This is the type of argument that can go on for 100’s of posts and accomplish zip. Timing played a big part, and so did scheme. We all know neither is optimal which is why the back and forth can go on forever. At some point you have to have a little faith in what the coach sees. I guarantee if Green had been promoted this year we would be hearing the arguments relentlessly about him, and he ain’t good enough either. That’s what happens. Coach made the call, I get it and why, but going on about other fringe guys being the answer this late is par for the course. I love what Haji has done,can’t speak as blatantly as I did about Sabbi and Green (knew they both weren’t that good) because I couldn’t watch him play. Just saw clips. Not a true way to understand a player. Is what it is. Again, a healthy Gio changes most of this IMO. He looks like thew Gio placeholder. If that is the plan I really get it. I would rather gamble on that any day than Haji exploding internationally. Also, three years of hindsight says they have done a pretty good job of picking players.
this is a pretty common sentiment that makes zero sense to me. i dont see any connection between ferreiras play and the teams improvement. the team (the offense, to be more specific) has gotten better but what exactly is due to jesus? we got better as jedi came into the team so dest wasnt having to play on the left. we got better once we used more width rather than two narrow players on the outside. we got better when musah came in and lletget went out. we got better as weah came in. we got better with pepi, until his form dropped and transfer derailed things. that may seem like a list of things that happened a long time ago but that all happened in or after the second window of qualifying. what did ferreira contribute to that? this idea that hes unlocked some next level is based on nothing- this revelation of using an actual attacking mid in the middle (aaronson) only makes that more glaring- ferreiras most notable contribution/change to the team that i can see is completely abdicating any presence in the box. wes already made those runs from the mid into the box. aaronson has in this window (small sample size). musah is doing that. i think its safe to say reyna can. i look at the things that have improved our offense and not only are none of them due to ferreira- but the most recent (actually using an attacking mid) makes using him even more obsolete. with things coming together around that position we need a forward now. and again, if we arent going to use a forward use one of the better attacking mid options.
eventually. eventually getting to the right players. after a whole lot of trapp and lovitz and lletget. its ridiculous that you are bringing julian green and freaking sabbi into this. what an incredibly stupid argument absolutely no one is making (and sorry, people wanting those guys to get a chance in a camp over a year ago doesnt have anything to do with anything). we are talking about pepi/dike, maybe a p-funk/wright type as an option off the bench and ferreira. or reyna/aaronson/weah and ferreira. but sure, try to make it a choice between jesus and charles renkin. roldan turned out better than fabian hurzeler! what a freaking clown argument.
All things being equal though, you take the try hard. Haji might not be meaningfully better enough to get away with not, and frankly.. we need everyone to be a try hard. It’s the damn national team!
Is it stupid? If those players had gotten hot now, or made a jump many would be all over them. If you can’t understand the point I was making that’s fine, but c’mon man, you have seen that thousands of times by now. It’s not about who the fringe guy is who is playing, it’s about the one who isn’t the coach is clearly missing! I watched Haji a year ago in Denmark. Happy for him but unimpressive. Basically long ball, outrun, out physical opponent. He was a physical freak in that league. I get the lack of calls. The fact that you say my argument is stupid and then use Trapp and Lovitz is pretty funny. If you can’t see the hypocrisy in that, especially considering the available player pool at the time, beginning of cycle, I can’t help you. You actually made my point. Finge arguing is circular and useless. No different then political arguing. Let’s keep going round and round in self justification and rationalization! It’s just that mine is right and yours isn’t! Justify your point away! I’m sure some dig about me will follow,. That’s OK. The net, the ultimate in useless and meaningless. Oh yeah. The best part is Llegett, a guy who actually performed pretty damn well for a while. That speaks volumes. Poor Llegett, he produced, then when better options came along and his production slowed he was dropped. So stupid of the coach.
ferreira isnt equal to any of the other forwards, though. thats not about quality its about doing forward things. and the bad news is hes also not equal to the not-forward alternatives either. the problem with this gritty, hard worker argument is who doesnt work hard? whats the first thing anyone mentions about arriola, roldan, any of the less talented players we have? they work so hard. and thats fine- i agree- if its a question of haji or sarge id go sarge. but we have a handful of options who chase and press as much as jesus does. the problem is applying that as a virtue unique to our roster players vs our difference makers. are you trying to say arriola works harder than weah? cause if not what the hell took so long? (not attributing that to you, but thats what the argument is 90% of the time). effort and heart arent always as visibly apparent as people think. the idea that these mls guys- and im not making an mls vs euro argument, im making a perceived try-hard argument vs higher quality player argument- very, very rarely holds water. who are these lazy players gifting roster spots to gritty old school guys who just havent happened to make it to a level higher than the domestic league? and trying hard certainly shouldnt be a deciding factor if, as you say, all else is equal right? for the hundredth or so time i dont care about haji wright. i care that the roughly seventh best option is our presumptive starter. and he doesnt work any harder than the guys ahead of him do. he doesnt have more spirit, or fight, or grit.
yes, it is stupid. trapp and lovitz came before the argument (that is, for a third time, stupid), but you know that. and our starting forward spot isnt a fringe argument, but you know that too.
How is this on Berhalter? Reyna has been injure for six months. It's seems possible and even likely he would have tried him in a different spots had he been healthy. Probably at a midfield spot but with him trying Aaronson there maybe he would have tried him as a false 9. With short time left I'd only try him at a new spot if he's playing there for Dortmund. I'm guessing that's in midfield but until they get a forward replacement who knows?
On a 26-man roster, we're going to have 3 strikers. Ferreira will be one of them. Then pick two of [Wright, Pefok, Dike, Sargent, Pepi]. The last 2 aren't certain at all. It will depend on what they do this Fall. Ferreira could still drop out if he goes into a slump. Now, who starts will be down to who is in the best form and who would work best against each opponent. There are still a lot of questions to be answered. There may be some surprises from GGG. What we think here means Jack Squat. Pepi and Josh are interesting because they both can play on the wing.
That’s not a low percentage shot. The pass isn’t a gimme. There’s a defender between them. If Weah trails a little bit more then it’s an easy pass. You have a striker with a clear shot on goal and you don’t want him to take it? Let’s also just forget that Wright helped start the counter.
Based on the previous/current season, our best finishers at striker are Ferreira, Pefok, and Wright. Pefok doesn’t really fit the style we play. And no, Sarge isn’t a midfielder. Dike hasn’t scored a goal since November, and Pepi since October.
Interesting development. You can sense a player like Ferreria is getting all the chances to succeed. There were some real concerning point blank misses by ferreria over the past year that a player like Haji has yet to be in to follow suit and miss similar point-blank chances. To be yanked at half can be seen as a harsh move and by my count, i counted multiple goal scoring opportunities that were first initiated by haji wright and what he does bring. Berhalter stated haji was unlucky and did not fully capitalize, but it gets back to the original question as to why a player like ferreria can get away with a lot (and subsequently pad stats vs the weakest team) and a player like Haji must be a force to be considered.
That is a low percentage shot because the keeper cut off the angle. The defender is a step ahead and so off-line between them. If you stop the ball with your left and then flick it with the outside of your right, you can make a quick pass to Weah, who is onside, who has anticipated the pass, and who is in a perfect position to put the ball in the net. Do you know why Wright didn't make that pass? Because he didn't see Weah! He only had tunnel vision for the goal. The Wright choice is an MLS-level choice. The alternative choice is a top 5 European league choice. The Wright choice is the wrong choice. This is the kind of choice that decides whether a team goes 3 and out or advances to the second round. Be football smart.
Sargent has played winger, right midfielder, central attacking midfielder, and center forward with Norwich City this season. Center forward is probably his worst position.
Hull City have made an official offer to USMNT international Haji Wright and his club SønderjyskE.Via yagosabuncuoglu pic.twitter.com/jirAdQgEvJ— Takes 🇺🇸 (@USMNTTAKES) June 18, 2022 Hull City, Haji Wright ve oyuncunun kulübü SønderjyskE’ye resmi teklif yaptı.— Yağız Sabuncuoğlu (@yagosabuncuoglu) June 18, 2022
That's a good move for him. Hull finished 19th out of 24. If he doesn't have any other offers, I'd take it.
Mentioned this in a couple other threads but the new Hull owner is a media guy from Turkey and has been pretty open about wanting to bring players from the Turkish League to Hull.
I watched his games. He played midfield sometimes. He's not a starting anything. I would take him because of his versatility and because I like gingers.
Ferreira isn't just a scorer. He has a high work rate and presses the opponents. He passed the ball well and gets a lot of assists. He can contribute in other ways even if he isn't scoring, which is why Berhalter trusts him. Pepi is another player who has a high work rate and can contribute in multiple areas. Players like Pefok, Wright, Dike, and Ebobisse are more pure scorers. Since they don't contribute as much in other areas they won't be able to move above Ferreira in the depth chart unless they can prove that they are much better at scoring than he is.
From day one of the new USMNT era (game vs Wales) GB has been tinkering with a false 9. He held on to Lletget for a while, then Gioacchini, then he tried a natural #9 in Sargent, and so on. Now looks like he is going full circle and back to his preferred false #9
Wright needed to score? then GB should have played him in the Granada game. But, it was bad luck (GB saying) that he didn't get a chance.
Gotcha. I'm not a big Ferreira fan myself. However, I never thought he would be coleader of MLS scoring mid season either. Add in that his club coach was the USMNT assistant coach and it is pretty obvious that this is one of those hotter takes. About two months ago I decided that maybe I am just wrong about him. So, we all heard you. Nobody is a big fan but nobody else is outraged either because we all see a lot of options that are all roughly at the same level. I doubt Ferreira is going to sink this ship. Indeed I would say that his floor is higher than the other forwards.