Pre-match: 2024 Friendlies v Panama {Oct 12th} & Mexico {Oct 15th} (Poch's 1st Window)

A few things after watching he mentioned a few times how much they relied on the support staff in picking this roster. Mentioned there were other players that were considered and he didn’t want to name names but implied we’d see them in future windows.

Also said going forward will be in contact with the full pool, including younger players who might be in consideration in the future.

Would have been interesting if someone asked about Kolesheo but no one did.

More generally it seems like he’s not trying to go into this with preconceived notions and very much wants to see for himself with the players.

 

So not only was Poch not working for free before his contract was signed, doing a bunch of scouting of US players and secretly picking the roster for the last window, the puppet-master pulling the Mikey Varas strings, but even for this window after he's been on the job for a few weeks he's' still relying on the support staff to pick the roster.... not at all surprising... well I guess it may be to some.

 

As regards Pochettino's first named roster, the very first thing that I'd noticed was the re-introduction of Zach Steffen, to the point that we brought in 4 keepers. Clearly, that's a signal that the GK race is wide open, and he isn't leaving out anyone who had been in the running for it. We could note that Slonina was left off, but given that he's currently playing in the third tier of England, that isn't really too noteworthy.

Also, it's probably also notable that he just picked Busio ahead of Tessman, but Busio's starting for Venezia, and Tessman is just breaking into his new Lyon squad.

Otherwise, it was all rather predictable, given a bunch of players nursing injuries.

 

i am a bit disappointed in the chosen roster. It is not that I think we could do much better or that anyone I feel is "deserving" was left off but, rather, my disappointment comes from the goalkeepers. They are, most probably, really the best we have available but that best is way below the remainder of the team. If we lose either of the two upcoming matches I think the "fault" of the loss will be because of poor play or even errors by these 'keepers. Not one even has the ability of one like Zack Thornton or Tony Meolla did. (apologies if either name or both are misspelled, I am too lazy to look them up right now.) And we have had MUCH better than those in the past.

I hope a 'keeper rises out of the morass but, so far, not one even looks like they are good enough to make one or two "impossible" saves to salvage a match we otherwise should lose. I am not looking for a new "Keller" or "Friedel" just a keeper that looks like they can get through a difficult match without a bad screw up.

We "should" beat both Panama and Mexico anyway as we have better players at every spot with the possible exception of goalkeeper and we now have a coach that knows how to win.

These are only friendlies and the results do not matter much but a horrid performance, like we have had for the last something like 6-8 years, is very unlikely with this coach and the much improved player pool.

Should I be totally wrong and we perform like we have in the recent past i will begin to think our players are not really as good as I think they are or this coach is continuing down the road to the pathetic which we have been following for quite a while.

Personally I would give our second string lads at least two halves during this window as they need meaningful work and I also would do the unthinkable and give each 'keeper a full half.

I am excited to see what this coach tries as he begins to make the team his. For the first time in a VERY long time I am actually looking forward to these friendlies.

I am also VERY glad we are playing one of the matches away. Away matches have been somewhat lacking for years.

 

Everyone begins with a clean slate as of now. Even as regards the center backs, who he acknowledged were very mistake-prone in the last window. He's made clear that all of that is now water under the bridge and what matters is what follows.

It's also clear that to begin with, he's relying heavily on the USSF support staff with regards to the player pool, but that's going to change as he gets to look at and talk to and work with the players themselves.

I can't help but think back to the last time an outsider came in, Klinsmann, and how very different he and Pochettino are, even if they are both new age-y. Klinsmann made a big deal out of performatively throwing out the baby with the bathwater, bringing in a college player, and players in our own second division, and guys that he was most personally familiar with to loudly send the signal that there was a new sheriff in town and that USSF and the professional US soccer establishment didn't know what they were doing, but he did. Poch, on the other hand, who isn't looking to "shake things up" so much as improve them, is relying on their expertise to get him started. (But he'll certainly be forming his own definite opinions shortly...)

 

I mean to me Pochettino is an actual coach with and actual track record, while I don’t think much of Klinsmann’s coaching acumen or methods. Pochettino Isn’t just breaking things for the sake of breaking them. I do think we’ll see the changes as we go, but there will be some sense to it unlike Klinsmann.

The only risk is Pochettino not being to adjust from the change in the club game to coaching internationally.

 

i get not making changes right off the bat, seeing whats what...but it sucks, too.

ream and the keepers are hard to swallow, though. re ream- the tank is empty. its been empty since around the middle of last season. no vapors, not a few drops left- empty.

and steffen is pretty baffling. he shouldnt be near the nats, but hes also the only (non-guzan) keeper out there who has been even at the level we need (experience, institutional memory, etc) and at least hes playing (however unimpressively). so it makes some sense as a guy in the mix with all the kids we have...

if we werent also wasting air fare on turner and horvath.

if you are still holding out hope in turner good for you, but let him spend breaks with his family since thats what his career focus is as well. thats something i hope poch learns, along with sarges commitment level which is more than a little suspect with every camp he sits on our bench "injured" while playing for norwich.

im more than ready to move our national team on from being a club soccer rehab facility.

but the only way this (gk roster) makes any sense is if the "position battle" is for one former serious option/mentor to whatever two kids we call in. cause we have to start carrying two actual keepers at some point.

but sure- poch is gonna learn a lot. so are we- namely how long he wants to be mid as all hell. the lesson, new guy, is youre here for a reason.

 

You can't play a keeper that does not play.

 

I'm 2/3 of the way through this and there are a few things that have stood out to me. First: the media folks have spoken to him with the unnecessary niceties that they always did with Berhalter ("Hello, thanks for being here and doing this"), to which he responded each time with an honest "You're welcome". It's kind of cute, if naive a bit. I feel pretty sure this will change in the future as he realizes that it's just a...hmmm....turn of phrase that means not much at all in this culture. Just a simple nicety with little meaning.

Second: He was understandably hesitant to talk about specific players very directly, but he did mention recent games regarding a question about CBs. His response was that he saw a lot of people blame the CBs for mistakes in recent games, but his thought seemed to be that it isn't so much that individual CBs made mistakes as much as the team didn't provide them with good options (not surprising, given that most everyone, including those of us that gave Berhalter the benefit of the doubt, saw the same thing). Given what I've gleaned of his manner of thinking, I don't think it was an intentional slight on Berhalter's coaching, but ultimately it was. Minor, but there. Far more importantly: he does not strike me as a coach who will throw his players under the bus.

Third: He was asked about Brenden Aaronson, and his reaction, to me, was that he's very high on him. He had name dropped Pulisic and other top players in European leagues, but his reaction to Aaronson seemed particularly bright. It looked to me like he was looking down at notes about the player, repeatedly, as he was giving the answer. My take from it is that he is very excited about Brenden and he might be close to the top of the pile for Pochettino. Not really a surprise given Aaronson's work rate, but solid confirmation of what attitude and player type Poch will favor.

I really liked hearing from him. And, as I have always done with every coach we've had, I will give him a very gracious leeway in my mind for a long time to operate and manage the team as he sees fit. Steffen callup be damned, for example. He's the coach and has operating principles and information that we're not privy to that drive the decisions.

 

It wasn't until Klinsmann's 2nd cycle that he called up a college player and a USL player in Jordan Morris and Miguel Ibarra. Dropping Freddy Adu(who had had an excellent Gold Cup) and Benny Feilhaber while adding Kyle Beckerman were the big shakeups in JK's early days with the US

 

We have a lot of starters playing for high end clubs approaching their primes. We don't have a lot of other players pushing those guys for big roles in the team. I don't expect a lot of turnover in the next two years.

 

The only lock starters are Puli, Jedi, and Richards.

 

While I think this is a perfectly acceptable group , I’m not sure that the roster should ‘pick itself’ after recent performances (pre-Copa friendlies, Copa, September friendlies). That said, Poch needs to figure out what he’s working with and this is as good a starting point as any. Hopefully he makes judgements quickly and acts decisively where players don’t meet the required standard.

I think Gregg’s fault was idealising a certain outcome and persisting with players who couldn’t produce it when he should have either downsized his objectives OR been more ruthless about personnel. In a way, he trapped himself with the non-performance ambitions of his program (all the goofy PowerPoint slogans). I expect Poch to be far less sentimental and more pragmatic. If you just f*cking win games, everything else tends to fall into place.

 

Ream is totally washed and has been for a while now... a steep dropoff isn't even unexpected given his advanced age.

Conceding 4 goals to lowly Sporting Kansas City and 3 goals to mediocre Minnesota United earned Steffen a call up, so he kept it going by blowing a lead at home to concede 3 again tonight.

 

Poch has been secretly coaching the USMNT for months, sending orders to Varas that he should start Kristoffer Lund (a second division player he's no doubt very familiar with) at left back, which is why he's only met one actual USMNT player so far, and that was Jedi Robinson who he accidentally ran into at a restaurant... also why even now after he's got the job instead of watching one of the USMNT guys in Champions League action, say Pulisic with Milan or McKennie with Juventus, he was watching his former boys PSG... okay I'll stop now... maybe.

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Lol at least he’s honest.

 

This non-adversarial deference by the American soccer media is a disservice to fans. Such a bunch of house cats.

 

Jurgen's big problem, honestly, is that he acts like a lot of fans want to. He's all for big shocks and performative stuff. He wants to grandstand and tell you why you are wrong ... publicly.

He alienated a huge amount of people very quickly ... even though he'd need those people's help if ever wanted to accomplish anything. But getting something done was never as important as proving himself the smartest guy in the room.

Pochettino really does seem to believe his new agey stuff, from all accounts. He may think we're doing a ton of stuff wrong, but his first step is going to be to work with people to improve and change, not make himself look good.

He already met with MLS teams to talk about player development. If that had been Jurgen, he would have spouted off about how MLS sucks at it in a press conference.

Which one do you think actually gets results? The fanbase loves the latter, but most of the fanbase has never actually run an organization.

 

I think this is it, but with a nuance. I think Poch absolutely can adjust to a large extent ... I just don't know if once he adjusts, that his shit works.

We've already heard him question whether he can press as much. But Poch's teams outworking others is absolutely a big part of WHY he succeeded. If he adjusts ... who knows if there's anything to replace that.

I'd much prefer him to demand our players get in elite shape and simply not call them in if they refuse to work on the side. Wes, no more pizza. Walker, it's time to spend two hours after practice on passing. Joe, you need to learn the defensive rotations even if they are different than Gladbach.

We have a home World Cup. All these players say all the right things. It's time to test them on it.

 

It's politeness. That's all.

It's also super bizarre that people want aggressive nastiness out of the press. You can ask tough questions without being antagonistic. Especially to a dude who literally hasn't coached a game.

 

One of the places we're going to see massive improvement is here. If there's a place where Berhalter didn't demand enough of players, a lot of it is in his tactical choices and the amount of work rate needed.

Berhalter would position guys and then just have them play, relaying on execution. Pochettino is going to wildly overprepare and require guys to react and move. More importantly, he's going to bring numbers back when needed in the build up.

I actually think Poch was probably talking most about the Varas games, where it was really bad, but he would never have Ream just passing to a static Johnny.

Don't like Pulisic and Tillman coming all the back to help? Tough, it's going to happen. And then Poch is going to demand Tillman get on his horse to get up in attack quickly.

And he's going to demand that if he can't, that Wes reads that and swaps with Tillman, and that Tillman reads that and takes Wes' spot so the counter press works.

We're going to get a real test of how much complexity plays in national teams.

Work rate definitely, but I think he also really appreciates Aaronson's ability to find space and I think he mentioned his through balls. We'll play more transition with Poch, and that will play with Aaronson.

I think Brenden is a big winner here.

 

On the contrary, I think it’s indicative of a press corps that sees themselves as collaborators with the soccer establishment, rather than an accountability mechanism. Journalists should never make submissive gestures or surrender their power when doing their job. That doesn’t mean be needlessly aggressive, but fawning is unprofessional.

 

I don't think Poch is going to more pragmatic or less sentimental, but then again, I don't think this was Berhalter's problem. Poch is pretty philosophical about soccer -- think Bielsa or Guardiola, and he's super touchy feely.

Berhalter's problem was that he played very conservatively to protect his defense and then tried to rely on his stars to produce the goals. At the same time, he still wanted to play a possession game. I don't think this pool is incapable of playing that game -- but I think Berhalter did not ever want to expose his back and so really reduced the tactical risk taking. No extra players, move to a passive defense, and then basically ask Pulisic to beat guys.

I think he sat there like a lot of fans saying "But Pulisic should be able to beat Canadian CB X one on one" or "I know that a two man game with Balo and Puli will get it done" but it wasn't consistent enough.

Whereas Poch throws numbers at things. In many ways, it's much riskier. But it's less wishcasting. But it is still believing in the pool's capability -- it's just that I don't think Berhalter thought we could defend without holding a ton of people back and so he was pragmatic that way. I think Poch, at least at first, is going to strongly believe we CAN outscore teams by being more aggressive across the board. That's pragmatic in the sense that we might need to commit more to score, but it's super risky defensively.

I think we will counter more and move quicker because to Poch, that's aggression. But if people think he took this job to play passive defense and counter ... I think that's very unlikely.

 

It feels like the last thing we need to replicate is some of ridiculousness we see in the soccer press in places like England.