Rob Stone: US Manager shortlist is Ramos, Tata Martino, Marsch, Berhalter, Friedel, Osorio & Vermes.

Yep. I think the US TV commentator/analyst role at World Cups and Euros has been a subtle indicator of the "realistic" big name managers that Gulati's USSF would consider. Thus, in the last few years I've suspected that Roberto Martinez has been near the top of USSF's list of preferred managers from outside the US system, though he may be out of reach for the US now if he leads Belgium deep into the tournament.

 

Yeah.

If BS hated straight talk from Klinsi, and BS did, they ain't seen nothin' yet.

few groups of coaches are as blunt, opinionated, and fearless at expressing and following there own opinions as Dutch coaches.

 

I love Guus but he is a bit old, so not sure if he has 4 years in him. Adding Clarence as an assistant is interesting but then again Thierry Henry is Martinez's assistant so it would not be an unprecedented surprise.

My vote is for Queroz or Van Marwijnk.

 

Yeah but LVG has the resume to be a dick, JK never did, imho.

 

Germany is similar. Big part why they won 2014

 

One other name. If we want a South American we could do worse that Hernan Dario Gomez.

He has taken 3 teams to the WC including Panama now who has no bidness making this Tourney.

 

Yeah, it should definitely be pointed out that elite individual talent and collective spirit are not remotely mutually exclusive. The best of the best have both.

 

This is absolutely false and easily checked.

You do realise that there is a thread which shows every callup and minutes given for every player during the last cycle?

Let's start with a simple fact; In the 14 months/19 matches post WC2014 that Jones was missing from the middle of the pitch, Klinsmann started in addition to Bradley; Mix, Bedoya, Williams, Morales, Beckerman, and Corona. Klinsmann also looked at Kitchen and Trapp at CC2015. That is 8 different players tried

Klinsmann brought Jones back because it became very obvious that without Jones in the center of the pitch, the US was a very poor team against A opponents. See the loss at Gold Cup 2015 for a prime example. If Jones was on the pitch v T&T we are playing in Russia.

 

He should definitely get an interview, someone email Earnie. What about the Chile coach now coaching KSA? I know they looked poor against Russia but the check cleared in that game.

 

And then what ? Jones dominating in Russia with his partner Bradley?

 

Jones did a great job in 2014 but he was getting old and Beckerman had left so it was only Mikey left. We had to do a better job of replacing them or change the system if the proper talent wasn't there. We did neither.

 

tell the Houston hoya fan. According to him we win the world cup with Jones in midfield at age 36 yrs and 9 months. You cant make this stuff up.

 

Germany is having locker room issues, particularly with a certain dual national.

Sounds familiar?



Germany players hold crisis meeting as Joachim Low is urged to axe Mesut Ozil


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-c...d-crisis-meeting-joachim-low-urged-axe-mesut/

 

Agreed with this.

If you don't have the players, you must change the ways you play. Unfortunately, the coaches did not have the pedigree to recognize it and take the necessary actions.

 

I don't buy that. They never had a problem before. The British press love to attack Ozil. The problem is Khedira is too old and needs to be replaced plus looks like Sane would have been handy.

 

Of course, Arena finally played the "go for 3 points" lineup away from home and we lost.

 

Peckerman and Hiddink have long been at the top of my wishlist but it's now a decade later and they would be 73 and 76 years old, respectively, at the next WC.

Osorio got the Germany match very right, in a way that would suit us. Is he better than a Sampoali or Martino over a longer time frame? USMNT vets talk a lot about a consistent style of play or identity being needed, and I think that is a bit overblown, but some base level of understanding needs to be built.

For me the key to clawing our way back to respectability will be finding ways to get Pulisic on the ball, on the move, with space. We need to press, counter press, and counter as a unit to create those high leverage moments. I'd prefer to also be able to create man-up situations through possession but we need to establish those other patterns first because we will be able to use them against all opponents.

As far as use of personnel goes I want a manager who can use our projected depth at CB with a 3-man backline in the above context. Right now our core looks to be Brooks, Miazga, Yedlin, McKennie, and Pulisic. That list does not really lock us into any other major choices except we'd probably want another CM at least as good defensively as Wes.

 

Yeah, I posted after Iran's first game that Queiroz might be too defensive for me, but while they were defensively solid against Spain, I thought they actually generated a reasonable number of decent scoring chances too. I wouldn't be shocked if they got a result against Portugal, if they can replicate that performance.

 

I think he's a decent manager but qualifying a couple teams that go out in the group round, meh.

I think people forget it's a running sport, not a juggling contest. Both Colombia historically and Panama are generally athletic teams. I feel like they are catching us lately because we aren't athletic enough. So you can talk "no business" but part of our problem is that moderately athletic and semi-skilled is not exactly a dominance recipe. Whereas they at least excel in one of those functions which is why they are where they are and we are where we are. In case we forgot who made it and who didn't.

When we get back to qualifying first you can go back to being a snob about athletic teams.

But, full circle, while I don't want "missionary" work, I want a coach whose resume suggests they can move the team forward.

 

The British press love to attack Ozil because he's a horribly overrated luxury player who is past his best and requires a ton of defensive support to make him a viable starter on an elite team.

 

I don't think asking for a consistent style of play is overblown at all. It has become "what formation will we play this week." JK sold attacking soccer and played 433 442 451 in friendlies, but then 3 DMs and 1 forward in world cup. Arena wasn't consistent, he came in with the sort of airtight defensive formation I wouldn't mind, and then shifted over time into leaving Bradley alone on a stretched out island. Even Sarachan trots out one aggressive formation against Ireland and loses then a defensive formation against France and gets a result.

I am not saying, you can't do something for one game. I am not saying, we can't throw numbers back or forward tactically within a game. I am not saying the coach can't riff off of expectations once teams start to see how we play.

But there is no reliable formation and style to gel into, no set of tactics to expect within a game, few consistent roles (even for Pulisic), and we aren't even quite committed to playing a certain way.

And more pointed I think the rip on JK was that he barely cared for this aspect of the game anyway. Arena and Sarachan may lack some degree of commitment to a "way" but the idea I got was JK didn't even care. Like the players were sorting that out.

 

3 men and it's Brooks, Miazga, and Yedlin? Really? Heck no. I think CB is open but you just saw the wingbacks of the future. And the next coach if they have any sense is not going to base their future on our centerback soap opera but the burgeoning strength at wing back. So 4 men and Yedlin is not guaranteed RB.

Only a crazy person would hang their future on Miazga and Brooks with even less help. Why don't we just go 3 men with Omar then.

 

The basic deal was Jones got hurt and took a while to recover, and Beckerman was playing but looking increasingly slow. My beef is based on ages this was predictable but Klinsmann instead erred on the side of trying to milk trophies from them. Ironically trophies were not forthcoming, the team started to slide downward, and since he'd put so much effort into playing to win he couldn't really audition for qualifying roles. So we kind of stopped at Nagbe and Acosta even though their play was rather tepid.

In the future when a transition is necessary and foreseeable "playing to win" should be paused. We needed a time period of finding new players who excelled, and instead ended up slapping anyone out there who looked competent. That is not how to make qualifying. Some of it may be a development problem but some is burning so many long camps on players we already knew about chasing secondary tournament glory.

I do feel like Saief and Lletget would have made a difference and with the way both got hurt you can't blame the coaches. But the pool was kiddie pool shallow after that.

 

Re coaching, the problem I see is the publicity and not just judging it as are you good enough or not. Part of the problem is this whole "don't sign in MLS, sign abroad" etc. thing played out in public. I think again the coach should base decisions on performance. If you aren't playing at your club, that's performance. The coach points it out in private -- not to the press -- and you either miss the team or sit the bench. Ditto if you are marginal for your role and the coach thinks a more challenging club situation would help. "I am judging you on how you play, here is my decision. But I would encourage you to find more of a challenge in your career and take the decision away from me." The best players should not be benched in some sort of public challenge, or because the coach doesn't like their choices. They should be benched for performance. Dempsey took a ton of grief this cycle and even with the heart issue and the coach tiff I think he came out leading scorer. I don't think this whole "don't sign in Seattle" bit helped one iota then. That's not your business. Your business is coach the team. If the players' choices pay off, reward them. If they can't start at Brugges or in Denmark, the idea is not to reward people just for where they are from or where they play, like that proves anything. Snobbery aside, you don't play a CV. You play tape. What does the tape look like.

The whole thing needs to get back to performance alone, and less public. If some of these candidates love to vent to or challenge through the media, or if they are going to be snobs who have favorites, they are not what we need at this juncture.

 

With Queiroz we could develop the bunker to end all bunkers.