Also, midfield shape needs to be two deep one pushed forward as long as Bradley is in the 6 spot. Leaving him alone to defend the middle of the field is suicide.
Don't tempt fate or you'll end up with that Trapp/Bradley combo everyone's been mocking for two weeks.
I had a bout of insomnia and decided to watch the game in the middle of the night. I had a few main takeaways about individual players. I'm still of the opinion that our coach and federation are both jokes but with what I saw last night, here are what I liked and didn't: Positive Impressions - Boyd obviously. He's a real winger who can finish. It was a treat to watch him desperately trying to get more goals even when we were up 4-0. - Zimmerman. Sure, not the strongest competition and he didn't take a wrong step defensively from what I saw. However, I liked him forcing the issue at times and dribbling forward and finding some penetrating passes. I don't think his passing will ever be mistaken as John Brooks but he's got some Jay DeMerit qualities I'm seeing. - Arriola. I do not think he should be on the team but he was out there to prove something last night. He wasn't great but he gave it his all and scored, probably should have had another. For me, I'm willing to consider him a player in the 40 or maybe even the 28 but do not think he should be in the 23 of our A team. Negative Impressions - Zardes. He's so bad. I have already blasted Egg for including him over Sargent. Now I'm going to blast him for including Zardes over Novakovich, Wooten, Wondolowski, my 11-year-old neighbor's rebounder, and that guy I saw score a hat trick in his over 40 indoor league last Saturday. - Bradley absolutely can't hack it at this level. He's slow, doesn't "quarterback" the team well, turned the ball over and fouled/should have been called for fouls, his long passing was not good all night. He sent several straight out of bounds and the one "glorious assist" was played too late and left Boyd with way more work to do than it should have. Even Holden of all people harped on that. Watching him try to chase that guy down who was dribbling with poor technique was a moment that should be shown on repeat to Egg. Trapp came in and did no better. - The defense besides Zimmerman. Ream's passing was not good considering that's supposedly why he's there. Lima was beaten too often and out of position at weird times. Long just didn't look comfortable, maybe he's still injured. I've always liked Lima and Long so I'm not done with them like I am with Zardes and Bradley but they need to get better and fast because TT will score goals on us if we defend like we did last night. I did not think either Pulisic or McKennie were very good last night either to be fair, they just weren't as bad as others. Plus, I'd like to see them play with guys closer to their level.
As scary as that sounds, I'd prefer it to Bradley covering the width of the midfield on his own against any team better than Guyana, who still waltzed through him on multiple occasions.
bothered me enough that im still curious...waht was uhh with that weston/greggg interaction in the tunnel? weston looked like he was not thrilled with greggg
El Burro is probably the worst 9 I've ever seen in terms of his first touch. He must be unbelievably good at something for a significant number of managers to keep calling him up to play for the Nats. I don't know what that is, but there must be something he's extraordinarily good at, because his first touch is about as bad as it gets.
Isn’t that the one you said has never happened? Let’s see what happens in the rest of the tournament. Will we see a midfield without Bradley and Trapp? Maybe he’ll play chess and put McKennie/milakovich vs Mexico and if we lose, he can point to trying it out and say it didn’t work...
Assuming we make it to the finals (and we should godammit!), he’s going to put Mckennie next to Bradley. This is a problem for us because McKennie will have to lie deep to cover for Mike’s defensive shortcomings and that effectively screws up our entire spacing. Bradley will be forced to pass backwards constantly as he’s not a ball shielder who can break lines under pressure. Therefore, our attackers will be isolated as our other midfielders come farther back (McKennie to cover and the outside backs to receive balls). Imagine if it actually is Trapp and Bradley vs Mexico as dual DMs. I wouldn’t be able to look my Mexican friends in the eyes for months after that - way worse than the reverse of dos a cero. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Oh man last thing we need is Gagg alienating the most talented members of our team. And putting them into forced and unfamiliar roles due to insistence on some system seems a very plausible way to do this.
Well I have read through all 5+ pages on this thread. And as expected for BS an overwhelming negativity. Was last night perfect? No not even close. Was last night bad? No there were plenty of good things. Was it a step in the correct direction? Absolultey. Final comment - Sick and tired of all the comments about why so and so should have been here instead of so and so. And in a vacuum they aren't necessarily wrong. But the 23/40 man rosters weren't ideal and nobody disagrees with that. The problem is many are just tossing other considerations out the window like they don't matter. 1. U20 WC was immediately prior to the GC. Not realistic to put players on both. 2. Some players called in but not on final 23. Were they better served to be at GC or resting/working with club teams preseason? 3. Injuries. The bottom line is that there are lots of factors on this roster selection that a lot of guys are just summarily dismissing. If this were WC Quals then this would be a wrong roster. Its not. Now that doesn't mean that there are some things many would have like to have seen differently. But the negativity here is flat overboard. In fact I wonder why a lot of you even watch the team or bother wasting your time posting on a forum if they are so bad.
I'd actually be OK with McKennie next to Bradley in that at least we'd have some bite in defensive midfield. And with McKennie not really having a regular position at this point, seeing if he can fit in and solve our midfield defense problem isn't a bad thought. Use Holmes in front of 'em with Boyd and Pulisic on the wings.
If everyone is healthy, this team's best formation is either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 with Adams as the central midfielder (either a 6 in the 4-3-3 or with McKennie as the 2 mids in the 4-2-3-1) and Pulisic on the wing. As I've said before, the USMNT's current situation requires to play your best players in their natural positions and then figure out how to best fit the other talent around them. I'd love to play Pulisic inside as a 10, but his best position is on the wing where he can drive 1 v 1 at defenders in space. I know that means the quest to find one of the two "unicorns" for the MNT continues (the other being a left back), but at the present time the US needs its best players in their "true" positions.
I actually believe any combination of dms in a 4231 would work for this tournament. Including Trapp/Bradley combo. Simply because our player pool favors that formation in my opinion. Many combinations of players can, in theory, fill in in those dm roles. Roldan, Mckennie, Trapp etc. Also the 10 can play as an hybrid role. So that offers different combination opportunities depending on the opposition. 4231 can also transform into various versions of 433 by dropping the AM deeper. The modern 433 requires the central players to cover ground because the press must be in unison otherwise the gaps can be exposed. So a 4231 would be the best option for less mobile combination. Position wise the cover is ready for the cb. Only issue is GB didnt bring a balanced squad. If we lose a full back we are very limited with how we can play for the remainder of this tournament. No lbs etc....
I would say currently he's a mid-level pro in a mid-level Euro league. I think that he shows some real glimpses of a guy who may be a late bloomer and may have been passed over by scouts early on in his career. But the kid looked good, more impressive IMO in his second start than anyone else on the field.
That was so typical a night for him. He had a ball back to goal inside the 6 and couldn't score it. Similar about 10 yards out. And he gets the accidental ricochet. I mean, try a backheel. Try a Cruyff turn. Back someone over. Play like the forward you claim to be. That should have been 3-4 by half time. The Sad. thing is the goal plus the scoreline probably buys this months more. When I think the objective watcher of the first 2 games this year plus this one is like where is a real 9.
Contrast? Arriola's asset is his athleticism. His handicap is his (typical) lack of technical ability on the ball.
I thought Boyd's crossing and dead balls were meh. What I thought he had was a cannon. I half want to see him tried as a 9 because I think we prosper from a sniper in the striker spot, someone who converts a higher % of chances. I see a bench role but am not sold he's a starter/ better than Weah. I wish this was a straight up competition with the right names there. I think we do have forward talent. I am not sure it is all there.
And the context is that this is the worst squad the USMNT has played in years. Guyana was nearly Thailand-vs-USWNT bad. National teams worth any salt don't misplay 5 clearances that all go back toward goal in the same game. So no, to your point, and against anyone claiming differently: it can't be enough that Zardes had a face goal against the worst team I can recall USMNT playing in some time.
It's the Costa Ricans co workers I worry about. They're the worst shit talkers in CONCACAF. Mexican fans are at least wonderfully fatalist. My prediction is that we see Trapp and Bradley alternating every game as we convince ourselves that "ok, that performace was worse than the last one, and I guess the other guy was better"
A-freaking-men, though I'm more skeptical of Arriola's ball placement than you, I think. Still -- there were 2-3 sent in textbook, with, like, Zardes running central and no one else in the box. Weird to me because, even instinctually, you see a winger get the ball in the final 10-20 yards, and you should see someone making that far post run -- coaching instructions be damned sometimes. Not to ever conflate my soccer days with these guys (yes, as much as we rag on 'em, I still contextualize as 90th division USL would dust me), but I can't imagine seeing the ball in positions Arriola gets in and not just naturally finding your angle arced across the box and toward that back posts.