So if he gets loaned out to a mid-table BL team, or sold to another BL team, and gets playing time, he's not above Long and Miazga? Cuz that could easily happen, and happen soon. He was by far our best player in the U20 WC, competing with guys like Pomykal, Sargent, Weah (maybe others) - all talked about as being regulars/semi-regulars with good health.
I just think it is a matter of time... I like the idea of pairing him with Brooks because I think they would be pretty complimentary. But I too don't think Egg will bring him onto the squad until he gets time at a senior level club. Just hope that is next season. There has to be several mid-tier Bundesliga Teams that are interested in his services. He shows all the traits of a modern CB. Just needs to gain some size and experience.
Exactly. Egg won't bring him in, but he's probably the 2nd best CB currently in the pool. I really wouldn't mind dabbling more in the "on the cusp" youth. Llanez came in, likely not even as "ready" as Richards, and now he's basically an automatic call-in. Klinsy brought in Morris from college, that was hardly disastrous. If Richards was in MLS, he'd likely be a higher end defender in the league, but he's cut off from the NT because he plays at a top 5 team in the world. Bring him in, why not!?
Assuming international play doesn't restart until next year--- Reyna starts to accumulate starts with Dortmund -------------------Morris-----Reyna------- ------------Pulisic---------------------Dest----- ----------------Adams-----McKennie------ ----Robinson----------------------------Cannon---- -----------------Brooks------Miazga----- -----------------------Steffen----- Dest looks to be more than a slasher. He looks to have legit midfielder skills. Cannon has been excellent, so far.
Jozy is still better than Josh, IMO, though not so far that I'm going to bicker if the latter happened. But that defense ... that defense could really, really get ripped apart. I'm all for giving Robinson another shot and I like that Berhalter tried to call Richards in, but I have no idea how there's confidence that's our Best XI.
Berhalter literally did call him in January and Bayern denied him release. Richards was great at the U20 WC, and he has strong potential. But reviews of him at lower levels haven't been strong from German sources, and it's clear that he's not in the Top 2 CB prospects that Bayern has. Given the tactical demands of CB, I'm not sure where we're seeing evidence that Richards, even with as much potential as he has, is somehow the second best CB in the pool. But I've really only seen a youth WC and some highlights. What are you basing your assessment off?
A lot of people think that, and I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole Jozy vs. Sargent thing. At Jozy's absolute peak, he scored less than Sargent in a top Euro league. Sargent is also 19/20. So then, you think Jozy has improved in his old age, maybe he has. But he's also injured a bunch. So I'd go with the high upside younger option, who is already just as good as Jozy (in my opinion, better). Not like Sargent is setting the world on fire (though I'm happy with his development), so I don't really care either way. As far as Richards, most of what i've seen was in the U20 World Cup, and he was excellent (again, playing alongside guys who are now with the NT, or will be, like PP, Uly, Sargent, Weah, etc.). He outclassed everyone. I haven't followed him in the German 3rd division, but he's playing with/against adults, and after some of those less than glowing reports and the move to RB, I thought he came on strong and was starting for them at CB again? So unless you think he got worse, or those other players got better fast, he's not far from being at that level. In my opinion, he is at that level, but obviously has no room to break in on a top 3 team in the world. Forgot that Egg wanted to call him in, so that's great. If there was another Brooks on the team, I wouldn't want Richards. But I don't think much of Long or Miazga, so why not roll with someone else. If he can't hack it, fine, but he'd be my pick at this point. Nobody called for Reyna until he broke through. And he was just playing against kids. So I think maybe for high end prospects, the difference between "playing for the 2nd team (or U19s)" and "playing for a BL team (maybe not Bayern)" isn't that great. We shall see, but I think he's a high end prospect. Plus - I've always wanted to roll the dice with better/younger options (see my posts during the last Hex if you want to toot my horn).
Jozy's competitive match numbers against decent teams don't merit consideration of him for a starting role. He has been weak. Could be a third forward, though.
That it is. We do have some nice prospects but they’ll need to take some leaps and bounds and unfortunately none of them look like they have WC potential.
If Dest is considered a true winger that can’t help out on defense, he shouldn’t even be considered for RB
The striker pool isn't beyond weak. When healthy - Altidore, Sargent, and Weah are adequate options. Morris is good. It's better than the Altidore, Gomez, Buddle, Findley group. Gregg is hamstringing himself, if the alternatives aren't injuring their hamstring.
With him play CAM it frees up Sargent to play that lone striker role and Pulisic, Morris and Reyna playing behind Sargent how can you go wrong with that
Back then Jozy had his moments. Now, Jozy is 30 and whatever he does in MLS, I don't think he's international quality. Neither is any of the others. People will make all sorts of excuses for Sargent, but the end product is not there. Weah, frankly I'd forget about him: he was far from impressive with Celtic and now he's so rusty I'm not sure he's ever going to play more than a handful of games in a row. Morris looks better as a wide forward or even on wing. Our goals will have to come from midfield, like usual.
Of Pulisic, Morris and Gio, Morris is the least suited to play CAM. Pulisic and Gio are both significantly better options at CAM in a 4-2-3-1 than Morris.
Of the three, Gio has the skills most associated with a CAM. Pulisic has played there. Morris' skillset is not applicable -- he doesn't have the dribbling, close in control, or tight passing to be a good CAM. You'd put Gio there.
The differences between a 4231 and a 433 if you use two deep midfielders is negligible at best. It's more about the personnel than anything dramatically different between those setups. For example: ............Jozy Pulisic.............Morris .........Reyna Adams..McKennie X..Brooks..X..Dest ........Steffan vs. ............Jozy Pulisic....Reyna.........Morris Adams..McKennie X..Brooks..X..Dest ........Steffan Players natural tendencies will matter more than saying Reyna looks a step more forward or back on the lineup sheet. You could list Jozy more in line with Pulisic and Morris for the 433 too, but he'd obviously lead the line however you draw that before the game.
Agreed on the lack of differentiation between the two formations. The challenge with both of these lineups is that I look at the back 7 and only see one reliable defender (Adams). McKennie is a great ball winner with concentration challenges Brooks also has concentration issues and isn't great at 1v1 Dest is more an attacking back and defense isn't his calling card Steffen is good but not as good as our historical GKs IMO Could we do this vs. less established teams, particularly at home? yeah but I think we lack the defensive strength that has been a calling card for the USMNT in our successful periods.
Agree to a certain extent. Even under Berhalter, we've seen the team play a 433 against most opponents -- and usually lesser opponents -- with really a 6 and two forward. But against better teams, the right sided 8 drops back a ton, and it's much closer to a 4-2-3-1. But the gameplan also dictates it. If Reyna is on the wing, and Berhalter intends to use him to supplement the midfield more -- and he's tried (and failed) in this with Boyd and Morris -- than Reyna will slide in centrally, the RB will fill the wide space and Adams (as right CM) will likely drop back more often. Which still puts back in more of a 3-2-2-3. So that's a possibilty. If both fullbacks attack at the same time, I imagine that Pulisic and Reyna will slide in more centrally and that means both CM are likely to hold back a bit with Yueill dropping even further back...yielding a 3-2-2-3 or a 3-2-4-1 depending on how you write it: ----------Sargent----------- Pulisic-------------Cannon ----Dest--------Reyna----- -----McKennie-Adams--- ---Brooks---Yeuill---Long ----------Steffen------------ The beauty here is that you can keep these numbers consistently - box midfield, three attacking with outside width, three at the back, in a number of ways. It makes it harder for the defense to prepare if the placements on the pitch are not the same people every time. I am FAR more concerned about our defensive formation and attitude. For WCQ, we need to PRESS hard.
The big problem there for me is having Cannon relied on for so much of the attack. You really want Cannon to be our most forward attacker on the right? I like his grit and he seems a nice and safe player, but I've seen very little attacking ability out of him. I think if you push hm up, I would think it should be in support of Reyna like you show Dest behind Pulisic, not Reyna dropping behind him. Back to DHC1, I'm really not opposed to exploring a setup that focuses more on an attacking trio with support behind. We could always play an attacking trio of Jozy/Sargent leading the line with Pulisic and Reyna as a solid attacking trio, supported with Adams/McKennie/Morales (or another more defensive midfielder). There are lots of ways this team could set up and I think one of the problems is a more attacking formation makes perfect sense in CONCACAF but little sense against most World Cup teams. We need to be able to do a little of each.