England played with Kyle Walker as one of the 3 CBs in the Euro final, with Luke Shaw & Trippier the WBs in a 3421. I could see Cannon in a similar role as RCB with 2 of Zimmerman, Robinson, & Sands. As far as the WBs go, you can put Cannon wider if you use all 3 CBs. Moore (RWB) & Acosta (either side) are also options. I'd put all 3 ahead of Vines & Bello. Not a huge fan of using converted forwards as WBs (Zardes, Gio, Hoppe), I would try to avoid that. But Arriola can certainly do it if healthy. I like him better as a WB than a wide forward and have for years. Lletget can play wide in a pinch. And despite a bad night, Lewis did put in an honest shift defensively, which kind of surprised me. Our 3 CMs should include Busio, Acosta (if not at WB/FB), Lletget (if not wide), and Williamson. Maybe take a peak at Sands here. Yueill only in emergencies. Rotate guys through the forward pairing. Zardes getting most of the work as Dike needs a break & the others are pre-season. But I think Dike up top and Zardes dropping deeper to help defend is likely what I'd go with at this juncture vs Canada.
That seems about right to me. Definitely the better team and deserved to win, but nowhere close to dominant, and a few unlucky bounces away from a bad result.
I don't disagree with this, but conversely I could argue that Gioacchini was inches away from locking up the win.
That's one reason why soccer is so compelling. Most games are a few unlucky bounces/calls away from a different result.
Are those stats lletgit? Somebody early in the thread claimed that Lletget was bad. I wonder if he wants to revise his statement.
My interpretation is that Berhalter wanted to start a "veteran" team in order to lock down the early win. This way there would be less pressure in the later games and more opportunity for experimentation. In fact, Berhalter achieved both of his goals, getting the three points and trolling BigSoccer, so I give him an A. Nothing here changed my expectations of players much. I still have Dike above Zardes even though Zardes had the better game. I was interested to see Lewis as a sub in a certain kind of game but not as a starter so I didn't get much information there. The people competing for the last spots on the 23 (Zimmerman, Robinson, Turner, Acosta, Lletget; the last 3 more likely than the first 2) looked like who they are. The team looked disjoint in the second half which is a always a problem when you're bringing in new players. You can see Busio's quality, particularly in the small things, but how and where he fits is open. Obviously want to see him start next game. Moore had a good game but not enough to move him into my top 4 at RB. Gioacchini didn't do anything to make me excited about him, but maybe that moves him into the group of players who we are not excited about but will hang around the fringes.
youre talking about the musah that has started 5 of his 6 matches with the us, right? we did that? eta i misspoke(typed)- started 5 of his first 6 matches
In all of his starts for the National Team he has never left the field with the team in a losing position. I may be wrong on that but I had gotten the info from Transfermarkt.
Yup. The USMNT has a very good record in games that Lletget has started. .............but anyway, the revelation of the game for me was Shaq Moore. Maybe I prefer to look at the positives rather than harp endlessly about the negatives. Shaq Moore vs Haiti#USMNT pic.twitter.com/NiEYb1NbEr— Kranks (@dis_possessed) July 12, 2021
USA 1, HAITI 0. The fundamentals were good, the attacking was meh. (Considering the odd attacking personnel at Berhalter's disposal, that probably makes sense.) pic.twitter.com/uSua7HZTkn— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) July 12, 2021
I’m not going to give Berhalter an A here, but yes, I think a lot of people here aren’t really walking through the mindset of needing a win. Berhalter knows that he doesn’t have a Pulisic here… and starting for new guys is a good way to give up an easy goal. Bringing Lewis was really inexplicable to me but honestly, i don’t think bringing in the new guys for a short run out is a bad idea at all.
Lletget gets a lot of criticism because he's seen as not dynamic enough. But Lletget is a connector, not a creator. If you're looking for a probing pass in the final third or a killer dribbling move that unbalances the defense you're not going to get that from him. His value to the team is keeping the ball circulating. Unfortunately, with this collection of MFs there's no real creative type so fans place the onus on Lletget to be the creator. It's just not his game.
Kind of, but Mueller's a great option. Then you also have (unlike Lewis) adequate ones of: Lennon, Cowell, & Paredes. Of course Arriola's also on the roster. Morris would have been a difference maker if healthy. Going abroad you probably could have finagled Boyd and Green. Then if it's me personally I just ask Aaronson and Weah to come. Berhalter was shockingly passive. Going back to MLS, you could probably get to 20 before Lewis as a starter. He's never been as effective as them in that capacity. He's a super-sub. If he's going to be on your roster, you need 3 better wings than him to make it remotely justifiable.
I dont think Lleget was bad, think he was just kind of there. Didn't notice him either way. Now in fairness I think some of that comes from the offensive lineup which just lacked any creativity going forward too
Agreed, we definitely had the better of the game (although it goes without saying that was mostly expected given the talent disparity). And I'm happy in general with the end results Gregg has delivered lately. The problem as I see it is that sub-optimal player selection (e.g. Yueill, Lewis, poor winger selections, etc.) and some tactical stubbornness is making these games closer than they should be. That's a problem over a longer period of time and it's a problem against better opponents - and it's completely unnecessary. For something like xGoals, it might be the difference between us only winning 2.2 to 1.4 instead of 2.8 to 0.8. We're obviously going to lose the former game more often than the latter, and that is what's most projectable going forward. The same narrowing of xG differential (or any other measure of game state or outcome) happens when Gregg's tactical preferences cause us to take excessive risk out of the back or slow the game down when we should be pressing the advantage. Holden alluded to this during a particularly poor stretch for us and he was absolutely right. It's something that happens too often with our squad under Berhalter and ultimately compromises our ability to play and win to our full potential! On the personnel side, Yueill making slow or incompetant decisions on the ball that allow the defense to reset has the same negative effect on game state differential relative to a player like Busio. Other than a nervous first touch or two, Gianluca had a demonstrable impact on progressing the ball quickly in ways that made it more likely we would score and less likely our opponent would (which is how you ultimately measure game impact). I do think we need to monitor Busio's defense and lack of physicality, but Yueill has his own problems in those areas with less offensive impact and ball security. Gregg is incredibly lucky that he is working with probably the best and deepest talent pool we've ever produced as it's masking some of his weaknesses. His system wouldn't look nearly as good with our previous aging stars and "lost generation". To be fair, he does get some credit in my book for building a strong culture and for overcoming the challenges inherent in working with a young team. Every coach has their blind spots, but this has gone on for too long with players like Yueill (and Bradley and Trapp before him). You're going to have a hard time convincing me that those player selections weren't primarily driven by stylistic preferences (and that they didn't hurt the team's ability to win). I do think he's slowly improving, but it's taking longer than it should and people are right to be concerned about it.
It is interesting that the midfield were all players that Berhalter picked out of the blue and then have been mainstays in the team since. Not a great analogy but they kind of follow the guys who were brought back from Europe to MLS. Acosta played like he had something to prove like JJ and Dempsey. I thought Yeuill and Llettget looked very comfortable without a care in the world like Bradley. Why would they be afraid of losing their spot when they have already struggled but keep getting to play?
The serious question that needs to be asked is whether MLS can provide 11 or so better players than what we saw? I am not so convinced you could swap these guys out for another bunch and see an improvement. As a result, starting with a premise of all MLS team, you are going to have two MLS teams lining up against each other for most ganes against concacaf opposition except Mexico. This means it would be a lot to expect a higher level of play than what we saw.
I think MLS could have provided several players better than what we saw in the starting lineup last night. Some of them were on the bench.
My $.02 from the game.... The obvious lack of pace/skill at winger on this roster was made even more apparent when Arriola went down. I am not a fan of Lewis at all. He is a one trick pony... he does well when a perfect ball is put over the top but lacks skill in most of the other important areas needed to be a good winger. The guy doesn't even start for his club.... why o why was he called into this camp? Terrible decision IMO. They would have been better off just putting Paredes in there. Even at his tender age he is already a better passer/defender/dribbler and he also has elite pace. In short... this needs to be the last camp for Lewis. Same goes for Yueill. It seems like he is still getting calls for those initial games he played for us a few years ago where he came out of nowhere and played well. He was poor again in this one. He is slow on the ball and his supposed skill with switch passes has been non-existent. I was so happy that Busio replaced him and played well. He was even wearing the #6 which made me happy. I hope he is starting at the 6 against Martinique. Love that Sands came in and played the center CB role in a 3-CB system. That is a great position for him. It really seemed like the US was able to control possession a lot better when Sands and Busio were on the pitch. To bad the width was non-existent w/o speed/skill on the wings. I thought Moore has a terrific debut at RB... especially in the first half. Vines on the other side had the huge goal which was awesome but got caught upfield too often on D. Since this appears to be happening no matter who plays LB/LWB I can only assume it is a problem w/ GB's system. Eager to see Bello get a shot. In the end I thought Haiti played pretty well and the US did enough to win. We should have a relatively easy time with Martinique but the lack of pace/skill at winger is going to be a huge issue against Canada. Buchanan and Laryea played wingbacks in their 1st win and they have pace/skill in oodles. I think I might go with a 3CB backline against them with Bello at LWB and Moore at RWB if Cannon can't go.
I noticed him twice. Once when he was blind to a dangerous run to his right and made a safe pass to Lewis on the left. The other time he and Yueill (iirc) passed back and forth -- and back again -- to each other just inside our own half instead of pushing the ball up the field for a counter. Someone posted that he didn't miss a pass all night, as if that is a good thing. Paul Scholes he ain't, which means his perfect passing indicates he played too safe and added nothing to the attack.
You have absolutely no evidence to support your stance. The evidence actually disproves it. Look at the stats from Lletget for last night. They were really impressive. And all of those players have been part of very successful teams over the last few years. Those are teams that tore apart weak opponents, and teams that worked really hard to grind out wins in close games. The idea that berhalter chose Lletget out of the blue is ridiculous after seeing how much he’s contributed under berhalter. Same goes for those guys feeling complacent. You’re basically saying that they aren’t working any harder than our 2017 players, which is laughable. As far as not fearing getting dropped, Lletget doesn’t deserve to be dropped because he plays hard and produces, Acosta only rejoined the squad recently and busts his ass for the team, and Busio replaced Yueill and played very well.
So much happening in this thread since I went to bed! No good place to start, so starting here: Lleget was completely acceptable last night, but too much of his passing accuracy was back passes. The team needed a creator and even though GB wants most of that from his wings (including Lewis -- so, like, whatever man), some has to come from midfield and Lleget didn't really provide it. And as among him, Acosta and Yueill, Lleget had to step up and do a little more creating. I think Lleget is a lot like Pulisic in an important respect -- very good with strong players around him; usually raises his game to match and play off those other excellent players (and I mean in a way that is beyond what would be true of any player looking better with better teammates). However, in both of them, their flaws become disproportionately apparent when asked to be the bell cow. He gives good defensive effort and will tackle, and he seems to be just a winner, which is underrated. (Although I have to note his failure to cover the obvious one-two at the corner of the box in the 89th minute really bugged me. I give him a pass for his history of effort and I'm sure he was tired, but that one was scary.)