What should we make of “club form” for a player like Musah, who seems to almost always fill a huge need for us, and do it well (IMO) regardless?
Tried to start a thread on this but I think it got deleted by a mod. What do your Qatar CB and outside back depth charts look like? I would like to see Richards and MRob as starters, and Brooks included in the 23. I don’t necessarily expect that Gregg sees things that way. He seems to like the Zimmerman+MRob pairing, and seems to want to bring Long back into the mix. Also, Ream has played well this year and McKenzie may not be out of it. Not sure who gets left out in a roster of 4 CBs I’d also love to see Scally as the #2 at both outside back options. That seems closer to what Gregg might do, though I suspect right now he has Yedlin ahead of him on the right. And he might like Dest as #2 on the left gibven that he was p,saying there some before the coaching change at Barca.
Valencia usually don't play Musah in central midfield, so it's difficult to compare his club form to what he brings to the National Team.
Same/similar way we do for Pulisic, who can hardly get off the bench but is a nailed on starter for the US. Until our talent level is better, if you are getting minutes/fighting for minutes on a top 5 league team, you're in the US squad and likely a starter. Club form dictates spots from ~10-23. The guys in MLS/Holland/EFL/Portugal/Turkey/etc.
Scally needs to actually play and show what he can do before anointing him on both sides as a backup. I can see him plying one game and struggling a bit and a lot of people calling for him will move on to Gomez. I would love to see what he (and Gomez) can do but this team has so many injuries that it needs to be 3-4 deep at every spot. It would actually be great if Scally is able to fill both spots as he could be part of a rotation of Dest, Robinson and himself that I see becoming a strength of the team at all spots for the WC where it's not the best 11 it's the best 17ish. I can see a place for Long as one of the 3-4 fast CB's. Some others would have to be injured but that is always a very real possibility with this bunch.
Players don’t control their own USMNT opportunities. All he can control is his performance with the club. Given the league his performance > Yedlin now. I agree that if he performs worse than Yedlin formthe national team through after 2 or 3 major minute appearances, that assessment could change.
Pulisic and Musah are starters because they actually produce strong performances for the National Team. Playing in the Top-5 creates opportunities with the National Team. That's it. Brooks plays in the Top-5. He's not a starter with the National Team. Why? Because of late he hasn't played well while with the National Team. Scally merits an opportunity. Take things from there. Maybe he excels. Maybe he doesn't. Yedlin vs Scally? Depends on the opponent, the surrounding talent, and the tactics.
And the 11 months between now and Qatar is when Scally deserves that real (i.e., > fleeting) opportunity. Not sure I agree that Brooks record with the national team is bad overall, but it has been more erratic than his record with his club, and both have not been great lately. Of course the same can be said about McKenzie. And as good as Zimmerman is in the air & defending, his distribution is (Bill Walton voice) HORRRIBLE (/Bill Walton voice).
Has there been a brainwave that Scally shouldn't get an opportunity? McKenzie, unlike Brooks, has been starting for his club. Zimmerman's pass % in his last 4 starts has been 82, 80, 78, 64. One game low game of low % passing.
I don’t see how anyone could watch his last qualifier and not see that he was virtually lost distributing out of the back. The opponent forced him to be the distributor and he was abysmal (IMO) irrespective of what the numbers say. I’d go so far as to say that that game will be a template for how to defend the US when the ball starts deep — I.e., force the ball to Zimmerman, then apply some pressure.
Ok. Let’s see. As bad as he was with the ball at his feet he is at least as good with 50-50 balls in the air. I get why he is in there, but I hope that when Richards becomes the better option, Gregg sees it right away because that distribution thing felt like a big vulnerability watching it happen.
When you say "bad...with the ball at his feet.." do you mean when nobody was near him, no pressure and he just lobbed the ball into the opposing half? Those balls aren't meant to exceed 50% completion. When this is your game roster.. 1-Matt Turner, 5-Shaq Moore (22-DeAndre Yedlin, 68), 18-Mark McKenzie, 3-Walker Zimmerman (Capt.), 21-George Bello, 6-Yunus Musah (4-Tyler Adams, 46), 23-Kellyn Acosta, 17-Sebastian Lletget, 7-Paul Arriola (11-Brenden Aaronson, 46), 9-Gyasi Zardes (16-Ricardo Pepi, 67), 20-Tim Weah (10-Cristian Roldan, 68) ...you have to be a little careful who you give the ball to and where, Valencia don't trust Musah in CM, why should Zimmerman just because Berhalter wants to be popular with the wannabe's and start Musah next to Acosta? Is that who you wanted him to pass the ball to, Acosta? Colorado already brought in Acosta's Canadian counterpart Kaye, to play dm for Rapids. Zim's partner, McKenzie, at lcb doesnt start for his club in the Belgian League. Arriola had wooden legs. Bello is a slob and a noob. Musah can be a bit of a spectator when it comes to tracking back. Capt Zim's 65% passing was about right. You can be sure it was the plan.
This is why I really hope whatever ails Brooks can be fixed. He can do most of what Zimmerman does while adding fantastic passing out of the back as long as his back doesn't hurt and his heads right. If he's back it sets up great competition to see which is the best pairing and better yet could even allow for rotation among sets of CDs.
I don’t know where this reputation that Zimmerman can’t pass from the back came from. Granted, I’ve seen him boot it on occasion under pressure. But I’ve also seen him put some long diagonal balls on a rope too.
It's probably not about his skills but rather the poster's preference for a different player. He doesn't know how to get his fave on the team so he knocks down whomever appears in his place. You have to wade thru that stuff around here.
Passing has not been a statistical weakness for him. And his passing has been solid in 3 of his last 4 starts for the US.
Like I said, we shall see. I don’t necessarily make all the same inferences as you about what we intended and what was forced on us.
Grow up. I have praised him effusively in most aspects of the game. If you don’t like what I said about one aspect, perhaps you could just disagree rather than ascribe to me an ulterior motive.
We’ve all got our opinions about certain players. Personally, I’ve been won over by Zimmerman. But there are always guys who we just don’t see it with. That’s fair. That’s just the name of the game. But I will say, I don’t know anyone who is better in our pool for strength, 1v1 tackling (minus Miles maybe), skill in the air, presence, and leadership.
FYI: Mark McKenzie appears to have returned to the starting lineup for Genk, playing full 90s in the last 3 league games after 5 DNPs in a row. He also started and played full matches in the last 2 Europa League games, and 120 in some Belgian cup against Brugge.
I like how you personally attack posters and then complain about the exact same thing in other posts.