Yep. Just because he was still jogging around doesn't mean that he had the energy. In the last two games, he faded in the last 15-20 minutes which resulted in fouls and inability to advance the ball.
Yeah but we have a top 5 player who is arguably our most offensively gifted player, who apparently is fit, who no one knows how or if he'll figure into this match. We don't have great depth by any means. But we've also got Gio sitting there unused....
Given the knock to CP I would like to see Gio get the start. Run a 4-4-2 diamond: Gio - Weah Aaronson Wes - Musah Adams Jedi - Ream - Zimmerman - Dest
Let me be more specific: MMA getting tired, with any replacement being significantly inferior for the integrity of the whole, is what will do us in.
I'd almost rather start the bench guys and let them play the first half than have to worry about them getting a result in the 2nd half and/or extra time:
In some areas we have good depth. We have excellent depth on the wings with guys who can also come in for a midfielder if we want to shift our focus to more of an attacking style. But, once we have to sub out a fullback or one of MMA even up or ahead, we are a bit stuck with some pretty poor options. We have at least one guy we can swap around without losing much at center back (not much between CCV and Zimmerman, different but close in overall level to me) and none of the strikers are so good you worry about pulling them for another. But, if we want the midfield to keep controlling the game physically and defensively when we tire, we're down to Acosta. He's had good games in qualifying and isn't terrible, but he's far below the quality of MMA, especially on the ball in high intensity games. Throwing Luca on for his first minutes in months in such a situation is a tough move and our other options are more of the roving attacker type. Moore has been pretty poor when Dest has needed rest and Yedlin was no better. I personally feel Scally is a solid option there that we've wasted, but obviously Berhalter isn't as sure. I think midfield depth may be less an issue as we enter the knockout rounds because there's a greater chance of falling behind and wanting to step up the attack with Aaronson (Berhalter's preference) or Reyna (my preference). But, playing a team even or with a lead and just wanting to keep churning, we end up with issues once any of MMA go out and our fullback subs have been shaky.
-----------Weah-------------- ---BA----------------Gio------- --------Wes---Musah-------- ARob----Adams------Dest--- --------Ream---Zimm--------- ------------Turner---------------- *Excludes players w/ serious injury questions. W/ that in mind, who'd be disappointed in this lineup?
I'm going to quote myself, like any bona fide nutcase. Back when the Internet was young (early 80s, long before the World Wide Web), the original social media was Usenet. All we have now is nothing but a pale reflection. Anyway, Usenet News used the "No News is Good News" transfer protocol, eventually shortened to nntp (no news transfer protocol). I don't know why, I just felt like sharing this piece of trivia from a world long gone. PS: "Network news transfer protocol" is the modern expansion, to make it sounds more serious.
such an important point you are making - the odds are not poor that this game could go well into extra time. We will need great contributions off the bench to have a chance of winning.
problem is, gregg cant let gio succeed now...will make him look too bad for not using him before. Greggg is obsessed with getting another cycle so much so that he will not use gio (because he is looking out for himself only)...as much as gregg wants to win, he only wants to win if he can preserve his image while doing so. face it, gio will not play in qatar.
just win the game in normal time (is what I want to see) im sure greggg is already planning his PK list though
This Saturday, if we're able to play like we did against England or like we did in the first half against Iran; then I really LOVE our chances against Netherlands.