A lot of these early substitutions by Berhalter for our Yanks Abroad this week definitely come across as attempts to make sure our players are not overworked with the busy European schedule in the COVID era. And I think that makes sense.
Anytime you can hold a Euro camp and keep 3 pre-season MLS guys on the field as much as possible, you gotta. It has to be a requirement, you can't tell me any differently.
That switch as a pre-planned thing doesn't bother me nearly as much as Lletget for Musah at the half. Dest doesn't really need the minutes, but Musah does.
If we ever play an Acosta - Lletget midfield in a competitive game, something went terribly wrong. No reason for them to be on the field together, especially in this setup.
Yeah. I think this is a fair criticism. Musah definitely needs the minutes more than most of the US players who are close to our Best XI.
I dont see how there are 3 MLS player playing in a Europe camp vs freakin N Ireland... whats the benefit?
I don't think that's true. We learned that, at a minimum, a back 3 needs Adams or a lot more practice, or both.
Strong talking up MLS players having a key role in this cycle, while ensuring there are 3 on the field. This is no coincidence.
The 5-2-3 really doesn't work if you're building out of the back. This needs to have Red Bull-style long passing to try to cut through the NI lines. Slow play out of the back will never work. I watched Arsenal try and fail at this with better players for the better part of a year. The possession style and this formation are incompatible.
Few points from an NI fan. We played Italy away 3 days ago, not a single player starting this game started on Thursday evening. Our country has a population of about 1.9m and our league is at a semi-professional standard. Some of our better players coming on here.
It's weird how we seem to transition seamlessly from keeping them pinned in their half to them pinning us back in our half :-|