News: 40 Man Provisional Roster For The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Robinson did well at wingback against France. At wingback against Jamaica, he was ill-suited to the changed tactics, which tasked him with being more of a playmaker and possession passer.

 

Calling in out of form defenders is never a good idea.

 

Agreed. At this point he’s probably only my option if we’re going to be defending deep in a 3-5-2, looking to counter and cross. His pace and cross are his best attributes right now. But if we’re gonna boss possession then he needs to improve his 1v1 dribbling and link up passing before I’d want to start him consistently. Tho LB/LWB options are very limited and thus I wouldn’t rule him out of the 23. We don’t need like for like across bench for the backline if this system is as “flexible” as advertised.

 

Robinson is, imo, the best orthodox LB we have. He just doesn't fit 3G's system.

 

Depends on the match up but yes I’d likely start him at LB in a back 4. He reminds me of Yedlin. Still very raw but much farther along then Yedlin was at the same age. Hope he continues to develop cause he’s the best option at the moment.

 

Thanks, but no apology needed. I appreciate the fact that you generally make an effort to be civil. I just feel that I have been saying the same thing too much in repeated posts and it is time for me to stop. I am probably on or near to being placed on several ignore lists because I have just been repeating the same thing. I'm getting tired of hearing myself, so what must others think?

 

...Except he wasn't played at left back?

He was a possession wingback trying to combine with the worst players on the field in Mihailovic and Trapp. Roldan (who held up more to the physicality) and Arriola (who's played a lot of wingback) had more joy on the right side... for the first 10 minutes.

Lo and behold, he's not on the roster. I guess that bad game he had when GGG set him up for failure cost him quite a bit. Thank goodness we have 2 CB's in Ream and Lovitz to play LB!

 

It does come down to where you chose to set the bar on what is "reasonable".

I believe that it is unreasonable that going into a GC where we are expecting to win we have not looked at Williams, Johnson, Chandler, Green, and Morales given the low caliber of MLS players that we have tried.

That certainly gives the appearance of an MLS bias but I agree it is not "proof".

 

Williams, Johnson, and Chandler have had injury riddled seasons. Green doesn't fit 3G's system.

Morales hasn't played much this calendar year, but probably could've used a cap.

 

Morris is injury prone and not performing well. Altidore is injury prone and coming off injury. Chandler is done for me. FJ still has what this team needs. Williams never was a big deal IMO. But using injury to ignore superior players when injured MLS players are added is iffy.

If they're healthy when you need them, take the best players. Don't use an old injury to support bringing lessor players in.

 

There is probably an MLS bias on his part due to the basis for hiring, conflict of interests, and maybe where he derived from most recently. Doesn't mean a European bias, like Klinsmann's was, is then justifiable. We saw what path it led down. How about now we try not having league biases, evaluate player's merit on individual bases, and just have a functional program for a change?

This (over)reaction to Holmes' performance off the bench and what it meant on a macro-level for him, let alone comparative strength of leagues then in turn players from them, was really remarkable. Lewis did the same thing in previous matches against tired legs in small samples. And I'm not going to negatively prejudge a player that much for plying his trade in a top European 2nd tier at a given time, just like I'm not going to do it to early career MLS'ers or even mid-tier necessarily. But what have the former players produced in their opportunities w/ the NT over the years? Very little, outside the ones where their stays were very temporary like Yedlin, and now maybe MM. They've easily been out-produced on a per player basis by players who've competed in MLS for years, even though that group comes with plenty of failures too. In this match, Holmes did well, but Robinson was arguably the worst player on the field (him or Mihailovic), and CCV sucked even off the bench. The collective were treading water.

I just wish the fed and a large segment of the fans could get passed this small-minded attitude. And we could get a manager who isn't tactically inept so the players on the field are put in positions to succeed. That hasn't happened for an extended period since the Bradley era (and even he's needed to evolve as a manager in this area since he was here). I expect it to persist through the 4th era since, but I'd love to be wrong, because following this organization the past decade has been insufferable and a reprieve would be a relieve.

 

Of course, most of us watch many different teams in many leagues. But that's not the same as supporting a club.

 

exactly. no wingback is going to be productive having to stop dead in their tracks or drifting back for every godawful pass they recieve.

god, imagine ream or lovitz in that position in that game.

 

playerX does not fit 3G's system has become a meaningless statement designed to cover for poor decisions by Berhalter. It has joined the nonsense list including gems like Trapp has been "ok"/ "solid".

Green would have been more effective than Roldan and Mihailovic at AM in the 3-4-2-1 system that GB rolled out v Jamaica. Julian at least has the ability to drive by players and get his shot off on the dribble, something neither of those two could manage.

To quote the kind of stat you frequently cite; Green has 4G in 9 USMNT games worth of minutes. 3 of his goals (Belgium, New Zealand, and France) have been of the individual moment of brilliance variety, something our player pool sorely lacks!

 

The bolded wasn't nearly as bad a decade ago.

 

We also adhered to the global meritocracy back then instead of thinking that AAA is almost equal to MLB.

 

Dude, there's literally a dude in the other thread arguing that Berhalter should be capping a kid from the Bosnian league.

 

That’s clearly not adhering to the meritocracy.....

There were a lot more calls for player X because anywhere in Europe back then.

Now it think it’s pretty much known that MLS is roughly equivalent to B2/Championship. And there are a lot of European leagues (above Bosnia) that are meaningfully below MLS.

What is new is that there’s a growing number of people who now think that MLS is just about equal to mid table EPL. Crazy town

 

We have been decidedly worse since Arena started this bias towards MLS players. Those people who were claiming MLS players werent getting a fair shake before are now the ones who are most adamant that there is no bias now.

 

Then why is Aaron Long on this roster? He was out with an injury a few days ago and hasnt played in almost a month.

 

Why do you think CCV sucked? @CMeszt I am still waiting on an answer from you as well.

 

Cough MLS Cough

 

Probably because he has some familiarity with 3G's system. I'm not suggesting Long should be in the team despite the injury.

Lewis: hamstring
Bradley: hamstring
Altidore: ankle
Long: hamstring
Morris: 1 goal and 0 assists since March 17. Has been an unused sub the last 4 of Seattle's matches.
Adams: adductor issue

a troubling number of players nursing injuries, out of form, or coming off recent injury.

 

Neither was the team.

 

Cool, let's go to the tape.

Enters in the 72nd minute.

80th min. Forced to make his first defensive effort of the game, where he heads the ball straight to a defensive player.

Only ends up making one other defensive play, a fairly easy header after a Jamaican player makes a bad touch. until...

85th min. Jamaica pressures him for the first time all game, upon which he dribbles the ball straight into a Jamaican winger committing a turnover and counterattack which results in a shot on goal.

89th min. Pressured for only the second time in the game. Gets muscled off the ball, out for a JAM throw.

90+1 min. Called to make his third defensive play of the game on a header. Loses it to a smaller player. JAM turns this into a scoring chance but loses the ball at the top of 18.

90+3 min. Wins a header nicely, which he clears away.

...and that's it (aside from getting beat on two attacking headers on corner kicks). He didn't make any unforced turnovers, but he was called to do almost nothing defensively and still couldn't rise up to occasion.