Meh. ------------------Guzan------------------- Yedlin-----Miazga----Long---Ream -----------------Bradley------------------- --------McKennie----Roldan---------- Pulisic----------Jozy------------Arriola Trapp x Bradley 60' Lletget x Roldan 60' Cannon x Yedlin 60' Lovitz x Ream 70' Zardes x Jozy 70' Morris x Pulisic 85' Half of the Cubans escape into the DC night. We win 3-0. Celebrations ensue.
1. Failing to cap-tie Jona Gonzalez when he had been waiting on the US. 2. Failing to qualify for the World Cup. 3. Waiting over a year to hire a permanent coach 4. Then hiring Berhalter over Marsh and Tata. 5. Losing the GC to the Mexican 'B' team 6. Then getting blasted by the full Mexican team 7. Calling up Aaronson over Ledezma. Horrible optics on multiple levels: the whole bias against Mex-Am thing and the whole MLS affirmative action thing. First team action in the Eerste Divisie is still first team action. 8. Hugo Perez working for the Mexican Fed. 9. Scraping rock bottom with an elo rating of 38. 10. A non-forward looking roster.
Hmm... 🗣️ #USMNT Manager Gregg Berhalter drops 🔥 w/ @BrianDunseth & @JanuszMichallik! 🎧𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 ➡️ https://t.co/j1KECLeh2q🇺🇸 #CounterAttack pic.twitter.com/39BRfqf9ap— SiriusXM FC (@SiriusXMFC) October 3, 2019 Berhalter, after the 3-0 to Mexico:"And to me, it’s about developing players. We’re making progress. That’s not going to be your narrative right now, and I understand that."In this interview, Berhalter: "We're not together that often that we can really develop a player. https://t.co/JKckQXUvWo— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) October 3, 2019 Berhalter, after the 3-0 to Mexico: "And to me, it’s about developing players. We’re making progress. That’s not going to be your narrative right now, and I understand that." In this interview, Berhalter: "We're not together that often that we can really develop a player."
He's using two different versions of "we": "And to me, it's about developing players. We [as in, the system in the US] are making progress." "We [the National Team] are not together that often that we can really develop a player." It's the same all over the planet: the NT does not develop players, it grabs the players already developed by others who prove consistently good (international quality) or decent and going through a patch of good form to make the squad. His fault is some near-sightedness in forming the rosters, a fear of taking risks with the younger guys, and dubious in-game substitutions, but what he's saying is something well known. National teams do not develop players.
You forgot to mention that three of the regular starters are players that Berhalter coached with the Columbus Crew, and even worse two of those three, Zardes and Trapp, are clearly not USMNT caliber against competition above "Concacaf minnow" level.
The full quote. He means 'developing a player' in the same sense in each instance. https://sports.yahoo.com/gregg-berh...an-ever-after-ugly-mexico-loss-213447505.html
From all that it's clear to me that his "we" in that entire paragraph refers to the federation as a whole.
I'd argue neither, especially Trapp, is a fit for what Berhalter professes to want to do. Though thh, what he professes has been all over the place.
He's absolutely right about not being able to develop players, which is why club affiliation and how players play regularly and who they play against really does matter a lot. And it's why limiting yourself to MLS guys to such an extent is a problem.
Important Qualities in an International Manager: Talent Identification Clear tactical ideas Ability to pick a tournament roster Not Important Qualities: Ability to instill a complicated tactical scheme with repeated training Selecting players based on fit to a predetermined tactical scheme Ability to motivate players during a long season Keeping players fresh for an entire season Important to all coaches: Ability to make in game tactical changes Time will tell more, but I think Gregg impressed people with USSF with the "Ability to instill a complicated tactical scheme with repeated training." But that is not important at the USMNT. There is not enough time. With his complicated tactical scheme requiring rigid player profiles for each role, he was able to sign any player that fit the hole in his lineup. He was also able to moneyball a bit since very few MLS teams were playing similarly. So, he could find players that would fit what he needed but were undervalued because they had limitations other teams didn't want. At the USMNT this hasn't translated even though Gregg persists with average MLS players that fit the profile he wanted in January. There is a minimal level needed and the players can't meet it. In summary, what Gregg is, probably, good at is not what is needed. Gregg seems bad at several things that are required though.
And the same problem crops up again: what players do we have actually playing (not injured, not bench, not reserves, not U-XX) at a level higher than MLS in Europe?
I agree with you that we lack top end talent and we have precious few players getting time in top leagues. However, this has always been the case. We've always filled in with players from lower leagues like MLS and the second tier euro leagues. And now, we're ignoring half that equation and we're not even picking guys who are excelling in MLS in many cases. Right now, we have serious injury issues, which do cloud the picture. But, we have the following guys who get minutes in good leagues when healthy: Pulisic (recent benching aside and we all know he's a guy we need), Steffan, McKennie, Brooks, Yedlin, Adams, Sargent, Morales. That's 8 of a starting 11 right there who play regularly in top leagues. Those are your core players and you fill in around them with the best option available. Soccer is not rocket science. Brooks and Adams being hurt for so long has really thrown things for a loop exactly because they are part of such a small number of guys we have who regularly play in strong leagues. But we can either just throw our hands in the air and figure, oh well, we'll not be great whoever is called up so nothing matters or we can at least try to maximize what we do have.
Re the idea of a core as evangelists for the new system, if true, why do his longest term players ie his old club players, not look all that comfortable? You'd think Steffen Trapp Zardes would shine. if system mattered. also, not only does the A team have shaky results but the B team looks like hammered horse hooey when it sees the field eg Jamaica Venezuela Panama. if system mattered you'd think they would overcome selection by being drilled.
we don't have world class players? who does in this region? i mean, mexico, maybe? but not even so much that if we selected right, were drilled in a smart formation, and played hard, we couldn't swipe a win. we took a point off france. so who cares? i feel like i am back in 1990, before we would upset good teams, but with an inferiority complex borne of snobbery. it's a pointless discussion other than maybe not having their talent currently, we should probably be deploying the work rate and tactics of a team that needs a winning system to beat their talent. that maybe our approach shouldn't be our 433 vs their 433 and may the best players win. that was the mentality where we got the upsets that led to the big head where we talked ourselves into changing how we play and abandoning grittiness and then wondering where the results went.
there is no objective sign that we have installed some scheme over time that will progress and bear fruit. results have backslid since sarachan much less arena and before that. they need to either look better or win big games then you know a system is growing. other than that, praying for the "system" to finally take hold would seem roughly as naive as hiring the midtable coach selling said system. when they hired klinsmann soon they were knocking the ball around. you know, objective signs something is taking hold. this is an excuse posing as an explanation.
are we going to give him 10 years while we grow the players to play his way? in which case why isn't he running the U15 YNT instead?
this is my thing. a coach can push along a well chosen/tailored unit incrementally towards some new wrinkles on how they have done things before. ok, you get x, let's try x+1. but this is basically let's try and rewire grown players, which is a developmental challenge best left to our YNT system. a further irony would be that for a coach who wants to make fundamental changes he seems afraid of the younger players who would likely have the best odds at any rewiring. a 30 year old, even if down deep somewhere he could adjust, likely doesn't believe that is true. "here is what i can still do." i still think that a lot of this simply reflects that we bought what we in fact purchased. you went and got a midtable plucky team coach from a budget team. plucky team coaches are built on finding moderately talented players that have more than others thought. that is moneyball. roldan, baird, trapp, etc., i see something the others don't. i will compose a team using them that surprises people. i maybe shouldn't chase the most expensive players, the U20 stars, they won't want to sign here, and they won't have tangible stats where i feel sure about the outcome. except this is top of the table stuff. there is a kid from PSG/lille. there are a pile of other U20s. you have your choice of nationals in europe. you can pick anyone from MLS. players are not going to hold out for LA or NY. players cannot ask for too much money. maybe i take that too far -- he is struggling on dual nationals. but my point is this should be a bounty of riches and he runs it like he is columbus and talks about mexico like they are a big spender we just won't keep up with. and yes, he has a system, but what did he ever do with the system at columbus? it should be patent at this point that this isn't going to be throw the formation out on the field and win. if that ever was the argument it was a bill of goods. i revert to my david moyes argument. some coaches just are stuck in midtable mentality and cannot handle a budget and talent. their system is designed around scrappy. their skills are at parsing among a level of player below what you need at the top.
You all can give him life. I gave up months ago. The USSF and their nepotism show is in my rear view mirror. I will just try and use his roster assignments as good humor before the final outcomes become evident and the laughs are over.
Sargent, CCV, Steffen, McKennie, Robinson, Miazga, Yedlin, Dest, and Ream are all currently getting minutes in leagues clearly superior to MLS. Ledezma and Cappis are youngsters excelling at good levels. Green is doing well at a level about the same as MLS.
you then have to play canada away in a game where they are sitting on 6 points, we have 3, and only 6 points will be available in the future. you tire out your team "against Panama" so to speak, and then need your result in Couva still. you are confronted with squad rotating to a much weaker B team or running out a tired A team for a second game in a week against a team that only plays once this break.
some of them are good and some suck. that's the problem with "getting minutes" when used either outside MLS or within it. essentially all you are doing is mimicking their club coach's decisions. pulisic isn't playing at CFC. wasn't playing much at BD. does it change who he is as a player?