Would I fire him? Yes. Will the USSF do so, no. Tactically we were exposed several times to a long ball because he refuses to either not press and condense the field to compensate for slower CBs he chooses, or choose faster CBs. The how to let games slip away you should win in CONCACAF. He actually has gotten better at adjustments in certain areas and he subbed earlier than I can remember him doing so in the final. Thats all improvements. Is that a one time thing due to the spacing of the games? Is it that he is listening to bench coaches more? Has he changed his strategy a little? I'm not sure but it's better if that continues. If it's just him getting comfortable at the national level then the USSF did him a disservice by trying to let the PR disaster of the WC failure to blow over before naming him Manager. He also has some odd fantasy of starting EVERY build up out of the back and it's cost us numerous goals and given numerous more chances. In a game where chances are few and results matter, I don't trust him not to try this and give up a goal or two. He has gotten better though.
Twitter account for a made up tournament nobody cares about weighs in on Berhalter... The USMNT under Gregg Berhalter 🇺🇸- 20-2-5 record (Fastest U.S. manager to 20 wins) 👀- 72 goals scored, only 18 conceded 💪- 15 clean sheets 🔒- CONCACAF Nations League Champions 🏆- 2019 Gold Cup finalists 🥈Does he deserve more praise? pic.twitter.com/sYH3k1tYLR— Relevent Sports (@releventsports) June 10, 2021 "2019 Gold Cup finalists" That's an interesting spin on what got Bob Bradley fired after the 2011 Gold Cup lol
Sure, pile on the praise, whoever they are. But not for a gaudy record in meaningless friendlies. For winning a trophy and beating a superior (ranked) Mexico to do it, yes. For bringing a young squad together and saving the fans from more Bradley, Trapp, etc? Yes. And for recruiting dual nationals, YES.
I don't think the dude deserves any more praise. I'd just settle for less "Gregg's an idiot because he didn't use the lineup I made with club logos on them" level of constant criticism.
I think his stock has risen in the last 2 weeks to the point I am no longer want him fired. He still continues to ( and will) flirt with that status until he stops making questionable roster choices and substitutions. The most glaring was Ream. We all saw it, we called it before, during, and after… I am worried that our talent will eek out results, and allow him to keep his job, yet the question will always remain how good could we be with a better coach.
This is spot on. On a 1 to 10 scale, I think this window he deserved a 6. Slightly better than average (not US education D). Switzerland wasn't good, Honduras was 2019-level horrendous, and nearly got him fired if Sargent doesn't save that goal. Mexico wasn't pretty, we got outplayed per usual, but the win means something. And Costa Rica was fine, showcasing the depth we have in a meaningless match. The Gregg acolytes will say 3-1 with a trophy, all true. But the selections and tactics remain poor. Beating Mexico is great, but I don't think we looked any better against them than we have in the past, despite what I think is superior talent, or at least closer than it ever has been. So what? 3 wins means he's got the job through '22. But looking more closely, there are still warning signs. The talent will carry us through qualifying easily, and hopefully the talent continues to develop to the point where Berhalter can't burden the team with Ream/yeuill/etc... I thought overall, if you looked at these 4 matches without jerseys or stakes, just how the team looked and the players selected, it was poor. But anytime you win a competitive match against Mexico, you deserve praise.
pretty much from the beginning, I have been neutral on Berhalter for the following reasons: I think he needs to be graded using HIS plan and timeline and whether or not he is on schedule. Unfortunately I don't know exactly what he is trying to do...other than completely overhaul the team. Off the top of my head some obvious points (IMO) would be: End Goal(s): Qualify for Qatar and, in the time given maximize "team quality" for 11/22. Intermediate goal: have team prepared for a successful ocho (we don't have to win to be successful, but it would be nice) Requirements: 1. Completely overhaul roster. 2. Completely overhaul team cohesiveness and mentality. 3. Install tactics/system a) Develop team understanding and proficiency with tactics b) Continuously test and troubleshoot tactics an personnel. (Failure Analysis....He has to understand the strengths and weakness of his roster and his system) c) integrate new players into system. Fist off, is this an accurate description of his plans and goals? Probably not, but it's the best I've got. IF my outline is remotely close: I have to say that his first two requirements are looking good. 1. Due to the ages of our top talents, the roster is in serious flux (even at the relatively late date) but it is starting to take shape and looks very good for qualification and has potential for Qatar. 2. The team mentality and cohesiveness seems to be in a very good place. (IMO, the single most important quality required to get back to the point of being a team that can punch above their weight. The tactics/system are harder to grade at this point, for multiple reasons, but due to personal inadequacies (and a generous spirit) I will only list two: 1. I think that the tactics and system are evolving in Berhalter's mind (as they should). 2. There are inevitable failures (unexpected and expected) that must be expected. What is most important (IMO) is where on the timeline do they occur, and (most importantly) do they provide a learning experience and growth?
The level of stupidity around here is high. I mean, the Berhalter stuff is off the charts dumb from some. Yes, fire the guy with the best winning percentage ever after beating Mexico in a final for the first time since 2007? All with a young roster that has had almost no time together due to COVID, injuries, and the extreme youth of the squad. Other posters blaming guys for goals conceded WHEN THEY WEREN'T EVEN ON THE PITCH AT THE TIME is classic BS. So focused on proving a particular pet peeve that the game analysis completely fails. Is Berhalter a fantastic coach? A genius? Wenger? Ferguson? Mourinho? Guardiola? No, of course not. Those types will never take the US job. Does he make some questionable decisions at times? Or ones we disagree with? Sure. But he is doing a perfectly acceptable job of building team chemistry and cohesion with a group of young players while getting good (best ever for a USA coach) results. He seems willing to experiment with players, formations, and tactics, all in the same game, much less between them. 4231. 433. 343. 442. Remember when inflexibility was the criticism? Call me crazy, but let's see what we look like with Adams, McKennie, Pulisic, Reyna, & Brooks all full go. I'd love for him to win Gold Cup with a B squad just to shut some of the knuckleheads around here the eff up. Though I know that wouldn't do it.
So, no, Berhalter is not a genius. However, he does have a plan and his work is reviewed by Stewart and McBride. As has been mentioned previously, the culture part has been 100% a success. Players want to play for the NT, they seem to be really gelling as a group and they worked hard on the field against Mexico. The only mars in this record are Nagbe's refusal to play and the lackluster game against Honduras. Tactically, when we look at objective, repeatable stats we look good on offense. Against our three top regional rivals the tactics created a lot of repeatable goal opportunities. Against Honduras we weren't that sharp but we repeated had players with the ball in top corners of the box. If our players had attempted more layoffs across the box to the open player we would have scored multiple goals. Against Mexico we also had repeatable goal opportunities in the corner kicks. It could have easily been two more goals through this route. Finally, in the Costa Rica game we had multiple opportunities created by players going wide. The ability to attack in multiple ways against different rivals bodes well for the team. A high scoring offense is the best tool to get points in group play. In defense, it was a mixed bag. Ideally given the tactics we should be shutting down the opposition with a high press. This only happened against Costa Rica. Against Honduras we did high press but we also used a decoy. Yueill was trotted out in order to get Honduras to commit two players against him. Similarly, Ream was also out against Mexico in order to get them to attack on the left. I don't really like that and it sure sounds like Berhalter is not confident in his team's defense even against moderately dangerous opponents. That said, the Mexico game is a bit of a one off. There is scant chance we will ever see a player give up such an easy goal again and this was the only game of the three were we actually gave up goals. In general, I did not see our opponent generate many repeatable chances inside the box. Or, at least, not as many as we generated.
Not a knock on Berhalter specifically but I honestly couldn't disagree with a statement more. The old adage of defense wins championships is as true in soccer as it is in any sport, perhaps even more so. Maybe it is more fun to watch a high flying team that concentrates more on the offensive, but many highly touted teams have failed because they played too much offense and too little defense. I'm not sure I can recall a single team failing for the opposite reason. We actually racked up the goals last cycle and led all teams in the hex in goals scored while failing to qualify.
We won HEX 2014 with 22 points 15GF to 8GA. Mexico won HEX 2018 with 21 points, 16GF to 7GA We finished HEX 2018 with 12 points, 17GF to 13GA
My high school American football defensive coordinator summed it up best before games. "They don't score, they don't win." Defense has to be the bedrock of any soccer team. Goals are at too much of a premium in the sport to rely on outscoring your opponent. Ask Frank Lampard how that went at Chelsea.
So a lot of pushback on the defense vs offense take. I do believe that you are all right that the dichotomy I presented was wrong. So this means I was forced to reevaluate. However, I find the dichotomy that defense is more important ringing untrue to my memory. Specifically, we have the counterexample that Honduras qualifed with a much worse GA than we did. Also I specifically remember us being unable to score when needed. I think the offense only looked good when we ran up the score after an early goal in a couple of games. So maybe there is some other truism. Not sure right now. Maybe scoring first?
The whole offense versus defense argument is not tailored to the game as a whole. I think it matters what the players are, and you adapt to that. For example, Finland has very few ball dominant creative playmakers, so they build a strong stout defense and hope to counter. Spain on the other hand is limited defensively but strong in possession and hope to outscore you, knowing they'll give up chances. Similarly in the NBA, you'll never want to play in the 90s if you've got a roster full of shooters and mediocre defenders. Its my philosophy to maximize your strengths and allow your weaknesses to be what they are. Force the team to beat your best, not weakening your strength to balance a weakness. If I were to be offered the best offensive players or the best defensive players, I'd take my chances with the offensive players and think it would be better.
This generation has pretty much flipped the script upside down. We are now a country producing many dangerous wingers and a plethora of right backs. There is even an uptick in the number of CFs (let's be frank, Altidore and McHead in 20 years is a low bar). CBs are still TBD while GK seems a weak spot for a country who once could call up 3 EPL goalies.
And don't forget defensive midfielders. We used to be a nation of GKs, destroyer-type defensive midfielders, and CBs. Now we're churning out wingers and attack-minded midfielders and fullbacks like nobody's business.
why can't we do both. absurd pendulum swings. we will be decent based on offense but go home earlier than we should because we cannot be bothered to select for defense. we will trade one advancement issue for another. the really good teams do both. when we figure that out we will advance as far as the hype extends.
I watched Honduras and Costa Rica play in the third place game. Honduras is better than I thought. I would give Honduras as good a shot as anyone for that play in game.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...nations-league-4/id1514175045?i=1000526703100 Bobby Warshaw interviews Berhlater. We get more detail here on the "adaptive" tactical approach in the Mexico game. Short story it was a late decision practiced only the day before. The idea was to defend in a 4-4-2 when Mexico used a 4-3-3 and a 5-2-3 when Mexico switched to a back 3. Warshaw points out that this goes away from Berhalter's usual plan to control a game. Berhalter admits this.
With Adams only available as a sub and with as little cohesion and familiarity as the players have yet developed with one another, it made perfect sense to me to play reactive soccer at this point and just let our sheer talent advantage play out over Mexico, which it did in the end. Mexico has been playing that same coherent style for quite some time now, with most of the same player pool. We now have the guys to break that down and beat them with ball dominance, but we don't yet have the familiarity. That will come with time.
I wonder we will see the same outrage about this that many on here had when we similarly went with three at the back against Mexico.
It's not that Egg is a genius. It's that folks on this board are really, really weak at analysis. It took me a glance to realize he had the right idea against Mexico. He did everything right, even starting Ream (someone who knows the game will get why). But it may well be lightning in a bottle. We'll see. Still, putting "Berhalter" and "philosophies" in the same title sounds funny to me.
It’s funny to see the 4231 advocates decry Berhalter for his inflexibility, forcing a different formation on the team, one that doesn’t fit the talent but he’s wedded to, when the worry pre-hire was that Berhalter would force us to play a 4231 (which the Crew used extensively) and shoehorn in a 10 we didn’t have.