I think you can have a target man and someone playing off them. Or they can take turns. Pulisic showed he is pretty good at taking on a CB in the box. Weah could move wide at times and so can Pulisic. Juventus play McKennie in that rotated striker and he ends up as a 9; Reyna could play the LW in the diamond like he did for BVB in September.
I have mentioned this before on other threads but this seems like a good place to suggest that perhaps some fans get too caught up in player X playing position Y. Go back and watch some videos of the 1972 Dutch team and "clockwork orange,"
It's telling you have to reference a team from almost 50 years ago to back up your point. But I do get your point. The game is fluid and guys move all over the place.
Yeah 50 freaking years ago teams had this figured out. Its takes the right players and a lot of time together to make it work like the Dutch did but this mindset of guys being X, Y, or Z is stupidly rigid.
I would love a really fluid frontline and interchanges and wreaks havoc. I doubt our players will be healthy enough to get more than 2-3 weeks together before the world cup, so I suspect that that level of interchangeability is not going to happen anytime soon.
Except that that "false 9" easily morphs into a 4-4-2 with Reyna as the 10 in a diamond and Weah and Pulisic as the forwards. They would all seem to complement each other well.
Spain did this from 2008-2012, with unparalleled success. But yes, they did it because of personnel where they had a lot of similar skilled players that were able to complement each other and interchange with each other. They did play with a true 9 (Fernando Torres) sometimes, but he also was very mobile and moved around a lot positionally.
What are the odds we see a two striker formation this cycle? We don’t have a nine who can lead the line Pulisic Weah Aaronson McKennie Adams Musah Robinson Brooks Robinson Dest
I vacillate most everyday between our team making the final 4 in Qatar, and the entire squad being marked up 3x-4x in value thereafter and many big sales post-World Cup to major clubs......to not even qualifying this year....
They also played with a false 9 (Fabregas) in 2012. I would not say they played “total football”. Senna, Busquets and Alonso always held. Xavi was an 8 by all definitions. Villa and Torres always played like “9”s - especially Torres. Silva and Pedro didn’t hug the touch line but they never assumed central roles. Iniesta probably did the most drifting, but you could basically describe him as a trequartista (one of the greatest ever, and easily a top 10 player of all time IMO). It was the same Spanish 4-3-3 you see today but with three of the greatest to ever put on cleats (Iniesta, Ramos, Xavi)
That's just the inconsistency of a young team. People seem to blame Berhalter (and I'm not a Gregg apologist), but this is just the way young teams are. Our best XI is basically a U23 team. We had two openings in the starting XI last match and we decided to start two U21s with less than 10 caps. Ridiculous. Average age of the starting lineup at 22 for this last match was crazy. And it could have been lower if Dest and Reyna were available. Going with this young and inexperienced of a group meant we were going to have learn on the fly. Growing pains. As a team, I mean. RIcardo Pepi had never been in a USMNT camp. He probably hadn't even met some of the Europe-based guys before. Why would Pepi have met Pulisic? What do we do? We start an 18 year old Pepi in a road WCQer for his first cap. Pepi is younger than Scally! Hell, we've called up four 18 year olds already to WCQers. [Reyna turned 19 this week.] And in another thread people are now calling for Jonathan Gomez and Caden Clark soon. Two other 18 year olds. What we're doing while still getting results to qualify for the World Cup is pretty damn ridiculous. Folks should be pretty damn excited. Cuz when this team figures out what they're doing, its going to be a hell of a lot of fun. This lineup might just scrape thru qualifying with a few points to spare. But hell, I'll take it.
Agreed. Ideally, we should take advantage of our unique strengths: fast pace, high press, interchangeable (whenever, wherever possible), play possession/ attacking football (as our best defense), wear teams down and outlast them as well. Have our kids relaxed and relying on their talents to win over the 90 minutes Given our biggest weakness is target CF, it would be smart to design formations that mitigate that weakness. No time soon does it look like target CF will be on the list of strengths for this team. However, unfortunately, I don't think Gregg is sophisticated enough to both design and fully implement such a plan. And in fairness to him, he might not have enough time to do so even if he could. (as you mentioned) So maybe some derivation of aforementioned strategy is in order? I would really like to see Reyna starting on the field centrally- running the show/metronome type vs. on the wing....but we sure do seem to have a dilemma in getting all the top guys on the pitch at the same time. Even a 3-5-2 (which could potentially allow for Reyna, McKinnie, Adams all centrally) would put a lot of stress on the outside midfields to support the defense in a 5-3-2 often times. Ideally Dest could be on the right and A. Rob on the left midfield in the that formation, but neither has shown consistency to fully support that defensive responsibility that formation requires and it would also push Musah to become a reserve (and he has proven very effective as a starter). But maybe some games Dest and A. Rob start in those positions (with Aaronson and Musah in reserve) and then we switch up on other games. Yedlin has played that outside wingback for Newcastle as well. The rotation 4 (or 5) would the 3 central defenders would be Miles, Richards, Zimmerman and Brooks. Miazga might be 5. So I guess these are all good problems to have.... I know historically the 4-4-2 has been the bread-n-butter formation of the US Nats...but I actually think this time it does not maximize the potential of this team and would cap their progress at the WC (knock on wood we get there).....a properly played 3-5-2 would unleash the hounds
Well, Well, when you have an extremely young team, you expect a coach to guide them appropriately, to make up somewhat for their lack of experience and cohesion. Something I cannot expect of Berhalter. There is a reason that this young squad cannot play well during the first halves in matches (ie qualifiers) that matter. Jamaica played on the same bad field as the US. They also didn’t get fatigued like we did. They didn’t play anyone with strep throat. Why didn’t Berhalter sub players earlier if they were out of gas. Because he is blind to what is happening on the field. He is arrogant and thinks he knows best, but he knows nothing.
In addition, he was allowed 5 subs. Jamaica used all 5, Berhalter 4. Don’t make excuses for Berhalter: he makes the wrong subs and doesn’t even take advantage of the higher number of subs now allowed.
——Pulisic——-Weah ————Reyna ——Wes——-Musah Jedi——Adams——Dest — Brooks——MRob ———-???? Wing: 1. Aaronson 2. Konrad CF: 1. Pepi 2. Hoppe AM: 1. DLT 2. Busio DM: 1. Acosta 2. Sands? FB: 1. Scally 2. Yedlin CB: 1. Richards 2. Zimmerman
Except of course he's won the Nations League, won the Gold Cup, and is in WCQing position with the team. I think we have the right coach for this young of a group this cycle. He seems to be a great recruiter (Gregg Saban) and these kids seem to want to play for him. More of a motivator than an X's and O's guy. When this team is actually ready to compete for major trophies in the 2026 cycle, we're going to go "all out" on a coaching hire. But anyway, back to my Best XI. I have no idea what to do with Reyna for the moment. That'll work itself out. I really want the pace of Weah in this squad. Talking about how young we are. Every player other than Steffen in this lineup would have been considered a youth player this year on the USYNT boards, as they were all eligible for the Olympics. [As were Reyna, Aaronson, Dike, Busio, Hoppe, and most of my bench.] ---------------Pepi------------- Pulisic-------------------Weah --------McKennie-Musah---- -------------Adams----------- ARob---Richards-Robinson-Dest ------------Steffen---------------- Biggest competitions are at the #9 position (I guess. Nobody is really excelling). The left back spot as Antonee Robinson is really inconsistent. And of course, CB, where we have a lot of options.
You know nothing John Snow. John Snow played by Greg Berhalter, until our next coach, who then immediately becomes John Snow. Our is that more like a regeneration thing? They just regenerate into someone who knows nothing. The possibilities are endless!
Well, he knows how to recruit, right? That’s something. He knows how to beat Mexico, luck or not, that’s something. I think.
USMNT WCQ record with Weston McKennie: Win 3 Draw 1Without Weston McKennie: Win 1 Loss 1 Draw 2— YankReport (@ReportYank) November 19, 2021