Dont be mad at Tim Ream. Be mad at his competition for not visibly overtaking him

There’s a lot of strange stuff in this thread, but the underlying premise has something to it — Poch chose to ride or die with Ream. He died.

Ream has value if you shift the rest of the team to cover for his weaknesses and we are playing against a team where we can boss possession. Otherwise, it crumbles.

Building on a base of Richards, McKenzie, and Trusty would have been the right move. Tons of people were calling for it. With Ream as a backup to help unlock against sides we outclass. Instead he was auto starter and captain, with everything else built around him.

 

You cant adjust your whole formation for a guy like ream....it only works for vargentina with the help of corrupt refs.

Ream ain't messi lol

Usmnt should have been employing 2 centerbacks. Not 3 to accommodate ream.

Poch really messed up defense.his scheme was zonal and that doesn't work no matter personnel bc it involves passively defending space instead of attacking and shut attacks down.

Yeah when youre playing teams out fifa top 25 ream can help the team.....but there's also a lot of other cbs that can beat those teams in the pool.

Centerback is a DEFENSIVE position first and foremost

Ream showed years ago that he cannot defend at this level.....I was so flabbergasted when poch made him his rock

It was so obvious it wouldn't work

 

It worked up until we came across a top 10 team. Perhaps Mauricio should have thrown in someone like Trusty in place of Ream to better handle Belgium

 

Ream played great the first 3 games he played and then the entire team played like complete crap against Belgium. Richards was awful in that game.

 

This. People are looking for a scapegoat when, in fact, Ream was one of many problems against Belgium. We didn't lose in a barn-burner, we got clapped by a team that dominated us in all phases of the game, and Ream was just one ineffective cog in that failure of a team.

 

Agree with that. Ream was among the problems, not a sole source. But the problem is the entire team was built to cover his weaknesses and play to his strength, and many people saw this failure coming as soon as we ran into a team that could manage our plan A and put us under pressure.

 

There's simply no way you'd call any system with heavy counterpressing and hyperaggressive fullbacks and center mids as one "designed to cover his weakness and play to his strength."

Ream has strengths and weaknesses like any other player, but one of the reasons why people were worried about Ream getting exploited was actually that the system didn't actually protect Ream's lack of speed in space.

I don't know how anyone could say a system that pushed the fullback/wingback next to him up high constantly and allowed the CM in front of him to routinely make attacking runs was somehow designed to cover his weaknesses.

It's literally the opposite.

As for taking advantage of his strengths ... yes, we liked when he passed the ball. But it would be kind of idiotic to not have him do what he does well.

Funnily enough, even though Pochettino's way to protect Ream was very risky -- and by the way, the way every Pochettino team ever has played except one with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe -- we never really got exposed with Ream in space.

Instead it was Ream in the air (which is also a weakness), it is players like Richards and Freeman not clearing the ball (twice!) and Freese making a bad decision that kill us.

But designing the system to cover up Ream's deficiencies? What are you talking about?

 

CB is our weakest position. By far. He played with 3 CBs (I'm counting Freeman as a CB here) because he knew Ream +1 CB was a disaster. So he overloaded on our weakest spot to cover for Ream. To be able to use Ream's passing out of the back to start the attack. I agree it left us exposed when we pressed high, which is also why it was a bad system and fit against good comp. I think there's no way he goes with that setup if he hadn't built it around Ream, which is why I'm saying Ream drove our entire setup.

 

Pochettino wouldn't call Freeman a CB, but that's semantics either way. Perhaps Ream contributed some to the decision to play Freeman at RB, but I think there were likely quite a few other reasons, one being Freeman himself; another being Dest's defense, and so on.

But no, Ream can't have driven our entire set up. Because our entire set up included at its core a number of things, including a LB who attacked constantly and CMs who go forward and out of position all the time, that are not the greatest ideas with Tim Ream around.

What drove Mauricio Pochettino's entire set up was Mauricio Pochettino. This is how this dude plays. It's how he played at Tottenham, it's how he played at Español, and it's how he played at Chelsea and even PSG, though the latter had major adjustments for personnel.

Did he make adjustments within that for the pool he had? Yes. Balogun didn't play like Kane, for example. When Adams played, he stayed back more but when others were around, other moved forward. With Freeman, he played this sort of half 3 ATB.

If you were building an entire system around protecting Tim Ream, you'd play in a more passive system, in a lower block. It wouldn't be your RB that didn't go forward as much; you'd protect him with a LB and a center mid in front of him, neither of which Poch did.

In short, you'd do a lot more of what Berhalter did in 2022 when he anchored the CMs home (though Jedi did get forward).

So no, there wasn't this big adjustment to protect Ream. Even leaving Freeman back more often is not really a ton of additional protection -- largely because what it really did was release Tillman (or Berhalter or whomever) into the attack from a CM role more.

If we had gotten destroyed on the counter, it would have been logical to question why Pochettino didn't protect Ream more. But acting like we crippled ourselves to protect Ream doesn't make any sense at all.

 

If Ream was needed to implement Pochettino's preferred tactics then the manager should have taken a different approach. Instead, he failed to learn from the 5-2 thrashing by Belgium.

And CB is hardly a weak position for the team.

Richards: starter with Palace in the EPL
Trusty: starter with Celtic who did well in UCL two seasons ago
Campbell: had an outstanding finish to his maiden C'ship campaign. Has drawn interest from the B1.
McKenzie: starter on a mid-table Ligue 1 side

 

He's not. That's the thing. There's nothing about Poch's tactics that require Ream. That's something you and another poster have just made up.

Hes preferred because he was better than everyone else in the pool with the US. Yes, Poch and every other coach ever like his passing. But he's not required. He was simply who Poch felt was the best option.

And guess what? From watching the pool, it's hard to say he's wrong.

I think it's hilarious anyone can be recommending Mark McKenzie after that Turkiye game. Who cares about Ligue 1? In this tournament, McKenzie was our worst player against Turkiye!

 

I would have preferred Trusty over Ream.

Anyway, I think the big problem with the USMNT in the Belgium game was the naive approach they took.

Possession based/high-press/front-foot football is all well and good against poor to mediocre competition but against top tier teams like Belgium the USMNT needs to be more pragmatic and defense first.

It was fashionable at the time to blast "Bunker Bob" but for the talent level the USMNT currently has to get a result against a Belgium that is what is required.

If you want to go "toe-to-toe" with them - you'll get played off the park. And we did.

 

That's a dumb comment, as my statement was opinion, and nothing else. Pochettino made a mediocre 38 y/o MLS CB his captain and automatic starter. Pochettino did this despite 4 other CBs starting at higher levels.

I think that's delusional, guy. There's just nothing in the way of Ream's career of late to suggest he was remotely better than anyone else.

Passing was basically what Ream brought. That's what he gets praised for. And 'Passing' and 'holding the ball' are his statistical strengths in MLS. Too bad tackling is a statistical weakness for him

I don't think the market or algorithms agree with that assessment.

I'm not a McKenzie fan. And who cares about Charlotte? Ream was our worst outfield player in both Belgium matches.

 

No, you said his tactics required Ream. Go for it. Tell me how.

Ream's play in the first three games versus McKenzie and Trusty's against Turkiye, for starters. Also, a long history of USMNT play for all of them.

It's funny, watching the actual players does.

He was not our worst outfield player in this Belgium match and I wouldn't say he was in the other one, either.

Please don't post sofascore or fotmob scores unless you can actually explain how they come up with those ratings and any of the coefficients involved. It's a useless metric.

 

R16 is appropriate for a nation that refuses to elevate this sport above all others

 

It's appropriate for a team that is ranked 16th in the world.

Reaching a QF was always going to require an upset and I can't get too worked up by the fact we didn't achieve it.

 

Quite possibly my favorite phrasing just for the insanity.

There's no nation here, no single decision making entity. Who is refusing to elevate this sport above all others? Why, it's the collective choice of 340 million people! The bastards!

Furthermore ... why would we do that?

I love the sport and spend way too much time on here on it ... Like way too much. The idea that it deserves elevation above other sports falls flat to me. Watch it if you want. Play it if you want. It's a sport.

 

dont change the subject

this thread is about tim ream sucking

and ruining this teamschances at a world cup that wasnt embarassing

 

no one cares what you think

you have this stuck up arrogant persona on here like you are some mastermind analyst but you consistently say dumb things and wrong and poor judegement in almost every single post you make

ream was HORRIFIC in both belgium matches!

almost every single goal they scored....and they got 9 of them! happened either right in fornt of ream or in his vicinity....he literally sucked

what could you be possibly be thinkjng if you cant see that???

youre a terrible troll

 

The statement was "If Ream was needed to implement Pochettino's preferred tactics"

Combined Transfermarkt values of the each of the starting attacks the US faced:

Paraguay: 59 million euro
Australia: 9 million euro
Bosnia: 45 million euro
Turkey: 219 million euro
Belgium: 93 million euro

You vs the market? OK. Those are some extreme delusions of grandeur.

 

Of course. You're right.

I didn't say he was good; I said he was not our worst outfield player. He was not. He wasn't even our second or third worst outfield player.

Tim Ream is a centerback. Centerbacks play near the goal. All 9 of them were also in the vicinity of the keeper!

 

Okay. He was not. Thread over.

How did the market evaluate Paraguay v Germany?

For that matter, Australia and Paraguay (or Belgium!) versus Turkiye?

 

Again, he's a 38 y/o mediocre MLS CB. His only outstanding attribute is his passing. Pochettino wanted to pass out of the back player a higher line. That's it. Reasonable folks can put two and two together.

What's your point? I'm looking at the market values of the attacks faced by the US. The reserves faced the toughest attack, which was fielded by Turkey.

 

So no, he didn't build his entire system around Ream. He evaluated Ream to be a better player by what he wanted.

Reasonable folks understand Ream was actually a pretty bad fit for how Pochettino plays defensively (and a good one offensively) and can understand the big reason why he played is that none of our centerbacks are reliable or can pass.

And that, sadly, includes Richards, who shit the bed against Belgium.

You've set up market value to be a great predictor of team quality, but it doesn't even stand muster in our group. If market value meant what you think it meant, how did Turkiye lose to Paraguay and Australia? How? How did Paraguay beat Germany?

The wisdom of crowds -- the whole idea behind the market being smart -- doesn't even work in a labor market like this because the assets are unique. It's only applicable in a commoditized environment -- where many people can buy identical properties -- not something like this. And even then, it's sketchy at best to its superiority.

Here's the reality: you decided long ago Ream was going to be an issue, and you are desperate to prove it true. But that's not what happened, and anyone who watched can see.

The whole team shit the bed.

 

No one claimed Pochettino built his entire system around Ream.

No kidding. Pochettino should have tried something else, instead.

Reasonable folks understand that the others are reasonable enough in their passing, unless you're desperate to play out of the back, play a higher line, and play with a sweeper keeper.

Richards' mistake came when shouting was all but over. No: this is on Ream and Freese.

Predictor, no. Market value is just a reasonable indicator of quality. Take the market values of the teams in the Semifinal, for example.

Only you think market value is soothsaying. Upsets happen. That's the way life works.

National Team Market Value Rankings of the Semifinalists:
1. France
2. England
3. Spain
7. Argentina

He got targeted and rinsed in the Belgium game. He got dunked on by De Ketelaere, made an error on one goal, and was marking no one on a third.

I agree there.