Fire Pochettino Thread

Oh yes I did. It was the only one this tournament that I had watched live from start-to-finish. "Lucky" me. Why couldn't I have watched the Italy and France wins...?

But U20s are one thing, and senior men another altogether.

 

Certainly.

I still think it true, though, that even if we aren't enthused with it, we as a fan base are (mostly) willing to grant Poch context on stuff like this, while much of that very same fan base would absolutely have eviscerated Berhalter for doing so under any circumstances, for any reason.

Which is one of the biggest reasons why I am thankful that we now have Poch. We can dispense with some of the most idiotic aspects of our collective dialogue.

 

Oh I 100% agree. I said so before his hire, he eliminates a lot of these behavioral questions.

 

The vitriol directed at Berhalter was almost always ridiculous and many of his decisions were often blown way out of proportion.

 

My sense is he’s behind the other options for now but he deserved a look and he’s close enough to the roster that if there’s an injury there’s a very real chance he’s on it. And guys like Adams and Cardoso have had injury issues over the years.

 

They played him at center-back rather than DM. Career-wise he was better off playing in his favored role at NYC.

 

I had thought that "experimentation" was widely--nearly universally--understood around here to refer to bringing in new players that Poch hadn't seen before (Sands being the lone exception in this camp). Did you and @xbhaskarx think he'd be running out the same 11 every match until next summer??

 

Apologies for replying to an old post--if Robinson had stayed healthy he was going to get a move to the EPL (or a top club in one of the other big 5 leagues) and would be standing out there IMO. He had Richards caliber potential and we're going to look back on him one day alongside guys like Holden and JOB.

And not that he can't still contribute to the US as a depth CB, maybe even pushing to start in a 3 man back line, but he's not going to be the player I'm fairly confident he would have been.

 

"James came to me about four weeks ago and asked if there was a possibility he could go back. He saw that he was going to find playing time difficult. He’s a midfielder who’s had to play predominantly at centre-back." - Michael Beale on Sands' departure.

 

There is no meaningful difference in size between Tessmann, Cardoso, Sands, and Tillman. In fact Tessmann as far as defensively plays smaller than the other 3.

In any case our different perspectives are clear; You value Tessmann at DM because he passes the ball better, i value Sands because he is a much better ball winner.

 

The vitriol directed at <insert any US Manager>was almost always ridiculous and many of his decisions were often blown way out of proportion.

 

It was worse with Berhalter

 

I think your call out in comparing Sands to the Morris/Adams/Cardoso group is the right one.

Is Tessman directly competing for that type of role/profile in the team? Of course any CM is somewhat competing with the others but they are pretty distinctive profiles.

 

Sands has the size; he just doesn’t have the footspeed. I think mentally, he’s got plus anticipation in terms of defensive movement, like Johnny, Tyler and Morris. But his footspeed isn’t there and so I put him more in the Johnny bucket of really needing to be given a smaller, more compact space to control.

He’s actually a pretty good passer, IMO, though like everyone has some issues with pressure. Tessman is better, though. He’s also a more active player, better coming in late to the final third, etc.

I don’t really know that Sands fits well on a team that is asking their CMs to run this much. Watching guys like Tessman, Morris, Roldan out there all playing box to box or further is not his game at all.

 

I know they technically play the same position, but I think they are so different in abilities and roles that I don’t know if they are really even competing.

I suspect that both are likely pretty far down with the defensive adjustment of a much more active midfield.

I feel like Haak was a prospect like a decade ago, or close. It’s nice to see him come good.

 

Players improve is the most likely answer. James turned 25 this summer; the focus on prodigies skews the discussion of the next group down — look at how many guys come into their own around 24/25.

Sands’ game is going to rely on the mental aspect more because he’s not a Tyler Adams type. IIRC, he had a bad game or two (or three) at Rangers and got in the doghouse a bit, then somewhat recovered but NYCFC wanted $5M or something for him and he wasn’t worth the squeeze for them.

 

I view Tessmann strictly as a DM/#6. I don't believe he is dynamic enough to be a box to box/#8.

 

I got it. You view Sand as way more limited than Tessmann. I view Tessmann as way more limited than Sands. Just different perspectives

I remember Sands and Morales playing the double pivot and winning MLS Cup. Alfredo was much better than Sands that season especially in terms of slipping that little 10 to 15 yard pass forward consistently and precisely.

Not sure if you have seen Sands at Pauli but he has improved over the last 4+ years to the point where he is a good BuLi-level DM. He covers a ton of ground, is very physical, wins a lot of balls and duels, and protects Pauli's backline.

Is that just a destroyer, well then so is Tyler Adams.

 

The good news is we definitely need center backs.