You gotta dig a little deeper there and take a look at how many minutes she played and what position she played. Press wasn't a regular starter in any of those first 3 tournaments and Ellis had her playing as a midfielder in the majority of 2015 WC and 2016 OG. 2015 World Cup - Press only played 67 of her 180 minutes as a forward and 113 minutes as a midfielder. 2016 Olympics - Press only played 23 of her 123 minutes as a forward and 100 minutes as a midfielder. 2019 World Cup - Press only played 2 full games and saw very limited minutes in the other 5. In 4 of those 5 games, the team switched to a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 when Press entered the game.... • Thailand - sub in 57' for Heath. • Sweden - switched to 4-5-1 in 63' when Press subbed in for Lavelle. • Spain - subbed in 90+7' for Rapinoe, played less than 1 minute. • France - switched to 5-4-1 in 60'. Press subbed in for Rapinoe in 87'. • Netherlands - switched to 5-4-1 in 79' when Press subbed in for Rapinoe. She played the full 90 minutes as a forward against Chile and England. She played 213 minutes total (including 33 minutes vs Thailand) as a forward when the team wasn't in a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1. Press played a combined total of 90 minutes at forward in 2015 WC (67 minutes) and 2016 OG (23 minutes). In 4 of the 7 games of 2019 WC, she came into the game late when the team switched to a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 to preserve the win. So, that means that Press only played a grand total of 313 minutes combined as a forward in the 2015 WC, 2016 OG and 2019 WC.
I thought all 6 forwards had a bad tournament. I do think Morgan and Rapinoe were the worst of the bunch though. Rapinoe's lack of hustle really stood out to me. Yeah, Lloyd and Rapinoe had 1 good game the 2nd match vs Australia against a bad defense... but they didn't show up for any of the other games and it was too little, too late.
If lieke made that penalty and they lost the qf again there would have been forced changes. Now I’m not even convinced Lloyd and rapinoe will retire by 2023. Getting that medal and the longest serving vets scoring the goals makes People think the system works.
We wound up talking personnel rather more than tactics but it's probably my fault as much as anybody (and I did lump in 'lineups" with "tactics" in the original post). But I did break down the US minutes into lines and how much time they had on the field together (like they break down "ice time" in hockey) and it's not a coincidence (I don't believe) that the better US lines had Lloyd in the center as opposed to Morgan. In some cases, the Lloyd "shifts" (to borrow the term from hockey again) weren't terribly good but at least noticeably better than the Morgan "shift", such as against Canada when the US attack was lifeless in the 60 minutes that Morgan led Williams and Heath in front. (While Williams and Heath with Lloyd was one of our best lines against one of the good opponents, Netherlands) We're all just fans doing what fans do, but as long as we're going to do I'm going to keep repeating a few ideas, a few leit-motifs. Not trying to use the authoritarian tactic of a Goebbels — "if you repeat something often enough people will start to believe it's true — but to repeat things enough to indicate it's important enough to actually discuss with some logic and maybe even some facts. The problem with Morgan is she's the biggest example of someone who is almost impossible to be benched just because she's so famous, because she's a star. So many people see her as the face of the team, a coach is going to think if he doesn't play her and the US loses, he'll be blamed for it; whereas if he plays her and they still lose, everyone just has the sads. One of the most important things we can do as fans, if possible, is to make it clear we think she's no longer the player she was in 2012 (almost 10 years ago!) and a coach doesn't have to automatically play her. I like Morgan and always have, but she represents more than anyone else the problem US Soccer has of hanging on too long to its legends, its heroes, and caring more about marketing mythologies than fielding a winning team. Lloyd is gone, retired. I would've preferred she stayed on the team rather than Morgan at this point in time. If FIFA continues to allow 5 subs, maybe there will be a place for Megan Rapinoe to be the Kirk Gibson pinch-hitter off the bench. But why would you build a team around a player who you can't even count on to give you 30 minutes on both ends of the pitch? Lloyd, Morgan, Rapinoe — that's 2-1/2 open spots right off the bat for the kids to shoot for. Why 2-1/2 and not 3? Because when we FREE CRYSTAL DUNN, Dunn may take one of those forward spots, unless she grabs a midfield spot instead. I think Dunn, more than any newcomer, would combine better with Catarina Macario if Macario takes a prominent role in the midfield. Press, Heath, Williams, and Dunn (unless Dunn is in midfield) should be the working model up front for the US once the Bronze Medal Tour is over. I think that's a little unfair to Lynn Williams and her limited time (134 minutes). Only one who averaged more than 1.0 G+A per 90 minutes
"(While Williams and Heath with Lloyd was one of our best lines against one of the good opponents, Netherlands)" The thing is I don't think Heath and Lloyd, especially Lloyd, were all that good vs the Dutch. For me, it boils down to Williams being very impactful vs the Dutch and not being impactful at all vs Canada. I guess that's a bit lazy in the analysis department, but it's not unfounded in my opinion. We'll just disagree here though. "I think that's a little unfair to Lynn Williams and her limited time (134 minutes). Only one who averaged more than 1.0 G+A per 90 minutes" She had a great first 30 minutes or so vs the Dutch; I didn't really notice her much from her goal to when she was subbed off. I don't think she was particularly good vs Canada. I don't think Kevin625 is harsh grouping Williams with the rest. She was the best of a poor bunch; I'm not sure that's much of a selling point.
There were people on Twitter noticing Williams racing back in minute 40+ of the 1st half so Kelley O'Hara wasn't all alone defending Lieke Martens Against Canada, Vlatko switched which sides Heath and Williams were playing. Julie Foudy (for what it's worth, it seems plausible) said it was so Williams was helping defend against Ashley Lawrence, Canada's right back. Williams certainly seemed tentative as if unsure how to carry out her defensive mission against a defensive back. I think we can safely blame Vlatko for tactical over-thinking this one. But it's just an unlikely coincidence that Morgan's shifts were always the lackluster ones compared to Lloyd's, with the possible exception of New Zealand, by far the weakest opponent, which I didn't watch. It's still unfair to lump in Williams who was the object of much heated criticism when she had one of the most impactful shifts of any US forward in a tournament when she was given only 3 of them, including a meaningless 15 minutes against Australia in the group stage.
Honestly, I didn't think Press-Morgan-Rapinoe was less lackluster than Heath-Lloyd-Williams vs the Dutch. In the second half minutes before the subs, I thought the Dutch had already asserted control. If anything, apart from Williams in the first half hour, the sub front line had more energy in my opinion, maybe too much with Press and Morgan getting caught offside and Press overdribbling and missing the chance to play in Morgan. I don't necessarily disagree with you regarding Williams; I just also understand Kevin625 thinking she also didn't have a great tournament.
Naturally this could go in the NWSL sub-forum, too, but it seems like it also belongs someplace where we're discussing the US performance in the Olympics .@ScoutRipley asks about Julie Ertz, Dames says he doesn't know when she'll be back"I don't think she got to properly rehab her knee" and then had a significant loadSays they support her taking the time needed to rehab properly #MKOT— Alex Campbell (@acampbellsports) August 19, 2021
Tactical observation — re-watching the 1st halves of both the semi-final against Canada and the bronze-medal match against Australia, Lindsey Horan is dropping back in front of the defensive line to play the ball out of the back when US regains possession in its half of the field. I don't know if it's unusual. I'm not an expert. But it gradually dawned on me how Horan dropped into what I normally associate with a d-mid position to help advance the ball from the back. It may be nothing, but naturally one suspicion (if you're inclined to be suspicious) is that this is a tactic to try to help out Julie Ertz, who was trying to return from injury. The potential downside is this is putting extra workload on Horan, who put in a lot of minutes as it is.
The most popular Euro configuration tend to be the double 6. But it usually means playing the ball from the back/previously Ellis would take advantage vs double 6 opponents with an high press that got a lit of turnovers from it. The one good about playing like that is we got currently a lot newbie speed burners in the NWSL that would benefit from it as well FB’s can move forward more confidently knowing that DM’s can cover their defensive assignments more efficiently. So let’s if we went with an mostly brand new lineup, it could look something like this Purce….Berkeley… Davidson….Dunn ……. ..Ertz…………… Horan Rodman…….Sanchez………Charley ……..,……,,…Balcer got to ask if anybody knows why Macario didn’t play last nite for Lyon? (vs the CL champs Barca)If she’s not going to get much playing time over then her season’s going to waste & surely fall on the USWNT totem poll
or maybe its that Horan is better at dictating the tempo VA wants from deep. I think it would be this way whether ertz was injured or not
I always thought Horan was Vlatko's preferred backup for Ertz when Ertz was injured precisely because of her distribution. Vlatko didn't trust anyone else to distribute the ball, to "dictate the tempo", from deep in the midfield — and that included the defensive midfielders left off the team like Andi Sullivan. But when Ertz was out and Horan was playing in the #6, Horan had both Lavelle and Mewis to distribute the ball to. Yes, I can see Vlatko "wanting it this way whether Ertz was injured or not." I'm curious whether he actually had them try doing it this way when Ertz was not injured and what the risks and drawbacks are.
I don't think anyone factored this into their analysis of the US team's performance -> Full quote from Paul Riley on Sam Mewis' injury:#NWSL pic.twitter.com/i72XDAOlit— Nicholas Schnittker (@nick_schnittker) August 19, 2021
Williams is inconsistent. I don't think she's useful against any team that can defend competently. The netherlands is not organized in that manner so it's not surprising she was able to be more effective than she usually is with the national team. Her club form simply does not translate. You don't get the insane number of chances she gets with the Courage against top international teams, so she can't afford to not be clinical. The kick the ball past the defender and try to outpace them doesn't really work. I don't see her as the solution to this team's issues on the front line.
It was because she was not able to join the team because of the Olympics so she missed all the practices and pre-season games. Not sure whether she plays on Saturday or not, but they think very highly of her, and from what I saw is in the game would have caused some problems for Barcelona defensively with the unorthodox way they have her playing center forward. She and Majri, and Cascarino work very well together. So I would assume they will want to get her ready as quickly as possible, especially when they start playing Champions League games.
i did read later that Macario hadn't returned yet to France & just met the team when they arrived in Portland. Just wondered since quite a few Olympians had returned to action yesterday. Glad to see that Lyon played an nice counter attacking game vs Barca & it's ratched tiki taca style that got a feeling Vlatko's trying to enforce his own version upon the USWNT.. Would of liked to see Macario in the front of those Lyon counters. Guess we'll have to be keep on waiting,
I am not so sure she was 100% when she reported for camp. She was held out of Lyon's last game of the season because of a minor injury and that could have been the reason for her limited playing time with the NT. Lyon probably wanted to be careful with her and had her stay in the US get some rest and mend, before returning with them back to France. It is going to be a grueling season for them with the new format for the Champions League. they could be playing up to as many as 40 games this season. What I am beginning to hear more and more lately is that Horan may be headed to Lyon after the first of the year, just in time for the knock stage of the Champions League. While everyone questioned her being used by Vlatko as a holding mid, that is exactly how Lyon would use her. She has the tools to play that position for them and gives them another weapon in the box to score on set pieces.
the problem with Lyon is that it feels like there’s an albatross that flies over their head, since they keep continue to win the CL, but when their players return to their respective NT’s, they tend to flop in major summer competitions. We’ve seen this happen enough with the French NT(usually 6-12 Lyon players)who been eliminated now five straight in the quarter finals(WC, Euros. Olympics). Same could be said with it’s international cast; Hegerberg was a disaster at the 2017 Euros, which prompted her to quit her Norway NT. Marozsan skill set has fallen considerably since joining Lyon in late 2016(previous to that she was the MVP at the Rio finals). Same can be said for Van de Sanden & Parris. this could be said as well for other Euro super clubs; I mean Spain(which is Barca in disguise) has flopped now in every major summer tourney for over an decade/even Man City’s American players; Mewis, Lavelle. Dahlkemper, all flopped individually in Tokyo. more than just coincidence? I think so; the problem with these super clubs is they have way downgraded competition for most of the year. Lyon’s only real tough opponent in the French League been PSG. So that’s only 2 out of 22 league games their going to have a real competitive game. It’s no different in the CL until they reach the quarter finals(as I counted only 9 super clubs in all of Europe). And with the new CL format it’s only going to get worse since those super clubs will keep On buying more & more players in case of more injuries mounting due to now heavier schedules. Yet most of Lyon’s matches will be pretty much be half field games since their amateur opponents just usually just bunker. Remember that Danish Bromby team that Macario made her CL debut? I read that their entire budget for the year was a mere $300K for the entire year(compared to Lyon’s $6/8 mil), Thur even had to fund raise to make the trip out to Lyon. So honestly think it’s an big mistake for Macario(and now possibly Horan) going to play in an league(or club) that’s so unbalanced. But guess you can’t blame individual players for making the move due to all the extra money their making
My guess is Bompastor values her midfield French players over this talented young but American player. She’ll get her chance, she’s just started over there.
If you are a Lyon player the only team that you be eager to play against is PSG in the French league. Or teams in CL.
That is not true. They think very highly of her and is why they quickly inserted her into their offensive attack, making her a starter in the last six games she played for them at the end of the season. Her 6 goals during that time were 4 better then any other player. Her presence in the lineup added an instant spark to an offense that had been struggling. I would expect her to assume that starting role very soon after she has had the chance to work with the team again.