Maybe Bruce is influenced by his career in lacrosse . He is in the Cornell hall of fame for lacrosse. For those not familiar with lacrosse:
Lots, he's a DM, that's what they do. I don't think Mike is a great passer, I just think he's more discerning than Cameron. Every completed pass in a possession increases the likelihood that the possession will result in a goal. I come from the Xavi school and see the importance of forcing an opposing defense to have to constantly shift until they breakdown and leave a gap for us to exploit. Get Pulisic more of the ball in those spots and good things will happen. That's how I'd balance risk with control. That seems like a disparate list of players with the only common attribute that they have played for us recently and MLS pays them. Is there a more specific point?
******** it ----------Sargent----------------------------------- --------------------------Pulisic--------------------- -------------------Parks------------------------------ Amon----------------------------------------Adams---- -------------------Mckennie--------------------------- Robinson---Brooks-------Miazga--------Yedlin--- ---------------------Steffen------------------------------- Robinson and sargent probably arent the best right now but damn it I want a full out youth movement.
In such a time of turmoil it’s anybody’s guess of what the best XI could be.. but’s heres my best shot. 4-3-3 has got to be one of the best if not the best formation but for the new generation just from the sheer amount of quality midfielders coming out.This formation suits them. well here goes. ——————Ramirez/Sapong———- Amon------------------------------------------Pulisic ——-Mckennie--------------Adams--——— -------------------Roldan--------------------------- Robinson---Brooks-------Miazga--------Yedlin--- ---------------------Steffen------------------------------- Bench: Arriola, Lennon, Hairston, Delgado, Lichaj, CB, GK
It's time: -----------Sargent ----Pulisic -----------------McKennie -----Williams---------------Parks ---------------------EPB ---Ream---Brooks--Miazga--Yedlin --------------GK: Klinsmann --------------------Morris---Ramirez -------Rowe--Carleton---Delgado---Adams -------------------------Durkin ---------------Parker--Besler---Glad
Bradley was a good defender with a decent aerial ball on offense but otherwise he wasn't an offensive midfielder. I've watched McKennie enough to know he is comfortable playing diagonal passes on the ground out of the cmid position in the final third and is fine with dribbling into the wings in the attacking third as well. He is less confident distributing the ball out of the middle third altho his defense there is good and of course his strength is getting to loose balls. Let me say this at least: I can get why you don't want Wes at cam but please don't compare him to Bradley, ok?
For this year... Something old, something new and some wishful thinking...one year shelf life for a couple guys...anticipating a handful of youngsters to step up within a year. 3-4-1-2 ............Wood....Sargent........... ....................Pulisic................. Lletget.......Mckennie..........Adams .................Cameron................. ........Brooks.....Besler...Miazga ......................Steff................. After a year...Glad replaces Besler....EPB replaces Cameron I'm banking Adams' overall game is a better fit than Yedlin's. Seems a stretch right now but maybe not down the road. I like Yedlin defensively, but not crazy when he's on the ball upfield..Imo, still hit and miss...connecting the dots. Maybe give Robinson a shot on the left...I really like Lletget's game though...really well rounded and savvy. I thought he looked great before he got hurt. Maybe flop Brooks into the middle and Besler to the left.
Chances are half of those guys will be injured when we have to play games that matter. Seems to be our luck.
Yeah, I know, my biggest concerns are Brooks always seems to be dealing with one thing or another. He can't go more than 6 weeks without some issue. And Wood's knee issue is lingering and might turn out to be something significant.
All the USA teams are playing a high press 4-3-3. There is no #10, there are three CMs, with a 7,9,11 up top. Ideally, two guys with pace on the wings, but the women play with a playmaker on the left and the U20 and U17 men did at times too (Carelton as a playmaker and Lennon as a early crosser). Gooch------Altidore---------Pulisic Saief-----------Adams -------------McKennie------------ Robinson----Brooks----Miazga----Yedlin --------------Hamid--------------- Backups: Rowe----------Wood---------Arriola ---------Acosta-------Delgado --------------Williams------------- D.Acosta-----Glad-----Besler----Moore ------------Steffan----------- Pulisic is our best player and his best position is on the right. To me, that is where you start. It is tempting to put him on the left and then you can start Arriola, but I'm not that sure Arriola is that much better than Gooch, Rowe, or even Julian Green (he is starting there regularly); that you need to move Pulisic. Villafana and Nagbe "broke" in Couva, they don't really need to come back. The young guys at LB will make some mistakes, but they should be good for Friendlies coming up and the beginning of the CONCACAF League of Nations. Can then see if guys like Fossey, Farfan, Bello can push them out. I doubt they can do worse defensively than, "I turn my back on crosses", Jorge.
If we had to play tomorrow, with the current injuries, you could do: Saief----------Altidore---------Pulisic --------Acosta----------Adams --------------Williams--------------- Robinson----Besler-------Miazga----Yedlin
@Patrick167 I disagree about Pulisic's best position. I also do not think we can play a 4-3-3 against top teams. It will end up being a 4-5-1. Pulisic will end up isolated on the wing and not getting many touches against all but the most incompetent of coaches. We need him in the middle sitting beneath two strikers against Concacaf and maybe as a SS in a 4-4-2 against tougher competition. I really like a 4-2-3-1 with Pulisic in the middle of the 3 line. We can play with two defensive 6's in the two line or a 6/8 type and play more like a 4-1-4-1 if we have the right midfielders or against weaker competition. ????? Yedlin Miazga Brooks/Besler Left back du jour Weston Parks ??? Pulisic ????? Not named Antiscore That is what I would start with and build from there. Bradley would not be near my team. I hear a lot of good things about Delgado, but if he had some bite he might could take one of Parks McKinnie's spot, but they are both talented and doing a job for a good size club, one is a regular and the other is breaking through this season. Those other two posts up front need to be at least one fast guy and the striker needs to be somebody I haven't seen in a USMNT kit, unless Wood gets fit and in form, or Sargent makes a breakthrough.
Amazing how many people buy into the Adams at cmid hype. It's no different than how people bought into no-assist-no-goals Nagbe at CAM and K.Acosta at cmid after every coach he ever played for had benched him and his record was abysmal. Adams at least has some promise but he is really bad in cmid/camid. Why not wait for him to come good at club if he insists on playing that position instead of dragging everybody down with him on usmnt?
John Anthony Brooks has been our for 117 days (and counting) this season. That means, he's been out two thirds of the season with diverse types of injuries, mainly tendon related. At this point he may never become what he could have been, and I'd be wary of including him in any "Best XI" until we see how he plays once he returns to the field.
No doubt if we play a really top team we can't go at them with a high press in a 4-3-3. Not sure moving Pulisic inside with 2 strikers would work either. Just three guys not playing defense. Having him playing a withdrawn striker underneath someone with an extra DM makes more sense to me. But these can all be adjustments off a base 4-3-3. What we need is someone beside Pulisic to draw defensive attention. Wood and Altidore were great against Panama in Orlando, and Dempsey against Honduras at home. Most other games they all just clog up space. But if Morris, Amon, Gooch, Green, Taitague, Weah somebody could emerge on the left that would go a long way. Sargent or someone becoming a back to goal hold up guy and lethal in the box finisher, like Alex Morgan currently for the women and Sargent at the U20 WC, is also needed. But getting used to the system is important and giving the player pool something concrete to shoot for and develop for is important. Not losing to France in a friendly is not important. Our bigger problem is still facing a bunker on a bad field. Pulisic does not play well on bad pitches and nobody else on our team is very good.
Bad pitches are the great equalizer. I played in a league that had a horrendous pitch for matches. Our team would practice on a turf field making pretty passes on the ground, dribbling, etc, and then go to matches not able to make a pass or dribble because the pitch was so bad. I called the turf practices, anti-practice as it had little to do with competing on the crap match pitch. Conversely, there was a team in the league made up of Carribean players who seemed quite familiar playing on bad pitches as they mostly played the ball in the air. Not talking hoofing it, they just took bad bounces out of the equation with their passing. Of course they could also run. They would usually win the league.
Yes I agree if we can get another quick winger opposite to Pulisic then we’re talking, be it Arriola, Amon, etc. the way our pool is set up we have more quality proven CMs so far therefore our best lineup is gunna have to be a 3 man midfield with 3 up top imo.
Picking a best 11 is really hard right now. For me, there are 3 names written into the 11 in pen--Pulisic, Yedlin, and Brooks (though I do agree that it's getting harder to put Brooks there given his frequent injuries). They're the 3 guys who are youngish and have a track record of performing well at the highest levels. Miazga and McKennie are probably the 2 guys at the next tier down. They looked the part against Portugal and have been doing well with their clubs, but of course, neither has much of a track record at this point. So, we'd need a formation that gets all of those guys on the field and in positions that play to their strengths. I think Pulisic is best for the USMNT when played centrally, but we give up too much in the midfield, if he's in a central attacking role behind 2 forwards (unless we're playing a mediocre team at home, e.g. Panama or Honduras qualifiers). That rules out a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 with Pulisic in the midfield. And I think Yedlin is probably better as a traditional RB as opposed to a wing back, so that rules out a 3-5-2. I'd probably go with a 4-2-3-1 with the other spots very tentatively filled in as follows: --------------------Altidore----------------------- Rowe-------------Pulisic----------------Arriola -------------Williams---McKennie------------- Lichaj------Brooks-------Miazga-----Yedlin --------------------Steffen------------------------
Acosta, Lletget, Roldan, Mckennie, Adams, Delgado, and Trapp. I’ll clarify that they are proven on club level but deserve a solid chance to show what they got on the team. Other young guys could pop onto the scene to like Parks and even Hyndman with more PT
Fair enough. I'm not sure that any of them other than McKennie have been tested at WC speeds - that's my biggest concern. I'm hopeful that Roldan and Adams, in particular, move to a major league so we can see how they do when the game speeds up.