We do actually. Aside from a few game to game, personnel tactical tweaks is the same system. All the way through.
Uly is athletic. He has nice acceleration and speed with the ball. That's what makes him stand out and what keeps him scoring in his league. He is a real potential weapon for use now (think Yedlin as used by JK in the world cup).
we have a YNT system. the normal response to a nagging glitch would be over time to fix that glitch. how do you fail to have your farm system develop even one decent LB for more than a decade? ok, it sucks now, in 2006, this will be a point of emphasis across the program. in at least 5 years you'd think you'd have one. at least one. like BA's last 2 US teams are run aground in part on the same overlooked position. this is part of where i get into we have real issues which repeat and then we have fake answers that don't respond to the real questions. the 2018 backline went to heck. response: leave the younger components in and continue to emphasize skill over defending. the 2018 team gave up a high amount of goals. response: deploy passing from back that creates opposing goals, and continue not to emphasize defense. i get people think this stuff is an answer but it's not the question people watching us play would be asking. it's a, let me sell you this boxed dutch response set, only 10 payments of $19.99.
The topic isn't invalid although this is the wrong thread, it's your unnecessarily confrontational tone that I'm calling out. "We're supposed to marvel" - no one said that. Any point counter to the idea that the coach is a bumbling idiot is twisted, packaged in this confrontational way, and thrown back at the poster. It's not just you, it's many on this board and it's made it unreadable. You're injecting heated language where it doesn't need to be. It is also irrelevant. This thread is about how the game against Costa Rica went. Not how games one year ago went. Times have changed, players have evolved, the coach has evolved, and people are fighting arguments about one player's role who was injured and never got more than one game in that role. It's tiresome. Live in the now. All that needs to be said on the initial tactical wrinkle for the right back: The coach designed a wrinkle for a specific player, and then that player got hurt and the wrinkle went away. After some experimentation with other players in that role didn't pan out, it was jettisoned in favor of a more traditional approach at the position. The player in question is of a quality that is worth trying different ideas to get him to maximize his impact on the game. As he matures in his career, those ideas might change. That's it. It's not some huge deal and it's not indicative of anything more than what it was. When you all freak the F out when one new idea is tried for a few games and it doesn't pan out, what you're really doing is incentivizing an overly conservative approach that punishes any experimentation. Part of success is attempting and failing at things. It's called trial and error and it's the way progress has been made in every human endeavor, ever.
Well, he did scale back on the retreads in camp, but that could have been merely to help set up Kreis for a successful Olympic qualifying campaign. Maybe Turner plays if he was a u-23.
i dont know that a yedlin comparison fits, ive never seen uly really carrying the ball over any distance, and hes not a run in behind the defense guy (which i worry about with berhalter- those diagonals to wings after knocking around outside the box seem to be the most defined way he wants us attacking). i agree he has plus accelerations and speed on the ball- the comparison i would make is a short(er) distance pulisic. he (uly) generally receives already in the attacking third on his side (rather than moving the ball up that side) and his strength is taking people on. id bullet point it as short bursts directly at the defense, and hes pretty freaking electric. as i said in my initial post not a lot of it came off vs costa rica- but it was his first cap, etc. i didnt mean it as a huge criticism, just a reason for not too much praise. he was dangerous, and simply pulling in defenders is a huge plus. getting dangerous balls off will come, and i dont even mean eventually/someday- it just didnt happen to in that one. i think he presents more of a threat than morris in attacking defenders already (though morris is obviously more seasoned, better finisher, has really improved as a crosser/passer from the wing). uly is raw, but hes not messing around. his directness, taking guys on, not just scanning for a crossing opportunity...i think "weapon" is a perfect descriptor.
I would always just go back to "it's a message board". If someone "freaks out", who cares? Just make your point, and move on. The amount of time spent on complaining about this message board, or about how people post on an internet message board, is just so bizarre to me. Who cares? As far as your argument about specific wrinkles, that's fair. I think the obvious counter to that is why are we creating wrinkles for our best players so we can build around Trapp and/or Bradley? If Anaheim's manager said "hmmm, I think it might be useful for Trout to bat 9th, use him as a "2nd leadoff" hitter", that's also just "a wrinkle". But it's insane cuz you always want to build around your best players. And as others have said, this wasn't simply a one-off, it was basically a full year of discussion/planning before he changed his tune in January. I think we're all happy about that, but seems you're minimizing it just because injuries/poor play/possibly McBride have forced his hand.
i responded to a post with my thoughts so i cant really apologize for bringing up irrelevant things. i dont know why a rhetorical question i made in, again, just sharing my thoughts rubbed you so wrong but i wasnt putting words in any posters mouths. i wasnt confronting anyone, only responding to what was posted. id suggest taking advantage of the ignore feature.
i thought morrow once upon a time was ok, but he's 32, i get that one. but then lichaj is 31. but then any port in a storm. i ran numbers a while back and lichaj had a good NT GAA, goal and assist in GC 2017 in 2 games playing well, was on the team post 2018 for 2 wins and a tie (Mexico W, Bolivia W, Portugal T), where we allowed 1 goal in 3 games -- which was the Horvath five-hole gaffe. by my count the last time we lost a lichaj game was like 2013. mind you, minimal caps since then, but that hints at my argument. I think at least part of the reason is a snob attitude where "we have that covered" with younger players. yedlin, dest, and when they are generous, cannon. so why do we need a 30 year old to handle what we have kids for? seems the logic. except what we need are wingbacks who can defend. dest and yedlin are only sufficient right now if you redefine the position for them as offense. people seem to miss that dest and yedlin are like elaborated versions of lewis or villafana. same weakness, better getting forward. so on paper it might balance out different, but you never bring in a heydude or dolo who can actually play his position right. but, circling back, i think the reason lichaj doesn't get tried is the answer is seen as within as set of younger players so we don't need other options and especially older ones. the fact none of them seems like a specialist LB is being finessed. Dest looked awful flipped across. has Cannon been tried "wrong side?"
Re Llanez, find the people who can really play, make sure all the positions are covered, and then worry about how to get the complicated ones on the field. We seem to be taking the opposite tack where the goal is to cubbyhole you or pick you for perceived fit, as opposed to find out if you are any good. I want 23 good players and then we'll figure out what to do with them. If system is driving the bus and you even think for half a second of leaving off talent, the bus is probably in the ditch soon after. System should bend to the best talent on hand. Not sure what to do with Llanez? OK, this time left wing. Next time right wing. Next time withdrawn 9. For real talent we should exhaust subbing them in all over the place before throwing hands up. An obvious option for someone, anyone, is Morris' backup wide. Or if Morris played in the middle -- an option to consider -- then you'd need 2 RFs. I even think Sargent could play a little wide. He is never going to be a speed demon CF. He's going to be either a target guy or a withdrawn guy or maybe cross balls from wide. The minute you feel the urge to call Corey Baird or Wil Trapp because of perceived fit to system you should be escorted from the building by security.
Guys who have that kind of speed with the ball (or without) will get chances. it's such an advantage that a coach would be derelict in duty to prevent exploring the option to use such a player. It's why Donovan and Beasley got chances, why Yedlin went to the world cup, etc. The players coaches tend to roll the dice on are those who have outstanding attributes like Llanez where you can tilt the field on one side and they can blaze up the other.
i know i want my players to have special attributes, height, speed, skill, catching ability, defending, etc. as with club affiliation, these should be considerations in scouting. but once i have you in, you either put up or shut up. there are too many players on or around the team on "rep" or because something in theory should work. at some point, and it should be pretty prompt, this should give way to field performance, tangible statistical contributions, whether you help us win or lose. anything but playing well should mean bye bye. put differently, after 3 ties or losses for which yedlin is responsible, why am i still hearing "but speed?" i know he's fast. go learn how to play. i will give him a second chance for "fast," but i need to see "can play soccer right" and "can defend for a change." what's telling to me is he gets beat the same way over and over back door and never learns.
You keep saying that. But the defense and the defensive approach has changed. What you call "the System" is basic 21st century soccer. "The System" is more, was more, could be more, specific than just the players made a triangle and the 9 dropped into midfield. Every team does that.
We can see in MLS that Turner is an elite MLS shot stopper. Since all his competition in NT camps has been MLS goal keepers, he must be horrendous with distribution. Seeing as Steffan, Johnson, and Hamid are not particularly good at it, he must be pretty bad.
I don't get these weird narratives that develop, like Llanez is not athletic, or does not play he defense. He was great, tough, fast and willing to put the work in, I was super impressed and on the ball so smooth. Conversely I was super disappointed with Lleget. I have been expecting, or hoping, that he would establish himself as the solid option at the #10ish role and this was set to be his chance to "stake that claim" and he completely failed.
The defense changed this time. I agree with that. I am curious to whether this was a one time thing or permanent. The defense looked pretty shaky tbh. My take on the system is a great deal more than that. It's been very consistent.
I think there is a lot to be said for the truth of this statement but I also think that anyone that believes it would be a good indicator is ignoring quite a few variables that are also at play. How much does a team play youth? What is the decision making process behind the team playing youth? ie does the player have to be good enough to beat out the veteran ahead of him to get minutes or can he get minutes based upon some other level and percieved potential? Obviously, the level of the competition within the team and the level of the league (what you are alluding to, if I'm not mistaken). I believe there seems to be a broad consensus that it is extremely difficult to project the level that a young player will reach. As a rwesult, a player may be given a large number of minutes early on by a team that gives minutest to promising youngsters but as it becomes apparent that projections are not being met for some reason or another, those minutes are likely to plateau or decline. There are other reasons (injury for example), that the number of minutes can, at times be somewhat misleading. If it weren't, there wouldn't be so much confusion/disagreement over Vassillev. I don't think anyone is too upset, but there is a lot of debate over how significant his playing time in EPL. No doubt it is a good sign but how good? Does it mean he is on his way to being an EPL quality player? Is he automatically better than Soto? Ferreira? (insert name here)?
@juvechelsea I was responding to the idea that we never had LBs. Lichaj and Morrow were mostly ignored in their primer years.
That's because the youth infusion is just starting and our "A" players aren't as good as our "B" youth players WILL be in the near future. When you need a win- the flow and ideals become less important. Mistakes need to be minimized and the gritt needs to be there. So- last year- when they needed to win - it go uglier. The hope and excitement is not about where the program is today. Most of the youth infusion is just starting to break through and EVERYONE is impatient for it (notice the number of times Berhalter can't help mentioning Gio- who is just making the 18 regularly). The present state of players is still mostly what we tried to qualify with last cycle and their talent is a level below where the next generation will be. The problem for fans is they think they can rush that timetable just by puttng them out there- which serves no one. US compete in the gold cup and top the nations league group with the older guard. They want the newer guard and newer style of play in place by the WC. I expect a pretty young group in this next WC.
When we needed a win last year... in that big important game against... Jay's brother mismanaged a lot of the call ups and minutes last year, which is further compounded by the fact Jay and his people mismanaged the hiring of the brother and wasted the whole prior year.
We competed in the GC and topped the Nations league group. They did fine. In terms of results- they did nothing special and nothing exceptional. They did fine.
I had not really thought of why it is that MLS minutes are not a good indicator of talent at the U20 or U23 level. I think you have thought of some valid ones. Possibly, some teams just need a hole filled and only have cheap young players left on the roster. That was how Durkin got minutes at DCU. He had some of the most pro minutes on the U20 team last cup and really didn't distinguish himself, to put it nicely, from any of the other guys that had no first team minutes. Busio was the prime example at the U17WC. I guess the thing is the media always throws out MLS minutes as something to set guys like Busio apart. But we just don't see any correlation between MLS minutes and being the best player. Or even effective. If a kid is getting minutes, that gives you something to look at. If they are playing like Tyler Adams in the Fall of 2017 or Pomykal in the Spring of 2019, that is something. If they are just getting minutes, like you said, it is probably just a coincidence. Gooch and Wright got minutes too. In similar circumstances (lots of injuries, team in turmoil). Contrast that with Reyna, who seems to have benched decent players. Brunn Larsson was sold after they saw Reyna with the first team. Much like NYRB sold Dax. It might be these subjective things around the player, and not the objective measure of minutes.