What the rationale for consistently setting up mid-block defensively? when was the last time we saw an effective press from our front line?
Gregg Berhalter has tried fitting players to his system, but the returns have been almost nonexistent.That’s why it’s time for him to do the opposite and get back to basics with a player pool that can perform better via a counterattacking style.#USMNThttps://t.co/J4C8nAw7I1— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) October 19, 2019
It's sad... Our soccer journalists are as bad or worse than our Nat team coaches. I don't have the credentials to claim I'm smarter but they all miss the obvious: We don't always have to be a counter-attacking team, we don't always have to be a play out of the back team, or high block/high press, or low block/no press, or any other 'system' you care to make up. The best teams in the world have a strategic system that is tactically adaptable so they can play what's in front of them at the moment as individualeleven said earlier. It's obvious our players are trying to force a system that doesn't fit what's in front of them. It's not because they're bad players, although a few are, but forcing this system no matter what the other team is doing makes our players look like crap. Cuba gave us a lot of space & time to execute, Canada did not but we tried to play Canada the same way. There are certainly better players we could've used but in my mind, very little of it is on them. Berhalter is 98% to blame with his inflexible system, tactics, subs, and yes, some of his player selection.
THIS! The way we play without the ball does not pair well at all with how we are supposedly trying to play with the ball. I keep hearing all this garbage about playing like the Dutch, Man City, Barca, etc. Yet we are not anything remotely like them and I don’t mean from a player/skill level, I mean tactically. If your philosophy is to use the ball to beat your opponent, then you need it back when you lose it. We are the worst of both worlds and play like a bad counterattacking team without the ball just letting our opponents pass around the back with no urgency or pressure whatsoever. It’s just plain weird. Curacao is not more talented than us in any way, shape or form. They have a cohesive identity, play with the ball comfortably and press competently to win it back. Curacao has a better coach than we do.
It's not even just this. In every game, you have some possession. In every game, you are on your heels on defense. In every game, you have the chance to press. In every game, you have counterattack opportunities. I still think having a plan when in possession is good. But abandoning a press and abandoning transition offense is a very, very bad idea.
Wayne Rooney on Berhalter: Morning everyone, I'm sick as a dog but still have to point your attention to Wayne Rooney on Gregg Berhalter, one of many gems in @MLSist's feature:https://t.co/xmFGrFlPpZ pic.twitter.com/qbcYAra9Qy— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) October 28, 2019
My real curiosity (mixed with dread) is now that Dest has committed to the US and Berhalter has said he now sees Adams as a midfield player, will he ask Dest to play that dual roll tucking into the center of the field like he originally envisioned for Adams? Personally, I'm not necessarily in favor of it, but if it allows us to finally play some defense in the midfield, I'm not sure it wouldn't be an improvement over what we've seen, especially while we wait for Adams to get healthy and man the center. As we've been going, the lack of any midfield defense has made us look horrifyingly vulnerable and I'm ready to be happy about just about anything that can fix it.
Or conversely he could play a defensive midfielder at defensive midfielder so the outside back can play outside back and not two positions at the same time.
Do we think Wayne is really thinking that much about the USMNT? Or, as his name is referenced, do we think he has picked up some thoughts from Arriola?
It seems the Gregg and Earnie deserve some credit for the Dest decision. Also, Gregg seems to have figured out that Ream is not a left back, and (hopefully) that Adams is a midfielder, not a right back. So, those are all positive developments, especially since it is highly unlikely that Gregg gets fired, as long as Jay is around.
It's unknown how much Tweedle Dee and Dum influenced Dest, but I agree, you can't give them anything except kudos. They went over there, met with him, he chose the US. It goes back to what many have been saying when the other dual nats come out and say they haven't heard from anyone in the US set-up for months. Yes - maybe Dest would pick the US anyways. Maybe the trip from Egg and ES was useless. BUT, they did what they should have, and it certainly did not hurt anything (and quite possibly helped). So it's a good time to (finally) give them a bit of credit here. If Egg would drop MB/Trapp/Lovitz from the lineup/squad, combined with Dest on the field, I think fortunes could change very quickly.
We can field a team like this: ------------------------------------Steffen(BuLi)-------------------------------------- ------------Miazga(Ch'ship)---JAB(BuLi)---Ream(Ch'ship)---------------- Yedlin(EPL)--------------------Adams(BuLi)------------------------Dest(Ajax) ----------------------------------McKennie(BuLi)------------------------------------- --------Weah(Ligue1)-------Sargent(BuLi)--------Pulisic(EPL)------------ That's 8 players in Top 5 leagues, plus a player in a Top 20 team. Not qualifying out of CONCACAF would be a disaster, only terrible coaching and players who don't give a crap could fail to do it, considering the strength of the team on paper.
Good on Rooney for being frank. Thanks, Wayne. Good luck. I would simply add on, as an American, to what Rooney observes as an outsider: Much of sports in America does require coaching and American soccer coaches presume that the same applies to soccer. Think of the amount of coaching, as opposed to individual expression, that goes into the position of offensive lineman in tackle football. In baseball we have "3rd base coaches" who wave players in or hold them up. They may as well have a roster spot. In reality, Klinsmann explained it well (and was pooh-poo'd) when he said that in soccer one cannot call for a time out and explain everything to the players. He was also making a different, collateral point when he said the players should figure out the tactics. I think these concepts are reallllyy hard for the soccer bureaucracy in USA to grasp. And when you think passing out of the back practice involves doing it every time in a game v. Mexico...….um...no...the practice should be practicing when to do it and when not to do it. Notice how Egg has taken all the thinking out of the process and replaced it with "work" the coach has assigned. But how is it practice when it involves taking the wrong decision to begin with? We are beginning to grasp why Egg's selection has such a "dead" feel to it on game day.
Both. He is an intellectually curious person when it comes to the game. He played v. USMNT at Wembley in his send off, you will recall. I don't think Arriola is particularly critical of Berhalter because a) he gets call ups and b) one of the bright spots in our play has been the Arriola(lw)-Pulisic(10) interplay which even Egg remarked on (before he changed it for Canada game.)
I am kinda curious though. Let's imagine our match w/Canada was in mid december rather than mid november? What do you think the lineup would be then if literally everyone was healthy. All options? Fwd: Altidore/Sargent MF: Pulisic/Morris/Adams/Bradley D: Dest/JAB/Miazga/Cannon Steffen Would it be something like that? What do you think it would be, if everyone was healthy?
Over-coaching seems like a legitimate problem within the US system. There’s too much emphasis on being cute, “playing a certain way,” that the team has forgot about the basics. Sometimes, it’s okay guys. Let’s keep our shape, get into position and move the ball quicker. Or, it’s, hey guys, we need to see some better movement on the ball. We need to look for the fast breaks on the counter. Get numbers forward. And bust our ass to get the ball back when we lose it. When it gets so damn complicated that players are scratching their heads... it’s too damn complicated. Coach is there to put the best players in position, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the team and the players, study the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, relay to the team how they can exploit the opponent’s weakness, let them know the general plan that the team wants to accomplish, observe and correct problems as they happen in-game, and help players develop mentally and physically outside the game to reach that next level. It really shouldn’t be that hard. But we get so fixated on playing a certain way, that we don’t possess the tactical FLEXIBILITY to maximize our player pool.
Am just trying to guess what he'd do. My personal hopes would involve kinds of crazy stuff (Weah, Llanez, Ledezma, Siebatcheu etc).
Here's a couple takes that aged badly. Pragidealist hasn't posted much - he was replaced by gogorath.
Mahtzo1, What do you think about this early take? It hasn't been a year as you mentioned to find a permanent solution: do you still think that he has/had a player (or two) in mind? Thanks and didn't mean to call you out in a negative way as you're a good poster.
Kudos to appoo for being strong (and fair) with his take at first (when Gregg was 2-0 and our team looked organized) and then taking the facts on the ground to switch his perspective.