it was a weird cycle. I dont recall others being as so skewed to a few games... 12 GF in the 3 easiest home game, 5 GF in the remaining 7 games. 4 GA at CR, 4 GA in home games against MX & CR, 5 GA in the remaining 7 games Just weird!!!
The 2022 roster will be due in about four years. Sargent: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threadloom/search?query=Sargent forum:"255"&sort=date&tab=824&page=152 He was called into youth camps throughout the U-14, U-15 levels, but the first substantive comment about his game was less than three years ago. December 2015. Weah: Weah%20forum:%22255%22&sort=date&tab=824&page=4 He as also called into youth camps throughout the younger levels and there were a couple comments about being George Weah's son, but nothing substantive about his game until December 2015, which is less than three years ago. Some followers of YNT's might've read these name on a roster or two, but nobody knew anything about their games or if they were real pro prospects. It makes no sense that fans would know that much about the best 13 and 14 year olds (their age four years ago). If we take the age group four years on from '00, most YNT fans don't know anything about the 04's. Some of the most knowledgeable about the youth player pool might know some of the better 04's (Rotundo, Toure, Craig, Reynolds, Slonina), but even if you had watched the best one or two of them a couple of times by now, you'd at best be making a prediction about a 13 or 14 year old.
the teams with donovan dempsey beasley mathis etc....yeah they could score and create....there's been a void ever since those players have left.....filled by more defensive and conservative approach.... 2001...under Arena - 11 goals?? that's garbage. look at all the talent he had too....2002 was the best team in USA WC history...wouldve had armas rammed down our throats but got saved by injury. anyways....looking at # of goals scored and allowed doesnt paint a complete picture, imo. take out the 6-0 honduras game and the 4-0 panama game - where the team actually played an aggressive lineup and strategy (!!!!) - and you got frikin 7 goals in 8 games....zzzzzzZZzzzzzz....which would be a lower scoring/game rate than any of those teams in the last 5 cycles..... your numbers illustrate my perspective perfectly...it's the conservative defense-first strategy that is actually holding the team back from scoring and getting results....if the team can win 4-0 and 6-0 in WCQ...there is no reason to go super-defensive and scared with tactics! just go all out and field attacking teams and outscore opponents....in a 10 game series, sure you will lose a few....but you will win enough to qualify and then you will actually be able to maybe get a shot or 2 on goal agianst good teams unlike argentina (Copa) or germany (WC) cuz you arent playing 3 or 4 dmids who cant string 2 passes together in midfield to make sure the "defense" is good.
Actually- If we’re going with a 3-man backline... Sargent-Weah Pulisic Robinson-McKennie-Adams-Chandler Brooks-Miazga-CCV Steffen
For me, the interesting thing about all of this is that even with the top prospects that you mentioned (plus several others...Amon, CCV, EPB etc) there is still so much uncertainty. Yedlin and Brooks are pretty well established, Pulisic is an emerging star but aside from that nobody has really "made it" yet. There is still a lot of uncertainty. In addition, even if they do make it, for the first time in our history, we have multiple youngsters coming through that have the potential to overtake them. In addition, we have others that haven't even been capped; Carlton, Pomykal, Busio, Durkin and others that are waiting in the wings to stake a claim within the next 4 years. Put that together with the almost complete change from an old team to a young team and we are witnessing an incredible change. I can see a starting lineup in wc 2022 where Pulisic is the only player to recieve a cap in wc qualifying this past hex. Sargent Pulisic Weah Carlton McKinnie Adams Bello EPB CCV Cannon Steffan Subs: D. Acosta, Lima, Amon, McKenzie, Busio, Mihalovic, Horvath Wood, Arriola, Hamid, Brooks, Miazga Robinson The amazing thing is that this list was put together off the top of my head and while some of these players will, undoubtedly fail to live up to expectations, others may well exceed expectations...exhibit A: Basset.
The concept that a midfield of WM, Adams plus one/two of Williams, Morales, Trapp, Delgado, Roldan, etc. "can't string two passes together" but your lineup where Weah and CP are good enough defensively so that they can play outside midfield is mind-boggling. A few other points: 1. Do you think that CP plays midfield rather than winger for BVB? 2. Using your example of where the USMNT used an "aggressive lineup and strategy", the 3 midfielders vs. Panama were Bradley, Nagbe, Arriola with CP floating behind two strikers (either a 433 or diamond 442). That's far different from what you've laid out. In essence, you are building an offense centered around Lee Nyugen who plays for the 279th ranked team in the world, according to 538 and who isn't an MLS leader. In order to fit Lee Nyugen in, you've taken out 2-way players and substituted in LN and put CP and Weah in positions that that (i) they don't play for their club and (ii) makes them less effective offensively as they'll be forced to defend for much of the game. More specifically, you've (1) moved CP away from a 90% offensive role to one where he is both away from the center and has significant defensively responsibilities, (2) swapped out 2-way player Nagbe for Weah, whom I can't recall ever playing wide midfield and (3) replaced Arriola as a 2 way mid for LN who now plays CP's role in Panama.
When Dortmund is defending, they are in a 4-4-2 with Pulisic the primary defender in front of Pisczek. He is not supposed to tackle anyone out there, but to cut off the entry to Zone 14, don't let Pisczek get outnumbered, and follow any late runners. He is certainly not passive and up the field waiting for a counter-attack. Weah was switched in both the recent friendlies to cover defensively. He might currently be our best defensive winger outside of putting a CM out there. The program seems to be working towards the upcoming Gold Cup, which is why Bradley and Guzan are involved. Personally, I would just play younger players and focus on the 2022 World Cup. But that is not what it seems they are doing. That could all change with Berhalter's take over. Can Nguyen play the #10 at the Gold Cup? I guess. He is playing deeper in MLS and nobody is really talking about Nguyen for MLS best 11. I don't know why you would pick him over any other 30+ yo in MLS like Feilhaber or Klestjan. If the argument is that we have nobody else, I doubt that. I'd rather George Acosta get a shot than bring in someone who isn't dominating MLS at that position and will be retired in 2022. I think Kellyn Acosta deserves a shot and wouldn't mind using Weah in the middle of the field behind the striker. Let's try all that and then maybe we will have Ledeszma and Mendez or Carleton or whomever to try. Focusing on now and not trusting guys to come good is why we missed the last world cup. A dynamic system where Pulisic, Weah, Sargent, and Acosta or McKennie are in that spot and switching out of it would be fun. We have young, versatile players, why limit them and why have them circle around a mediocre MLS 32 yr old?
I'll defer to those who follow BVB as to when he plays outside midfielder as I haven't seen it in the games I've watched. That being said, here's an ESPN article. http://www.espn.com/soccer/german-b...pulisic-and-why-big-clubs-covet-his-potential The picture for the season just completed [2017-2018] is different. Pulisic's combined attacking performance was almost the same: slightly below average level at 42 percent. Defensively, though, he was significantly poorer at 29 percent. To put it the other way, 71 percent of players in his position were better defensively. This lack of what Reinartz calls Zugriff -- the ability to win the ball and disrupt opposition moves -- saw his overall rating go down to 37 percent....The data suggests that Pulisic is excellent at creating dangerous moments in the final third, even without beating many defenders, but that he doesn't do much to help his team get there in the first place. Doesn't seem like outside midfield is a place that maximizes his abilities, to put it mildly.
we've seen ZARDES (!) Jordan Morris (!) Kelyn Acosta (!) marky delgado (!) julian green (!) all play wide mid/winger this year for USMNT - i'm sure there are some other headscratchers i'm forgetting too. the thought that CP and Weah cant play wide mid but can play winger for USMNT is absurd to me. CP plays wide mid for BVB...do you not watch him play in the bundesliga??? Weah JUST PLAYED wide mid for the USMNT in its last 2 games and everyone is high on him as a result of his performances in those games.....winger's defensive abilities are not that high of a priorirty - and I'm not even on-board with your assessment that weah and CP arent good enough defensively. i think its dumb, honestly. they are fine defensively and are better than a lot of the other options at wide mid defensively, imo. the difference between winger and wide mid is negligible imo. LN plays a deeper role for LAFC than he is capable of playing and he is still a killer on the through balls and long range shooting...he plays more passively for LAFC than I would want him to play for USMNT - IDK why, I assume it is b/c that's what robo-bob wants. If he cannot play as more of a central playmaker for USMNT then I wouldnt play him.....but who else in the US pool is playing professionally as a CAM? the list is puny. I just dont want to play a 3 man or even 2 man midfield without a creative playmaker type....like everyone else seems to want.
do you guys really think Sargent and Weah are better forwards "right now" (post title) than Jozy? no way...
Jozy grabbed his ankle and went out for surgery some months ago. He rehabbed, came back, went down, grabbed his ankle in exactly the same place, came out of the game, went in for second surgery and tweeting whatever happens I want to thank Toronto, etc. You are the one putting quotes "right now" around his name. "Right now" Jozy is on crutches wondering if a second surgery solved his problems. Yes I think Weah and Sargent are better than Jozy "right now".
That same article noted he was very good defensively under Tuchel the year before. He is not a Marky Delgado, shuttler to say the least. If we play with 3 CMs, we can get him the ball in dangerous spots in the final third. But he can play defense in a 4-3-3, especially in CONCACAF. Whether we want him to or not is a different question. Against top opposition, if we ever play any in a meaningful game, he will be fine on the wing defensively. Now, can he play defense as a #10? Probably not well. We saw our midfield with him and other traffic cones like Nagbe, and it wasn't pretty at times.
It actually states that CP was good "high up the pitch" so I'm presuming that means pressing as a winger and not his defensive play as as a wide midfielder. "when Thomas Tuchel was in charge and Dortmund were much better going forward, Pulisic's greatest value was in providing defensive interventions high up the pitch."
I thought it was clear that I was differentiating between CONCACAF home games (to which this lineup I think applies) vs CONCACAF road games, and the big FIFA tournaments.
My bad, I must have skipped over the explicit paragraph to which you’re referring. I’m not concerned about how we lineup against minnows. I’d like to establish an identity and general system that allows us our best shot as a long-shot WC contender. It’s not going to happen with an attractive attacking style IMO. Let’s leave that for Mexican fans as we watch them console themselves after another R16 loss that they attacked throughout the game. To be clear, I don’t think that the OP intends this only for home games vs lesser opponents but rather as a general lineup and strategy for the USMNT. He wants us to attack, goddamn it!
------------------------Altidore-------------- -----------Sargent-----------------Pulisic-- Weah----------------------------------------- -------------McKennie-------------Yedlin Robinson--------------Adams------------ ------------Brooks-----Miazga-------------- --------------------Steffen-------------------- Green Arriola Wood Amon Saief Cannon Williams Cameron Carter-Vickers Johnson Guzan - There is no traditional #10 in US Soccer. The closest thing the US has to an international-level #10 is a tall blonde kid in the Portuguese second division. Playing through the center is not playing to strengths. Instead, play off of the forwards...play direct and then filter the ball to the wings in transition. That's how Pulisic, Weah, Sargent, and Altidore play best. Let McKennie rove the 18 yard line and let Adams crash the box. This team is fast and tough. Use that. Sargent and Altidore are your creators. - Stop physically wussing out in CONCACAF. Bring in guys who will set a physical tone, ahem Danny Williams, Maizga, and Geoff Cameron ahem. Use them. Let these traveling clown shows know early and often that you will not allow them to injure your guys without them giving up a few as well.
Segunda Division B which is actually the third division in Spain. He has played around 200 minutes total so far this season.
Jozy's injured right now, so yeah, for sure. I think it is pretty close and Jozy is so up and down - i think when Jozy is locked in and at supreme confidence level - he's still the best - but when he's in one of his numerous "funks" - then there are other players who are better. that said - my "right now" 11: --------------------Weah------------- ----Gall--------------Nguyen------------Pulisic-- -------------McKennie----Lletget-------------- FabJ---------Brooks-----Miazga-----Adams- -----------------------Steffen-------------------- Bench: Nagbe Wood Ramirez Cannon Besler Cameron Melia Picault Canouse Hyndman Yedlin Agudelo
I’d ask the question: which of our forward works best with CP given the opponent? I think JA is pretty good at serving as a ground based holdup player that CP can run off of while Woods (who was not in the original question) is more of a poacher with constant movement. Haven’t see enough of Weah and Sargent to see how they complement CP.
I think that Sargent is the typical #9-type forward who can spring Pulisic both in transition and when the team is fixed in the final third trying to break through.
The JA, BW, CP combo was/is very complimentary. TW and JS have shown the ability to combine well together. I choose the first combo if we needed to win a game today (and all were healthy), but Weah and Sargent should be upgrades to Altidore and Wood in talent and versatility. The younger guys look to be able to play either of those two roles and should make for a dangerous group of attackers.
Recognizing Adam tash. I dropped into the CP thread and the consensus backs AT’s perspective that CP is a pretty good wide midfield defender even at the UCL level. Still think his attacking mentailiry is busted but wanted to give credit where it’s due....