I thought we were a country that should get out of group stage of the WC as long as it wasnt played in Europe
Was watching the very quick German highlights and the Germans faulted pulisic on the second goal for not defended some English guy outside USA box. The highlights didn't seem thaaat bad!
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Altidore is needed on this team, at least for the time being. Wood is just too slow, althletically and of thought.
I will say one small thing in defenc/se of our boys: This England team is pretty nifty. They have very deft touch and vision. You can't play them with a light touch. If this had not been a Rooney-romper, it would have had to include a heck of a lot more bite. You cannot play off some of those players. I usually think England is well over-hyped, and I've not watched enough Euro play in the last bit, but they looked like they could ball a bit.
For better or for worse, you almost couldn't think of a worse way to deploy Wood against this team. That said, he looked slower and more laborious than usual today. Seemed to be playing in cough-syrup a bit.
Wood is definitely not slow. I didn't see this game, but every time I've seen Wood he's looked pretty fast and pretty quick. I don't know what happened in this game to make you say that.
AO won't ever do anything to jeopardize their relationship with USSF. Much like our so-called soccer "journalists."
random thoughts: 1. English players were big and strong and fast and smart(er) - CP and Villafana looked small out there....this wasn't a good matchup for the young pups. I know height and size aren't everything in soccer - and sometimes they don't matter at all - but in this matchup, the differential stood out big time....and was a big difference in the outcome. woulda been a good game for jozy. 2. Working together, organization, cooperation are really hard to read when you are only looking at one player - even then when you start looking at the team as a whole it is hard to gauge. Whatever the case, the USMNT is BAD at combining together and working together to make stuff happen. It is always a pass a bit off, a touch a bit off, an open man missed, a player backpassing too soon, an angle on a pass all wrong etc etc. Sure the team needs a plan. But it also needs players who "get" the details of the game and know how to win the little micro battles all over the pitch that lead to goals and chances and BE IN THE MOMENT and PRECISE. There's no gaurantee that these players will know how to do these things when a better coach with a better plan comes ...but it is high time that those types of players are identified and integrated - if they are even out there. I do not think the problem is technical ability or skill it is being collectively on the same page - on the proper same page - that is the issue. 3. Clearing the ball aimlessly is a bad play. It is better than not clearing the ball, for sure. But at the end of the day....I got the feeling that the players werent even trying to clear it to a teammate. it is these little details that separate mediocre and good/great. when a good player clears it, it doesnt always go to a teammate but it usually does. its on purpose. there needs to be a greater attention to detail for all the players. these little things matter. seeing the USMNT time and again just aimlessly clear the ball to england - it spoke to the lower standards of what is supposed to be done out there on the field for the US opposed to what other countries have as their standard - which is a big problem. a good coach can hopefully help clarify to the players what the details and standards are that they need to be focused on meeting b/c I doubt they are getting that now. 4. in the first half especially the possession was horrible b/c all the players were just trying to pass the buck to the next man every time they got the ball. to me they seemed stage-struck...in awe of the opponent and moment. if they weren't - it was hard to tell - b/c that's how they were playing - strategy-wise. mckennie said before the game that no one on the team is afraid of anyone - well thats not what i saw. i saw a team full of fear...if not internally and emotionally - at least in their approach and decision-making, which is not all that matters but very important. 5. guzan holding the ball and waiting for england to run back into defensive position makes zero sense to me. why???????????? 6. the us looked so slow on defense and in midfield - i mean reallly slow....there's gotta be some faster more athletic combos of players out there. brooks, miazga, villaf, trapp etc - are just really slow - the team needs to be faster - physically and mentally. 7. please please let this sarachan experiment end soon - and when it does hopefully a good coach can finally be in charge for once.
Which then begs the question: why are you building your midfield so that Trapp can look good? The only player we should even consider building around is Pulisic. It sure as hell isn't Trapp.
Trapp as an ever present is ridiculous. He may be an OK passer, but if he's the #6, his job is to defend and we keep seeing way too much free space at the top of out defensive third. He's not Pirlo. He does not pass well enough to trot him out there as some deep lying playmaker from the back. Adams is much better because he at least mixes it up out there and seems to share the space better with McKennie. Hell, I'd even prefer Acosta. Pulisic needs to come central, Weah up front. Wood is a waste. He is moderately fast in a straight line and hustles, can occasionally finish if he gets a sitter. That's it. Pulisic was stranded and trying to do too much on his own. Doesn't involve others enough in his attacks. At this level dribble through four guys is not a valid attacking strategy. Green is too plodding, but at least can occasionally pick out a good pass. Not good enough against top competition. Brooks and Miazga still don't pair well together. Yedlin's crossing is so poor that I don't see any benefit from his moving forward. Even in tons of open space, passing him the ball is just a means of giving it away. Left back is still open try outs. Guzan was a joke with his feet, and he plays where he is asked to play with his feet regularly. Mind boggling. Just a very poor game from every angle, not much good to take away. We do need to play big teams, but only playing far superior teams is beyond this group right now and I don't think they are really learning from brbei lambsbyo the slaughter game after game. They need to play some games against teams closer to their level where they can work some things out.
Ummm I don't get it. And again I thankfully did not watch the game, but according to posts pulisic blew it and the first goal happened. From the brief highlights pulisic did not defend the second goal scorer..... I think you guys maybe overlooking something.....
if we keep looking so inept, who will want to coach this team? A top level coach, international quality, may not want to take on a project of this magnitude. So, if we go global, we will get someone happy to get a check, not worried about getting pasted in the papers because they don't do that here and be able to live anonymously because nobody knows who he is. If we stay local, we are limited by our choices. But certainly will be stuck with this coach for a long time, as he will be a friend of a friend. My favorite time is watching when our boys have success with their club team, where ever that may take place.
This game made me believe that if we had made the WC and simply taken Panama’s place, we’d have lost just as badly if not worse. The team is bad; far less than the sum of their parts because of the joke that is our Federation. NOBODY keeps an “interim” coach for over a year.
Wow, I know he’s kind of a villain in here over the last couple of years but that’s extremely short sighted.
I think this is huge. From where I'm sitting, there are two main decisions that are killing this team. 1. Playing Bobby Wood as a lone holdup striker. For Hamburg and Hannover, Bobby Wood is often isolated just like he is with the US. His touches come from long balls off of goal kicks more often than not. He tries plenty hard, but he's just not good enough at holding up the ball, and he's poor with the ball at his feet. And when he's getting caught offside 6 times, it all adds up to an absolute waste. It's no wonder we're finding it hard to attack through the middle, our single forward doesn't track back to the ball, and doesn't do anything with the ball when he gets it. 2. Playing Trapp in the midfield. I will begin by saying I thought he had a good game offensively. He switched the play several times, sending good balls out wide (to Yedlin and Villafana in particular) in the English half of the field. That being said, he cannot keep playing against teams that are so much bigger, faster, and better than him. They just run right by him, and his inability to keep up pulls the shape of the team apart and forces teammates to make last-ditch tackles. His defensive liabilities in the international game far outweigh his offensive contributions. A good manager finds ways to ameliorate these obvious flaws. I pray that we find one soon. This team is agony to watch.
Nah, he didn’t “blow it.” You’d expect him to put it away 2/3 times but the problem was he only got one sniff at goal and the keeper made his body big enough to save it. He was on the opposite side of the field for the second goal but you must be talking about it he first. He went to put pressure where he thought the ball was going and it went the opposite way. He could have done more but It was also a golazo that Lingard trapped and shot extremely quickly. CP was invisible the first half and really really good the second. Created everything going forward, which obviously wasn’t much. Thought he had won a clear penalty too.
And with what Wood brings as a lone striker, Jozy Altidore would blow him out of the water. I'm no fanboy of Jozy, and I've spent significant time defending Bobby Wood in his Yanks Abroad thread, but it's frankly obvious that Jozy Altidore is head and shoulders above Wood as a lone forward. Altidore is an arguably better facilitator than he is an outright goalscorer. Meanwhile, Wood is a pure poacher who can't pass. Jozy bodies up to CBs and is usually too slow to stretch a backline. Bobby Wood gets thrown around by CB's, and looks to run in behind defenses constantly (hence why he was caught offside 6 times today). If we're playing a lone striker, and we have been doing that a lot, Jozy is a major upgrade to Wood.
The USA is looking like a country that won't be getting to the WC at all, let alone get out of the group. I think the USA might not even make the Hex. People laughed at me when I said it before. No one's laughing now.