Granting full health to McKennie, Adams and Pulisic: Sargent Wood—Pulisic—Weah McKennie—Adams Lichaj—Brooks—Miazga—Cannon Not something I want to see in four or even two years, but if I had to get a result, this is who I’m rolling with. Our lack of a quality technical “8” (really hoping Keaton Parks becomes something or Delgado ups his game) pushes Pulisic to the middle and our lack of quality wing play puts the high work-rate of Wood out there. Not sure yet who plays deeper- McKennie or Adams. Fullback is a complete mess. I would love to play Durkin as a technical “6” behind the pac-man combo of Adams and McKennie but he’s not close to being there yet and there hasn’t been much indication he ever will be. Yedlin needs to be beaten out. Please.
----------------------Sargent--- -----Pulisic-----Weston-------Delgado----------- ---------------------------Williams-----------------Yedlin--- Robinson--------------------------------------- -----------------Miazga-----------CCV------Adams ---------------------------Guzan------ Why 4141? Going back to the WC'14 match against Portugal, it has been a more successful formation than one might suspect. Player:::Role:: Depth/Competition Sargent:::lone striker:::Wood, Sapong, Dwyer, Nova Pulisic:::trigger man-LWF:::Amon, Picault, Gooch, Altidore, Baird Delgado:::advanced creative hub:::Nagbe, Nguyen, Roldan, Arriola McKennie:::Super-8:::Adams, Morales, Acosta, Roldan Williams:::deep-lying mid:::Adams, Canouse, Trapp, Durkin Yedlin::::RWB::::Adams, Arriola, Picault, Lima Adams:::RB:::Cannon, Lima, Rosenberry Miazga, CCV::::CB::::Brooks, Parker, Alvarado, Trusty, McKenzie Opara Robinson::::LB::::????--Lima, Cannon, Bello
I have to admit that it’s a pretty bad lineup for possession in the midfield, but we just don’t have playable possession-oriented mids right now. Parks and Durkin are the long-shot hopes imo
Why 343? The team's best match of the Hex, when considering the circumstances, came when using the formation. Yedlin's starting position would be wider and much deeper than Pulisic's. Not sure on Alvarado, but he's left-footed, has been playing well, and is extremely fast. ----------Pulisic-----Sargent-----Yedlin---- ---Picault----Williams----McKennie----Adams-- -----------Alvarado---Miazga----Parker---- --------------------------Guzan
451, or some variation, has failed a lot more than it's worked against opponents with a pulse. That's because we have a tough time playing out of the back under control, and our half-assed presses haven't gotten home, so the striker up top has gotten isolated. If it's going to be more of an organized-counter tactic might as well employ 2 fw's. In a perfect world we get a 3rd attacker up the middle to break w/ efficiency. The 442 diamond or 352 have been quite effective formations for the national team recently. When it hasn't worked like against Mexico in the Confed Cup playoff or at T&T it's because the personnel was old, gimpy, poor, and misfit. Got some brilliant results though like at home v. Honduras and Panama, plus at Mexico.
It's just a nominal wing position. Tactically, Yedlin wouldn't be a wing-forward. The idea is to provide Pulisic more freedom to play forward. Strategically, the second formation is all about team speed.
Against this faceless opponent the U.S. better be playing super deep for him to dribble straight forward for a while. And still he lacks passing vision to hit the whole 1 attacker ahead of him who'll be 1 on 2. In a press he's going to have to make decisions very quickly in tight spaces up that high. Mee of little faith. Yedlin at wing at Guatemala still conjures up nightmares.
But this is a tough exercise considering the U.S. is still very much in fact-finding mode right now, and Sarachan has done a mediocre job in this department. -------Weah---Sargent-- ------------Pulisic---------- ------Adams----Roldan------ Cannon---McKennie--Yedlin -------Parker---Miazga-------- -----------Steffen----------------- That's probably what I'd do against the average opponent. It's taking some leaps of faith. So the U.S. needs to keep going down this path for a while, possibly thru the Gold Cup. Or at least half an attempt to win, half experiment, like Germany in Confed Cup. And we saw how well that worked out for them. Problems there were more about cockiness, uncharacteristically poor tactics from Low, and still relying on too many of the holdovers.
Is Yedlin's ball conduction good? He's fast and he can cross, but is he actually good running with the ball over distance? Williams is the only classic destroyer in the pool, so I can see why we've been looking at formations that don't really have that role.
Durkin's passing is improving but the character of it at youth level was that a) he has a very powerful leg b) his long aerial passes are beauts c) his passing on the ground is 'hesitant' and too often breaks wind. He should be good when the vision kicks in after 1000's of reps. He should be developed like Roldan who now scores goals for Seattle, something that was never achieved for Delgado at Toronto altho Delgado's final third passing is much improved and actually quite good, on the ground, anyway.. Durkin in the final third would be dicey at this stage Right now they cant really develop him for the final third but let's hope Olsen gets on it next year.
Notes: -I may be a little high on Sargent, but to my eye, he looks like our best striker -I’m not a big Yedlin guy. I’ve never been impressed with him technically or tactically. I think Cannon could pass him soon. -I would love a creative midfielder to put in there in place of Delgado/Acosta, but I just don’t think we have one. Edit: Why doesn’t the picture insert function work? ..............Sargent............. ....McKennie...Delgado... ..............Adams.............. Robinson...Brooks...Miazga...Yedlin ............Steffen............
Why 4231? This was very successful formation for the US in the '14 Cycle's Hex. -----------------------Sargent---------------- ----Picault---------Pulisic----Arriola---- ---------------Adams----McKennie--------- --Robinson------------------------------Yedlin----- ----------------Miazga------CCV-------- ------------------------Guzan----- Picault would stay wide while Arriola would look to combine inside.
3-4-3 Steffen EPB-Brooks-Glad Adams-Trapp-McKennie-? Pulisic-?-? LB/LWB is hard to figure out. The attack outside of Pulisic is hard to figure out, as well.
Rumors were that he had serious personal issues with managers and or teammates. I have no idea if he was the problem or they were. He was "free to leave" his last club.
Altidore, Chandler, Pulisic adams mckennie all recently injured or currently injured.... that said if everyone's healthy: ----------------------wood------altidore--------------------------- weah-------------------nguyen-----------------------pulisic --------------------------mckennie------------------------------ fabj-------------brooks---------miazga-----------adams ---------------------------steffen---------------------------- nguyen's spot was hard to fill - no one in MLS in the top 30 in assists that's US eligible!!! also dont think weah is best on the wing but there arent a whole lot of great options there either. wanted to find a spot for lletget but think nguyen would be better passing to the attackers. yedlin cannon are good but i wanted to get adams out there - so right back it is. lastly wanted to go 2 strikers cuz the 1 forward formations have been pretty weak. not sure whats up with fabj but i think he is still the best left back out there...if not him then try someone else maybe villafana - not a lot of good options there either.
Not my pick but perfectly defensible apart from Picault. I would continue building like this --------------------Sargent --------------Wes---------Pulisic --------Adams----Trapp----Delgado ---Parker---Brooks---Miazga---Cannon -----------------GK: Steffen Sub 65' Weah for Delgado. Weah: Diagonal movement/lead line (morris' doppelganger) Sargent: link up Pulisic: width Wes: 10, loose balls. Trapp: knit the defense together Delgado: cover Trapp on defense, move ball thru mid on offense Adams: wild card Parker: recoup reputation of USA's left side, aerial game and baby sit Brooks Brooks-Miazga: Passing out of back
I had this thought watching the morning Bundesliga games. Against better opponents go with a 3-5-2 that looks something like this: --------------FWD------------------ --------------------Pulisic---------- Robinson---McKennie----Yedlin ------------Adams----CM---------- -----CB----Brooks-----Miazga--- --------------Steffen----------------- --This hopefully alleviates the worries about Robinson's defensive shortcomings, while still making use of his pace and crossing going forward. --The CB role could be filled by CCV, Parker, Long, etc., or the positioning of the 3 CBs could be changed around. I think we have a competent 3rd CB, but I'm not sure who would be my pick for that at the moment. --Let Pulisic be a 2nd forward who has freedom to drift to find space--centrally or out wide. --Let McKennie be the forward-most CM, allowing him to get onto crosses in the box, something he seems to be good at. Adams and one of the other contenders (Canouse, Trapp, Delgado, Acosta, etc.) can hold down the fort behind him. --No idea who the best forward is right now. Hopefully, Sargent starts playing regularly with the Werder 1st team in the 2nd half of the season and locks this down. Then against weaker teams, we can move to more of a 3-4-3, putting in Weah as a winger in place of one of the CMs.