Having watched several of Alfredo Morales' 1.Bundesliga games with Fortuna this season, I gotta believe that a Morales-McKennie midfield would not have been dominated by f-ing Jona Dos Santos and Andres Guardado in the 2nd half.
Preach on brother. We continue to be a circus, because the only thing we do is keep making up excuses.
I agree. They have more talented, more technical players who work within an established tactical structure. Their parts (and players) are more interchangeable and more adaptive. Finally, the athletic advantage that the US once had over Mexico is a thing of the past. It looked like the Mexicans even had a slight height advantage?
All true, but this has been the story with Arriola for years. I don't see why it suddenly would change now. Would be great if it did. Weah should be replacing him immediately, but I suspect Greg will stick with him until Weah makes it even more abundantly clear that it's a fools errand to stick with Arriola. Really will be watching Llanez's development. I haven't seen a guy as fearless as him in the attack from the wing since Pulisic was 17ish.
Again, these 90's born American men are solid as individual players. But they struggle to really put in a cohesive 90 minutes of team ball. Certainly the ability to link up down the spine of our team. Imagine if CP is out do to a fluke injury in the first 10 minutes tonight. Our first half goes side ways and then the second half we look Junior Varsity at best. Then Berhalter's subs. My God.
Good to see us prepared and ready to play Mexico at the start. We created chances. Bummer we couldn’t finish. Terrible that GB made no adjustments to fix what Tata did to our central midfield. Thus, it was an extremely disappointing result.
Someone get Reggie Cannon to Holland. Today preferably. Good game and there are enough pieces there (and not on the roster this tournament) to turn the page. Patience will be a virtue for you lot.
Just because you were at the game doesn't mean you see the game better than some folks at home with their eyes glued to the screen. Dude, Braldey is just ********ing done. Admit it. McKennie or any players pair next to him had to spend half of their time covering for Bradley.
Gagg out. If you can't see that the difference in this game starts with Tata >>> Beersucker I don't know what to say. The second half should prove it to you even BEFORE the asinine subs. Gagg, bradley cannot play a game where he has to defend. Open your eyes. Mckennie is a real disappointment. Oh he has flashes, but I don't think he can do a job. This Mexico team was crap. And the US can't beat crap. Gagg out.
Ok, who here didn't know that Tata Martino is a superior coach to Egg? We all did. Right? Although I can see Tata refusing the job, though. He knew he could do more, with his style, with Mexico's pool. Today Egg got outcoached. The midfield crumbled. I think it was a mistake to play a 3-man midfield with one of them basically a winger/wide forward who was not going to reinforce the other two. Bradley and McKennie struggled the entire second half. They got tired in the first. I have no idea what the reasoning was to put only Bradly+McKennie against the three-man Mexico midfield. Of course our two guys were going to be gassed at 45'. Puli can be a winger. a forward, or even a CAM in a pinch, but don't try to play him in a dual role, the "Messi role," because it does not work. It doesn't even work for Messi any more. This is similar to the Columbus game, when Klinsmann, impressed by CP's individual technique, gave him free reign to roam behind the forwards but sacrificed a midfield spot, with Bradley and Jones having to face the trio of Herrera-Corona-Guardado. That is something these guys don't seem to get: to play Mexico, you cannot concede the midfield. By the time Egg tried to fix things, bringing in Roldan, it was far too late already. Puli is awesome in his individual technique, but play him in a simple role. He's not a great team player. Sorry, but that's where he stands at this point. If he's forced to have a dual playmaker/wide forward role, he's not going to be in the midfield. The Zardes x Jozy sub was strong evidence that either we don't have bench, or the roster selection was poor. I want to believe the latter, but the former is entirely possible. Bringing in Lovitz was like closing the fence after the sheep are gone. Very poor management, but from the start: all the "nice" you guys saw in the first half an hour, well, that was going to pass us the bill later. You don't play TWO in midfield when the other team in playing THREE. Less so with a team like Mexico, that depends hugely on controlling the central midfield. Let's hope for Columbus Egg already knows this.
Yep. Bradley makes McKennie, or anyone else paired with him look bad, probably from exhaustion by the 60th minute.
This is fact. If you believed otherwise, time to cleanse your glasses of tinted roses. Egg is an amateur like he had been his entire career. Tata won the MLS, coached Barcelona and Argentina, what the ******** had Egg done? Tata simply won the XOs and got his team a trophy.
The problem is the formation and the tactics. I’m not calling Long and Miazga world-beaters on the ball but if Bradley is the only nearby option and everybody else is at least 25 yards up the pitch, they aren’t going to break the press. It’s the same thing that happened all tournament. If we keep this 5-0-5 formation when we have the ball in our third or when the opposition has it in theirs, we’re screwed.
Jozy Altidore stopped to talk to print/online media for the first time all tournament tonight.Asked him: “what went into the way that your minutes and playing time were managed throughout the tournament?”His answer: “I don’t know.”Follow-up on his fitness, said he felt good— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) July 8, 2019
Correct. Klinsi was right about pushing our playerst to test their limits, reach for higher goals. That's how we get better as a program. By having starters in top EPL, Bundi, La Liga, Serie A teams and playing regularly in the Champions League. But he got crufied by the MLS/Fed cronies because that goes against their money making agenda. Stop with this rebuild nonsense. You don't rebuild with same old crap players. Go take a look at Germany, they rebuild by dropping their WC winning veterans after this WC disaster they had.
When you have to play one and half positions it can be tough. Covering for Bradley all game takes its toll. But you’re right he had a rough game. His highs are very high though, and he’s 20. Id like to see him paired with a DM that can actually defend.