Bradley was honestly the best player on the field and it wasn’t even close, it was nice to see him looking to play penetrative balls, not sit on top of the CB’s, not constantly play the safe and slow pass etc. in general it was a pretty good performance. The one newer player that impressed me even though it took him time to settle in was Lima, an athletic freak and an absolute savage, I’d be interested in seeing him at CB he could be the American Mascherano.
Agreed with both these statements. Nick Lima and Corey Baird looked pretty good at times. As did (gasp!) Michael Bradley.
People will say this match was just a soft ball, and they’re right. But we need a couple soft balls right now. Honestly, I’d rather us beat up on some powder puffs now due to the fact that we need so badly some understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish in the harder matches. I’m not saying Soft Ball it through 2022 but let’s ease into it and build our chemistry again.
Friendly caps have no relevance on a UK WP. The caps have to come in official competitions like the Gold Cup
Was he the best player of the match because this was Panama’s C team or because he was actually that good?
Against a very weak Panama side, Bradley was "ok". He had a few more forward passes today than has been his custom, but they were hardly penetrating. If the man was clearly open, he passed forward. If a move had to be made by him, MB passed to the side. If he felt pressure, MB passes back. We have gotten used to such a low bar for Mikey that "ok" strikes us as "pretty good", but that is deluding ourselves. Go on, Berhalter, keep sending out Mikey against the strong teams. Let's see how the tough get going when the going gets tough...and all that....
Fan base rewards USSF decision to charge these prices and play in a 70K capacity stadium Looks like the Phoenix area prefers Royal Rumble 2019 to #usmnt vs. Panama. https://t.co/JnLHMbilBh pic.twitter.com/7k0hN64M8C— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) January 28, 2019
If the aim is to make the MLS playoffs, then Berhalter is off to an ok start. Not bad for an expansion team, I guess. (Just going off lineups and results. I am not watching this horseshit.)
If anyone actually had any questions anymore about why MLS imports all its attacking players, watching that game would have answered them. I counted one occasion in the entire game where we beat somebody off the dribble in the attacking third, and that was in the last two minutes, and was more of a push and run than a dribbling move...
I think saying bradley played well is more an indictment then a compliment. I would like to add to what TOAzer said by pointing out he took ages on the ball when he could have moved the ball more quickly. He slowed the game down and not in a good way. This became far more aparent in the time after he was subed off the field. The ball was moved around the midfield much quicker and with far more purpose.
Where were the supporters? I feel like withdrawing my membership to AO if this picture captures the entire crowd.
The only thing I have to say about this match was that I saw more attack minded forward passing in this game than I have in about 10-12 years. They moved very well quickly from defense to attack in about 2 good passes multiple times. Not sure if that's good coaching, poor defending or good players, or all three, but that was, at times, not unenjoyable to watch. That's all the nice things I can say at this minute. It's been a while since I didn't want to vomit or yawn after watching this team, so give me a break.
Really nice start to the Berhalter era. We flowed for most of the match, without being porous defensively. Can’t remember the last time that happened. Even thinking back to the 4-0 hex win vs Panama (the last game where we consistently created chances from open play), we gave up a lot defensively and were fortunate to escape with a clean sheet. Djordje, Roldan, and Lima really stood out. Great work rate and production from all three, they deserve a shot in March. Everyone else did acceptably well. I don’t think anyone played their way out of the team, so that was nice to see. What I kept trying to figure out while watching is how our other guys will fit in. Does Pulisic play in Baird’s spot, or maybe he replaces Djordje? Baird had the greatest number of chances to create chances, and I was salivating thinking of what Pulisic would do with those opportunities. But then I like the way that Djordje was pushed up higher when we didn’t have possession, and think that Pulisic would be lethal on the counter from that spot. McKennie and Adams could step in for Roldan and Bradley without much of a change in style. We might be a bit more direct with those two, but that might be a good thing against stronger opponents. Adams excelled today in a deeper role for RBL, and I think he would really control the center of the field in a way that Bradley can’t anymore. Roldan did a wonderful job of getting into the box, and also broke the midfield line with a quick touch on multiple occasions. I think McKennie can do the same and add more bite/coverage, but Roldan set the bar high with his performance today. Lima can put in a better cross than Yedlin, which could matter quite a bit in Berhalter’s system. We played an asymmetrical back-line and did almost all of our attacking down the right side. I wonder if that will be the case moving forward, or if it was just what we did today because Lovitz isn’t as strong in attack and we wanted Ebobisse closer to goal rather than out on the wing. Seeing how Berhalter handles the LB hole will be interesting to follow, both in terms of tactics and personnel. Brooks will do very well in this system. He can hit a pass and I really liked how involved in the attack our CBs were today. They didn’t spectate when we had the ball, and did a good of actually supporting the attack rather than merely circulating the ball. Anyway, those are my main takeaways from tonight. My optimism has only increased after our performance, and am excited to see more new faces in this system against the Ticos!
Match Ratings: GK Steffen - 7 - Top-notch reaction save and very comfortable possession in a game plan that emphasized it LCB Lovitz- 5 - Had a few too many “that could’ve been bad” moments CB Long - 6.5 - Composed and confident RCB Zimmerman - 7.5 - Scored a nice header and did very well in possession aside from one moment in the second half DM Bradley - 8.5 - Played numerous line-breaking one-touch passes. Defended adequately, hard to find a single error on the day. Not a 9 simply because of opponent RM Lima - 7 - The tactical wrinkle that flummoxed Panama. Los Canaleros simply couldn’t deal with the overloaded right of the Yanks. Lima had good ideas throughout. His tackle-cross sequence was absolute class. LW Ebobisse - 5.5 - Not so great on the ball, worked hard LAM Mihailovic - 7 - Took up good positions, got a little lucky on the goal but deserves credit for taking it first-touch. Far less influential than some are making his performance out to be. RAM Roldan - 8 - Best performance by far in the shirt. Constantly found space and knew what to do with the ball when he had it. Solid defensive work as well RW Baird - 6.5 - Excellent movement all night, but many of his plays on the ball found the opponent. ST Zardes - 5.5 - About a dozen players in the pool could’ve done exactly what he did tonight or better, which wasn’t a whole lot. LAM Llegett - Just takes too many touches sometimes and he’d be so much better if he had even average pace. LW Lewis - Nice play on the assist but I didn’t think his moments up to that were quality RW Arriola - Not much time on the ball ST Ramirez- Silky touches in his eight minutes and a goal DM Trapp - Nicely played pass that sprung the third goal. GK Johnson - Had a save
I felt like nats played with intent and purpose. Which is encouraging. Im a little apprehensive with emulating Peps tactics with the inverted rb. Part of what allows Peps tactics to work is the fact that he always had near 2 world class players in every position..... At every club hes coached at. Needless to say, we dont have that luxury. Against teams with better tactical acumen, I see a couple problems in this tactical setup. Panama was atrocious and they still managed to test our keeper. Case and point. The opportunity the no16? had on our right side that forced the tough save from Steffen. That said, I think it will be entertaining and we will beat most teams in our region. Can't wait for CR. Good start overall.
Good stuff. Only conceded one very dangerous chance where Steffen needed to come up with a strong save. Controlled play throughout the night and looked very purposeful. Gold Cup should be fun.
I might not have been following camp closely enough but I didn't anticipate our FBs lining up that way in possession. I thought Lima was MoM. Not sure how much you're going to get out of Ebobisse on the wing, especially when you are overloading the other side. Zardes should managed at least a goal. Mihailovic was sloppy with his passing but his off-ball movement was mostly good. It was still a January game but it was at least a moderately fun one. I was very happy for Ramirez.