Norwich Coach- US wants to focus on players playing in American league for WC qualifying.

It would not shock me if that idiot said this. That we need true blood “MLSers” to win in Panama, in tough road games.

Congrats, we had 75% of the team MLSers and they shit the bed you incompetent idiot

 

This is frightening to read.

 

“As far as I’m aware it was due to the wish and the will of the US team that they wanted to focus for these games on players who play in the USA and their league,” said Farke.

Some may call BS on that. Not sure if it's true. But I've never heard another club coach say that about a NT. And why would a club coach say that unless that was part of the explanation given?

 

The thing that gives this credibility is that the coach is not upset about it. It's not an excuse. He's not saying "Oh Josh would have made it, except those Americans are focusing on MLS players." He's saying, "Yeah, this is great for us!"

 

Because the fans of his club now know they spent $10 million on a striker that cannot even make a roster for a team that gets punked by Panama

 

oh my.......

if thats true.....someones head has to roll

 

But he can make the roster. He was a starter a few weeks ago.

 

arriola - 21 touches, 7/13 passing, 10 times lost possession. 0 for 2 on dribbles. YIKES!
acosta - 56 touches, 75% passing, lost possession 20 TIMES! yikes
zimmerman - lost possession 14 times...(on mostly safe or backpasses is A LOT)
roldan - 17 touches, lost possession 9 times, 3/10 passing YIKES!
lletget - 37 touches, 0 for 0 on dribbles (master of the backpass/attack killer)

Keep these MLSers in MLS please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maybe I'll piss off all sides by saying this but I'm of the controversial opinion that the national team should call in the best players, who are playing the best at the moment. The key point there is playing, so not Mark McKenzie who isn't playing in Belgium over say Chris Richards, or Shaq Moore who isn't playing in the Spanish second division over say Joe Scally.
But beyond that minimal bar what matters is how guys are performing. So not Gyasi Zardes who has half the G+A/90 of Daryl Dike in the same league. Or Jonathan Lewis who wasn't even decent in Olympic qualifying and was barely playing for Colorado, going to the Gold Cup. Or Jackson friggin Yueill first to the Gold Cup and then as an injury replacement on the first WCQ roster.

Just call in the best guys without any concern for MLS vs Europe bullsh*t... how hard is that???

This is cherry picking. You're not talking sh*t about Matt Turner despite him being an MLSer? Or Miles Robinson?

Acosta has a place on the team, it's as a backup 6 behind Adams. Who is being left out who deserves it more? Dude was an absolute beast in the Gold Cup final against Mexico's A team. The two bad games he's had, it's been the second game he's played in a row, which seems easy enough to avoid if he's just the backup 6.

Zimmerman is a decent depth option at CB, obviously Chris Richards should have started but I would say in place of non-MLSer McKenzie not MLSer Zimmerman. With Brooks injured, Zimmerman has to make the roster even if as the 4th CB.

Arriola is nothing more than a good defensive winger who poses almost zero goal scoring threat, but even he can play a role. Of course that's coming off the bench to help secure a win, not starting... as he has for the last two games (wtf Gregg?)!

Even Roldan is an okay bench option, a versatile guy who should be in consideration to be the 30th man on a World Cup qualifying roster (which is how many players Gregg should be calling in EVERY TIME jesus f*ck there are no roster limitations what is he even doing??)... which means not playing very much unless guys start dropping like flies.

Lletget... not sure how he gets so many call ups, dude is a staple and it's not clear why... he's not even all that great in MLS! There are plenty who deserve a shot over him, including a handful in MLS!

But the bottom line is it's not as easy as MLS vs non-MLS!

Is anyone going to argue Miles Robinson shouldn't be the #1 CB right now? At least until Gregg actually PLAYS Chris Richards, but even if he lives up to expectations Miles is top two.

Steffen who doesn't play for mighty Man City lost the starting spot to Matt Turner who plays for what is currently the best team in MLS history... okay, congrats to Gregg for actually getting that one right (although once again late as hell, people had been clamoring for Turner for two years before Gregg finally gave him a shot).

Just apply that standard across the board regardless of league nonsense.

 

I didn’t get a domestic focus feeling from the Jamaica game. Skewed the other way actually.

 

15 of the 26 players came from Europe so it’s hard to say we are overly MLS focused. Had Ream and Brooks not gotten hurt it would have been 17 of 27. And then obviously Pulisic and Reyna would have been on the roster had they not been hurt.

And I don’t think anyone was complaining about Sargent not being on the roster. Honestly my main issue would have been to swap out Moore for Scally, but that’s just one Euro player for another.

This was not a good result, but it’s not a MLS vs. Europe thing.

 

Can anyone really argue with any of this?

 

Here’s a theory. Josh hasn’t been dangerous for Norwich. The US’ attack has been inept this qualifying cycle. Norwich spent a pretty good amount of money by their standards for a guy who isn’t playing for a poor attacking side.

So maybe Farke is trying to protect the NCFC front office from criticism.

Yep

 

i said THESE mlsers...learn to read.

i hve no problem with miles robinson or turner...get a grip.

 

10 out of 27 is way too much MLS...you dont get it.

its probably because you havent seen much of euro guys 15-40...but they are better than almost all mlsers.

 

Does anyone really think this isn't true?

 

If anything he probably talked to Norwich's coach about Sargent's direct competition for playing time on the NT. That's a position where Pepi is pretty much the lone bright spot for us regardless of country or continent. Not sure why Berhalter would be discussing the team selection as a whole with him, let alone casually revealing the secret plan to focus on MLS players in an away match against Panama that is only broadcast on Paramount+ in English.

 

2 of those are goalies and our only goalie abroad who is a plausible call up is Horvath.

There’s no other left back options behind Bello. Had he not been hurt I’m sure Vines would have been called up instead. Scally can play the left, but the right is his natural side. And I’ve already said I would have liked to see him there instead of Moore.

I don’t think there’s any European players I’d want ahead of Robinson or Zimmerman, both of whom have played very well. After today I’d trade out McKenzie for Miazga but that’s just one Euro for another.

At the 6 we don’t have any European options instead of Acosta (or better domestic ones).

Lletget played poorly today and you also have Roldan. But again we’re not missing out on a ton of European options there. The only one I can even think of, Julian Green, isn’t playing for his club right now.

At center forward, both Sargent and Pefok were on the roster last time and didn’t light things up. No one has been really complaining they weren’t here, though I would have been fine with Pefok being added (or Dike).

Oh and Pepi plays in MLS. Please let me know if you think he shouldn’t be here.

And then on the wing you have Arriola. Who played very well in game 1, but who also wouldn’t have even been on the roster had Pulisic or Reyna been healthy.

The point is not everything is an MLS vs.Europe thing. Sometimes it’s just a bad performance.

 

well, i guess one could argue what those numbers breakdowns looked like tonight.

 

Maybe it’s a nice way of putting it that an 18 year-old MLS player is now ahead of a Premier League player in the depth chart?

I’d rather have Sargent than Zardes, but I’m wondering if in Gregg’s mind the tie breaker goes to the latter when Sargent was only available for two of the three games.