A note on the tactics of that match - the whole back line was crammed in tight. Boca and Spector barely set foot outside the box when Spain had the ball. Maybe someone else would do some token defending out wide, but we basically gave them the wings, invited them to cross. They took the bait. We had 4 guys that were very good in the air in the box at all times. They couldn't penetrate the box dribbling, or passing on the ground, and we cleared anything in the air with ease. They had no one who was an aerial threat to Gooch, DeMerit, Boca, and Spector. The point of my rambling being that Boca and Johnny Specs were not asked to do any wide defending. It was almost as if we played with 4 CB's, tactically.
This is exactly right. US did everything to avoid getting sliced and diced centrally and conceded the flanks. Worked in that match.
just checking in. as always im not factoring in fitness/short term form at all, for a theoretical qualifier in the azteca: __________steffen__________ ______miazga___brooks yedlin_____________robinson ___________adams _____mckennie___lletget morris______________pulisic __________altidore in goal steffen, still no contest. horvath still my 2 (but thats starting to strain credulity, hes gotta move). at outside back dest is very, very close to yedlin for me but i go experience here. this team has very little (in terms of meaningful intl play) and i want to sacrifice as small a gap in quality for that experience as possible. thats speaking generally, though- i still think yedlin has him defensively by a nose. more controversial in these parts- i still go robinson over dest on the left. dest as a right back vs robinson as a lb? no brainer- dest. im not a crazy person. but robinson is, in fact, a left back- and its going to take a good bit more than a preseason and one cup match as an injury-replacement lb to change that for me. miazga/long is a pick em, and i pick miazga. i dont think theres any overwhelming (or even especially compelling) argument for one over the other. put long in your 11 if you want. fourth cb still completely open for me. robinson/zimmerman neck and neck, id honestly be comfortable with ccv or epb. if pressed id go robinson, but i care about that only slightly less than the third keeper i dont even bother naming. adams and mckennie (as a true 6 and 8 respectively) still locked in for me. im wussing out with lletget- my gut says pomykal. but those four are locked in. at this moment ill say morales backing up adams, yueill as depth behind either 8. i think if i forced myself to watch derby (or berhalter wasnt a big dummy) id go holmes over yueill though, im just defaulting to familiarity for a guy that ideally wouldnt see the field. pulisic on the left wing (since hes a left wing and absolutely not a 10) obviously. im also lying a little about morris- his growth/form pretty clearly dictates the pick, but my instinct still says weah. like horvath, though, its sort of testing suspension of disbelief so i went safe. i highly value team first glue guys so arriola keeps his spot at 4. the kids are coming, though man. (fyi i still go weah over reyna, llanez, anyone else by a country mile). striker just freaking bums me out. altidore is still, sadly, the best option (and i freaking LOVE that dude). sarge is trending the wrong way (hard), toye isnt there yet, soto is drifting further and further away on the horizon... ferreira is becoming a low key existential crisis for me. i think he projects as an ideal second striker/10 but i dont think our pool supports that being an option. i also dont think hes a full on, lead the line forward. i think- just as an option to have- him playing as a false 9 might be the best fit for both him and the team/pool we have (around him). i cant quite get my head around a full time false 9 yet, though... so i think, for now, im going to say altidore (hopefully replaced by a drastically improved/reinvigorated sarge, and i mean asap) with false 9 jesus behind/as an alternative.
^^^^^^^^^^ I'm not sure how we can go forward without Dest on the field at this point. He is up there in the Puli and Adams class now IMO. If it's not at back then play him more forward but he has to be on the field in some capacity.
Striker is scary especially with Altidore’s injury history. Hopefully someone emerges during Olympic qualifying and the Olympic
It seems like Gregg has already compensated and we are playing with more of a false 9. Sargent can do it, Ferreira can probably do it. We could always put any forward with a decent touch in there. McKennie could play there or Morris. If Sargent takes a step forward or someone else emerges, Gregg will adjust it. But the calculation seems to be to have a 9/10 in there and have them set up our wing attackers. The options on the wing are looking pretty good: Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Llanez, Morris. We could play Dest there and might pick up a wild card of development like Taitague. Then there is always Arriola and Boyd.
Gregg will have to decide how to resolve a situation where we have a plethora of options who seem best suited for playing wide and a shortage of options for playing the 9 and 10.
Can Weah play up top? Gio----Weah----Pulisic Future front 3? The 4 CB tactics in that Spain match worked wonderfully. LD & DMB were fantastic on D wide & on the counter. Rico & Mikey had serious engines at that point. If Davies & Holden had been healthy in 2010. Hell, or Jones, we could have really been in business. Like, WC SF type of business.
-------------------------Guzan------------------------ -----------------Brooks------M. Robinson--------- ---------Dest-----------------------------------A. Robinson --------------------------Adams----------------------- ---------------Mendez---------Ledezma------------ ---------------------------Reyna-------------------------- -----------------Llanez----------Pulisic-----------------
Woof. Three players that have never played a single minute of first team soccer. This is the best XI right now thread amirite?
———Sargent——— Pulisic————Gooch ———Pomykal——— ——Yueill——Adams Ream—JB—Zim—Dest ———-Horvath——— This lineup assumes JB and Adams can actually stay healthy. Speed/skill on the wings. Solid defense/ball skill in the middle. Ethan because, honestly, I’ve always thought he was better than Steffen. Having said that, he’s gotta transfer ASAP.
I think he could do the Zardes version. The style that Ferreira played... that would not play to his strengths. Altidore can do both, but he's never healthy and he's not getting younger. Weah might be an option here as well though I've always liked him better on the wing. What we do with the striker position over the next year will be very interesting. It's clearly a weakness, and stylistically, it could go a few ways. I could also see us carrying / having in the pool two strikers who play differently allowing some tactical flexibility. Kind of like Mexico has with Raul and Chicharito. But either way, someone needs to step up, or it's going to be a gap.
Robinson has been coming along so nicely, even AC Milan put in a bid. Holmes has stepped up, as well. Dest could be moved to RB, with either Chandler or Yedlin playing a touchline attacker. Opara or Zimmerman could replace Long.
I don't understand why everyone is so down on Sargent...Every tweet I see and pod I listen to is saying how awful he looks. He plays for a team that has zero chance! He sits, and they basically score 0 goals (minus this last pokal game against Dortmund). Not like this Werder team is great and he's just invisible as they march toward a top 5 finish. The fact he's getting time means he looks good in training. Sure, it'd be nice if he was banging in a couple goals, but who cares. He's scored more than Jozy at a similar level. In my opinion, he's a starter for us.
Best 11, "right now" would mean we can't play guys who are hurt, which takes out Pulisic and Weah. Luckily, also right now, Reyna just showed what he's capable of so he gets rushed into the best 11 and makes things look better. Sticking with the 433 we don't seem to be getting rid of, I'll go with... ..................Sargent ..........Reyna.........Morris ....................Lleget ..........McKennie...Adams Robinson..Long..Brooks..Dest ..................Steffan A couple injuries start putting holes in this team fast. Personally, I don't think Lleget is good enough and we'd rely heavily on an awfully green Reyna to break teams down without Pulisic. All healthy, I'd swap out Lleget for Pulisic and likely Weah for Morris. Jozy may well be a better option at the moment that Sargent but not sure his health status so I left him out.
+ he's 19. One of the downsides of our tissue thin forward pool. Our expectations are too high for a 19 year old forward. And, compounded by the fact that we have other young guys who are doing incredibly well. But, that's (the expectation) a down side for us, I don't think it's a big downside for Josh. I don't get the sense that he feels the weight of our expectations. Hopefully he continues to grow. It won't take much more growth for him to have a nice, profitable career. Which is all one can ask. And, maybe, if we're lucky, he grows into an international caliber forward.
It is bizarre. Everyone wants to look cool by flushing guys down the toilet as early as possible. If you look at Jozy's career, not only is Sargent ahead of him, but Haji Wright is arguable ahead of his timeline. Jozy is the no questions asked starter for everyone I hear or read, but he was a complete bust until 24. But all through 20-24 when he did nothing, he played for the USMNT. Haaland is a rare case and idiots take the rare case and bash other players. But not many 19 year olds are starting #9s and productive in the Top 4 leagues. Sargent is really not far from doing exactly what McKennie has been doing, he just can't play 7 positions on the field. Tammy Abraham is considered a "young" striker who is just starting to break through in a Top 4 league. He is 3 years older than Josh.
With our other fullback options (Robinson, Yedlin, Cannon), I'd love to see Dest tried out as an attacking winger. Call me crazy, but I think if he was inserted into that roll right now he'd be better than Morris. Reyna, on the other hand, is a total wild card. I don't think we know how good he is (not to say he's great and we don't know it yet. I'm just saying the sample size is wayyyyy too small to know how good he is. I'm not saying that as a criticism of your formation). Or, for that matter, he may currently be better than Lletget in that center role. We should try him there, too.
Lletget is not an international player and I'm not sure that Sargent is deserving of a starting position either. Morris is an auto starter for me while he rides this hot streak.... I don't like the 433 as it leaves us vulnerable on defense (only 7 defenders and ARobinson, Dest and Long are unproven as defenders vs. high level opponents, Brooks has real challenges as well defensively and we don't have a star goalie to rely upon), but if we insist on a 433. I'd have Holmes competing hard with Pomykal, Lletget and Ledesma to back up / replace Morales but I know that Sebastian isn't athletic enough to compete at a world cup as a midfielder. I would have the midfield work as a unit and not rely upon traditional 6/8/10 concepts. Missing players due to injury: Pulisic Weah Pomykal Miazga