Pulisic has definitely been in a funk this year. Some signs point to him coming back to life but we should all hope that this year was a major learning lesson for him. One poster *sorry, I forgot who* suggested leaving him home for the Nations League AND the Gold Cup... part of me thinks he needs that rest. But at the same time, too much rest is a bad thing too. I would still call him up for the Nations League - for consistency and team chemistry, but I would pre-plan to not play him 90 minutes for every game.
I used to love him then he fell off a cliff. He seems to be back to his old form but that's only good enough for now to put him into competition for a backup #6 role. I suspect every single one of us hope someone blows up this year to vault all the current contenders (pretenders?) as that and backup left back are probably the two weakest spots.
I don't have an issue with the Acosta callup or start. It is in fact important for Berhalter to ask the question: What happens for a WCQer if Adams isn't available? He was testing Acosta, and Acosta didn't pass the test against Northern Ireland. That's still a positive result as we now know. [We do cut a tiny bit of slack as MLS players were in pre-season form.] The challenge is that I still don't know what we do in a WCQer if Adams isn't available to play the 6. Jackson Yueill would be my guess. Pre-Covid he was getting starts when Adams was out (such as at the Nations League).
Were you ok with the 2 starts and 170 total minutes? If Adams is not available, we should use a 4-2-3-1. I'd rather have one of Weah/Reyna/Lletget on the field than Yeuill, and don't get the argument against that. I'd even be ok with Sargent as an attacking mid to get Dike/Siebatcheu on the field. Yeuill doesn't even play similarly to Adams, so it's not like maintaining the same formation would mean the exact same style of play. Musah/McKennie/whomever else are still going to need to drop deeper to help Yeuill defensively, something Adams doesn't require.
Adams is our MVP right now because there's no like for like backup for him. No matter how good the other players are there's a more similar backup where the whole scheme doesn't need to change if they're out. I'm hoping that Sands becomes that guy this year as he seems to be the only one with a legit chance.
I agree w/the general view that we simply change up the formation and run a central midfield with McKennie and Musah cleaning up the messes and blunting attacks. I don't think we roll in a player that is a living embodiment of Sesame Streets "which one of these is not like the others" scenario. I'm fine with Yueill as depth, and "monitoring guys like Perea, and Cardoso and friends, but I don't think any of them are justifiable as "just plug in" depth options over elite midfield talent that aren't perfect fits for the 6.
Without Adams, the team defeated Canada 4-1 in NL. A 4231 was played. Yueill was solid in the double-pivot with McKennie. Lletget, a legit 8/10, provided additional cover and possession. It's not complicated at all what the team should do without Adams. 433 likely isn't even the best formation for the team, with or without Adams. The single-pivot 433 is a nice training formation for the youth setup. For the past 3 cycles, for the U23 and the senior side, it has been extremely underwhelming.
If no Adams, your options for the 6 are Yeuill and Acosta. Or you get rid of the 6 and add Lletget, Aaronson, Reyna, Weah, or Dike/Siebatcheu (by dropping Sargent deeper) to the starting lineup. Don't get why it's even a discussion.
It's a system over talent problem, and when the issue is this large in scale, it needs to be looked at. The drop off is massive. Egg needs to train the guys this summer to be flexibile enough to play with a 6, and without a traditional 6, and in other formations so they can deal with absences. For all the talent of this greatest generation, numerous key players have missed huge amounts of time since WC '18, just off the top of my head: Forward: Jozy (always injured, and out of the program for me anyway) Midfield: Pulisic: Large chunks of multiple seasons. hamstrings Adams: Missed what was it, 6 or 8 months with an injury that was initially thought to be 3-5 weeks. Weah: Missed all of the traditional '19-'20 season with multiple hamstring tears. McKennie: Multiple weeks lately Morris: ACL Tear Ledezma: ACL Tear Llanez: Whatever just happened Defense: Can't remember Keeper: Steffen: Had knee problems that put him on the shelf for a chunk of time in '20. We need to be able to roll with these issues, and not be so fixated on "The formation" that we plug and play middling or worse talent, just to have a guy who performs a job in this system, but is unnecessary in another.
ok, let me try this one more time... there are different kinds of fowards, right? we wouldnt play the same with mcbride as we would with donovan (as a lone strker), and they wouldnt play the same style as each other. everyone still with me? nothing too complicated? great... yueill is (from every indication) the "backup" to adams. NO ONE is saying yueill is a dmid. NO ONE. just like no one is saying adams is a dlp. but much like forwards can be different- our two deepest lying mids (adams and yueill) would not play the same with each other, and the team wouldnt play the same regardless of which of them is in any given match (at any given time). why is this confounding? surely this is all trolling and not just stupidity right? can some of you really not process that after adams we wont/cant go to another dmid, but a dlp (yueill)? do we need a diagram, with an area circled behind two 8s and just call it "the one who roughly plays here" with a giant arrow pointing there? cause the two guys who play there are adams and yueill.
This is a lot of words with not much substance. You are saying you would rather have Yeuill on the field over one of Lletget/Weah/Aaronson/Dike. I think most don't agree with you. And if not most, certainly enough where you should realize it's worthy of a discussion and not "trolling" or "stupidity", just a preference for a better player on the field (and correspondingly slight formation change) over a worse player (to ensure the 4-3-3 remains).
hm, apparently it wasnt simple enough... no, i didnt say that (yueill over another play in another position)- as usual thats something you just made up. im not looking for agreement, i was addressing the difficulty some are having hearing 'yueill as the backup for adams' as 'yuiell playing the same role as adams'. and believe me- its not a question of trolling or stupidity with you. your post immediately prior to this ended with "Don't get why it's even a discussion.", yet now its "it's worthy of a discussion". try your disingenuous, trolling nonsense on someone else. you bore me.
Oh ok, well that's understandable. The system clearly changes, as I've said previously (more defensive cover would be needed for JY). I don't see much discussion here about the system staying the same, either. But the larger discussion is of course whether to even play him, which is I think the more interesting one. I'd probably have him playing only if Adams and two of Musah/McKennie/Lletget are unavailable. So he's basically the 5th choice CMer, which sounds about right. And not understanding why it's a discussion (I don't), has nothing to do with it be worthy of a discussion (it is, which is why I'm discussing it derp derp). You must have a very soft definition of trolling.
Zardes's Xg to goal ratio is fine in his MLS career. I bet he just missed one or two that stick in the mind. I don't think "he's not terrible at soccer" makes one an Acosta lover.
I don't know. Berhalter is allowed to ask that question. Although, past coaches were not. But that was dumb then, so it would be dumb now. Acosta was poor in both games when pressed. He was ok, when not pressed. His highlights were carrying the ball on the dribble, at which time Musah filled in behind him. The team looked better when LDLT was the 6. So, regardless of Acosta, new answers might have become apparent. I think the pre-season stuff is typical excuse making. I never hear about that with any other group of players but Americans in MLS. Not even other MLS players on other teams seem to have these issues. The only break I would cut Acosta is that he was playing out of position. But his errors were technical, not tactical. Lletget didn't look tired, Long didn't look tired. Neither of them were technically unsound (or more technically unsound than usual). I think the 3-4-3 with McKennie and Musah would be fine if Adams is out. The game against NI would have looked as dominant as the game against Jamaica if it wasn't for the constant giveaways by Acosta.
Is there room on the Gold Cup squad for Boyd? Maybe to see if this new vein of form can actually translate to the Nats. We're not too deep at wing that he can't be a viable option for that team, are we?
Is he on a "new vein of form" or is it just a brace today? I haven't been following his thread closely, but I can't recall seeing any other notable stats from him over the last several months. Wing looks to be the deepest position for the US as of now, even with Jordan Morris injured. But, as many have said, there are lots of games/competitions coming up this year and so all reasonable depth (and, likely, plenty that some folks consider wholly unreasonable) will have a decent chance of playing some games.
maybe. how deep we are is a matter of perspective. theres pulisic, morris, weah, arriola, reyna and aaronson- seemingly the primary options. gioachinni and mueller have gotten quick looks. then theres kids who may be in the picture or may have been part of olympic prep- de fuente, llanez. id put boyd in with, or slightly ahead of, gioachinni and mueller. morris will still be out, im not sure about arriolas fitness so sure- if we were to lose one more for whatever reason i think boyd is a possibility. eta: forgot the most important part- at some point we get down to jonathan lewis. we should all hope and pray boyd gets the call before thats a possibility... and @tomásbernal im not exactly stalking him either but he had another brace a couple or three weeks ago. hes got something like 5 goals and 3 assists since his loan (after not playing the first half of the season because of that weird passport/registration/foreign player limit stuff). i dont know if that qualifies as form, but hes seemingly at least playing and on the better side of his spectrum.
Would rather use 2021 competitions on the top guys getting more minutes together to build their chemistry, and after that young MLSers who could get work permits... Boyd is in the Kenny Saief "we already know what he offers and it's not enough" camp. He offers little defensively and sometimes has hot streaks with a decent goal or two, that's about it. Will revisit that if he ever gets back to Besiktas. So five guys clearly in front of him - Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson, Weah, Morris, Arriola And then at least four others, Mueller, KDLF, Llanez, Gioachinni, who are all younger to much younger than Boyd who is Morris' age. Not many younger options in MLS actually, as the U-23 wingers were all busts. Might as well try out even younger kids like Caden Clark and Cade Cowell...
That was a friendly. For the record I was very critical of our approach to that match and refuse to believe there is ever such a thing as a friendly against our only rival. When the pressure is on in qualifying all bets will be off.
Let me make this more simple for you, Yueill is a terrible choice to back up Adams because we have better players who could do a better job like Mckennie or Musah. We could change the formation and because Yueill is not a 6 in a single pivot anyway, he doesn't play there for his club, where Judson would be the replacement for Adams and he didn't play there for the Olympic Qualifiers after the first game where he was useless in that spot, from that point forward he played as an 8, just like he does for his club. How about you make an argument for why Yueill should be Adams backup, rather than just insulting the many people who do not see it that way.
Anyone suggesting Yueill back up Adams has never seen the Quakes play... that's just a recipe to get overrun. Better options include McKennie, Musah, and (gasp) Acosta.