I completely agree that our midfielders need to feed our forwards as much as possible, and that it becomes a circular argument where our forwards can't score unless they receive a pass, and if you don't pass the ball our forwards won't be able to score. However, I still think that since this is the first real tournament (against stronger opponents) since the Algarve Cup, the team still remembers how many golden opportunities our forwards let slip through their hands. That tournament helped create the monster in Lloyd where right or wrong, she feels like she has to take the burden of scoring on her own shoulders.
Watching the replay I'm surprised it wasn't called offside anyway since Abby was obstructing the view of the keeper and defender. She was in the middle of the play.
a bit of a tangent from the conversation but I did a rough estimate of the performance rating for the US under both Tom Sermanni and Jill Ellis (since taking over the head coach position after Sermanni was fired), using the basic elements of the FIFA rating system. This is rough but here goes - under Sermanni: performance rating 2114 under Ellis up to the Four Nations tournament: performance rating 2080 under Ellis including the first two rounds of the Four Nations: 2015 The USA rating in Dec 2012 (last rating before Sermanni took over) was 2209 (source FIFA); it was 2228 in Dec 2013; and as of the last rating in September, the USA rating was 2185. Naturally, one way to interpret the performance rating over a limited time period is to say this is how the team performed over that period and if, as is the case here, the performance rating (roughly estimated under Sermanni 2114) is lower than the acutal rating, the team is declining in performance and the rating will drop but is lagging behind the drop. Under Ellis, even before these last two games in Brazil (vs China and Brazil), the performance rating wasn't improving and, after these games, it's taking another drop. (lot of caveats: I'm still working on the method of calculating the performance ratings using FIFA's scoring system which uses the game scores; also I didn't incorporate weighting that applies, for example, to official Qualifying matches; however I did adjust for homefield) Very good conversation going on with many good comments. Please carry on.
??? That's not a creation-- that's her DNA. From her earliest appearances with the national team, she has never met a shot or a foul she didn't like. At times she has exercised some restraint, but even that was never really learned; it would fall away at most any excuse. And I say that as one of her strongest advocates here...
Golden opportunities in which tournament, certainly not the Algarve. One of the biggest criticisms from the Algarve is the fact that the mids were not creating chances for anyone, not the forwards and not even themselves, hence why we got that famous quote from Lloyd and Wambach about being able to play through passes and what not. Back than, the mids stayed back and did not crowd the 18 but so did the ball.
So my one man campaign to get Morgan Brian as the #10 has a supporter. Welcome aboard Lauren Holiday. It's still an up hell fight.
I remember it differently. I recently watched Japan-USA game from Algarve again and forwards wasted some pretty good chances there. Also stats don't lie: Stats Summary: USA / JPN Shots: 20 / 8 Shots on Goal: 8 / 4 Corner Kicks: 2 / 4 Stats Summary: USA / SWE Shots: 12 / 4 Shots on Goal: 6 / 3 Corner Kicks: 7 / 1 Stats Summary: USA / DEN Shots: 22 / 9 Shots on Goal: 11 / 7 Corner Kicks: 3 / 1
Well those stats leave out the most important point, where they created by the midfield or did the forwards themselves create those shots. Also, we can't tell from these shots which were legitimate chances.
I don't see any post game comments by coaches and/or players on USSF site. Do you guys? Why is it that when our USWNT wins we see all kinds of post-game comments from coaches and players almost right away? But when we lose, a day later and still no post game comments.
None of the fwds (outside of Wambach at the CONCACAF) have been on the mark. That's Press, Morgan (in her few appearances), and Leroux. I don't know if it has to do with the transition from the 4-4-2 or not. All the way back to the AC, shots have seemed to find the post or outstanding GK saves. And your reasoning to sit her vs Argentina works the same way for any other player. If Press bags 4 what have we really learned?!? If Wambach scores 3 have we gainined any new knowledge on game play?!?
I agree, we created a lot of good chances but the forwards just wasted a lot of them. The ball movement was very good, and we had a ton of positive possession. I watched all three games a couple of times and still have archive of these games.
I was wondering about this too. There's usually that Post Game Quote Sheet or video. I can't find anything.
Well, I have no problem with losing in a friendly if its because of experimentation, getting a lot of new players caps, etc. especially if its early in the WWC cycle. However, losing in a friendly because we don't have any urgency or desire to win? (and I'd say that a few players actually did look lethargic, but we can agree to disagree on that point) That doesn't sit well with me. Plus, its no longer early in the cycle, the 4-3-3 is no longer an experiment...it has failed, and younger players only got limited minutes. I'm trying to see the upside here, but I'm not seeing much. Its getting close enough to the WWC that I'd rather the team practice for a WWC situation in that moment of being tied or down a goal, and say, "Let's pretend like this a a knock-out round in the WWC. How are we going to respond?"
Again, the argument is not whether or not our midfielders were distributing the ball well to the offense in that tournament. The answer is probably no. However, watching those games I do remember our forwards missing a lot of clear open shots on goal. After a while, someone with Lloyd or Rapinoe's personality will just take matters into their own hands and try and score themselves. Right or wrong I bet they feel like if the offense can't score we're the last hope to put the ball in the net, especially if Morgan is sitting on the bench. It's the coach's job to step up and say that these are our forwards and I want you to feed the ball to them 20 times a match even if they can't finish regularly.
Great post. Agree 100%. We are less than 7 months away from the WC and players should not be playing out of position at this stage. If Abby has not proven herself as an attacking mid then she should either play CF or be benched......simple as that. Kling should not be flipping from right to left back. Why is Heath all of a sudden our starting forward and A-Rod (a true forward) is just sitting on the bench collecting dust? What's the story with Dunn, why is she able to practice but not play? Are we going to experiment with another keeper or are we hoping that Solo is not arrested or gets injured by the next WC? Will we be playing the 4-3-3 formation against every team in the WC or is this just a tactic that we'll be using against certain opponents? If so, then will we have a chance to practice the 4-4-2 formation? At this point we need to play consistent line-ups with certain players getting used to their roles coming off the bench. Pia has her share of problems, but at least she let people know way ahead of time what position they were playing and whether or not they were going to start in the WC.
That was not my argument. Your point argument was that the midfielders are frustrated because the forwards keep missing easy chances hence why the mids are taking it upon themselves to score. My point was that if was indeed the case, they (the mids) have no business feeling that way because to my knowledge, I don't see any easy chances created by the mids that were missed by the forwards. If they are missing chances, it was one created by themselves. Anyway this entire problem is moot because as you said, even if the forwards are not doing their jobs, it is not the place of the mids to disregard the game plan and try to score. Because what that does is expose the back line as we have quite a few times now.
I have long felt that the WNT would decline after Pia because she was managing for the present with little regard for the future. I don't fault her for that because that's what her boss (Sunil) wanted. My feeling was that Tom Sermanni was knowingly managing the decline with an eye toward keeping it from hitting rock bottom in 2015. His boss, however, couldn't accept that there was going to be any decline at all. What we are seeing now is free-fall decline heading for a very rocky bottom. That the Jill Ellis gamble (everybody knew she was in over her head, but hoped for success) has been a failure so far is probably good for unmasking the decline. I look forward to reading your attempt to quantify the extent of the actual decline.
I don't mind the tweaks in the formation changes that we are seeing now or even players in different positions. What I don't like is the coaching team ignoring glaring weaknesses in the formation. Keep in mind that apart from the games against France when Ellis just took over, she really had no good opponents to test this on. I least we have moved past the different faces in each camp. Hopefully in the coming months we can narrow down what options we have at each position. As for Heath, I don;t mind her starting because she had a good showing in the WWQ so I'm guessing Ellis is testing her against stiffer competition, same for Klingenburg. Come Algarve if we are still playing Abby at the #10 than I will be worried.
If the current squad and Jill's formation has another collapse at next year's Algarve Cup, this could be a sinking ship come the next WC. It amazes me that Ellis seems fine with experimenting with players out of position, but is stuck with playing Solo almost every single match.
Interesting exchange with Morgan on Twitter. It seems pretty apparent that she's not playing in this tournament even if by some miracle we wind playing Brazil again. Alex Morgan@alexmorgan13 7h7 hours ago Day off today! Anyone have any recommendations for us to do while here in Brasilia??? Gerry Levine@gerrylev 6h6 hours ago @alexmorgan13 Why haven't you been playing? Are you still injured? Alex MorganVerified account@alexmorgan13 6h6 hours ago @gerrylev yes I'm recovering from my ankle injury, trying to get back 100% and fully fit!
Ellis doesn't necessarily strike me as stubborn. I think on the surface it looks like she are playing the same players in the wrong position all the time but to be fair, we can pretty much disregard all the game in the WWQ because it didn't tell us anything. Hopefully she did learn what works and what doesn't from the last two games.