Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

Over who? Like it or not, Msuah and West are starting, which is your number 8 or 10. Gio isn't a 6.

 

If he can do as much defensive work as Puli it would be a possibility.

 

When everyone is healthy I would go with a midfield of Adams, McKennie and Reyna.

 

You see, I don't see Poch benching Musah. Not after the last two games with the USMNT

 

Honestly, we have no idea how Pochettino will want to use Reyna.
We talk on and on and on about positions and then it our last game against Jamaica he started Weah on the left wing, Musah on the right wing, and Antonee spent an enormous amount of his time in central midfield.

So.........................we'll just have to see.

 

It's more fun to debate than say we have no idea. But yeah we will have to see.

 

The Berhalter regime is gone. Gio will likely need to do more than walk and chew gum to get a start. But there's 4 months until the next A team match.

 

I’d be surprised if there is a depth chart already. The manager hasn’t even seen how a huge chunk of his roster reacts to his tactics/instruction/coaching.

 

I could certainly see Reyna as an attacking mid in a 4-2-3-1 or the left wing in that formation with Poche playing his wingers more narrow. Weah back to the right side. I also think about rotation because all of this is for the WC and I don't want to see another exhausted team if they advance. So he could be looking at groupings of players that work well together. While there would be the best eleven there should also be a few other groups for different opponents and rest.

 

Might not have the depth chart but knowns who's going to be starting

 

I thought Gio looked good against Barcelona. He was clean on the ball and was involved in most of BVBs quality attacks. He set up a couple chances that were just offside, which is why you need to watch the game and not just scan stat lines. Barca dominated the ball so chances were at a premium and Gio was responsible for most of BVBs good moments and rarely made a mistake while covering a decent amount of ground tracking back. He will never be a defensive superstar but he was the first midfielder back on multiple occasions and pressed well in moments. His replacement came in and provided an instant spark in the attack but also coughed up a really poor giveaway that led to a late Barcelona goal. It will be interesting to see what this does for his playing time moving forward. But, at the very least it shows he is trusted enough to get a start in a big game against a tough opponent and he didn't hurt himself with his performance so that's a very good sign.

 

Yamal's pass for the third goal was incredible. I thought he'd lost the momentum when he cut inside but he just pushed the ball through when most players would be trying to get their balance.

Anyway, I think Weah would have to make way for Reyna in a 4-3-2-1. Dest and Jedi would provide the width with Adams covering them, with McKennie and Musah or Tesserman as the other DMs giving Pulisic and Reyna total freedom.

 

The quality of his passing was notable, in a good way. I'd like to play with a guy who can deliver a ball like that.

Dortmund could have used a healthy Kevin Paredes to keep Barca in check. KPar v. Yamal & Co. would have been special. I see possibilities of KP ending up at lb with his ankle now being possible issue. Hope the surgery went well.

 

I have no problem with the debate.

I just think we shouldn't say "so and so is an 8" or a 10 or whatever with a lot of certainty.

Pochettino may view Reyna's skill set and place in the squad differently than previous regimes. That's all I'm saying. Beyond obvious, but true nonetheless. We haven't seen yet how POchettino will use Reyna.

 

So Gio hit 9 progressive passes off of 31 touches yesterday against Barcelona. For reference Malik hit 4 off of 45. He probably had 3-5 that were chalked off for offside. Hitting a space opening pass nearly half the time you touch the ball is an incredible rate.

Of course this is not something FotMob tracks. They also had him in the wrong position in the formation. If they weight stats by position (which is what a smart ratings algorithm would do) then he probably also took another hit.

 

Gio has been more productive, per minute, than Clint Dempsey for the USMNT. He’s been almost as productive as Jozy, a ST. His production, on average, has come against meaningfully better competition than Pulisic’s.

 

Pochettino (in his own words) favors either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. In the former Reyna would be the most attacking of the middle 3s (I think Adams and McKennie are the most logical other mids when everyone is healthy). In the latter he would be in middle of the 3s (which most people call a 10 nowadays).

 

I think it’s sad that people don’t know what a 10 is anymore.

I agree that often the other two CM in a 433 are called AM but that’s in the context of the heavily Pep influenced tactics most elite teams employ. So in those systems the FBs stay deeper and often invert. The team will form a 2323 or a 3223. Most often that will see either both or one of the FBs to stay behind. If both stay back in the 2323 they will narrow off on that deepest line of 3. In the 3223 one becomes a marking back on the backline and the other inverts into DM. Usually if one stays and one goes the one who pushes goes high and wide.

Either way those structures have dual AM roles in possession and the most straightforward way to rotate into it is to push the CMs on either side of the DM up in possession. That’s what City did with KDB and Silva. So when a team does that it’s absolutely fair to characterize those players as AM. Pep himself calls them “free 8s” because they have to defend like 8s instead of like 10s. I think the term this board has used for a long time, 8/10, still does a great job of describing the role.

 

Reyna is bound to be in the mix, but we are starting to see just how hard it is to fit everyone on the field if everyone is ever healthy at once. Gio in an attacking midfield role makes sense. But, then you have a striker and Pulisic as given. Throw on Gio and only 3 more spots outside the backline are left. And you have Musah, McKennie, Weah, Adams and Tessmann all looking to get onto the field. We have real holes in this team at center back and in goal with a couple decent but uninspiring strikers. But the midfield is loaded with quality compared to anything the US has seen before.

 

We don't have so many quality players that the problem of getting them on the field occurs with any frequency. It will be a blessed day when that time arrives. Not to be unkind, but we started Scally and Tessmann in our most recent competitive match.

 

In your mind Musah isn't a starter but what about Poch? Also, Pulisic has RW and Weah has LW. Musah and West are stater because of what they have had done with the USMNT. Under Poch. Gio hasn't done anything. It was a clean slate for players