Pre-match: Nations League: Grenada & El Salvador - 3/24 + 3/27

Seriously people, there is very little to be gained from analyzing a game against Grenada. The team wanted to run things through Pulisic. Pulisic was completely happy to oblige and no plan B was needed. It's when Pulisic is being challenged a lot more that we can analyze Reyna's contributions. The same thing goes for Turner. Hudson put out a very forward lineup with a very novel backline. More of a 4-2-4 than a 4-2-3-1. At times it looked like a 4-1-5. That's fine against Grenada and they had a couple of shots with plenty of time. Not even remotely a Turner issue here.

 

My ideas for Monday:

Goalkeeper: Steffen or Horvath - I think the US can take the risk of rotating goalkeepers here.

Backline: Dest, Robinson, Ream (c), and Robinson - self-explanatory

Midfield: McKennie, Cardoso, Musah - I expect Hudson to be a touch more cautious in the midfield than against Grenada, with Musah and Cardoso rotating into the lineup.

Forwards: Zendejas, Dike, Pulisic - Aaronson played the full 90, so I save him for the second half. Zendejas gets rewarded, and Dike swaps in for Pepi.

 

True, but let me play devils advocate,…. I think this team needed a big win as its first real game post World Cup to set the tone.

 

On that, I agree. Anything less than complete dominance would have been a let down. It's just that I think that the quality difference is so large that quite a few lineups could have done the job and that not everybody needs to play dialed in for this game.

 

Also, we might actually need him.

If he's there last June, we probably don't even need to tie this game.

 

I'm not really playing into the Reyna discussion here, but Aaronson was one of the few people who defender AND generated the turnover that fell to Zendejas for his goal.

Yeah, he lost the ball a couple of times, but having two direct goal contributors ain't exactly slacking.

 

I honestly don't think you can put Reyna on the bench for his lack of energy unless you also send McKennie and de la Torre to the bench for theirs. None of the three got back on defense much or moved much off the ball, really all just putting effort in when they had the ball.

It was a very lethargic game for about half the team. I suppose you can decide that that has consequences, but it should be applied consistently, then.

 

71st minute in 81 degree weather

 

Yeah, I dropped by to write up big praise for Hudson who showed more understanding of individual players in one game than I saw from Berhalter in 3 years.

It's just one game obviously and ElSalvador will be stepping to the ball and not falling off. They'll close down Pulisic opening the door for Reyna.

I thought our guys did great and my only suggestion would be that the "absent" right side screams out for Kevin Paredes.

I can't find Scally's passing stats anywhere. Anybody know where one could find that?

I'm the only guy in America who doesn't think Balogun will improve our program and the only thing I see people discussing on these boards is MMA, the Reyna's, how bad Aaronson is and Balogun, which I find really boring,

 

McKennie scored two goals and LDLT had what…two dimes?

Not anywhere near the level of low performance we saw from Reyna.

 

Paredes playing like he wanted to be on this roster

37' | Goal USA! Kevin Paredes pulls one back with a great effort.

🇺🇸 1-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #U20MYNT

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 25, 2023

51' | Goal USA, all tied up now! Lovely back heel goal from Owen Wolff, played in by Kevin Paredes.

🇺🇸 2-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #U20MYNT

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 25, 2023

 

I'm not measuring by end production, and certainly not against Grenada. Reyna actually had some nice plays. He wasn't on the same side that we were funneling the ball, so he didn't get the touches offensively. But he had a number of passes that just as easily could have been assists as LDLT's.

My only issue with him was my same with both McKennie and LDLT -- none of them seemed the least bit interested in defending.

I don't think he played poorly; he played without a lot of energy. But so did the entire midfield.

 

Sarachan did a fine job when in charge. Hudson seems to be doing a good one too, so far.

These associate managers who get their shot often seem very focused on doing a good job. Of course, it's not usual to give them the real job in the end, no matter how good they are (same in clubs).

Di Matteo was a glaring exception, retained because he won the Champions League after being assistant to the disaster of Villas-Boas, and accumulating a very good 59% win record in his short stay (they got rid of him as soon as possible).

But it's one of those things not done. Like inviting the maid to sit in the main dining room. Even now Chelsea fans, when they mention their 2012 win, try as much as possible not to mention Di Matteo.

 

I don’t think I would characterize the midfield like that. There was an obvious drop off in midfield performance when McKennie subbed off that took awhile to sort out. Not only that, but LDLT had a pretty decent showing and played with effort. The one play that people criticize him for, the Grenada goal, was probably Reyna’s responsibility. Reyna was supposed to track back and defend in this game. People wondered how that would work, and it looks like it may not work.

 

Argentina stuck with their interim manager, and it worked out OK for them.

 

LDLT did not track back all game. Neither did Reyna, and McKennie did it sporadically.

Luckily we didn't have to, but while Reyna didn't track back on the goal, no I'm not blaming him exclusively for LDLT slowing jogging as the ball moves past him, either.

If you are getting beat, even if it isn't your fault, you should maybe try and run to disrupt the play. Each player is responsible for their own actions.

None of the CMs covered themselves in any kind of glory yesterday, in terms of defensive effort.

 

Gonna say that's a stretch. Grenada player got there ahead of Aaronson and passed back to his CB. The ball didn't fall to Zendejas. The CB passed it to him key stone cops style. Credit Aaronson for running sure.

 

I get that you are trying to soften the criticism of Reyna by spreading it across the midfield, but I just disagree. I think that its obvious that Reyna was the weakest link in the midfield. While the other guys found ways to contribute, Reyna found ways to disappear.

That kind of performance after what he did at the World Cup is worrisome and I guarantee that the players will sour of that very quickly. They certainly did on the field by avoiding him with the ball.

It’s time for accountability with Reyna, not avoiding talking about the elephant in the room. I don’t know if Hudson is up to that task, but it needs to be done.

You have to reward the guys who are making it work and give the subpar performers incentive to make corrections. Reyna is, without a doubt, a subpar performer. Not just subpar relative to his own capabilities, but subpar relative to the other players in the squad. Reyna needs to make a lot of corrections. He believes that he is more important than he is while there are other players who are playing much better who deserve his minutes more than he does.

 

was it though? were we really "lucky"? should we be counting our blessings genada didnt put their usual 3 or 4 past us?

exactly how much effort do you think was required? for us to not look so "lackadaisical", so "lazy"? should we have pressed a lot more? used a better defensive forward to help back?

are you embarrased at how fresh our guys legs are going to be against an actual (though still fairly low level) oppoent on monday?

 

That is not strictly true.

🇺🇸 Joe Scally led the U.S. with 64 first-half touches.

🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic was second with 58. pic.twitter.com/v3rHgfN1Gt

— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) March 25, 2023

At kickoff it looked like he was going to be the RCM in possession but he quickly slid over to the ball side and ended up playing more as an AM to Luca’s LCM and Wes’s RCM (both switching into covering as the 6 or playing as the pivot). On D Reyna pressed as the right ST in a 442 but then dropped in as the AM in a 4231 on the few occasions we had to drop.

On the goal Luca had to track into the corner but Pulisic and Reyna were cherry-picking. Wes wasn’t covering the 6 space and was trailing the play. BA had to come inside and then track to the left to fill that 6 space which left the middle open for a cutback. Either Wes or Gio should have filled for BA having to switch inside.

Overall the weakside attacking width wasn’t consistent enough, especially on the right in the first half. Hudson said they tried to get Reynolds more of the ball in the 2nd half. Aaronson’s, Pulisic’s, and Pepi’s 2nd all came when we had decent spacing across the front line to setup the back four (advanced width on each side and a central threat). Arguably Zendejas good chance that was saved too.

-Pulisic was cooking so we played to that. He was starting from a wide position with Scally a little narrow and reserved and then Reyna sliding over into that half-space. Those 3 and Luca did a good deal of rotating and it wasn’t especially sharp or incisive, with Pulisic doing well and the other guys being solid it was more than enough. Had a good day for service even if he still ballooned a set piece.
-Pepi didn’t get a ton of chance volume (.62 xG on 4 shots) but they were quality. Would like to have set him up more, especially with low crosses and slip passes.
-Aaronson at RW then AM. Goal actually came when he switched with Gio. He was fine but definitely suffered from playing on the opposite side of most of our action and us not playing enough service across the box. He could have been played in like when CP hit Pepi but Reyna mis hit the long pass and Pepi touched Wes’s pass instead of letting it run.
-CM did okay on the ball other than connecting to the weak/right side. Not locked in defensively but small sample.
-Zendejas played a bit narrower and did a good job of finding pockets.
-Booth overcooked his run of play service, missed a potential throughball to a near side option in the box, hit at least 2 good corners, didn’t really have a rhythm combining in attack.
-Dike is probably getting the “home town” start. Just about got to one of our few low crosses but it wasn’t a good shooting chance based on where it was played in his stride and the defensive positioning.
-Scally was okay and for me at his best when he did get to overlap (even if he wasn’t turning the corner or sending in great balls with his left). Mostly just functional in possession.
-Reynolds did make those long overlaps for the big diagonal switch, didn’t get a bunch of the ball and didn’t do much with it (I think the only chance he setup was the low cross played into Dike and I can’t remember a lot of pass before the pass work).
-CBs didn’t do much that was notable (maybe some good work to defend outlets and the odd attacking set piece). That said feel good about Trusty stepping in as the backup LCB.
-Johnny had a decent shot under pressure and was fine.

 

Certainly, LDLT as a defensive midfielder is just not going to work out. He's a classic central midfield playmaker, only, and can't substitute for Adams.

Who is our Adams DM backup?

 

Acosta.

 

Worth noting that a win over El Salvador on Monday should also see us as the 1 seed in the Nations League Finals, barring massive victories by Mexico and/or Panama in their respective matches.

 

Are you rooting for ES?