Steffen - had a save and let in a goal. Such is life. Dest- he’s just a world class talent. There’s no other way to say it. USA is fortunate he picked us. He’s our best player Brooks- pretty solid. Just a really good cb. Long- meh. Didn’t have much to do Cannon- terrible. Just really bad. I overvalued him. Hope to see Reynolds Acosta- not perfect. But pretty solid. Didn’t shy from the ball. Does he have a long term future as the back up to Adams? He might. Lletget- decent. Got his goal. He’s solid. Had a few errors but he’s a part of the pool Musah- splendid. The physical profile jumps out. Pulisic- had a few nice turns and runs. Poor with his final ball. Same as in Chelsea this year. Sargent- excellent game. He is maturing Into a complete player. Deserved a goal Reyna- poor. His club form rubbed off. Terrible end product. Richards- one bad pass. Bad on a set piece But not much to do Aaronson- great. The winger role in this system is perfect for him. Don’t look now, but could be a starter by WCQ
I haven't posted in a year and a half....I'm starting to pay attention again and the team is 100% completely different and better...still learning the new names and getting used to seeing them. Good start on what I consider the first 'real' game with as many of the new players as possible.
Fans before the game: "We should really learn something about the team with this game." USMNT smacks them around the pitch Fans after the game: "ok, we didn’t really learn much, but next game should be a real test." cycle continues
Said in another thread but Musah, Gio, and Pulisic all seemed to try to be too cute with their touch at times. When they kept it simple you can see the danger and skill there though. Brooks had a couple mistakes today that were rather alarming. Cannon I am confused by. His movement clearly helped open stuff up, but he looked so terrified at times to do anything it caused mistakes. Has to show confidence. Sargeant had great movement, gotta do more finishing. Good performance overall. Some sloppiness that team has to work through
We played well. Good result. Jamaica without Bailey and Antonio is a team of Tim Reams. That's not good. But it's not bad. And we handled them.
Cannon was trash. Just so bad. Acosta doesn't know how to play at the level of these teammates (which is too bad, he's otherwise a very good player). Dest is feeling it. Imagine if Christian gets back to that groove as well. Dest is so good that Berhalter needs to commit now to being able to play three at the back with wingbacks, because that's where Sergino is best. Don't have to do that every game, but need to be able to roll that out to showcase one of our three best players.
I doubt brooks had much urgency going into this as he is our clear cut #1. I'll be more alarmed if it continues to be a pattern though.
So let's get into it: Dest, Cannon, Robinson, etc. Dest will be good anywhere. He gets more involved and plays better defense on the right. But that shot when he comes inside doesn't happen on the right. It might be worth it. Cannon ..... quiet in this one. But I'm not sure he was as bad as people say. Robinson .... increases the scoring threat on both goals. Needs to make the ass-busting recovery runs. Didn't do that today. But he was good to very good coming forward in this one. Anyone up for Kellyn Acosta - Left Back, Part II?
Players who had a good day: Dest, Acosta (surprisingly!), Aaronson, Musah, Long, Sargent Players who had a decent day: Pulisic, Lletget (kept getting in Pulisic's way in the first half, then calmly bagged a 2nd half brace), Brooks, Reyna, Steffen, Robinson, LDLT, Gioacchini Disappointing: Richards (somewhat), Cannon Welcome, young man, here's your cameo: Siebatcheu
Cannon did not have a good game. He got nutmeg for Jamaica's only score. DeLaTorre is the second coming of Ledezma, is a little bigger, good vision, but he can easily be pushed off the ball just like Ledezma. Aaronson is a spark-plug of a player. I would like to see him playing inside next to Mckennie or Musah.
Definitely more fun than watching the Olympic qualifying team. Jamaica was just good enough to give more of a fight than the last several opponents, at least until they hit the wall with about 15 minutes left. I'm unconvinced by Acosta and Cannon. Sargent did well on his assist, but he tries to pass the ball off at the top of the box way too much, you're a center forward, try turning & shooting once in a while. I thought Robinson played well enough, to want to see him on the left and Dest on the right. Although I think Dest is kinda like the big bear, he plays anywhere he wants to on this team... I absolutely love Musah, for an 18-year-old his movement is excellent. I wish everybody else on the team moved off the ball as well, it's a weakness. Speaking of movement, I was impressed with De La Torre's movement and getting involved in his cameo. I want to play a team with a good offense and really see us tested defensively, the one time we were this game, didn't exactly look good.
I walk away from this game not totally opposed to Dest on the left. However, I think it would need to be with a formation change to three in the back so that Adams can play the right wingback position. We outshot them 28-9, which is what we need to be doing against all island nations in CONCACAF. It's nice to see Pulisic does not need to be a goal scorer for this team. That will make him and us better.
For once there does not seem to be much controversy about the performance of individual players. I think the solution to some of the issues like which fullbacks go where, is to make things more simple, not more complicated like 3 in the back, Dest to the wing or whatever. Cannon is not very good, Robinson is a better player. Play your best LB at LB and your best RB at RB. Lleget is an extremely useful depth piece and had a solid game, but he was gumming up the works in the first half. Gio had a poor game because his finishing was horrendous, but he was excellent on the ball and in connecting the play, I would really like to see him at the advanced 8 spot Lleget was in today, he isn't a winger, particularly in this system where those are supposed to be your scorers apparently. I thought the press was effective, which surprised me, as I had not seen us ever pressing effectively without Adams. I thought a lot of that had to do with Acosta turning in a solid performance in that regard and Musah being absolutely terrific and being everywhere and then very tidy on the ball. The McKennie, Adams, Musah MF is going to hard af. Sargent was good, he is at the top of the pecking order imo, if you value all the things that aren't scoring in a forward, he is your man for sure.
I thought it was a solid overall display highlighting our technical skill and ability to play a possession game. The final ball was frequently missing, but we had enough good chances to have had 2-3 more goals. Despite the complaints about the line-ups, I see why Richards and Robinson didn't start. Both had a few shaky moments defensively. It's a small sample size, but Robinson hasn't really displayed his EPL form in the US shirt. A couple nice crosses in this one, though. Musah looked great, fantastic addition. Reyna got in the right spots but was wasteful. The big takeaways for me were the performances by Aaronson and Acosta. We definitely need another 6, at least in the short term, and Aaronson is a nice addition who brings something different on the wing. Overall, we also displayed our depth - there wasn't the drastic drop-off with the subs that we often had in the past. Roll players like Del la Torre can be quite valuable.
I thought Christian and Gio were fine today. They had some nice runs and created chances. Don't think it's fair to be down on them. I thought Brooks was surprisingly not solid passing out of the back, and kind of got turned around a bit. But an okay day. Lletget doesn't have the class of a lot of our other attackers but is solid and we need a slew of players to get through all the games we will have over the next 12 months. Cannon was out of sorts :-/
This is the very heart of what can become a genuine world-class side. Pulisic and Dest and Reyna are the spark, while McKennie, Musah, and Adams are the basis upon which we'll build our style of play.