We'll see. Let see them win a tourney first. . And how long they last. It goes counter to every major league. It also generally goes against what makes good teams. Sports are about efficiency in scoring. Right now RBL are the equivalent of volume shooting team winning games before they are figured out. I doubt they can sustain it. Its the equivalent of the Red bulls in the MLS. They do well in the league play but can't progress in tournaments. BTW- the international game is all about tournament success. Liverpool is a better example of that style of play that has won tournaments and they use one.
Kante played the 6 during Leicester's title-winning season. He did likewise during Chelsea's title-winning season the following year. During the knockout rounds, he did the same with France in the World Cup. But great, Frank and his 4th placed Chelsea see things differently.
I didn't watch those teams. So I'll just go by what Lampard says.. ‘He wasn’t the holder in that team. Nemanja Matic would have been more of the holder and N’Golo Kante used his energy to get almost everywhere over the pitch. So I’ve used him as I see fit on that.’ Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/24/frank-lampard-ngolo-kante-chelsea-12118093/?ito=cbshare Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/
The data is out there to view for one's self. Kante played as a 6/8 or 6 depending on whom he was paired during Chelsea's title-winning season.
You don't want to examine the data and the results. You want to take the word of the guy with the 4th placed team, who obviously is going to push a certain line given he wants to start Jorginho in the single pivot? OK.
I don’t doubt Kante or Adams can play a version of that role. With our player pool maybe even it’s the best option. I’m just questioning it - that it may not be. And the Lampard thing is just evidence that it’s not a crazy hypothesis
Brooks had his players every day for more than six months. You cited club teams who can go out and buy the best regista while we have been stuck with Bradley, Trapp, and Yeuill. None of them look to have the athletic ability to be international quality. So forcing a lesser player into a key postion such that you think we might not have a spot for a player that most believe is one of the too 5 players we have? Why dont you look to National teams... which one of these players is a regista? Kante, Pogba, Henderson, Witsel, Rakitic, Brozovic. It doesn't look to me like any of the top 4 teams in the last WC used a player in the role you claim is so important.
You can call Fabinho a regista f you want, but the key with him is that he is also called The Tank, because he's a defensive monster, which is nothing like who the US plays there. You want to play like Liverpool, you need a regista that can defend every inch as well as he can attack. Who's that in our pool? Only playing the roll on offense doesn't replicate what a team like Liverpool does with a high level two way player in the spot. The guys Berhalter is playing there are soft, the guys top teams play there are not. That's a huge difference.
Why is that you think its defeatist to not play possession style yet think that we should expect to lose to mexico (which you've repeated stated as justification for 2019's results)? isn't that literal defeatism? conversely, I think that we should expect to beat Mexico (particularly at home) while playing our customary countering style. I also think the expectations for the USMNT should be to win the Hex as we've done many times before. Any other expectation is literally defeatism.....
Stats from current or most recent seasons... Fabinho - 8 yellow cards in 14 games .(57 per game) Jorginho - 8 yellow cards in 22 games (.37 per game) Fernandinho - 6 yellow cards in 20 games (.3 per game) Busquets - 6 yellow cards in 20 games (.3 per game) Bradley - 4 yellow in 27 games (.14 per game) Yueill - 2 in 32 games (.06 per game) Trapp - 5 in 28 games (.17 per game) The players thrown out as registas are twice as likely or more to get a yellow card than anyone we have considered. Honestly, I was surprised the gap wasn't larger with Bradley and Trapp than it is. The top players in this roll are not soft, finesses players who waltz around, pass the ball and get protection from others as the US seems to play the position. They are excellent passers who are also defensive stalwarts tasked with protecting their part of the field, even if they have to hack down the opposition to do so. That's a huge difference.
Absolutely- the perfect world they can do both. My ideal is Busquets who very good defensively, great passer, incredibly press resistant and can even slide into the backline as a CB if needed. We don't have that and my hypothesis is the passing, ball retention, and ball circulation side of the role is just as important as the defensive. This is particularly true - imo- with the US. We played one good team in a competitive match and gave up only 1 goal. I don't think the US is weak defensively. I'll say it again- The US lost 0 games last year when they scored a single goal. If we go back as far as the T&T qualifier game. The US gave up a late goal as they pushed forward but the biggest problem in that game was that they could not score a single goal against T&T. The same was true in the first Canada game. Defense is not this teams weakness. Its offense. They can't score goals. They particularly struggle to score goals when teams make them possess. Everyone wants the US to play like the RedBulls franchise but international play is about Tournaments- not league play. How many tournaments have the Red bulls won in either the MLS OR in Europe? When it comes down to single games- teams have to progress when other teams make you play to your weaknesses. It's how Atlanta United beat the NY Redbulls twice. Its Liverpool is as much a possession team as they are a press team. I think I know why I am debating so much with long time US soccer fans. Its because all they know is defense. All they want to focus on is defense. It all the past glory of the US - they were games like our draw with France. France outshot us 19 to 2. They had 8 or target to our 1. They had 70% possession to our 30%- yet we sqeaked out a draw. That's all the US fanbase know. For that to occur- it takes a lot of luck and lots of defense. The US fan base sees the high press as a way to take that historic experiences and make it more aggressive. The problem is - that its still ultimately an underdog strategy without a more balanced offense built into it. The US fanbase simply cannot fathom a future where we are not the underdogs in soccer. Its so built into our DNA now that even when most of our competitive games for 2 years will be CONCACAF opponents- they still want the underdog, punch up philosophy to be the bread and butter. The reality is to win through CONCACAF and be able to qualify AND make progress toward not always being the underdog- the US HAS to be able to score and win with possession. Just as Liverpool does. This is particularly true in tournament play. To do that- my hypothesis is the US needs this role. AND because we unfortunately do not have a Busquets yet (perhaps our consistent youth style can now produce one)- the US is going to have to balance that weaknesses of the person who plays that role with tactical and personnel adjustments.
You are right on the first two points wrt me. i think it's a little presumptuous to think the third point: many of us just don't think the trade-off for our current pool of players is worth it, not that we don't understand what it takes. I'll ask again, look at our highest-ceiling players and tell me why we're not focusing on "a different style of play" as they all play in this different style. pulisic adams McKennie Brooks If instead of building around these guys, we're building around a non-Best XI MLS player in Yueill, Bradley or Trapp, we've got to rethink what we're doing.
Back to this: I'm guessing that Bradley touches the ball 2x as much as McKennie does and when we adjust for that, it makes a huge difference.
Agreed- this was the reason I made the original blog post. I see the role as crucial the US future and see the pipeline and player pool as the weakest at this role. The US is weak at the #9 too - yet no one is suggesting we stop playing with a #9. IMO- its the same level problem. The US needs this role and needs a deeper player depth chart at it. I'm hoping Pomykal gets a shot at it. I am hoping Mendez comes out of the youth Ajax program with more bite. We have to remember Pirllo started as a number 10. Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta were all developed to be deep lying playmakers in the mold of Guardiola as a player. Itally sandwhiched Pirlo inside of 2 dmids. Klopp paired Fabinho in the middle with a better passer until he was up to speed in the EPL. Typically this role has 90% passing and #8's have passing percentages in the mid 80's but Klopp has wijnaldum as an 8 with passing percentages in the 90's. There are multiple ways to get all of those in there- but I think getting those in the starting midfield is important.
I'm not saying we don't need passers in midfield, it is absolutely part of the job description. But, so is playing defense and that becomes an even higher priority if you play at the base of the formation since that's the absolute most dangerous place to allow other teams space. You're already playing with a striker and two wings along with two more forward midfielders. Asking for the third guy to actually play tough defense is far from clamoring for a bunker. That's just showing a bit of balance. And if none of those guys can work hard and get stuck in, they're lazy and don't belong out there because none of them are transcendent enough on the ball to get to take the other half of the game off.
Can you find a player who in not a tough defensive presence themselves, who plays that possession heavy roll without being paired with another more defensive player? I mean, Pirlo is the most obvious example of such a player and as you said, he needed two bodyguards. The guys who go it alone are defensive workhorses in addition to strong passers. None of these example align with what the US team has been doing.
The question isn’t whether we’d all like a complete player who can boss the field from a deep lying position. everyone would but we’re nowhere near that. the issue is whether RIGHT NOW we’re willing to trade inadequate defensive bite for a little bit better passing percentage. I, of course, think the obvious answer is NFW.
The question isn’t whether we’d all like a complete player who can boss the field from a deep lying position. everyone would but we’re nowhere near that. the issue is whether RIGHT NOW we’re willing to trade inadequate defensive bite for a little bit better passing percentage. I, of course, think the obvious answer is NFW. What’s particularly frustrating is that it took at least a year for Gregg to figure out that trapp/Bradley weren’t the guys. Furthermore, we had multiple poster state that Berhalter was likely grooming someone for the spot even if they didn’t know who it could be. We are all in trouble if that person is Yueill: he is not the guy we should be building around.
But there are multiple ways to play d. Playing good positional defense and protecting the backline with interceptions and protecting vulnerable space can work next to other ball winners in the midfield. But I do agree that defense can't be ignored. I am just saying that ball retention, circulation, and deep play making (at some level) is equally required in the midfield. The solution can even be creative... put a ball winner at the 6 and add in a Nagbe at the 8. (The problem then becomes your ability to press gets weakened).
This is where its hard. Bc I have to rely on reports and articles on some players. I just don't have the time to watch all the games. ;-) I have to pick about two a weekend.. then usually try to watch AJax on ESPN+. But no- if you put in a player who isn't as strong defensively then you have to put ball winners next to him. Which player fills which roles isn't as important as all the roles are filled. But a player can play the defensive role of the 6 without being rangy. Beckerman (who was a good tacker - I get that) played the 6 with really good positional awareness to compensate for his lack of athleticism. Bradley does the same now. Trapp plays it that way. But those guys will not be rangy ball winners. They need an Adams or Mckennie next to them to be the rangy ball winner. As for other teams who do this now- have a weaker defensively 6 with a ball winner paired.. Its hard. Most of the top teams can afford to find a player who can do both. Man City, Barcelona, Bayern, Liverpool etc. All have 6's how can do both. They can afford to. Real Madrid with Kroos? Probably Arsenal would be a good example with Torreira paired with Xhaka. Jorginho has more defensive bite than the guys we have been using but is a far cry from what Barca, Man City, or Liverpool use. They pair him with Kante, of course. Its a good question though. Let me look into that with some teams like Arsenal and Chelsea who (this year) aren't as big of spenders as the big three. How does Tata, Brendan Rodgers, and managers who coach teams without the huge budgets do it? I'll look into that.