we’re one great player away from balancing out!!!! Also, if chicharito, Latin and Vela opt-out, it’s a whole new kettle of fish. the depth issue is kinda shocking to see so starkly - thanks for the visual. btw, the concept that we should be much more focused on winning the Hex as opposed to being concerned with third or even fourth is also pretty evident....
Dream hire? Talk about a lack of ambition. I understand that a lot of folks here thought he was an attractive candidate because he was such an articulate voice on ESPN's WC coverage back in 2014, but his managerial record is decidedly unremarkable. His biggest accomplishment prior to his time in Belgium was getting Swansea promoted from League 1. He'd go on to lead Wigan to relegation. And before you say, well, he kept them up for three years you should understand that Wigan were in the PL for fours years before he was hired and over that period had finishes of 10th, 11th and 14th. Roberto's best finish in 4 seasons was 15th. Then at Everton he led them to consecutive bottom half of the table seasons. Everton's worst seasons in a decade (and once he was gone, Everton returned back to the top half of the table). Now, he's certainly had some success with the Belgian national team, but I think most posters here could get similar results with the incredible amount of talent available in that squad. And of course, managing the USMNT is a lot more like managing Wigan than it would be the Belgian national team.
More than one said Martinez wasn't good enough. I know - it's crazy. But, my recollection is that it was after he left Everton and before Belgium took flight. Still, to say he wasn't "good enough" was just nuts. There were some super inflated expectations going around, about who we would hire.
Just as a reminder, despite the unhappiness on these boards................the USMNT reached the final of the 2019 Gold Cup. Our expectations for the Hex should be nothing short of top 2.
it was not long ago that many of the same posters who think that our expectations should only be to qualify out of the Hex also stated that we should have expected to make it out of a World Cup group-of-death with Germany, Ghana and Portugal.
Eh, I was responding to a guy calling Martinez his "dream hire" but go ahead and slay that straw man...
THe one challenge we have for this hex is that so much of what we consider our core is young and inexperienced in they type of competition that the Hex provides. Those rough and hostile games in Central America, for instance. Basically Pulisic has that experience, and that's it. We don't really know what McKennie, Adams, Sargent, Weah, Dest, and that gang are gonna do. I'm worried about Sargent after watching yet another dismal Werder Bremen game. What does Sargent actually do? He's scored four professional goals, and one was from 6 inches out. So in this Hex I'm worried about where the goals are going to come from......................because I don't yet trust another of these young kids. IF we had a game that mattered tomorrow I'd start Morris and hope for the best.
Expectation definitely top 2, I mean looking at the rosters, it cant be argued we're not really behind anyone player for player in the top 15 players or so. Reality, Im not sure how this group will meld with Berhalter: "Looking back at a year's work, one thing for sure is we have a very good understanding of the player pool, understanding the group". Definitely dont agree with him there, but Roldan being on the leadership council lets me know he is not going to let go of the past enough to really make a lot of changes. So that leads me to believe we will struggle a bit in games we shouldnt, so in reality top 4 is where I think we will end up. Where in that, I really dont know.
the point remains that his “dream hire” is better than most/all of the USMNT history. Some people dream of buying the biggest house in the world while other just want a decidedly nicer one than they have that they could realistically buy.
I think Morris is a definite starter given his current form. Wrt offense, I’d focus on building around putting Pulisic in the best position where he can impact the game (which would be a dramatic departure from Berhalter’s system) and hope to score a goal a game via dead-balls. This is a discrete area where a national team can become quickly organized and effective If we win out at home and look to give up no goals away, we’ll win the group.
The expectation for the team should be independent of the coach - we should use our expectations to judge how the coach and the USSF has done. to lower expectations because we’ve hired poorly is the “soft bigotry of low expectations” to appropriate a well-known phrase.
Eh, had we hired him to replace Klinsmann I'm not at all convinced he'd have been an improvement on the previous 3 managers. Given the financial resources of the Federation, we realistically could have afforded a better option than Martinez.
Uh, that wasn't you saying those exact same things during the coaching search? Cause your post was practically word for word what someone was posting during the search.
The "should/will" usages of "Expectation." Speaking for myself, my expectation is that we should finish in the top 2 of the Hex. ("should") It is also my expectation that we will struggle to qualify. ("will"). I would be shocked if anyone on the board raised their hand and said that they are satisfied with a "struggling to qualify out of Concacaf" level of play.
My point is that you were wrong when you were saying Martinez would be a bad hire during the coaching search. We ended up with Berhalter. Either you're saying Berhalter is better than Martinez, or you were wrong when you said Martinez would be a bad hire. I wouldn't bring it up, but you were super snarky and derisive at the time. So, which is it - was Jay's Brother a better hire than Martinez would have been?
Imo, the single biggest impediment to us getting points on the road in Concacaf is our current love of taking "recirculating" free kicks in the offensive end. All of our managers in the last decade or so have wanted to look like they've raised the standard of play (that's probably what they said in the interview "I'll raise the standard of play."). So, for at least the last decade, we've been recirculating any free kick that is too far to put on goal. And, some that are close enough to put on goal. Any free kick that is more than 30 yards from the endline, we play sideways. Or, backwards. Concacaf teams know this, and they chop us down any time we get more than 7-8 yards past the mid line. On the rare occasion that a guy gets a persistent infringement yellow, they argue with the ref about it for 10 minutes and pass off fouling duty to the other guys. So, we get fouled 10 yards past the midline - what do we do? Let the defense get organized; push players up; and play the ball sideways. It's like our strategy is "Let's give the other guys a great opportunity to counter!" The opponent knows we're playing it sideways, so as soon as the ball is played, they run someone at the recipient of the pass, and press. It's ridiculous. It happens over and over in Concacaf matches. We are so stupid. We never, ever, ever, play the ball into the box and try to jump on the 2nd ball. "oh, that's just giving the ball away." Let's say it is just giving the ball away. At least we're giving it away in their box instead of at midfield with our team pushed up. But, it's not "just giving the ball away." We have a muuuuch better chance of scoring on one of those than waiting for the opposition to get 11 behind the ball and trying to play through them from a static start. McKennie would be a beast on those plays. Almost like McBride in the Coleman era at Fulham. But, no, that's not pretty. So, we use free kicks as an opportunity to give the ball away at midfield with our team pushed up.
Actually, and I am not taking sides, that is rather faulty logic. The two points are not mutually exclusive. Berhalter could be a much worse coach than Martinez and Martinez could be a bad hire for the US. Given the top layers of US soccer I do not think we had much of a chance to end up with a good coach. It is unfortunate we got one of the worst available but maybe he will learn before it is too late.
But, we did. We hired Berhalter. We may have been able to get Martinez if we'd made him an offer before the WC. You said Martinez wasn't good enough. You were holding out for some pie in the sky manager we were never going to get. It was ridiculous. We should grabbed Martinez while we could. Or Allardyce. Or any other competent manager. You were fond of saying "if Martinez, then why not (a journeyman English manager). Yes, why not that guy. He'd have been better than Berhalter. So, I ask again, would we be worse off if we'd hired Martinez?
It's not faulty logic, it's faulty comprehension. "Given the top layers of US soccer I do not think we had much of a chance to end up with a good coach." That's exactly my point. And, given that, we should have jumped at a Martinez when we had the chance. Please, please tell me you're not saying Berhalter and Martinez are "six of one, half dozen of the other." Because nobody else in the world agrees with you, if that's what you're saying. Well, maybe Iad does.