Why do the haters on here want GGG back??? He was thoroughly out coached by the Netherlands — barely qualified us into the WC. Didn’t we come in third and were humiliated by the juggernaut known as Canada? See WC 2022 for their amazing results, where they struck fear into opposing teams hearts. —-won’t change his tactics to accommodate a once in a generation talent for a perennial talent-strapped national team. We need every blue chipper we have on the pitch. I want a chance at WC glory in my lifetime, Berhalter gives us zero chance. Cmon man, can we please get a real coach one ********ing time? (I guess Borja was a decent coach for a specific style)
Seriously? If a BVB trainer told Reyna that he was only allowed to sprint if it was absolutely necessary, you think he's ready to play in a World Cup?! This is all the more reason to doubt -- and need to test -- his fitness. The last thing that they want (and the Reynas should appreciate this) is for Gio to blow his hammy 28 minutes into the game again. If that happened, and the US camp hadn't done any tests, the Reynas sound like the type who might sue the federation.
Do three defensive errors amount to Berhalter being outcoached? His players were clearly fatigued, so maybe he deserves blame for not adjusting for that. The team was set up well, though, and controlled much of the game. In fact, if you simply swap Dumfries and Dest, the scoreline is flipped. Both were getting into good positions, but only one was executing. Looking back on it, seems like Berhalter held up okay against van Gaal.
Yes, and it also squares with the leak to Wynalda. Sounds like the Reynas may have been the source of that leak. If Berhalter wasn’t playing along to put Gio on the field despite a lingering injury, it fits with their profile to try to manipulate the staff by putting media pressure on them. Especially if Berhalter, Earnie, and McBride stopped returning their texts.
Reyna would’ve played on that flank if he didn’t get hurt during qualifying. Weah took advantage of it, but you’re kind of clueless if you think he’s half the player Reyna is. Weah does not qualify as a top-level talent. Lille doesn’t think it and it’s pretty evident that few clubs do. Sure, Reyna wasn’t fully fit and he was insubordinate at some point. But not allowing our second-best attacker (by a country mile) a longer leash as far as fitness goes so he could give us 80-90 minutes in the group stage was just arrogant or delusional. It ain’t about building “culture” or the “process” at the World Cup. We were there to win. It only happens every four years.
This wasn’t necessarily a situation where you look at two players in a vacuum, as though you are picking guys for a FIFA lineup. Weah was playing and playing well. Reyna was not playing and when he did play it wasn’t notable. Going into the World Cup in Qatar, Weah was an easily penciled-in starter in front of Reyna. It wasn’t just for the moment prior to the World Cup, it was for most of the qualifying period as well. It is purely revisionist history to say that Reyna had any legitimate claim to starters minutes at either right or left wing.
Limpy Reyna isn't twice the player a fit Weah is. If and when he ever shows up match fit, we can ink him into the lineup.
@gomichigan24 posted a really great article on Man City this year in another thread where it highlighted that, despite a clear upgrade at striker from Jesus to Haaland, Man City got worse -- treading water in scoring and giving up a lot more goals as a consequence of how they played. Talent is vital, but it ain't all talent. The role Reyna would fit best in -- not position, but role -- was effectively the one Pulisic played at the World Cup. I think that one key for the next coach offensive is figuring out how to play both and get them to amplify each other rather than simply trade off, which is what they did at best when playing together previously. We ran the offense in the World Cup through Christian, and Plan B was Dest, both very capable with the ball. How do you add a third player who very much plays that way and reduce the lineup by guys who play off the ball and still succeed? (I suspect it involves Christian playing more off the ball, but that takes time, work, humility, etc.)
You can use scoreboard, or performance to evaluate things. But it's worth noting that Canada dominated Belgium and were grossly unlucky to lose (I think they're game finished 2nd or 3rd of a gazillion matches (60someodd I think) in heaviest xG win versus actual result in defeat. Canada beat Belgium heavily on xG, beat Morocco as well, and had a crap gameplan against a Croatian side that like Morocco, made the semifinals. We don't want Berhalter back, I agree 1000%, but Canada was fantastic in qualifying and in terms of performance, good at the WC, just grossly unlucky and has nothing to do with the argument (Costa Rica is a better one, but they played over their heads at the WC too as well beyond 1 game, just like Canada).
Tim Weah is an underrated player. He's also started the past 4 matches with Lille and has played well. He is a clear starter at Lille, and they do rate him highly. Given the choice between starting Reyna and Weah at the World Cup, the choice was easy. A lot of that has to do with injury and fitness, and some of that has to do with experience. Everyone can see Reyna's talent, but he is only 19. His last 3 games with Dortmund he's played 19, 28, and 20 minutes. You see, they are being careful with him, too.
Weah is being sacrificed on the altar of “GGG BEERHOLDER SUXXXXXX!” at the moment. He must be trampled upon by the studs of the great manchild Reyna so that the circle of hatred can be consummated completely.
If the US continue the fluid attacking play from January, then a possible role for Reyna would be as a false 9. He certainly has a nose for goal and for the attacking pass. The team played more like the U20 Concacaf Championships' US, rather than Gregg's US. At the U20 CC, Paxton Aaronson played false 9.
That's where I always had Reyna starting in my comments in the best eleven thread for like a year... false 9 between Pulisic and Weah who is apparently being sacrificed on the alter of GREGG SUXXX at the moment... (where? by who? a handful of random posters at worst? who cares?)
I always got the feeling that Timo has the look about him of being an absolute beast of an outside back for a team that values attacking on the flanks. Seems like he has played some lately at Lille and I wonder if his youth development went a bit differently from a positional standpoint, where he would be right now. In a different universe, put a healthy Gio, or even Dest in as inverted wingers with Weah bombing up the field behind them, that would have been a pretty interesting experiment IMO.
I know formations are just numbers sometimes, but I really hope the next guy in charge implements the 4231 some. Weah on the right. Pulisic and Reyna rotating between left and center. Not to mention guys like Mihailovic, Booth, & Tillman all developing in ways to fill some of those roles too. Same with both Aaronsons. I really think an extra attacker in this set up, particularly against teams we should be beating, would help a lot. Keep MMA as an option too.
The biggest problem with those moves is they are experiments as none of them play those positions (or almost never) for their club teams. Weah at outside back is what Bayern would have done with him like they did with Davies. Still Davies rarely plays left back with Canada. The Dest / Weah combo is almost the same no matter what starting position they are named in at least offensively as when on the right Weah plays wide and Dest moves inside. Pulisic plays that way on the right also and Weah also doesn't play that way (like Pulisic) when on the left. Gio as a forward or false nine or CM would have been great experiments but he was never healthy to try them. He got a few minutes at false nine against the Dutch but didn't look comfortable so he would need club minutes to learn that position as I think it is actually very tricky.
It's pretty understandable why Canada moves Davies up, he is far and away their best and most dangerous player. With Timo, it would have just been one way for us to get all of our best players on this field at once. Particularly, against sides that were bunkering. The counter argument was that, during qualifiers, Weah was our most goal dangerous player and he was doing it from the right wing, much like Morris was prior to him. There is for sure some validity to that, but while Weah was scoring, the team in general was inept offensively. I just remember that GGG put in Timo at outside back for a bit during the nations league final against Mexico and he was impressive. He subsequently moved him up at some point after that but it always stuck in my head that it would be something that I would like to have seen more of. The Reyna injury probably made it mostly a moot point though.
It's hard to argue with Weah starting where he started. He scored one very nice goal and had another called back for the narrowest of off-sides. His ability to break the line with his speed was an asset.
ok- show of hands- who wanted gio starting at rw over weah. completely disingenuous, whiny ass nerds- please provide any evidence whatsoever of any poster suggesting gio start over weah (in the world cup).
I think it is interesting, and would be a way to get Gio into the RW spot without losing spacing. Weah's long aerial crossing is not exactly anything to write home about, but his ability to get to the endline and cutback would be something of a terror. There's all sorts of defensive concerns with it from Gio's tracking back to Weah's familiarity with defense back there, but Weah with a full head of steam there could really wreck some shit. It's not really relevant for the idea of cramming talent on the field unless it is Dest that is hurt, but it creates a really dynamic pairing on the right.
BTW Gogo…unrelated and I apologize in advance for the thread drift but I need to eat some crow. Can’t seem to find the post but a while back I was slagging on Brandt and you came to his defense. Your assessment is looking pretty good these days. Dude has been really solid since the start of the new year and he looked flat out great last game. He has a new lease on life apparently. Went from the shop window over the summer to locked in starter, at least for the time being. It’s been a hell of a run for him lately. He will probably have a stinker today now that I am singing his praises LOL.
If Gregg is (according to you) responsible for Reyna's goals at Dortmund (where he was scoring even before the World CUp), you and the people repping your trash must be responsible for Weah's missed PK so congrats for that 1623401772252336129 is not a valid tweet id Weird how there's no response to either of these comments...
That's how it works! To be fair to you, if this were prior years, I'd 100% agree on Brandt. Felt like he came back from France and underperformed, but has been killing it this year. I never would have expected it.
Reyna made a short 90+6th minute cameo in a DFB Pokal win today, his 4th appearance in 5 matches since the World Cup.