I don't buy the line that he's on there because his off the ball movement and work rate are great, it's not all about touch and control blah blah blah. His in game anticipation is so poor. He repeatedly overran defensive positions, following a man instead of pressuring the ball, zigged when his teammate expected a zag. Sargent's one turn and layoff a minute or so after coming on was more than Zardes managed in his entire time on the field. On paper maybe he makes a lot of sense-- good motor, good lungs, works hard-- but in practice, at this level, he's terrible. Even Holden in the in-game broadcast said no one has yet stepped up as the heir apparent to Jozy...and Zardes has 50+ caps! He has already had a great international career and yet here we are still complaining and stretching ourselves to figure out how and why he's on the field. 50 caps later and he still hasn't even declared "I've arrived"
I don't think Zardes is great. I also think the scapegoating of him has gone waaaaaaaaaaaaay too far. Zardes Is who he is and always will be. The fact that we have a coach that thinks he's the best option is the problem. BY the way, he's probably fine for CONCACAF opposition other than Mexico. We witnessed this with our own eyes at the Gold Cup.
Agreed completely. Zardes isn't the problem. The coach that keep starting him is THE problem. He's useless, but I do not blame him for our losses.
The problem is that Zardes isn't the guy you start. He's the guy you bring off the bench in a scrappy round of 16 game who knocks the tying goal in off of 2 deflections and scores a tap-in in extra time.
I don’t think he’s that, either. His positives are his runs, pressing and ability to keep running for 90, which we don’t seem to have anywhere. Those aren’t enough to play.
I personally would bring a guy like Morris off the bench over Zardes. I mean, Gyasi is fine for the League of Nations and most CONCACAF opposition. We all just KNOW he's not good enough for games against the bigger/better opponents. That includes Mexico, who can handle him with ease. We must give the next generation like Sargent, Weah, Soto, etc. as many starts in these friendlies as possible. They learn harsh lessons in these games so they can be ready when the games start to actually matter. What did we actually learn by playing Zardes against Mexico? Nothing we didn't already know. We can go back to him later if the youngsters don't develop. I personally take Altidore in a heartbeat over Zardes, by the way.
You're giving him too much credit. He is supposed to be a high energy pressing forward or something and he isn't even good at that. Useless on the international level
I think he has a role as a late game pest that can occasionally score lucky goals but who could harass tired players. Not sure that's a role that's more important than other so I guess it would be a game to game role.
Paxton Pomykal wanted to get in on this thread, by dropping the fing hammer: “We do have youth, but at the same time we have youth that’s playing at a high level,” Pomykal said. “Josh is getting Bundesliga minutes, as opposed to a 28-year-old who might be playing in a league not on that high of a level. Whether you’re 20 or you’re 28, if you do the job, then you deserve the opportunity,” https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...omykal-hopes-add-usmnt-debut-milestone-season That is pretty much it for me in a nutshell, there is zero justification for starting Gyasi over Sargent at this point imo. They are at worst pretty much equal right now and one has big upside and the other is what he is; not good enough.
Thank god it’s not just us. 3G might be losing the lockeroom. Next shots please be at Trapp and Bradley!
Forget Sargent, is there any justification for starting Zardes over Mason Toye (6G 3A in ~500 MLS minutes, a couple more goals in USOC, and another yesterday for the U-23s vs Japan) at this point?
I admit I cussed like a sailor when I saw Zardes name instead of Sargent's last night but he had a good game and scored two good goals. For all his faults, and Zardes has many, he does score goals. Sometimes he doesn't mean to score them and a lot of time they're ugly but they all count.
Zardes always plays hard and last night he also played smart and was accurate on his shots. He either needs to be more consistent or the other forwards need to match his work rate.
Lletget in the #10 role made the difference. McKinnie is not a #10 nor is Roldan. Lletget isn't really a #10 either, but his more offensive minded. This team needs to play with an offensive minded CM every game.
I agree with this as well. It would really help things if one of the young attacking minded 8s would develop. What I wouldn't do to have a healthy O'brien or a Holden but that's been the issue for years.
I am not a big fan of Zardes either, and he's very limited in skills. But I gotta give credit to the guy for working hard and always trying. He's probably a good back up to have on the bench against lesser opponents, but sadly I don't think he cuts it against better competitions.
Yeah, mad props to GZ. He showed up and played and, for once, didn’t miss his chances. Now, any coach who expects that to be true consistently??? Well . . .
Not only did he score his chances, he had a lot of nice interplay with his teammates. There was one really nice little lay off to (I think) McKennie to start a break. Several other good moments from him, and the usual hard work for the whole game. Yes, if only we could rely on that to be the case consistently...
I don't mind if the message sent to Sargent was developmental in nature (look at Zardes' work rate and match that) but history has shown that's not how Berhalter operates - he treats MLS (and Crew) players differently than he does others.
Zardes isn't so good on the ball but being smart, hard working and a physical beast will get you pretty far. He's a tricky player to evaluate and I'd say the sort of player that would only come from the US. He's so good in some areas and yet so hopeless in others.
For the record - I am no fan of Zardes... the biggest problem with him, besides his lack of making proper runs/touch & finishing, is not his but our unrealistic expectations as Americans. We seem to think we deserve a better forward and the fact that the zardes is best we have is upsetting! Even with that said he should not be a 1st choice Nat team player for Beerholder game in and game out. It reminds us that we are simply not a good National side. No one wants to admit the fact that we aren't as good as we probably should be at this point in American football progress.
Rainbow flick assist for opener vs. Haiti This is actually pretty surprising. But Christian will become #1 (by a good margin) with his very next assist.