Since the Fed dicked around for a year and a half, it''s all about trying things at this point. There's no way GB knows who is best at what position at this point.
Germany - Wow, that young American can really play in the middle of the park. Let's nominate him for multiple teams of the week, write articles about him, talk to his coach, make him a star, etc... US Soccer - I bet he'd be a really good right back.
Apparently Mr Clean and 1 ply Trapp are good enough that Berhalter will consider pushing Adams elsewhere, as he's only a support player next to those two.
I'm sitting here thinking Berhalter is mis-directing his imminent opponents with a nonsense "revelation".
What countries are these? I cant think of any top 10 team that has done this. It has been the opposite for the USMNT. O'Brien and Reyna played outside backs for their clubs and were two of our best central midfielders.
HEX2014. With Dolo, Fab, Chandler, and Castillo all unfit injured and Morrow and Beltran plain unimpressive in camps Klinsmann first turns MF Beasley into a LB then MF Brad Evans into a RB for most of the Hex. Evans has 5 starts 5 wins in HEX2014. Beasley owns the slot all the way through WC2014 Of course neither of those players were a 20 yo who was starting and dominating the center of the pitch for a top4 / top 4 club. Lets let Adams and McKennie help us own the center of the park for the next 7 to 10 years instead of creating some hybrid slot just to say, "look how smart I am"!
This is crazy. The United States has never had a 19/20 year old defensive/CM midfielder walk right into a Champions League level team and be a big asset (maybe McKennie as well) . And we are going to push him out wide for 31-year old Michael Bradley or an average Trapp? This is becoming disgusting. When Michael Bradley came onto the scene in 2007, his daddy pushed out EVERYONE to give him the position and build around him. We pushed feilhaber out-wide, we said goodbye to Mastroeni (who many would argue had enough left to contribute for a few more years). Now, when there is a player who is already showing potential far greater than Bradley himself at 19/20, we are not pushing out Bradley, we are pushing out the young player. Give me a break. Berhalter on Adams: "But I also think he can play central midfield" Also? Also? did I just hear that garbage. I am so proud that I do what I do on these boards because I am not a gullible sap to the bottom-line first, buddy first, soccer execs .
Rest assured, I'm not an advocate for McKennie to get thrown in at right back either, just pointing out that it would make more sense than doing it to Adams. Hell, with Yedlin, Chandler, Fabian Johnson, Cannon... Right back probably one of our deeper positions, not someplace we need to shoehorn someone in. The right back that tucks in a bit when we move forward is taking on way too much significance and is not nearly so clever as all this hoopla would lead one to believe.
The purpose is not to shoehorn someone in at RB. It would be 1) make sure Adams gets on the field in an impactful position and 2) get a player on the field that allows the rb to tuck in and play cm. The only other guy that might be able to do that of the guys you mentioned would be FJ.
#1 is most easily and obviously accomplished by putting him in the center of the park where he currently plays and where the overwhelming majority of his professional experience has placed him. But hey, we'll see what happens after camp and the games actually start. We win these two and look good doing it, and all is forgiven. Besides, we are still only speculating how the guys will actually line up.
With RB Leipzig’s 1-0 win over Schalke, Leipzig now has 5 Bundesliga wins, 1 Cup win, & 1 Bundesliga draw in the 7 games Tyler Adams has started. He has now played 657 Bundesliga minutes & 747 total minutes for Leipzig & the club has conceded just once with Adams on the field.— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) March 16, 2019 Clearly this is not working and he needs to be moved to a new position...
Tyler's value is that he organizes the players into a team unit. He gets everyone involved, he gets everyone to support everyone else, etc.
The reason why I have been light on Berhalter is because he is not calling all the shots on his roster selection. It was the same thing eventually with Sarachan and the out of nowhere introduction of trapp as Captain and CM lynchpin. Sarachan's selection of Marky Delgado and Adams CM combo was fantastic vs Paraguay in march 2018. Once Sarachan got the message, he was not permanent coach, he dropped/benched MB90 and Trapp from his last games. Garber will be a nuisance to the USMNT for the next 4 years.
Guys - I think you guys are over focusing on the Rb part. I think the idea is to okay a 3241 or 3223. In the which case, Adams is one of two dmids. The rightback part only comes in out of possession. Even if you want him to play dmid in both situations, your complaint should be about which player goes into the defensive line. In the normal 3 back system, it often falls back into a five man back line. I think the reason he doesn’t want that is because it’s not great for higher pressure/ higher line of confrontation. He wants to press in the 4222. So one of the mid needs to drop either to an outside back spot or cb spot. If Adams is playing one of the 6 and Mckennie is playing in the 8/10 role— who do you want playing the other 6 and which of those to falls into the back 4? Those are better questions to be asking. I think it’s obvious he plans on playing Bradley or Trapp as one 6 and Adams the other. So then the choice of who falls into the back four is really pretty easy. If you make Adams that qb/6 role - who is the other 6 and which falls into the back four and where in the back four does he best fit? And is that better than what GB is proposing? All this obsession over Adams at Rb is either a misunderstanding of what GB is trying to do or is disingenuous about it
If you look at how Schalke started out their most recent game yesterday, it was trying to be a 3142 which was very successful in Schalke's previous season when they reached UCL. I don't think McKennie should even be called up at this stage because I think he muddies the picture for everybody else but 3G's called him up (no choice for him with present cultural taboos) and I think the lineup logically would be -------------x------x ----x---adams--x---mcKennie --------------trapp -------x--------x-------x if we were imitating the position Wes has been playing most recently. I'd much rather not play him and let him sort his position out with club first but that's just me - literally.
And as I always like to point out, the 1 goal against was on a pk that resulted from a SILLY handball in the box by a teammate. ZERO goals against from the run of play.
I got to see almost all of the Leverkusen 1 - 3 Bremen game today. It was a fantastic match which was important for both teams. Bremen's 3 man midfield was Eggestein----Sahin-----Klaasen I'd say Trapp is as good if not better than Sahin, Adams is as good if not better than Klaasen (their best player along with Kruse) and Delgado isn't too far away from Eggestein tho I'd have to give Eggestein the edge there. Point being, we have quality. We just need to use it right. I still say a 3 man midfield with Adams, Trapp plus 1 (not McKennie) would seal the deal in most formations.
So you don't think the USMNT has a better midfield than, or even as good a midfield as, Werder Bremen? Seriously, is that what you are saying? None of the Bremen midfield made their national team - you know that right?
We have a better midfield than Werder. That "better" midfield doesn't include Trapp or Delgado, though.