If you are putting your best 11 players on the field, this might be the best way to do it. I don’t know if Aaronson can run fast enough to lead the press from the front and then get back under CP and Weah in attack, but if anyone can Aaronson can.
I'm a Pefok guy, and definitely feel he should've gotten more love once he declared, but the critiques on the guy w/regards to system fit are appropriate as far as I can tell in terms of his plodding approach. He's far more of a target forward than he is a forward that fits with our system. That being said, as I mentioned last year before the March Window, he's also the only proven weapon who can consistently score goals, period, in legit competition. He's rapidly approaching what is it, 60 career goals in France, Switzerland, Germany, Champions League and Europa League, including 9 goals in European Competition. No forward in the program comes remotely close to that, and he's made mince meat of the arguments that he did it against crap competition since the 2020-2021 winter.
I’ll continue to say it-one of the forwards has to be a target/poacher striker. I fully understand that we want to play the system that got us to Qatar, but at some point we will need a goal. There has to be a physical striker who can get on a cross and find a way to hit the back of the net in any way. I’m not saying Pefok (or Dike, or Vazquez) has to start. But when there’s 20 minutes left and we’re down a goal, that type of striker has to be on the bench as an option.
or we could try a functional offense rather than saving any forward who might possibly score for a desperate scenario...
personally, I think the strikers, goalies and midfield (I consider wingers mid field) are the 3 areas where it is impossible to say, at this point, who the “must starts” are but for completely different reasons. I guess another…better way to say it is that defense is only area that is (mostly) certain but midfield is unique for its quality from top to bottom
Yea this is the way I see it. With 15 minutes left and down a goal, strategy, tactics, and formation kinda go out the window to a certain extent and it’s no holds barred. I can see Pefok coming in and being the point person or perhaps sneak in a header. There is nothing wrong with that
This is a discussion many are not ready to have, but I was since at least Aaronson was in fine form for club & country before burnout. Now he's killing it again since he's gotten some rest. And CP's record against better opposition is still spotty. So we may be at the point that his club teams have frequently gotten where it's an open question if he's ideally a super-sub/rotational guy. We tend to just grandfather in his role and status. …or you move Pulisic and Weah up front and drop Brenden behind them and run a 4-3-1-2…actually kinda dig that a lot.[/QUOTE] This is effectively a diamond. I think this is one way you potentially get CP and Aaronson on the field. They've proven in the Canada games they can't be your wing pair. And I like 2 CF's against our tougher opposition in the WC, since, let's face it, we'll likely be countering against your English types. Better not to have our fw isolated. Plus this eliminates one of our weakest positions. But personnel-wise, Reyna is the 1st name on the team sheet, if he's healthy. People forget before the injuries he was our engine in the UNL KO's. So we still get back to bumping CP, BA, or Weah. We need Weah to play this formation. Thus, we still have the conundrum of CP or BA. And so it goes back to the discussion of CP getting bumped if BA's playing too well to keep him off.
Probably? Also, would you be playing Pefok on the wing? Because that's the only reason this sentence makes any sense whatsoever.
If Pefok has been terrible thru almost 10 caps, what makes you think you'll be good thru 20? And why should players get endless opportunities just because they produce for their clubs? It didn't work for Chandler, and the same people probably wouldn't make the argument for Roldan. Two wrongs don't make a right. And in Arriola's case, at least he's provided defense & runs. Can't say the same about Pefok. So that's a false equivalence. Arriola's bought himself more time. Even if he's still been over-played and last camp was a disappointment in spite of his similar club form to Pefok.
Duh, it‘s because Greg is stupid, and the same exact bunch will take any scenario available so they can prove it!
I don't dislike Pefok at all -- I think there's a role for a big guy/poacher in Qatar and he's a likely option. But holy cow, there's no tie between Arriola's minutes and Pefok's minutes at all. It's also probably worth noting that if we don't include the Gold Cup, Pefok and Arriola actually had a similar number of minutes to Pefok since Pefok committed. That's not quite fair, I suppose, but this idea that Arriola played a ton of minutes in World Cup Qualifying really isn't true.
I don't have a problem with any of that. I think Ferreira has a ticket, period. He basically stole it out of Pepi's hands when Pepi went to Europe and flopped (for now). Ferreira's in Qatar barring injury. That leaves 2-3 spots, and the contenders include Pefok, Vasquez, Pepi, Dike, with long shot options in Hoppe, Sargent, and Tillman (who adds the detail of being able to play as a 10, WF, and Striker), actually now that I think of it, Hoppe, Sargent and Tillman are all versatile. Forgot to mention Wright. My guess is that Pepi will get a ticket so long as he plays, and bags a couple of goals in the next 3 months. Leaving 1-2 spots between Pefok, Dike, and the long shots. The scenario that seems most likely is that Pepi continues to struggle while Pefok and Dike bag around 5-7 goals in the next 3 months and Hoppe sits on the bench but gets a random hat trick (ha). Will Vasquez scoring a million goals, but having no international caps matter? Interesting. Barring a month long slump I think Vasquez gets a one window audition to see if he's worth promoting over Dike, Pefok, Hoppe. Wright, Sargent, yada yada. Man, with each passing week, the Vasquez non call up in June looks a bigger and bigger problem. I think it's clear the call ups then were about cementing Ferreira with the 11 and seeing if Wright could "fit". He didnt consider Vasquez (nor did I, a clear mistake in retrospect). Its really a conundrum at this point. We have only one proven club striker, and we have a gigantic pile of question marks despite beginning the process w/a bunch of these guys in March 2021. Its kind of crazy. My prediction for now is: Ferreira Pepi 1 of Pefok/Dike/Vasquez, most likely Pefok. But he could bring 4 if he wanted, which would make it super interesting. Personally I simply can't see Vasquez jumping to the head of the line after being at zero camps, period in Berhalter's 3 years and 9 months preceeding the September Window. I can see a player like Tillman or Pefok breaking through because they're experienced in Europe, and play for legit clubs in legit competitions. Vasquez basically has no end around and no caps and camps to this point. Its a big ask. The one interesting piece is that like Haji Wright, Vasquez played with guys like Pulisic and Adams and LDLT as a teen, so they arent unknown to him. The race started this weekend, so far, Pefok jumped out front for me.
The offense, in my opinion, was coming around well in the June window as long as we weren’t playing on a cow pasture in a monsoon. But you need to have the “eff it, we need a goal” option. That also gives the opponent one other thing to think about. Right now, right here, Aaronson has to start. If we are going to go with the 4–3-3 with a link up/pressing forward, your choice is whether Pulisic or Weah sits. Honestly, right now I’m not sure it’s not Pulisic coming off the bench. If we had more than one more window, I’d probably try a 4-3-1-2 or a diamond with Aaronson underneath Pulisic and Weah. But right now, we have to dance with who we brought leading into Qatar.
Part of me wonders about this angle, but truth be told, I think it's too late to do that approach. The team plays a system, simple as that, and changing things up with all of one camp left before the WC simply isn't going to happen. He's gonna push forward with this, with Ferreira as the starter if healthy, and other options to plug in if he isn't, Pepi is probably next up if he can wake up his game. And then there are the other guys who dont fit the system but will be the most productive in elite leagues over the next few months, Pefok, Dike, and Wright, along with one doing it in the MLS in Vasquez. I'll keep an eye on Hoppe, but that ship has sailed in my view. I do think people should pay attention to Tillman as well. But they have to turn around their qualifying campaign for the Champions League (down 0-2 after their away qualifier). We just have to ride it out. What I find most interesting in the mess is trying to guess what he will do if you plug in the most likely scenarios which to me are: Pefok's gonna score goals. Dike is gonna score goals. Wright is gonna score goals. Vasquez is gonna score goals. Ferreira is gonna score goals. Hoppe, Pepi and Sargent aren't going to score goals. Tillman is going to continue to play well and may get to play in Champions League. What would Berhalter do at Striker and w/the 26 if that plays out as expected.
Let's go all weird and use UEFA formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Golden_Shoe#:~:text=Goals scored in the top,by a factor of 1. Pefok's, Pepi's goals numbers x 2 The rest's x 1.5
You sound like that we have a functional system. John Herdman would laugh his ass off. With 3G’s system, both Wales and Iran will park their defense as Canada did, then with Wales’ Bale and Iran’s two strikers, they can count attack effectively. Then 3G would tell you how dominant our possession after scoring board says Zero-Does. If my main attacking are from cross by Jedi and Dest, we better to have a Pefok or Vasquez who can do something in the box. Too bad, our #1 air threat the Other Robinson isn’t on the field.
The problem with putting Aaronson on the wing is that it forces him to run too much before intersecting an opposing player and a winger at that. leeds' first goal v. wolves came from an Aaronson tackle/block at the top of the box. I've seen him preseason tackling centrally on the counter press and launching attacks. I'd rather have Pulisic wide to track back with his speed on the left wing and Aaronson centrally. 4231 starting xi ---------------ferreira ---puli-------brenden----weah -----------musah--adams ---ar/scally--x-----zim---dest I know the McK obsessives are going to say McK should start ahead of Musah. I just wonder about Wes' physical condition (same with Gioi) in the first instance - besides not rating him above Musah anyway.
He didn't get endless opportunities, he's gotten 300 minutes. 300 HUNDRED MINUTES. We're not talking 10 starts here. He was good against Northern Ireland in March of '21, he was good against Honduras as a sub in the NL semifinals in the summer of '21 and after that he got very little consequential run I get annoyed at this because people are playing at it as if Pefok got a bunch of starts like Ferreira and just crapped the bed in them all. This is what he actually got. 8 minutes against Jamaica in March '21 friendly where we stomped Jamaica. *63 mins in start against N. Ireland. Had the pass that lead to the penalty for Pulisic, also had a shot in the box that was cannon style but hit Reyna instead of having a chance to go on frame. 18 mins sub on vs Swiss, nothing I can remember. *12 min sub on vs Honduras in NL: Scores winning goal. 52 min sub on appearance vs Mexico in NL Final. Nothing that I can remember. 15 Min sub on vs Costa Rica. Cant remember anything interesting. 26 min sub on vs Costa Rica. I can't remember if he's one of the guys that had a chance that wasn't finished. 83 min Start vs Canada, stunk it up. 30 min sub on vs Mexico, blew a sitter. Essentially we can say he stunk in 9 caps or we can say that he has had 2 starts, played well enough in one (Northern Ireland), stunk in the other (start vs Canada). I will say its worth noting that the entire USMNT was basically horse manure in window 1 of qualifying for 5 out of 6 halves, so I dont know how much we should be Pefok specific in blame there. Sargent sucked against El Salvador, Pefok sucked against Canada, and Pepi stunk until Berhalter flushed his plan down the toilet and emptied out the bench in the second half against Honduras and hoped for the best (and also worth noting that Honduras repeatedly had 2nd half collapses during qualifying at the ends of windows, a major depth issue with them). Beyond that he had 7 games of sub ons, in those 7 games I can't remember anything of note beyond scoring the winner against Honduras in Nations League, and blowing a sitter at Azteca. Those 7 sub on's accounted for a grand total of about 25 minutes per game of sub time. Take it for what its worth. I tend to view this as a minutes thing, and having a goal, essentially creating an assist against Northern Ireland etc isn't bad for all of 300 minutes, especially if you add that it was not continuous: March '21, June '21, September '21, March '22 (no appearances in July '21, October '21, November '21, or January '22, or June '22). I don't think he's been great, we have not managed to really utilize his talent well at all, and he isn't a great fit, but I also don't put this very much on Pefok. He has barely played at all for the US Nats, and generated scoring opportunities in 4 of 9 starts in just an average of 35 minutes per appearance. That's not horrible, and not great, basically exactly like the rest of our forward pool, and unlike Ferreira, Pefok hasn't gotten his minutes against the absolute dregs of concacaf. ***This is an important piece to note. Pepi got his goals against Honduras imploding and Jamaica at home, easy as pie opportunities. Ferreira got his production against El Salvador at home (assist), against an imploding Panama at home (blew a sitter, scored a sitter), and a giant pile of goals against Grenada at home. What did Ferreira do against teams of quality? Nada. Its worth noting that since he started getting incorporated into the 26, and periodically in the 11, basically in window 3 as a sub vs Mexico, he did nothing against any team worth a damn on the road, and nothing against teams at home unless they sucked (Panama, El Salvador, Grenada). This is why this whole thing is a mess. We're promoting Ferreira because he combines more easily with the wing forwards, but the truth is, he isn't doing anymore than Pefok, Sargent, Pepi or anyone else has against quality teams which is basically, nada.
What are you, the hall monitor? You add nothing to this board. If your sole purpose is to call out other’s agenda, then you have your own agenda. I should just let it go, as I’ve done for all your other posts of this ilk, but man, it’s enough already.
But it's for separate reasons: #1 Arriola was injured #2 Pefok didn't do enough for Berhalter in Window 1 to justify call ups in the next 3 windows. If Arriola didn't get hurt repeatedly in '21 (first in England, later in the Gold Cup), he would have gotten significantly more time, this is pretty obvious with the call up patterns, and underlined by the sheer unadulterated insanity of his 3 consecutive starts for window 2 (injured during warm ups for matchday 6).