This is a great question. When Kellyn Acosta was taking free kicks a few years ago we scored a few but not many before or since and he isn't the best free kick taker ever either. There's a lot of room for improvement on corners and free kicks. They used to be a regular part of how the US scored and they've almost completely given up on those. I'll guess that once some of the younger and talented players start moving up this will become a thing again. Mendez, Kobe perhaps Llanez, Pomykal and Ledezma and later Reyna could all add a cultured foot. Brooks is good at scoring with his noggin. Pulisic has oddly scored a few recently meaning maybe he should now be on the end of kicks and not take them. McKennie is good in the air. No one seems to have the regular scoring touch our old centerbacks like Bocanegra, Lalas etc did.
Between McKennie, brooks and miazga, we should be very good from dead balls. I’ve read that Llanez puts a good spinning shot on goal. I think that part of our stylistic pursuit is aerial set play avoidance as that’s beneath us.
I need to call it like I see it, the service from our best player on corners has been abysmal. Strangely, we might actually improve this if we can find a corner taker to drive the ball on Friday.
Agreed. I also think that Bradley was terrible for years before that. The memory of his direct goal from a corner was ages ago....
In the Hex, we had two goals from dead balls. One was taken by Clint Dempsey, the other was off a Acosta free kick. Almost every other dead ball was served by Bradley and he ended the Hex with zero assists. Pulisic has been good and bad in stretches, when given the chance, for his clubs. He tends to send in an out swinger on corners, which isn't optimal. He will probably get better with time. Since the team, under GB, hasn't seemed to spend any time training any phase of the game but offensive possession, I can't imagine they have spent anytime on dead balls. I mean, if you haven't even practiced a press or transition shape changes, you haven't had time to practice set pieces. Just another symptom that this experiment is just not going to work.
I always thought that was one of JK's and Arena's many mistakes was to play Graham Zusi then not let him take free-kicks so MB90 could take all of them. Zusi was a bad right-back but an excellent free-kick taker. That would be like playing Pulisic and telling him not to take people on 1 v 1. Regarding the current team, I'm not sure we have anyone who's a good set-piece taker but I do know that Pulisic is not. So, much like my point about trying new players on the roster because the ones we have aren't getting it done, I say the same thing about free-kicks. Time to let someone else have a shot at them. Further, most coaches that don't have great takers run set plays to create opportunities. Gregg clearly doesn't emphasize free-kicks despite that being one of the USMNT's best advantages in CONCACAF.
I see no reason why we'd let Pulisic continue to take our dead balls. Has he ever scored off of a direct kick for either club or country? I don't recall any off the top of my head.
He’s put some decent balls in but more bad than good. The issue is then who? I think I’d like to see Dest take some corners and see how his delivery looks.
I think the concept is the same with poor roster choices. let’s not get hung up on how good the next guy up is but rather focus on the fact that the currently chosen one clearly isn’t getting it done. Let’s move on and try others - we can’t get worse, can we? to be clear, this isn’t meant as a slag on Christian but dead balls isn’t his thing right now.
If the idea, as has been leaked through certain media members close to MLS, was to use the fact we can have January Camp to get some kind of moneyball advantage, here are the problems: * The best American players don't play in MLS. * The best MLS players probably won't stay in MLS * The players that stay in MLS have mostly been mediocre USMNT performers at best. * There is no data that 3 extra weeks is enough time to gain any advantage * There is no data that a more complex offensive style will be decisive in International soccer * Limiting the player pool creates problems. Both in replacing injured players and possibly in locker room morale as poor players can't be dropped.
I want him in front of the cage sneaking low around the CB's like he does for Chelsea. 2 headers in the EPL in 2 weeks? Put him in roaming spot.
Alex, Efra, Uly, and Kobe all strike the ball incredibly well. It is a good thing for US soccer that they fired their coach and nobody has picked him up.
Beat me to it. He also had another header floated to the back post the keeper made an amazing save in his second to last game.
Watford game. It would have been an incredible headed goal for CP and it was an even more incredible save by the GK.
LD with pointed comments on the quality of players called and their lack of mentality and fight! https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=3989112 When GB cut Acosta and did not play Canouse and Cannon in GB's January camp some of us complained. Some GB whisperers were obnoxious in dismissing those complaints. Cannon and FCD's coach gave cautious but clear warnings on GB's approach and emphasis. Canouse said he was not given a fair chance to compete for the DM slot. Well, here we are...
There are many ways to skin the proactive cat. Porter is not only shopping Trapp, he is trying to transform The Crew into a "modern" squad. “Darlington is a modern midfielder and he’s going to be part of a modern system," Porter said. "The top clubs in the world dictate the game with the ball, but that’s not just what they do. Darlington is the type of player that will fit into the evolution that we’re making. We’ll control games with the ball, we want to push towards being a team that dictates the game in the front half and counter-presses." https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...nagbe-deal-and-what-it-means-columbus-crew-sc
The crazy thing was that Bradley was actually kind of dangerous in the box on set pieces. Why take him out of the box to kick them? I'd be willing to bet he has more goals on set pieces than assists.
Part of the problem (not making an excuse - our set pieces have been abysmal) is concacaf reffing. On our set pieces, any time we have a shot on goal, we're called for an offensive foul.
So glad you raised the issue of Concacaf referees. Not only do they call offensive fouls on set pieces, but they "lose control" of games especially when the USMNT plays away, and don't call fouls when the US is in the process of moving the ball down the field. El Salvador during the last qualifiers was a prime example of this. Arena and USMNT players could do nothing about it (par for the course), and ended up with a draw (could have been a win), which might have made a difference after the TnT loss. Our team and coach are even inferior to the previous crew: expect the refereeing, especially in the away games, to make a huge difference in our qualifying for the next WC.
Good article on tactical problems with Berhalter's system https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/u...errer=https://www.google.com&_tf=From %1$s Perhaps most distressing is the astute observation that even if the players ever do really figure out how to play in "the system", a decent coach can counter it quite effectively (a la Tata and Mexuco or even Herdsman and Canada!). If we adopted more of a pressing high up the field and direct attacks after winning the ball approach, like the one attributed to Marsch and NYRB, we could at least fall back to more of a traditional defend and counter against a team skilled enough to regularly pass out of a high press. But right now we dont seem to have any tactical plan B when we struggle against strong g or well prepared opposition.
he has a lot of fun cutting Berhalter into pieces. My favorite: "it’s beginning to look as though U.S. Soccer bet big on Betamax."
Berhalter has united the most cynical and the most optimistic fans and media in one thing: the way the USMNT has been playing defense has to change and change now. Even his biggest defenders, like Warshaw, will out of hand say the 4-4-2 passive midblock has to go. They don't dwell on the fact he has shown no inclination to change. Other optimists like Daryl Grove are almost pleading at this point for some kind of change, any change. That the way we have been playing defense is so ineffective and counter-productive that any change would be positive. But the article is also correct in that the USMNT seems to not have any plan or practiced for any other game states. Without Bradley, GB still brought two Regista types; so it hard to see him changing personnel. His roster screams, "more of the same".