I've always thought the US coach's job, whoever it is, should be on the line in every Gold Cup. I've been preaching patience and cautious optimism with Berhalter, but if he doesn't get to the finals of the GC, especially if the team continues to look so uncomfortable in the "system," I'd be seriously thinking about giving him the boot and cutting our losses.
Problem is this is an offensive formation using DMs all over the place who can’t play offense. Instead of attackers we do have. And then the formation exposes the backs. And I am not sure what the answer is on backs though I do not think this is the best set of defensive backs we have. Only a moron has a defense this bad and says hmm I want to play with 3 backs. Two ways of dealing with this are either get more true attackers on the field and acknowledge it will be open games with goals both ways, play to score more, or go strict defense and only play ball winners in the back 7.
The really scary part about waiting for the guys that have not played yet, is that with the exception of Adams playing out of position, none of them play defense or goalkeeper...
That will never happen. You do realize your starting 11 are all Euro? The fed mandates at least half of the starters are MLSers.
I dont think the issue is solely MLS related FWIW. Not saying they were good but I think it's fair to say that you could probably pick better MLS players than what we saw
Trapp was our worst player. He just brings nothing to the table and he's the ********ing captain. It's embarrassing and it's gonna suck if we're married to him for the next 3 years. Wanted Holmes to come in for Roldan to see what he could do when combining with our best players today in McKennie and Boyd. Of course, they get subbed out as he comes on. I also thought Jozy was good.
Agreed. I've never been a real anti-Egg type, besides the pathetic MLS-centric players he's been calling in...but can you really press forward with this? I watch a few bits of the first half, and it looked like a high school squad. Rolling with Trapp after what, by all accounts, was an embarrassing performance in DC last week? Someone else mentioned it, but enough of the "system". You play 10 games a year. It's just like the entire "Who should be captain!!!!???" discussion that BS loves for some reason. You have zero time for any of this. It's senseless. Find your best players. Stick them in positions where they excel for their clubs, fit in the best of the rest around them. I've said it basically for the past two years, but the fact it can still get worse after Couva is simply funny at this point. USSF continuing to use the USMNT as an MLS showcase. Until that ends, we are basically a laughing stock, and I (again, since Oct. 2017) won't be watching.
It would have been pretty hard, because some of those are reaches on paper and responses to the performances in this camp, or just ignoring them. - Pomykal and Weah were busy with the u-20's. Other u-20's had a hard enough time against boys. - Antonee Robinson sucked more than anybody in the previous match. CCV sucked off the bench. Holmes played well one time, sucked the other. - Wooten is totally unproven internationally and what has a 2 BL player produced for the national team in the last 20 years? - Amon hasn't looked bright in limited opportunities with the senior team, didn't play at the youth levels, and hasn't proven all that much at the club level. - Alvarado and Chandler have never done anything for us. You could say the same for Morales (even though I probably would have put him on the roster). - Cannon struggled his last game internationally and leveled off in Dallas. That's a pretty darn uninspiring group. It's a combo of mediocre talent for the modern era and execution which requires some skill seeing as though the options aren't so clear-cut. So it's a matter of talent evaluation, figuring out how players complement, and can play specific roles within a tactic the USNT should be trying to employ given their pool (not Gregg's, slow, possession style). For example, I'd try EPB as a destroyer 6, Novakovich as a cut in wing forward, and see if Mueller could hack it as a 10 serving Pulisic, be in competition with Boyd across him, or at least a Lewis like super-sub. But that may not inspire others like it would me, and they certainly aren't clear-cut solutions. The senior team is in a hole right now.
I had to read so much contempt and vitriol about Klinsmann. This stretch from Arena to Berhalter has been an absolute nightmare and could be studied by sports management programs for years to come. Maybe I can partially blame JK for his bedside manner. He probably doesn't care though - laughing all the way to the bank.
Systemwide concern I have is we seem to have gone in the direction of slickness in the back over marking ability, this team has that glitch, and only Richards seemed to be a tough physical U20 defender. On the team below Keira and Dest couldn’t defend very well. To me the issue is that 10-20 years ago you would pick Dolo for defense and Bonus he can go forward. That polarity seems to have flipped. They pick people for passing and it’s maybe they can play defense. The pendulum has swung too far. I want 4 people in the back and they can all defend first. His use of a 343 was laughable because it’s not 3 really good mobile Boca/Pope types who don’t need help, it’s stick figures who can pass who need all the help they can get.
The problems are Klinsmann (1) managed the Golden Generation at its peak and (2) the collapse began in 2015. The US had lost matches in CONCACAF in prior years, but that's when too many bad results began to string together.
Been trying to stay positive regarding Gregg, but I'm really starting to dislike Berhalter for numerous reasons. Proud to be part of the group that booed him (and his piss-poor coaching effort) off the field on Wednesday night. 1) He stubbornly refuses to adapt his "system" to fit our player pool or to give us the best chance to win against a given opponent. We're not Barcelona and we shouldn't being trying to play out of the back at all costs. 2) Steffen's boneheaded play on the first goal is 90% Berhalter's fault, and has frankly been coming for several games now. It almost happened in DC against Jamaica. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize that playing out of the back needs to be situational. Success in just about anything is about taking risks when the odds are in your favor, and being more conservative when they're not. 3) His post-game and halftime comments indicate that he is some combination of stubborn and clueless. I get trying to stay positive as a leader, but I didn't hear him take any personal responsibility for his coaching failures or accountability for his system playing a large role in the defeats. He was also far too positive in his assessment of the games, which is frankly insulting to everyone that paid for a ticket or spent their valuable time watching the game. 4) He's way too much of an idealist in his coaching philosophy in general, and sometimes in life you need to be practical. I see a lot of purposeless possession out of his "system", which is frankly pointless. I also see him shoehorning far too many athletically limited players into key positions because they're a little more technical. A better coach would adapt the strategy to the player pool and each individual opponent and find the right mix of players and tactics for a given task. 5) Lastly, I wrote when Klinsmann started (and I think it applies even more so to Berhalter) that our attempt to play an "attractive style" would transition us from "winning ugly" to "losing pretty". Not even sure we're losing pretty at this point.
Why do people keep saying this? Is the only foreign coach available Klinsy? People wanting a foreign coach that knows talent identification and tactics =/= Klinsy. The foreign coach Lopetugi (sp?) coached Spain to an undefeated record I think, and Real Madrid? Nope, not good enough. Instead we get Bruce Arena 2.0. And ftr, I am/was anti-Klinsy, but I'd take him back in a heartbeat over Egg.
Does anyone think Bob Bradley would take us back? Our national team has been a shit show since he was unjustly sacked.
Arena gets endless crap. Do you not see the difference? Berhalter can’t even handle the routine home games Arena did. Arena played 18 games and lost 2. Those 2 were huge. But this guy has lost two and tied 1 in his last 3. You’d probably give your right n*t for a coach with that kind of winning now. I also find it funny pretending like the 4th place finishes, regional playoff loss, Guatemala, the two losses to start the Hex, didn’t happen. I get wanting 2014 back. But are we going to be honest about 2015-2017??????? The mentality needs to go forward, not back. I told people that if they wanted better results they had to literally improve the coach. We rolled the dice on value instead, essentially hired a worse coach. JK was better. So was Arena. But the answer is someone else entirely and going around and around on the stupid which coach can we revive in the cemetery is stupid. Hire an international name brand with a real CV. QED. Last, the coaching decision needs to get away from the missionary politics of changing the team and get back to realism about what works for the pool. What you are seeing right now is a coach with an idea in his head that isn’t in the same time zone as his roster. The pool needs to connect to the formation needs to connect to tactics.
Holden so annoying when he said no one has unseated Bradley at the 6. Of course Adams has but Stuart is too far on board to call out GGGs asshat right back role.
The worst part is that where the program is today is the result of “changes” due to missing the World Cup. We are arguably in a worse position now than when we got eliminated by T&T. We need real change starting from the top. Unfortunately if missing the World Cup didn’t drive this change then I’m not sure what will. Dark times for USMNT fans...