Speaking of 3-2-2-3 https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/charlotte-fc-in-shambles-nycfc-s-offense-clicks-more-from-matchday-3 self-inflicted badness born of a commitment to over-complicating the team’s entire approach. Let me run through it real quick: Charlotte are playing a base 4-2-3-1 set which is supposed to evolve into a 3-2-2-3 in possession. The evolution comes when the right-footed left back (Bronico) pushes up to underlap into central deep central midfield next to Jones. That releases the other deep central midfielder (Ashley Westwood) to push forward and orchestrate from the ball-side half-space, while the nominal No. 10 (Shinyashiki) pushes to the weak-side half-space as a connector. The left winger (Swiderski) stays wide unless possession is on the weak side, in which case he crashes back-post for pullbacks from the very right-footed left winger (Kamil Jozwiak) who has no goals and just four assists in 22 MLS games, and just one goal in his last 92 outings over nearly three years. That’s a whole lot of moving pieces in midfield, two inverted wingers who actually can’t get to the endline to hit pullbacks, a new center back partnership that’s not protected by a true, stay-at-home 6 (Jones was so good at that last year!), and… woooooo boy does it look like these guys are uncomfortable with all of the above. Every rotation is complex, and thus every rotation is late
Which game(s) did Berhalter lose to a super minnow 3-0? Maybe a friendly but games that mattered? Games in a tournament?
That is why I didn't believe Berhalter had a worse loss than ATX just did. I thought maybe I didn't remember one though. It does seem there were a couple of friendlies that had poor results but in tournaments GB went for results. The Dutch games is the most goals and Netherlands is much better than a Haitian club team. It's actually not a big deal and Austin could pour it on and dig themselves out of a hole at home. I just suspect Wolff won't ever be so gullible on the road again.
I think there’s a difference between a “worse loss” and a “3-0 loss to a minnow.” They are not the same thing. But I am not interested in pursuing this any further. If you think that a single loss with a heavily rotated squad in the first CCL tournament game of a club’s existence is worse than the historic defeats the US national team, experienced under Gregg, then I am happy to leave our disagreement out there for others to Judge. If you think that Austin’s loss to Violette is somehow an indictment of the 4231 with an attacking number 10, then again, I am happy to agree to disagree there.
OK, I see where our difference of opinion came from. I was purely using the scoreline and you weren't. No problem happens a lot on boards as it takes a while to clear up at times.
LOL. So Berhalter loses in a friendly to a peer (and at that time, better roster) where he was openly experimenting 3-0 and it is historic? But we make excuses for Wolff in a true competitive match against a vastly inferior roster? Okay! We've also had worse losses to Canada in our past. We just hadn't lost recently. I'm guessing it was pretty long ago that an MLS team lost to a Haitian team. Of course, both scenarios have mitigating factors. For Wolff, he fielded a largely B team and paid the price. For Berhalter, one was an experimental friendly and in the other, yeah, Canada is substantially better than they've been ... ever. But your bias is incredibly obvious when one is "historic losses" and the other is not so bad because of x and y and z.
Not great from Gregg favorite Gyasi Zardes Gyasi Zardes just played 115 minutes at striker for a team that had 75% possession and 35 shots on goal.He accounted for 16 total touches in the entire game and 0 shots on target.. against a Haitian team missing half of their players.— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) March 15, 2023
He looks surprised when the ball comes to him, and he’s almost never prepared to receive it. His reaction is slower than everyone else, and so is his anticipation. I have no idea why wolf play some ahead of Urruti
Zardes has definitely fallen off in MLS over the last year. And we basically didn’t see him after the January qualifying window of last year.
He had 2 starts all qualifying. Sure Gregg and Zardes were familiar with each other. Not sure what his 2023 form has to do with Gregg's philosophy.
Now soccer is moving onto a double box! Interesting video but I don't think we have the players to consistently invite a press and play through it ... yet. That said, I do like that people are solving presses with something more concrete like numbers. If a team is willing to run -- all the way back for build up, and all the way forward for attack, it seems like a very bright idea. Might be tougher in a tournament setting.
I think this is a natural evolution. When a method of play is effective, new methods emerge to negate it. We need to be conscious of this if we keep going all in on pressing. Especially against more skilled teams, we could eventually be in for some surprises as teams find new ways to negate it.
Really great thread by Doyle on Berhalter. I agree pretty close to 100% on his evaluation of the World Cup, aside from outplaying the Dutch -- I don't think we got slaughtered, but execution matters. I also agree our pool is overrated, though I don't love the characterization of them stated in a way to make them look their worst to make a point. And while I think Berhalter did a good job, I do think there are people who can progress us forward better. And I think a change can be inherently good. Now, whether we hire one is a different story. But overall, a good discussion. Dudes are struggling with the reality that the vast majority of USMNT guys really like GGG, love the ambitious way he had the US play, and want to build on it instead of tossing it in the trash. pic.twitter.com/jGBKAKnuRh— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) March 17, 2023
Pretty good video on positional play and Berhalter/Hudson. One of the bonuses of positional play where there's always someone in a zone (i.e. a more strict version) is that it's always in a good defensive transition position. That wasn't a huge issue in these two games but any time you overload, there's the possibility for a counter on the other side. As an aside, Tactical Manager should really give his youtube channel to this dude, who actually talks tactics.
Good post for BS guys to study. Would add that people should consider how arranging the White shirts in a 343 against the Red shirts will cause them problems. I like especially the Barcelona example where the guy refers to Dembele's ambi-foot capabilities. Kevin Paredes comes immediately to mind, playing him right forward while building left through Ream-Scally-Gio-Pulisic-Aaronson. As our dribble and pass guys draw fire, Paredes should be wide open to take the ball down and pick out the right assist or shot on goal, much as he did today at the death playing left wing forward for Wolfsburg to steal the point with no time left on the clock.
@LuckofLichaj2 - I didn't want to spend the effort to explain why I like Aaronson but this guy does a good job. I get that Grenada is not Barca. I get that people like Weah. I like him too. It's ok if a fan doesn't like Aaronson's play. Many don't. HIs coaches always play him though. The UEFA C license guy in the vid seems to like him.
This analysis shows why Dest doesn't play for Barcelona. They need a right back who become a RCB when they all shift around and the is definitely not Dest. He would have a better shot at that left back role that has a free attacking role all uptime left side. So he needs to find a team that shifts the opposite way that Barcelona does.