a Pirlo role on a team he'll probably end up second division at BEST.
Thank you, Jurgen. If you are really saying that our keeper's impact on this match was either neutral or close to it - you may wish to steer clear of keeper analysis in the future.
Jones is impressive. If Ramos use him and Zelalem in the middle, I feel there would be some good chemical reaction. These two have something complementary. But, it seems like zelalem is done for.the tournament.
I haven't read back through the thread, but I assume that people agreed with Cobi Jones about Zelalem. It's an interesting thing, because I thought he was one of our better players, certainly our most skillful, in his short appearance. on the other hand, we clearly needed the physical presence Jones brought into the game. I think it was more us needing a bruiser than that Zelalem was playing poorly.
With Herrera it isn't even dumb mistakes, just a shocking lack of quality. If Tab benches Herrera (and moves Adams there or Glad is good to go) then yeah I think it's a pretty solid team, despite all the absences.
Redding had a tough day. You could tell that the backline had not played together much before. They were not crisp and didnt move as a unit. Controlling the ball from the back is a team commitment that also involves the midfield and forwards. Jones cleaned that up some but it still needs work.
Really? I like him as a winger. His crosses are too potent but he's a little goofy to be inside like that. Lennon is made for what Pulisic is being wasted as at Dortmund most of the time. A workhorse with a good cross and two-way capability. I was thinking we need a 4-2-3-1 with Lennon wide, Sargent at the top and DLT in the hole. Exactly.
Okay, here's what I think. Klinsmann. Thanks for your service, shouldn't see the field the rest of the tournament. Herrera, thanks for your service, shouldn't see the field the rest of the tournament. Acosta had some of his usual dumb mistakes, but he wasn't totally awful. He's still not a smart player, and makes mistakes because of it, but he wasn't our biggest problem. I'm hoping he can hold up on that left side. Adams and Williamson were shit, Jones was doing the job of three players. Redding had two major errors on both goals, but other than that, he was okay. EPB was very good. He was a little uncomfortable playing on the left instead of right, but thats arguing over spilled milk. Jones was excellent, was absolutely carrying two nothings around in the center of midfield. GZ was good until going off. de la Torre had a really nice match, and got a deserved goal at the end. I'd like to see him play like this more often. If he can, he could be a good player. As far as I'm concerned, he's too inconsistent. Lennon is totally ineffective out wide. Great service, and can poach goals, but no ability to beat players in wide positions or create anything that isn't a delivery. I had said that I didn't think Sargent would be able to replicate his U-17 form at the U-20 level, although I acknowledged that I thought he had the talent to do so and wouldn't be surprised, if he did, I just didn't expect it. Turns out he can, and thats a big bonus for this team. Kunga and Saucedo added nothing. Sub two different players on next game.
Hes best as a no. 8, and has an Elite ability to keep posession. Ramos really got it wrong by making him the one covering the back line, and everyone saw that when Jones came in.
The team needed a central mid who cleaned things up and made the simple pass. Ramos was trying to get everyone on the field rather than getting what worked.