Yeah, there is a time and place for MMA IMO, the England game for instance but to have it as the only option for every opponent is nuts, for multiple reasons.
My thought on areas of improvement are that we need to definitely add a Striker and they need to be at another level than our pool currently. Hopefully we find that with a younger player before the next Cup. Two, we need to improve our shooting from outside the box. Three, our crosses need to be better and Four our coach needs to use his bench more in the early rounds. Our fitness needs to improve but our guys looked gassed out there. Berhalter could have used his backups against Iran and that would have helped today.
What's your point? Your example was when he did something uncharacteristic, 3 months into his offseason. That's a skewed, tiny sample, that's telling it's not some kind of habit. And it didn't apply in this case. He didn't cover his net that time or two in the Canada. Here, the Dutch players just clinically struck it far post. No keeper could have gotten across to those. Credit to the Dutch for their technique and discredit to the defense/midfield for TO's and lack of picking players up to stop them from getting those shots off.
TEAM USA fought hard and never gave up. Pulisic missing clear chance first couple minutes could have made the match more interesting. Horrible defending especially third goal, these players need to learn how to mark. USA needs a new more tactical coach. Question: Serginho, is he Brazilian or from Brazilian parents ? The name, and he plays exactly like a Brazuka.
He's Dutch, from the Ajax academy, who's played for Ajax, Barcelona, and now AC Milan. And, frankly, they just didn't have enough in their legs anymore. We've ridden the starting XI into the ground. If only we were more clinical and had a decent center forward...
It’s funny that people think the fact that the rest of the roster sucks is some sort of defense of Gregg. The rest of the roster sucks because of who he chose. He didn’t have to choose a shitty roster beyond about 13 guys. There were better options available. The fact that he was able to still name a crappy roster with three extra spots from our playing pool is quite an accomplishment
He got caught ball watching today. Needed to shuffle one yard or two as the ball travelled on the pass. Facts. And I didn't bring it up... just agreed with another's observation. It's not a criticism of Turner, just an observation. There are hundreds of mistakes per game.... he made one.
What a nonsensical post! Not yours, but the one you quoted. Of course there is always a step down from from your first XI. Doesn’t mean they have to be absolute dogs hit and it doesn’t mean you run your first XI until they literally can give no more. Also, it’s true. Gio and Brenden were no better than the ones they replaced. But also they were no worse. You can’t say the same for Yedlin, Jesus, Shaq, Acosta or Haji. I have no idea how other bench options such as Scally or LDLT may have faired but we willl never know. Just as we will never know if uncalled players may or may not have faired. Give Berhalter his due for getting us out of the group. But he has achieved nothing more or less than the last three USMNT managers. And this with the most talented pool in our history.
You could have run dest Jedi and scally in 2 of the first three games…not lost that much…and have had two players that could have probably given you 90 legit today you could have started musah mckennie and Reyna in 2 of 3 and likely has musah ready to give you an effective 90 today. you could have rotated Sargent Pefok and Pepi but you didn’t think two of those players warranted spots over guys like Ferreira Wright Moore yedlin or morris you could have rotated aaronson and weah you had to ride or die with Pulisic ream and Adams because those were the only spots that the pool had nobody close to their level We had the depth. We just didn’t bring it…or failed to use what we had.
I'd have to go back and look at the game (of which I'm not), but I suspect that they marked Ferreira out of the match to isolate Pulisic. They tried to do the same with Reyna, but he's got far better ball skills and awareness and was able to get away and make himself more valuable more than Ferreira.
Reyna's ball skills are on another level from anyone else on our squad. No knock against Puli (love the guy), but Gio is our most dangerous player. After his second or third touch you could see the Netherlands side really snap-to when he had the ball. Ferreira, not so much. He's a decent enough MLS striker, although I'd argue not even an elite one there. But I never had any question the Dutch would handle him easily, and I think neither did they.
Even if Pulisic scored, I don't think the outcome would have been any different. Netherlands outclassed us in every way, and being behind a goal at the outset wouldn't have prevented them from quickly taking control and winning, anyway. Just would have looked different, that's all.
That's what I was thinking (and commenting on?) at the time. That said, Turner had a really good game on the whole, and a really good tournament. I think he did more than enough to be our #1 for the foreseeable future. Very happy for him in that regard. And he's a Gooner now, so it's all good.
A lot of people agree with you. But I keep wondering if he'll maintain his fitness to be the amazing driving force that so many see in him. I value Pulisic. Maybe I don't "love" him as much as you perhaps, but I feel like he's been largely quite a reliable asset (and driving force) for our team for years now. Reyna needs to be able to match that kind of consistent contribution for me to get completely on his bandwagon.
I agree we were outclassed across the board. NED might have had to play a little more open to try and get to a lead if we scored first which would have helped us but it was always going to be difficult. They had 11 guys who could control the ball and execute when the play was on. If playbwasn’t on, they knew how to defend. NED was just a better team, no doubt.
This is the key. Reyna has to demonstrate some durability. He's just turned 20, so hopefully that will come with him getting stronger and more physically mature. I think his physical status may actually be the reason Berhalter used him so sparingly (I've talked about that elsewhere). He's so young; come next cycle, he'll still be short his 24th birthday by a few months. He'll still be one of the younger guys among our core players. No gaffer would want to blow him out now.