Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

He's not. He works harder than Gio but I don't think it's an absurd conversation to note that having Balogun, Pulisic and Gio basically gives us three guys up front with subpar defense that you are covering for ... before we talk about Arfsten and Dest.

It's a real discussion.

Is it? He can still ball; I don't think that was ever at debate though I'm sure you can dig someone up that thinks he lost his skill. Never the question for me, but physically?

I don't think he moved much or had to sprint or defend all game so I actually don't know if he's physically who he used to be or not.

Two points here ... It's not a total grasp in that (a) Gio was the person (not) applying pressure to the passer and the analyst on the broadcast called that out in the moment.

I personally don't think Gio bears a ton of blame. Yes, he's a bit slow to press but we weren't running a high press and I'm not entirely sure he was even supposed to be pressing hard. Furthermore, it's just very clear Scally gets caught napping, then makes a bad call to try and catch the guy offside, compounding the mistake. Heading back immediately was the safe call.

I suppose there's a chance they caught us exactly in the moment of a press trigger and this is all just perfect by Paraguay, but we can't really know that.

Second point, which I really disagree with ... "completely misses what’s important about that game." No. The smart discussion on Gio has never been a question of whether he can have positive impact; it's whether that impact substantially outweighs the negatives versus other players.

Every player has strengths and weaknesses, and this comment here is the most tangible weakness to weigh against great strengths.

Is everyone so truly fragile that we can't have the discussion about Gio? Sure, people can call Roldan constant shit and only focus on his negatives but we have to pretend that Gio doesn't have weaknesses because this is his first game back?

Gio's not here, guys. He's under 40 years old, so he doesn't read Big Soccer. No one is hurting Gio's feelings here. It's apparently all you guys who can't have a logical argument.

I mean, sure, Claudio's definitely reading and it's killing him not to post, but ******** him. That dude is nuts.

There's nothing in that post that comes remotely to that; you're projecting a shitload here.

In the future, can someone write the board rules on when negativity for a player is allowed? Does it only apply to Gio? Why did we not see a moratorium for Roldan after his return to the team?

Look, if the post in question was anything beyond a very logical and fact based analysis with absolutely not discussion of future state or attitude or even that, I might agree with you.

But you're basically saying ANY criticism of Gio is clearly because of weird hate and that's not true.

 

Did you watch the play? Scally was on the right, clearly tailing Almiron. When the ball goes over the top, his reaction isn't bad -- from another angle it looks like he's late but not in the one I'm linking.

https://streamain.com/en/E0zDe75WsVEPwK1/watch

Instead, what actually gets him is that he hesitates / redirects to a bad angle that looks like he's trying to header away the ball, but the ball is well over Almiron's head and not anywhere Scally is heading. You can see him pinch in and redirect -- but that loses him distance.

He's hesitates and cuts in at about 6 seconds -- I don't know if he lost the ball or what but it's basically why he loses Almiron.

You also can't see it much in that replay, but Miles is up high, holding the striker who scores offside. He struggles to close the ground because that striker starts with a couple of steps on him, and because Almiron wasn't slowed down at all, it's basically a straight footrace with no time to catch up.

It's a beautiful play by Paraguay, but it has nothing to do with 3 ATB -- frankly, it's more of a 4 ATB in defense as Arfsten is actually back and we're in more of a 442 with Reyna up top with Balo here.

Scally is clearly on Almiron and is a bit slow in the shift but the real mistake is that change in angle instead of going straight back and ensuring that Almiron didn't have a clear shot in.

Do agree with folks that Freese needs to be more assertive there.

 

I do get that there's a few posters on here with an irrational hatred of Gio, but that post didn't reference anything but a specific moment.

 

I can only speak for myself, but no, the discussion isn't Gio versus Brenden Aaronson. It does not take a genius mind to skip very quickly to the fact that the discussion is Gio versus Malik Tillman or Pulisic and what lineups you can roll out together.

Why do I go to Gio's defensive play? Because his offense has never been a question for me and I'm assuming, given his performance, that we're not debating Gio v Brenden Aaronson.

I'm immediately saying "Let's assume Gio makes the roster ... what's his role? Is he starting?" At worst, given the side of the field, we're debating Gio v Zendejas.

That's not knocking Gio -- it's just asking the next question. He's in competition with Pulisic, Tillman and in some ways, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. And yes, with people posting lineups with him and Pulisic, the discussion is already open.

And in that context ... is Gio's offense enough better than Malik Tillman's to offset the massive defensive difference? Because there is one. Malik carried the Gold Cup team defensively while doing some pretty nice offensive work. I don't think he's the offensive player Gio is but there's a mile on the other end.

I'm assuming that Gio is at minimum an offensive sub. But in the knockouts against better teams ... is a lineup with him better or Tillman?

And especially with the context that you aren't benching Pulisic or Balogun.

 

Pre-Gold Cup Malik got bashed a ton for his lack of movement and lackadaiscal play before the switch flipped for him.

Gold Cup Malik (and I believe this switch happened at club earlier) was a defensive beast and covered for about half the team. That Malik would have likely closed out there.

I'm not putting much on Reyna for that close out, frankly, because it doesn't look like he was supposed -- see Balo three seconds earlier.

But we also didn't see Reyna have to defend much at all. We largely hid him on defense. But we largely hide Pulisic and we don't ask much of Balogun. And Dest is erratic and we have to cover for Arfsten.

We're running out of guys who can defend.

 

I think he lost the ball and thought he could cut it out. He was insanely wrong about that, but it really looks like he's about to go up to head it away and it's really twenty feet above him.

 

Why are people insisting on comparing with Aaronson?

They aren't competing in any real sense. If Brenden makes this roster, it's as a defensive replacement / defensive rotation. That's all. Gio is clearly not in contention for that role; he's playing for an offensive reserve / rotational or starting role.

I get there's a positional thing and total roster spots, but I don't think the staff thinks about players outside of role context ... especially for Brenden who is clearly a role player.

The player Brenden was trying to upend yesterday was Luna -- who clearly has the Pulisic backup role right now. He did not convince.

If we seriously want to talk Gio, we need to talk Gio versus Tillman, Zendejas and McKennie along with the allowance that we will seem to need for wide attacker slots for Weah and Dest relative to the RB role, if that makes any sense.

• McKennie's on the plane for his overall quality and versatility. I wouldn't play him at the 10, but he's playing somewhere. I don't think a discussion here is relevant.
• The only two reasons to take Zendejas over Gio are fitness and attitude -- he gives 110% but his size simply means he's not a good defender, either, and while I like his game, Gio's just better. So basically, the only reason is basically if the choice sends the wrong message. We can't know this stuff, so I'm putting Gio ahead for now.

Which leaves us with the real discussion:

• Tillman v Gio. Tillman is very good in close in spaces. Tillman creates for others. Tillman is not as good on ball or straight creation and not nearly as assertive. Tillman is a vastly better defender.

That's a discussion worth having.

 

Poch has consistently played Malik in the same role/position as Gio played, so it's definitely up for debate with the coach.

But the question still hangs, especially if Jedi doesn't recover ... we've got a lot of defensive liabilities. At what point is it better to sit someone, and who is that?

 

That really doesn't solve anything because you have to take someone off the field to have a second forward and you're not identifying that player.

We were already putting Reyna defensively in that role. Playing two offensive strikers doesn't change that.

It's pretty simple -- play the lineup you want to play and put together a 4231 and a 442 defensively.

There are setups where everything else is so strong that I think can get away with CP-Balo and Reyna -- namely if Jedi comes back.

But there are other times where you've got too many liabilities out there and playing both Tillman and McKennie looks damn good.

It's good to have options. I think we should be able to rationally discuss them.

 

I think you mentioned this earlier but it actually is a bit important to know what happened before this. We've actually pressed much less recently, but the counterpress is vital.

The point there is not necessarily so much to force a turnover but to slow the counter-attack down enough to allow the defense to regroup.

I don't think this is very on Gio because it feels like we're already mostly in our base defense and they've had the ball a bit. Perhaps someone missed a press trigger, but Balo jogging lightly makes me feel like that was the plan.

 

Interesting. I really struggle with taking McKennie off the field. He's such a big play player both ways for us.

I think I would be far more likely to run a three man rotation at the 10 than slide Tillman back if everyone is healthy.