Having a system and tactics and strategy where everyone knows what they are doing and when they are doing it in unison with the rest of the team is actually the coach's job. JK seemed incapable of having a consistent and cogent plan that all the players on the field were aware of. This is basically established fact. JK wanted players to intuit and feel the game. What other successful coaches talk this way? While intuitiion and feeling is important, you also do need an actual strategy and gameplan. Berhalter is already shown he is 100 times more capable of taking us in a winning direction that JK ever was.
1) i have had an mls live / espn+ subscription for years, so i am a fan 2) how is it mindless trashing? jones and bradley have basically confirmed my reading of the situation
My only comment is that it is only natural for a new coach to be compared directly to his nearest predecessors. He has been compared to Arena also (mostly to paint Berhalter in a negative light...by association). The fact that the comparisons may or may not shed Klinsmann and or Arena in a bad (or good) light, do not make them invalid. What is invalid is a deviation where Arena or Klinsmann become the focus.
I had the subscription from 2002-2014. Thereafter the number of 'free' broadcasts of soccer both in Europe and MLS increased to my saturation point and I canceled my subscription. I am by no means anti-MLS.
Agreed. The quality I like about Zardes us he makes things happen. He's not the best at anything. He's dynamic, competitive and a gamer. There's a place for the Zardes of the soccer world.
That's a big multiplier. Sure you wouldn't like to trim it down to just 'more capable,' then state your proof?
He plays a production position. To then suggest I can't use production stats as "out of context" verges on crazed. It's not like he's playing DM and it's hard to quantify what he does. He plays forward. That is a highly quantified position. Where are the goals? OK, he makes things happen, just not goals. Where are the assists? Anything he truly makes happen at his position should fall in one bin or the other. The two intangible things forwards can do that won't show up in a score sheet are chase defenders or hold up play too far upfield to earn an assist. He is not Wondo chasing defenders. He is not a Ching target forward. He has scored 6 times since being capped 4 years ago. The teams Zardes scored on: Holland (friendly), then Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, St. Vincent. Bobby Wood has scored 6 goals since the last Hex started, and scored on Germany, Holland, Mexico, CR, Honduras, Panama, Ireland, Colombia. The best idea is not pretending he should be forward on intangibles, ahead of 4 or 5 quality options we have, it's move him back to wing like he used to play, where I think he might contend for a bench wing job. Weah, Green, or Pulisic run at someone for 75 minutes and then Amon or Zardes tags in. Failing that, Zardes might sneak into something if both Jozy and Morris don't come back full speed, if I was the boss. The reality is his old coach is boss so he will likely be included regardless what the numbers tell you.
I don't buy the USA long term is Columbus, but even if I granted that statement, your suggestion is hire a coach just for the slot you think we are now? Essentially, we are mediocre, so mediocre suffices. How do you expect to improve? What about aspiring to being better? What serious team hires on a "this is about what you can handle" basis? The idea is always to hire better than you deserve. This is where GB fans start citing how he has been stuck midtable with low payroll but will flower with better players. Essentially, they contradict you and say the team is better than you think and will give Berhalter something to play with for a change. Because if the team is mediocre and you're slotting in a mediocre coach then where are you expecting the magical flowering that isn't in his CV? If your argument follows why didn't you hire someone else. Conversely, if the team is in fact better than what he's had before, and better than you admit, well, then, are we selling them short with your "paired" argument? If he was hired on your premise we are mediocre, but we are really gifted as his fans suggested, then we just hired a coach not even to our standard, on the optimistic hope he can ramp up. Over people with CV accomplishments. A substantial list of American candidates (or potentials) for the job could have been described as former internationals with world cup experience who have coached for several years professionally and are students of the game/ career coaches. Literally the only one who might not tick those boxes was coaching noob Brad Freidel. Flynn acknowledged as the process wore on that historically an MLS coach seeking the NT job was expected to have a league title on his resume. This makes sense for the reasons I have argued for months. eg, you say you dominated MLS as a coach, put up or shut up. Whatever people think of Bradley or Arena, they'd done that. So that is a tick box with a little more bite that we pulled off the check list while people act like this was an aspirational hire. Put differently, hiring a coach without the tick box is watering the job down.
How many people in this thread are currently rooting AGAINST Greg Berhalter to succeed because of their anger towards USSF or not getting a big game coach?
He hasn't even coached a match and already we're at "Gregg Berhalter fans". Our fanbase can be pathetic.
If you would like to present another viewpoint, please do so. Otherwise, keep your puerile thoughts in check.
No one is rooting against the USMNT to punish a federation which is trying to work in it's own best interest. Try thinking about the issue at hand rather than chiding those with different viewpoints than your own. It's not rational and it's not helpful.
No, no, no. I can give the man his honeymoon and then point out his fans engage in willful optimism, or the contradiction I just outlined of whether he is exactly the coach we deserve or will flower because of better players. Those comments are kind of a commentary on the fans more so than him. At least one point I am making is he can't both be "the coach we deserve" and yet "about to flower in the presence of our superior talent." The post I was responding to even said, essentially, "I am optimistic about Berhalter." I am then pointing out some of the fallacies and contradictions associated with that position. If he is exactly their level of mediocrity where is the excellence to flow from. Or, if the team is good and he's now to prove himself above his mediocrity, did we underestimate what the team deserved. I've said about 20 times when we get to a game he is on honeymoon and will be judged by results and how the team looks. I just get riled up at the contradictory cheer of what I in fact believe are Columbus or Berhalter cheerleaders who wanted us to hire someone without much CV by claiming we will be where he flowers. To me that is not rational science, that's optimistic philosophy, and if the logic contradicts itself on what is an unscientific position, you're going to hear my logic critique.
[ Did you actually read the post, or did you just get to the point where he said, "This is where GB fans..." and then start composing your, umm, retort? If you read the entire post, you would have read an organized response to the quoted post. It had a thesis, points to support the thesis, and a conclusion. I may not agree with his ideas, but I understand them and respect the effort that went into expressing them. They furthered the conversation, and most certainly did not demean the post he was responding to. In no way do I believe he represents a pathetic fan base. In fact, I'd like more thoughtful fans like him.
Another tired rant from a JK loyalist. Every goddamn thread is polluted with their eurosnob, anti domestic soccer, revisionist history and conspiracy theory bullshit. The mods have no interest in policing up the nonsense. So why should we even care? I've grown tired of arguing with self loathing halfwits.
None of this crap belongs in this forum. It has neither to do with news regarding the USMNT nor Analysis of the USMNT. I was the mod around here during the Bradley years and the nepotism trolls ruined a solid 50% of all threads. Now we have a different group. You want to bitch and whine and scream conflict of interest about the USMNT, SUM, and MLS well maybe you should do that in a different forum. This forum should be limited to Analysis of the actual team. Such as speculating on what kind of players he'd bring up, how he'd set the USMNT up tactically, how he'd view YA and MLS talents comparatively. Hell predict what he'd do thatd be different from Arena, Klinsmann and Bradley.
Can I not be supportive of Berhalter, hopeful that he'll actually do well, and simultaneously NOT be a fan? Because, as of yet, he's not done anything for me to be a fan of since he hasn't so much as called a Camp Cupcake roster.
What's killing me is all these interviews with Berhalter, the tactical discussions on MLSsoccer, etc. and no one frames his tactics in terms of the national team--they only discuss "how'd you do it in Columbus?". I wish the dickheads would ask "Hey, how would you do this with the player pool for the USMNT? Would you stick to the same tactics? What would change?"
I think they're trying to help the lay person, unfamiliar with his work in MLS, understand his tactical approach. I agree that more emphasis on our Nats selection would be nice.
All of this means little if the leadership is incompetent and out of its league. The problem is that with the way USSF runs things, the USA could easily not qualify again. They have no idea what they are doing at all. Just look at their so-called "coaching search".
Your first sentence is incorrect. What matters for WCQ and the WC are the players and Coach Berhalter. What Earnie Stewart or Jay Berhalter et al do matters little for the short term. (Yes, of course, for the long term) Berhalter was a logical choice, although probably not the best choice. Tata Martino may have been a better choice. Or David Wagner, if available. Maybe even Tab Ramos. Who knows?