I think, you understand what I was getting at, and that I wasn't just piling on. Before the tournament I argued that Weah had to start at RWF because he's been the only consistently reliable piece of the attack since qualifying started, and I simply could not replace him with Reyna, so w/that knowledge in tow, Reyna either had to play LWF, not happening, or False 9, or replace Bad McKennie (when good doesn't show up: ie the Wales and Netherlands games). Basically we didn't use him at all until the tournament was largely lost other than about 10 minutes in the 2nd half. Was that right? Nope. And as we learned, Reyna, or somebody, should have been playing False 9 after Sargent went down because Wright/Ferreira didn't work at all. It's a tough question for the future coach to figure out, somebody has to go to the bench. I'd use Reyna as a false 9, or as McKennie's top of the midfield piece if he's injured, and have Aaronson as the first off the bench wing forward. But there aren't any easy answers.
I think one of the go forward looks should be something like this. I don't know if it is a real false 9, a 4312 with Reyna as the 10 and Pulisic/Weah striker combo, or simply an amoeba attack, but at minimum it's an excellent tactical plan against stronger teams and at maximum, it's foundational. That said, it can't be the only thing you can do. Even if you feel like you can handle that format without Reyna (Aaronson? Pulisic?), it is not a tactic you can throw at everything. At some point, we need something resembling a somewhat traditional striker. Preferably someone who can hold up, who can be good in the air and who can play off the other folks without completely abdicating stretching the defense. That's probably what I would target as attacking looks -- this is a 4312 or a 442 diamond, and then a real striker in a couple of 433-esque formats (including 4231).
reyna was playing more than wes over the month and a half prior to the world cup, and more than dest over the entire season. yet only two of those were accomodated.
Maybe Berhalter was more willing to "accomodate" Wes and Dest because he has some weird grudge against his old friend's son. Or maybe it was because Wes and Dest played crucial roles throughout qualifying and picked up late knocks while Reyna barely played for a year, and because the alternatives to Wes and Dest were worse than those for Reyna.
I wouldn't use it against anyone, I think it can be too leaky defensively, but honestly, against Netherlands, if the CM's were exhausted, and they were, we probably needed to go w/a totally different approach. In general I'd prefer a coach whose more flexibile in general in terms of formations and personel. We're about to add even more attacking talent in the coming years, at least one or two of the pieces should be able to break through again (Pepi, Tillman, Healthy Reyna, Paxten, Paredes, Pomykal might finally break through, Ferreira might be moved to CM), and we need to have flexibility in general to accomodate guys and sort through what mixes work best in what situations and combinations. I'm not married to anything other than Weah being a starter at RWF or Striker. I don't know why he's so unproductive with Lille, but with us, he was consistently the most dangerous attacker alongside Pulisic by far (Good McKennie was great in the middle 2 games too).
Hmm Gio false 9... interesting idea, wonder if anyone had been pushing it for the last year straight...
Yes they do. Something that never changed is that Ream was integrated long prior to the World Cup. I was merely correcting the record.
What makes you think he’ll be more important going forward, do you expect Pulisic, Weah and Aaronson to regress?
Not necessarily, though it is certainly possible. Reyna is very talented, he's 2-4 years younger than those other guys so there's a decent chance he will improve more, and his time over this window was continually hampered by injuries. His minutes in Qatar are pretty irrelevant to the go forward.
Because of his inexperience and fitness issues it was easy for him to be the odd man out in Qatar. Because of his youth and skill level, the easiest odd man out will be less and less likely to be him the further we move forward. Dest, Adams, McKennie, Musah, Aaronson, Weah, Pulisic and Reyna are a class above the rest of the pool and the absolute maximum of those 8 you can put on one pitch is 7, and under an idealized tactical setup it would be 6. Optimizing that is a primary challenge of a USMNT manager. I give Gregg a B on that issue.
A big and well deserved **** *** to all those who talked s*** about Gio Reyna over the last few weeks, saying he must be injured, saying he had attitude problems, even calling him a prick, etc. Many of the same people spewed the same BS about players who were left off the 26 man World Cup roster right after it was announced, that guys left off MUST be injured or clubhouse cancers... obviously it couldn't be that the infallible Gregg made a mistake right?? And then Ricardo Pepi started and scored a nice goal the next weekend. Well now one week after the US crashed out of the World Cup it's Gio Reyna's turn to do the same... what a brilliant goal. And he crushed that ball as if it had Gregg's potato face printed on it. US Soccer can NOT retain a national team coach who ****ed up so badly at the World Cup with our country's most talented player. Giving him just around a half's worth of minutes over the most important four games in 8.5 years. Starting Jesus Ferreira over him. Subbing on Jordan Morris over him. If there is any sort of rift between the two, the sad sack bounce passer should go coach Charlotte FC or whoever instead... USSF does not need to be subsidizing his expensive sneaker habit. Gio Reyna 🚀[🎥: @BVB] pic.twitter.com/zDdxldeXYe— BVB Buzz (@BVBBuzz) December 10, 2022 GIOVANNI REYNA ROCKET 🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/mvfbZofhEU— 🇺🇸 USMNTvsHaters (@USMNTvsHaters) December 10, 2022 Gio with the 🚀 pic.twitter.com/phPYLPSFHN— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) December 10, 2022
Yes, I'm sure the intensity of a split squad club friendly against a Romanian team is very comparable to the World Cup. There's so much anger here, you probably need to find someone to talk to.
Obviously how hard Gio Reyna crushed that ball is directly related to the quality of the Romanian team... they use totally different soccer balls in Romania than in Qatar, not even a comparable situation!! Tillman with a brace vs Bayer Leverkusen today, obviously they suck though... Ferreira and Roldan woulda scored five goals each as if they were playing against Grenada and Martinique. Malik Tillman on the board today. Has a brace. Kid has proven over and over he's goal dangerous.. couldn't be the 26th man on the World Cup roster? 🤦♂️#USMNT pic.twitter.com/oW1U3bRy1o— 🇺🇸 US SOCCER CORNER 🇺🇸 (@USMNTCORNER) December 10, 2022 Sargent so badly injured that he couldn't make the game day roster and Gregg started Ferreira who he hadn't trusted to play a single minute until that point... starting for Norwich a week later. 🚨 𝕋𝔼𝔸𝕄 ℕ𝔼𝕎𝕊5️⃣0️⃣ for Sarge 🫡🇮🇪 Adam and Andy return𝙇𝙚𝙩'𝙨 𝙜𝙤, 𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙨 🔰#NCFC pic.twitter.com/JjjHPCxFhN— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) December 10, 2022
Hey would you look at that one of the "injured" guys almost immediately got a rep from the "prick" guy... congrats, hope it was all worth it But hey this is definitely not the time for self-reflection, just keep pushing through it! Imagine repping a post about "anger" when you have repeatedly called a nineteen year old kid a prick shameless!
Are you really trying to make an argument that hitting a ball hard is somehow indicative of the overall level health and/or ability to compete at a World Cup level for 90 minutes? Yes, a friendly against a Romanian team is definitely the intensity level of World Cup. LOL, this is just sad and embarrassing. Dude, if you just want to be angry, go throw something. We can all read you've worked yourself up into some ridiculous lather.
If Gio Reyna was really injured at the World Cup, why are Borussia Dortmund, who have millions invested in him and stand to gain tens of millions from his eventual sale, even playing him in a meaningless friendly against a Romanian club just one week later? Seems like a departure from the last few months, when Dortmund were treating Gio with kid gloves and not taking any chances with him... But hey players make miraculous recoveries, people on this board were saying Ricardo Pepi must be injured for Gregg to not include him on the World Cup roster, and he started and scored a goal the next weekend. Obviously "Gregg can't be wrong everyone he doesn't select is injured and/or a clubhouse cancer 'prick' who then miraculously recovers within the week as if healed by Jesus himself" makes a lot more sense than "perhaps Gregg made a mistake?"
Gio will never be great at pressing, will never provide width, not going to run a lot, will likely always point and direct people when on the field. He’s a better player than everyone on the current USMNT in a style like Pep’s or Spain. The issue isn’t him getting better. The issue for him is the philosophy of the coaches (and many coaches around the world) based on the current pool available. Gio would be good today with Man City. He’d struggle for time at Chelsea. That’s unlikely to change. Age plays zero part. They’re all young.
Yeah, why would a player, who did have a long term injury and is working their way back to a 100% 90 minute fitness, get some minutes in a low stakes, low intensity friendly. You've never played a sport, have you? Injuries and fitness aren't binary. And to get back in shape, you've got to do stuff. So much of this is so dumb just to get yourself worked up.