Expectations for the Hex

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by DHC1, Jan 24, 2020.

  1. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That’s how they attack tho. Same was said with Puli
     
  2. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I’d rather he not experiment with him. Play him where he’s playing for club. He’s young and breaking in. Keep it simple.
     
  3. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Both on the field would allow one to be moved further forward. Makes sense to move up Pulisic. Reyna, Holmes, and Pomykal could then man the 10. Gotta get depth at the 6.

    Reyna is a bench player, just getting some minutes. He doesn't have a set position.
     
  4. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Winger has been a sore spot for us. Id rather he and Puli man the wing and play a mid 3 of

    Holmes-Adams-Wes
     
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  5. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Don't see an issue of depth on the wing, tbh.

    Pulisic, Llanez, Yedlin, Dest, and Saucedo are all capable.

    Weah and Amon--whenever either can stay fit.
     
  6. Eighteen Alpha

    Eighteen Alpha Member+

    Aug 17, 2016
    Club:
    Stoke City FC
    That looks BADASS!
     
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  7. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Llanez is def a talent and I’d like to see him get some PT but not expecting him to start or push Gio or Puli inside just yet.

    Yedlin isn’t a winger in a 4-3-3. Dest is our RB let’s not move him.

    Saucedo hasn’t done enough to move Gio or Pulisic either but wouldn’t mind him getting called in.
     
  8. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    These are just representative starting XIs. I don't see Reyna as a starter in a hypothetical competitive match that would be played today.

    Yedlin would tactically be used as a deep-lying winger. Nominally, he could be a rb, ram, or right-forward.

    Dest can play multiple positions. And he is a gifted attacker. Defensively, nothing is lost with Cannon at RB.
     
  9. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Reyna is absolutely a starter for me in our next game. I can understand the trepidation or wanting to ease him in to keep expectations tempered. However, as with Pulisic, he just looks a cut above the rest of the options. Unless we’re playing Mexico he starts.

    No. Yedlin isn’t close to a RAM or RF or Winger. This isn’t FIFA. He’s not good enough going forward to operate in those spaces. He’s improved his pull back pass but he’s RB or a RWB making an overlapping run into space. Asking anything more is foolish. He occupies that space it’s to shut down a close game at the end.

    He’s played RB and LB. He’s probably skilled enough to play elsewhere but we have a player that legit looks like he could be a top class RB. Last time we had that it was Fabian in the WC. Remember how huge he was for us there. Let’s not move him around just to move him. Especially when we have other legit options. Keep it simple stupid (especially for young players).
     
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  10. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Pulisic didn't get a start until his 8th cap.

    Yedlin got an assist when subbed in on the wing in the 2nd Canada match.
     
  11. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    JK waited too long. I get the first couple games but it shouldn’t have taken 8. This is also a very very different side going through a transition period.

    No he didn’t. He played a cross in to Wes who took a try at a volley. It bounce out and Zardes finished. Not an assist for Yedlin. He also was subbed on for Dest at RB. Against any quality team he’s breaking down anyone. He isn’t a RAM, RF or Winger. Hell he isn’t a RM. He’s a RB or RWB.
     
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  12. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Through Pulisic's first 6 caps he had a solitary assist--against Bolivia. In the 7th, he then tore it up for 2 goals and an assist against St. Vincent. There's nothing there to suggest he needed to get rushed in.

    Yedlin came on for Jordan Morris. The goal came in the 89th minutes. Dest was subbed out in the 92nd.

    Yedlin actually had nice assist record when JK initially used him as a deep-lying winger, nominal RB. And in the Canada match, Yedlin got the secondary assist, rather than the primary assist. My bad.
     
  13. phillyfan593

    phillyfan593 Member

    Jul 20, 2011
    No there not lol
     
  14. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    The complaints about Brooks are his lapses in concentration and supposed ability to deal with small, quick attackers. A observation I have is that he doesnt appear to be a vocal leader. The characteristics I'd want for his partner would be 1) an experienced defender that reads the game well and anticipates needing to help, 2) a vocal leader to command the back line and communicate with JAB, 3) a quicker/faster athlete to balance JAB's supposed weakness, and 4) be strong on the ball as the team is attempting to play out of the back even when under pressure.

    Long only fills one criteria of being an athletic defender. He is very inexperienced for the international game. He was converted from a midfielder and only has three seasons of "first team soccer". His 17 caps were over a 15 month period where he was somewhere between unconvincing to down right poor. He has looked in over his head against opponents like Venzuela, Mexico, Canada, and Uruguay. People claimed he was out of form during pretty much the whole time he played for the USMNT. I am not so sure 2019 is the outlier as much as his supposed great performance ps in MLS in 2018.

    Alvarado is a similar type athlete, but has always read the game well and anticipated needing to help out teammates, has many more years experience playing at a higher level, and is very good with the ball at his feet. People went nuts over mistakes and ignore that he was just breaking though and was getting tested at the international level while being flanked by similarly inexperienced defenders in Brooks and Chandler and central midfield of Bradly and Diskerud.

    Miazga, while younger, excelled in MLS and had played in three different countries with different styles. He is more vocal than the rest, plays with a chip on his shoulder, and can hold his with the ball at his feet.

    Long should be in the picture but he hasnt shown anything that suggests he is an auto starter like Berhalter has annointed him. Ithink all could be better in concentration, but dont think Long is ahead of any of them in that category. I definitely prefer the other 3 options discussed as they bring much more with their game. I've noticed MLS fans have already moved on to next supposed big thing and not seeing him in their lineups/23.
     
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  15. Calling BS

    Calling BS Member+

    Orlando City
    United States
    Jan 25, 2020
    This is a great argument except for the fact that Adams was positioned in the middle of the midfield almost the entire game that you are talking about.
     
  16. Calling BS

    Calling BS Member+

    Orlando City
    United States
    Jan 25, 2020
    This is a great argument except for the fact that Adams was positioned in the middle of the midfield almost the entire game that you are talking about.
     
  17. gunnerfan7

    gunnerfan7 Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 22, 2012
    Santa Cruz, California
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yedlin wasn't given an assist for his cross against Canada.

    He has 0G, 5A in 62 caps, in 3,675 minutes:

    Ecuador in a 2014 Friendly.
    Netherlands in that 4-3 Friendly comeback in 2015
    Guatemala in a 2015 Friendly.
    Panama in the 2015 GC 3rd Place game.
    Trinidad in the last Hex, the home 2-0 win.

    Now, he hasn't been RW/AM in many of those games. Primarily, I imagine, because he has no shot, and is a poor dribbler.

    But, while Dest was originally a winger who was moved back to FB, Yedlin has played almost exclusively RB for club and country. If he was ever a winger in his youth, I'd be surprised.
     
  18. gunnerfan7

    gunnerfan7 Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 22, 2012
    Santa Cruz, California
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ....Because we had the ball all game against a very lethargic Ecuador? If you'll recall, it's the one when we created no chances, and won on that absurd Zardes deflected 25-yard shot.

    And it's not good to put Adams at RB/CDM because he has to cover the right flank defensively like a RB (leaving us extremely vulnerable to a counterattack on that side), while eliminating the traditional width you get from a wide RB, making us even slower and more clogged in the middle of the field offensively.
     
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  19. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The really elite teams don't need to rush prospects but I remember at the time being very frustrated in a few games thinking he was much better than who started. I don't remember if US-Argentina in the Gold Cup was one of those games but he didn't start and from memory barely played and that was the most inept looking US offense I can ever remember. I'm not calling for Reyna to be an auto-starter but if he shows better in camps then he should get minutes and if he plays well in games he should start. Just make him earn it.
     
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  20. KALM

    KALM Member+

    Oct 6, 2006
    Boston/Providence
    Yedlin played as a midfielder for the USMNT for...I want to say most of the first year at the start of the last cycle, though often as a sub. My memory is a bit fuzzy because I've already started to block most of that cycle out of my memory.

    I actually think that in the first 4 of the 5 games you mentioned, he might have been playing as a midfielder. (I'm checking the lineups right now and seeing that Chandler played in all of them, though I don't know if he shifted to a different position to accommodate Yedlin in any of them.)

    On the other hand, I do remember people expressing frustration at Klinsmann's reluctance to play Yedlin at RB much during that period, both because people preferred Yedlin to Chandler at RB, and because they would have also preferred a more natural midfielder to Yedlin further up the field.
     
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  21. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yedlin would be excellent as a defensive sub at right midfield or winger with a lead. Depends on what you want out of right back and reserves as to whether that is a need and he fits it.
     
  22. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    If you look at whom Yeldin has defended against for club and career, you see a guy who can and has gone against some of the world's best and been able to hold his own. A couple of his best games of the year were against ManU and Chelsea. We have little idea if other RBs can do that.
     
  23. Calling BS

    Calling BS Member+

    Orlando City
    United States
    Jan 25, 2020
    Larin left Orlando to go to Turkey. Orlando fought it and ended up getting a decent sized transfer fee. At one point Larin was looking to come back to MLS when things in Europe stalled. There was no buyers; seemed he was blackballed. That’s the scary thing for someone looking to jump ship during an option year. If it doesn’t work out in Europe there most likely won’t be anywhere to play back in the states.
     
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  24. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    As I’ve said before, MLS is ruthless and blackballing seems par for the course. The concept that the SUM deal is anything other than one-sided is laughable.
     
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  25. Calling BS

    Calling BS Member+

    Orlando City
    United States
    Jan 25, 2020
    Another great story. I was there. Ecuador tried to use their athleticism to counter us, but we smothered them in the midfield leaving them only low percentage long balls to get out of their own end. They were beat into submission for much of the game. The fact that the players further forward couldn’t carve out good chances against a teamed pinned into their third of the field after the 1st 15 minutes has nothing to do with Adams playing RB. We got to see it once and Adams was a star that game. He played much better than his other Euro teammates with the exception of Brooks. You may not like the idea of playing him there, but none of the issues people complained about were evident in that game.
     
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