Not wrong but our xG last night was more like 3. We had plenty of chances that we didn't finish, were blocked, or saved. Not defending Berhalter and certainly would like to see these team score more but I am not convinced a different coach improves this team. Does a different coach all of a sudden find a way to put our anemic scorers into better positions? Does a different coach find a way to have a better attack but keep our stellar defense? Does a different coach keep the players wanting to play for him and country? Certainly Berhalter has warts but I don't think just switching coaches leads us to nirvana in fact I am concerned it would do more harm than good.
Agree completely. but what you can put directly on the coach is all the waisted minutes, going back to the early spring friendliest, the NL, Gold Cup and early windows, on individuals that are clearly a step down in talent from the lineup he put together last night. Players, even highly talented ones, are not chess pieces. It takes time to develop an understanding of each others play. I said at the time that bringing a b/c team to the gold cup was a huge mistake while most of this board were cheering that decision. Particularly when the vast majority of the ocho participants were bringing a teams to prepare them for qualifying. I stated his squad rotation plan was a mistake, particularly when these players are used to playing compressed schedules every single week with their clubs. I feared that we would ultimately look disjointed. We are the least cohesive team in the Ocho. And that blame falls directly at Berhalter’s feet. Thankfully it is looking like our talent, combined with luck, will be sufficient to overcome Berhalter’s terrible preparation (or over preparation)
We have a ton of vets. Especially compared to the competition (wc vs concacaf). Either argue age or experience, which is it? We don't have age (which was the original argument). We have vastly more high end experience than any of these octagon teams. The previous poster said young teams don't win. He said i don't have facts. I provided facts that young teams do win, the 2nd youngest team in the world cup (among other trends). Now you're moving the argument to experience, conflating it with age. That's not the argument, nor is it a stronger one, as I'd take Pulisic/McKennie/Adams-style experience playing at the pinnacle of the sport over El Salvador's 5 more years of professional experience in the local San Salvador Premier League or USL. But that's beside the point. We're talking about age. But to sum it up concisely so it doesn't deviate too much from the original topic - The brigade is arguing our performances are erratic/poor because of age. The brigade says young teams don't win. That is demonstrably false, as I showed.
I mean we don't have a ton of vets with World Cup qualifying experience in CONCACAF no. And I think almost every team we play has more experience on that front than we do. How many interviews does it take from players around the region who have played in Europe saying that CONCACAF is different and it's own beast for you to be convinced? And we have almost no one on our team who has actually played in a World Cup (I believe only Yedlin). And age and experience go hand in hand as the two are directly linked. A World Cup is also at the end of a cycle, not at the beginning. People have made the point that a young team is going to go through some growing pains, not that it's impossible for them to win or that we won't be successful. And we're in second place in qualifying, one point out of first. The sky isn't falling, and between now and the World Cup this team is going to continue to gel and get better and better. And because we couldn't finish the game was closer than it should have been, but we dominated this game and all the underlying metrics back that up.
my thing with perez- beyond is he a good coach or not?/how good?- is that he knows our players as well as berhalter does, and is like 5 times smarter. he knows theres no reason to bunker against us. he knows what our guys can do and more importantly he knows what berhalter can/does do. both times, a multitude of posters- "theyre gonna bunker", "we are gonna win by 3 goals MINIMUM!!! guaranteed!!!", etc. here we are after two matches- a total of 4 points from an aggregate 1-0 scoreline. zero bunkering. the only thing not exaggerated in this matchup has been the gaping chasm in talent. and we got literally the last acceptable outcome of the series. but its hard to say how hes going to be able to do with them. well above their weight thats for damn sure- theyve shown that already. if anybody should get off their horse and recognize that it should be us. they dont concacaf the game within an inch of its lives. they dont bunker, they dont play dirty, they dont waste time- they play you head up. their fans should be incredibly proud of their team. and anyone still talking shit about them should be embarrassed of themselves. not having as much talent as, say, a panama (much less us) doesnt make you a bad team.
I will be honest. Here is my post game commentary: for the first time since 1994, I just couldn’t be bothered to watch.
Pep has already (almost) won the Prem with no #9 as was pointed out when it was asked if ManCity crave Haaland.
Why do so many need or, heck, even want a drubbing of El Salvador? This just goes to show that fans are overly dramatic and demanding. As I said in the first page, a win, no yellow cards and no big injuries is all that we need to want from this game. Playing at 90% for most the game is alright as long as we get the win. Getting multiple goals is not needed. Save your energy for the rest of the week just make sure you win. And they did. ES had no chance at scoring and we generated the chances that we needed.
I didn't say the sky was falling. The previous poster said "Young teams do not win much. If you disagree with these facts, bring evidence that refutes it." I brought evidence that refutes it. I'm not going to get into your experience argument, because it's more nebulous (we don't have a ton of vets with WCQ experience just like France had no players with WC experience. We have guys with experience playing in front of 70k rabid fans, other teams don't). That argument can go around and around in circles, cuz the goalposts can keep moving. Our 2017 Hex team had more experience than any US team in history, that was useful.
No doubt, and a point I've made for months. If you're attack is a moribund snore, as ours is, and you throw in tons of garbage and detritus into the box as your "attack," I don't know, maybe the best Forward for the approach is a guy notorious for clinicial finishing in the box and a blood in the water shark's nose for the goal? Rather than a guy who couldn't even stand out against the U23's of the region last month, let alone senior opponents? Flat out absurd. I get that Ferreira fits what he wants to do more than Pefok, but what he wants to do is utter ---- and gets us next to zero goals in the run of play quite consistently (an entire gold cup save 1 game, 5 of 9 WC qualifiers in terms of goals alone regardless of context, w/only 1 qualifier where we topped 2 goals, the NL where we generated zero run of play goals other than a last minute bit of JAB to someone to PEFOK glory, forget who go the assist).
It is a sad state of affairs that Berhalter ball is so dire and will never improve. I won’t deny it is effective. I just didn’t see fit to rearrange my schedule to watch it. I just pray we get someone new for the 2026 cycle
McKennie header across to Pefok. Game we easily could have lost without that miraculous Sargent defensive header from inside the goalmouth.
I mean our 2017 Hex team was just too old. Experience is important, but like we had a number of players who we needed to move on from, but we didn't have replacements for. It's also not true that the 2018 France team had no World Cup experience. Of the core guys I mentioned Lloris, Varane, Pogba, Giroud, Matuidi, and Griezmann were all on the 2014 French World Cup team. All those players plus Kante were also on the Euro 2016 roster, and most of that Euro roster was at the World Cup. France is not a good comparison for the US. They have the most talented team in the world. In the 2018 World Cup there were 52 players born in France who made a world cup roster for someone. We are producing the most talent we ever have, but France is in an entirely different stratosphere.
I thought this after the discussion @Marko72 & I had about this yesterday, but that's why the 2.98 was flattering. 2 (on low side v. ES) was closer to the actual. They took a # of shots they shouldn't cuz the defender was in front & they should have worked for a better shot. But I doubt Berhalter's telling them that. It's an execution issue. Where I think Berhalter lets them down some is not setting up players to succeed maximally. Weah's taking those shots w/ his left, cutting in from the right. Pulisic is in position to shoot from distance, but he can't. Ferreira is just an OK finisher from in close. Musah had a nice goal from a decent range recently, but that was anomalous, and McKennie's got to get in the box. This might be cuz Gregg is d 1st, even yesterday. That should be what Turner, MRob, & Zimmerman are for. It's a solid as a rock on d. Almost everyone needs to play some semblance of d today. But it can't be the primary criteria at all but a couple spots. Players have considerable flaw to expose their weaknesses, but they also could be played away from more from an offensive standpoint, to enhance their strengths. And this has never been a strength of Berhalter. Maybe he could do things like listen to his assistants. Luchi would tell him Ferreira plays best under a real striker. But Gregg derided Luchi publicly for not employing Jesus at the 9. I think Luchi's had the last laugh. You talked about our fans overrating this group because of club association & extreme youth. They are heavily passengers instead of leaders for their clubs (& lightweight, asking for others to bring the lumber). I generally agree. And also that there's not a killer passer/tempo setter w/ sufficient physical tools. I agree we have a dearth of options, but they aren't non-existent. Isn't Ferreira one? He's demonstrated in recent games, including last night, he's a cut above everybody in fb i.q., vision, & technique combo. He can also uncork a distance shot. He has 10-type skills. While he beat El Salvadorians to balls he shouldn't have a # of times to display he has some semblance of physical tools. But why put him up top where he's light in the shorts, not a killer finisher, and can't survey the d w/ options in front? Instead we get him back to goal while he has to wait for the cavalry to arrive, so he can only use this skill in flashes. I don't think we should change coaches until after the WC. We're priced in & Gregg's been far from a disaster. But he certainly could be better. Arena said the key to being US manager was putting players, especially his best, in positions to succeed. That doesn't describe Gregg. He's more about general trust, tactical fixations, & a lean toward d first.
Because it is a comment in itself. We got exactly what we expected, or should have. A semi-solid defensive performance with pretty much no creation going forward and a goal off a header. Am I wrong there? Hint: If we beat Honduras it will be 1-0 on a goal after then 65th minute. We aren’t going to beat Canada in Canada. 0-0 would be good
That’s pithy statement by Eric Wynalda is starting to make more sense. This team is in need of more dinners together, as much as it needs more games together.
I'm glad there are so many experts on BS, and especially this thread! We have 3 games in 6 days and they're complaining because the team didn't come out gunz BLazing and run attack like men on fire and score 5 goals and smash EL Slavador! Only Canada has been able to run up the score on them. They're a well coached tight and compact team. They also were pressing us high up the field and didn't bunker, so they were forcing us to play conservative. In order to score we would've had to take more chances, but why would we? If we score one goal that should be enough to secure victory. They've only scored 4 goals this whole campaign. Be honest, we should've scored at least 2 goals in the first half. So, according to BBG, his plan was working. He just needs one goal to secure the points. We did get one scare in the first half, with that shot that whistled by the post. But that was it. Did Turner even touch the ball for the rest of the game? This was a strategic game meant to get points and to mitigate exhaustion accumulation. Did they look disjointed? Yes. Were they mechanical to an extreme? Yes. ( although there were some moments of brilliance) The mission was accomplished. Be happy! I think Canada will be a nice change of pace. Hopefully, they come in full of confidence and attack. I can't wait for the Canada game. Lastly, Pulisic is going to be fine. It wasn't his best game, but he's not exactly in form right now. Let's be patient and wait for him to break out of this funk. I don't think the old weather did us any favors in regards to his burst or lack there of.
I didn't compare France to the US. I compared the age of two teams. France was the 2nd youngest team in the World Cup. The argument, again, was young teams don't win. We have the most talented team in CONCACAF, like France did in 18. Keep going all you want, I'm gonna leave it here. The argument was youth doesn't win, which is false.
I like our chances in Canada. they're without their best player and we will be up for this game. you think our players like another team in CONCACAF taking the best team in he region mantle away from us ( or Mexico). I don't think our boys will go down without a fight and you know we have a more talented team, So, lets see if they play different when they're inspired.
If this team had the ability to put together coherent attacking soccer, we would have seen flashes of it by now
Indeed. They were well prepared and played without fear. I think they have been having a camp for 2-3 weeks. That always helps. But yeah they had a very good plan and executed it.