I think there's a list of criteria when it comes to who we can count on. We should exhaust our youth team pool, for one. Those players know what it's like for US players to play in Central America then go to a tournament half away around the world for finals. EPB, Miazga, Sargent, etc. How do we know what Seibatcheu can actually do? Let's just let him play in France and see how far he can get. Tell him to go ahead and try to make the French team. If he wants it bad enough he will recruit us.
It's really tough to get by CCV in the box. I think it is a mistake to talk in terms of who is better in our pool and we should be talking about what our pool is and why. The reason I have CCV in the pool (let's say the pool is 6 individuals) is that he always showed up and played well for country even when not doing so well for club. We saw he could stay with France. I think his liabilities can be masked by playing a 3 cb formation. For me, the pool is EPB/Miazga---CCV/Brooks----Parker/Glad but I"m not sure about Glad because I don't watch Salt Lake hardly at all. I'll just take your word for it.
I have CCV in the pool, but I don't really think its matter what formation we play, I think Glad fits better because he's a good player, and its not like his playing style is one where he can only play in certain formations. My CB pool (if we are talking in 6's) as of now is EPB, Miazga, CCV, Brooks, Glad and Besler. Parker just misses, IMO. In a two CB look, I probably play Besler-EPB. In a three CB look, those two split Miazga in the middle. I'd like to use Brooks, but in a big game, I just wouldn't trust him as of now due to his past poor performances for the NT. I'd need to see him earn it back in lesser games. In a two CB look, he would probably be fourth in the pecking order, as long as the player he's playing with in that game isn't Miazga. I don't think they are mobile enough to play together. Otherwise, I'd have him fourth to play with Besler and EPB. Miazga is 3rd. If the first two were unavailable, but everyone else was and I wanted to play a two CB look, I think Glad would jump Brooks because I'd need more mobility next to Miazga, unless I'm completely bunkering. In that case, their mobility doesn't matter. Parker and Carter-Vickers probably would not make my best 23, if everyone was healthy. I think its near interchangeable between the two right now, although Carter-Vickers is younger, so I'd give him slight preference. If one of the first five was injured, Carter-Vickers and then Parker in that order. This is all assuming we are talking about an important game to win now. If not, drop Besler and move everyone else up a spot. But as of now, I don't think the NT can afford to drop Besler, if winning is important.
I don't see how we can start planning for Qatar by playing Besler. Out of a pool of 6, I'd expect one or two to be injured or out of form come June 2022. I'd play a 3cb defense because we have good cb's and no powerhouse dmid (and we will not have a Mascherano, Medel, Vidalia, Matic by 2022). My 6 are meant as the start of a process where we rotate and see who plays really well together. The September FIFA window is always the diciest for Euros because they have just started their season, there is jockeying for starting spots and CL thoughts hovering and the last thing they need is a long plane trip and extra games and jet lag. For Mexico I"d go with Parker and Glad plus 1 from Euro (EPB, CCV, Brooks), whichever is best situated at club to make the trip. I would continue using Trapp at dmid to gauge performance of cb combinations. Wes and Puli will be caught up in clubs' high pressure mode as they look to CL so I would have Delgado and Adams as cmids with Trapp. This will also help to have some passing out of the back. It's a shame Pulisic didn't show for France and Ireland games. Some performance there would have made a useful contrast with his lackluster year for Stogie. Oh well. He did it his way. Let's see how that works.
CCV would have none of that, lol. On the usmnt we would choose to go with CCV v. Zlatan because Zlatan is more powerful than fast so CCV could probably stay with him in midfield.
Because there's a lot of time between now and Qatar, and the pool will shift a lot between now and then. For all we know the starting combo at the Qatar World Cup will be Walker Zimmerman and Auston Trusty. We don't know who the new coach is going to be, so we have no clue what his philosophy is going to be with regards to play selection.
Any coach who calls in Besler should be fired on the spot. The ONLY old player I would even consider is Tim Ream and that’s only to enhance the development of the gluttony of center back potentials we have. Need to start preparing for 2022 NOW...otherwise, 2022 will start looking like 2018.
Why would you call in Ream but not Besler? He's proven himself to be worse than Besler for pretty much his whole career. Besler has been our NT's most consistent player for years. If we need to win games (which is what I stipulated), he must be called in.
The pool: Brooks, Miazga, Ream, CCV, EPB, Opara, Parker, Zimmerman, Glad, Long Mystery man: Hines-Ike http://www.americansoccernow.com/articles/hines-ike-focused-on-orebro-amid-eredivisie-interest Would like to see him move to the position: Hollingshead
I'm not a Jordy bandwagonner just yet either. Would love to have him commit to the US but even if he did it would take some time for me. I really liked the lineup v France. Lots of future starters there for my money.
We don’t have any must win games until the Gold Cup and then none again for another year plus. He’s not needed anymore and hanging on to him is insanity. The ONLY reason I’d hang onto Ream at this point, is to be a mentor to players wanting to go to the EPL. He would not be first name on the game day sheet unless Miazga, Brooks, and company absolutely prove they are horrible defenders. In other words, I might call him up for some Euro date filler and simply as a mentor/locker room presence to help the development of the younger players.... not to be the reason why our younger players never develop.
You must've not read what I said then. I was assuming that the discussion was for an important game. Who knows what pet project will get called up for a meaningless friendly the first game of the cycle? Its hard to predict. I'm only saying that if a game is to be won, Besler is still one of our best players, IMO. I get your point about Ream. Call him up for Euro friendlies where only certain regions of the pool are available. I agree with that. Even then though, I'm not sure players the age of Besler or Ream are completely done. They'll be 35 at the next WC. There are 22 players 35 or older at this WC, and 32 teams, so there's better than a 50/50 chance that a WC team will have a player 35 or older. I wouldn't count out players like Besler, Ream, Gonzalez, Guzan, Altidore, Bradley based on age. I think categorically they should be grouped differently from Howard, Dempsey, Jones, Cameron, etc. If they are good enough, which they might not be in 2022, they aren't per se "too old" to play at a WC.
i do hope glad and hines-ike get a look, as i think its very premature to start setting our cb rotation. i think miazga and brooks are the two clearest choices. i think parker did as much as you possibly can to stake an early claim to at least a 4th (of a traditional roster with 4 cbs) spot as that steady hand to offset all the other question marks we have there. i thought ccv was the least impressive in these last 3. not bad at all, he just still seems really raw to me. he has both strengths and limitations others dont, so far the limitations have stood out to me. i thought epb in a good bit less time was very clearly better.more effective (with a skillset/style that compliments the other 5 or so guys who can all be a little samey). zimmerman seems like a completely fine choice in the case of injuries of unavailability, or strictly mls/mex rosters. as for possible holdovers, in order, id go besler/ream/cameron. the bright side for the "ready to move the hell on" crowd (which i am a member) is that it doesnt seem like there will be much need for cb "rimando"s (if you will) past the gold cup, but even with an "old guard" coach theyll be aging out as well. besler would be my choice of them, easily and by far. could partner miazga (my clear top cb with no equivocation), cover for the fitness/availibility questions around brooks, great example of a pro for the kids and great servant to the team imo. ream ive just never been impressed by, at all, with the national team. i dont rate him at all. and cameron- however right or wrong we think he was- has as much baggage as anyone this side of timmy chandler. i dont want him in camp with the kids. any team wants experience, mentorship for younger players- i dont want anything about cameron around these kids. weve got a deep pool here. ton of potential- young potential. as i said miazga and brooks, to me, are the first two names, the most ready to start building our spine around. weve seen solid, lower potential options in parker/zimmerman who are a very good type of player to have. weve got ccv and epb as high-ceiling, still very green picks. but we arent there yet. glad and hines-ike havent seen a camp. personally im not close to being able to say "these are our 4 guys" going forward. im very glad i dont believe we need to rely on the old guard, but weve still got a long way to go.
I think it makes sense to plan for playing against a team with a player like Zlatan, but I don't see how it helps us establish a possession style to be starting (with regularity) guys like Carter-Vickers, Miazga, Parker who aren't good on the ball, and play negative football. I have no issue with one of them in the lineup or if we are using a game plan to bunker, we could even have two, but I think those players have their passing and mobility working against them when it comes to discussing what the starting lineup could look like.
If most of the top CBs aren't good on the ball then it doesn't make sense to drop down in overall quality just to get someone who is. We've been through this with Ventura Alvarado. Let the pool determine the style, not the other way around. But if playing a possession game, come what may, were the goal then the best thing to do would be to experiment with fullbacks and mids in those CB roles. http://blog.forcagoa.org/2017/04/25/coaches-who-changed-football-marcelo-bielsa/ The possession/high-line pool: Ream, EPB, Hollingshead, Sweat, Besler, Polster
I think we do have the CB's for a possession style. EPB, Brooks, Glad are all above-average (or better) on the ball. Same applies for Besler and Ream, who could stick around, depending on if veteran players are kept around the team. Only players of the commonly mentioned names that I'd say are below average in possession are Carter-Vickers and Miazga. There's also the mid 20's MLS guys like Parker, Long, Hagglund who probably fit more into the Carter-Vickers or Miazga category, but what are the chances those guys will play key games for the NT? If anything, they are probably more the squad depth when we have injuries, suspensions, players not available. No one's talking about Alvarado here or anyone of that caliber. I agree that we should go with the best players and not call in clear inferior players because they fit a certain style, but what clear inferior players have been mentioned?
I don't get the 'miazga poor in possession' stuff. Are you desperate to get EPB in the lineup? Miazga made some incisive big league passes thru the French midfield.
the idea that miazga is a tall stiff whos only there to win balls in the air is asinine. that whole segment of bs posters just suck, if for no other reason than youre all making me agree with excellency.
At this point I’m actually expecting our CB pairing to eventually be Miazga-EPB, if not EPB-Miazga-CCV