Post-match: New Zealand friendly

After seeing this performance, I wonder if Pochettino regrets taking the job yet.

Yes, I know he wasn't the coach today before everyone says it.

 

Fossey and Aiden Morris handled themselves well.

I thought McKenzie and Wiley were good before the disaster goal.

Team needs to rebuild midfield Musah is broken right now.

Matthew Doyle on X: "This window was good for my “Nkosi Tafari to the USMNT” agenda." / X

 

Does this mean we aren't going to win The World Cup?

 

This window has solidified for me, more than anything, how much we need to get more aggressive on defense.

All three goals we gave up were on terrible defensive mistakes. Just total boners. And we need to fix those. But if we flip the logic ... we're also no longer creating those. We never created a ton of immediate chances with our press, but we created enough. More importantly, it created a whole lot of those midfield turnovers that are half transition chances, which is where we got most of our goals.

Toss in general lethargy and a complete lack of focus, and I just wonder if Poch can even drive forward how much the team needs to bring a much higher level of intensity and focus. You don't win anything with errors like Wiley's, and we simply make those waaaay too often. Multiple times a game.

I hope so. I'm fine with basically leaving anyone out at this point to drive that home.

I'm not sure we learned all that much, but I guess that we saw good performances from Morris, that Fossey has at least the mindset to get a shot against a tougher team, and ... I think if there's a #1 going into October, it's probably Schulte.

I thought McKenzie looked a lot better than he has before, though the lack of pressure was certainly a benefit. Pepi worked okay in a role he won't be asked to play much again, I don't think. Anything else? Given the competition, it's all pretty meh.

 

Were I a conspiracy theorist, I'd almost argue that they're tanking it on purpose to make Poch look better next window. Or that somebody really, really hates Varas and wanted him to go down in history as winless even against Canada and the Kiwis.

But that would be ridiculous.

Anyhow, this is officially the low point. At some point in a little less than 2 years ago, we'll have to remember that this team was so feckless that they couldn't even beat New Zealand.

 

Wow same guy same dumb comment!

 

Pochettino is more than anything a motivator. This is an opportunity for him. The problem is between the ears team-wide. It's hard to understand why they are so listless and unfocused and make so many absurdly stupid errors, but... they're doing it. And guys like Poch who are known for being motivators get into players' heads and get them to turn that around, to focus, to get the fire and the belief back.

 

My big question with Poch is that the way he tends to win makes a lot of sense at club, but how much of it will he be able to get done as a national team coach? He's compelling, I'm sure, but if the players simply think they can come into camp and things will just pick up, I think they are wrong.

 

Two moments tonight aside, I am sorely, sorely disappointed in Musah this window. And honestly, he hasn't been good for us in several windows. Since last year, really. I don't know why. He hasn't been bad at AC Milan, and though he isn't a first-choice starter, he does get reasonable minutes there.

Musah's a guy who I honestly thought would be a Poch guy, a guy primed to really benefit from him. Maybe he will, but right now he's not exactly making a case for himself. The other two guys that I'm really frustrated with are Johnny and Chris Richards. They're supposed to be much better than they've been for us.

 

this is the low point we needed. We needed this. Poch can begin to build now, from the very bottom. Im not even disappointed. We needed this.

 

Totally. But these players don't suck this much ass when they're not in the national team camp. I mean, a guy like Johnny especially. USMNT Johnny and Real Betis Johnny aren't the same player. It's like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers thing happens his first night of camp.

Whatever it is with our team culture, it was festering for a while, and we've seen it, but it's now gone metastatic.

 

The Bad: We're terrible.

The Ugly: We're terrible.

The Good:

---------------------EPL----------------------
Jupiler-----EPL------Ligue1-----SerieB
Ch'ship---Ch'ship---SerieA---Ch'ship
------------Ligue1----Ered----------------

>>>

Austrian2nd------EPL--------------Ered
---A-League----Norway-----Greece---
SerieA---A-League---MLS--A-League
----------------LeagueOne-----------------

On paper we're definitely much better.

 

I didn't think Musah was bad tonight. And yes I know his mistake nearly led to a goal, and it was a hell of a time to have a brain fart. But I watched him all half - he anticipated, he tackled, he carried the ball forward, and didn't seem to miss anything. I think at this point people are expecting him to screw up, so they jump on the one time he does. Granted, it was a big screw up, but I think many observers have lost perspective on him.

 

I think there were quite a few positives... and I don't think people should be dumping on Wiley and McKenzie too much for the goal.... it wasn't the cleanest reaction from either but that was 95% goof-luck.

Morris and Fossey each had very good appearances at positions of need. That is huge for our team IMO. And aside from said goof-goal... McKenzie had a solid game as well at CB... which is also a position of weakness for sure. I also thought Aaronson and Lund followed up their Canada performances.

From a negative standpoint, I thought Musah was very poor again. His talent/potential just pops but he is giving the ball away far too often in the worst locations/situations. The subs outside of CP did not play all that well. LDLT played relatively solid but the rest were underwhelming to flat out poor. And that includes Tillman... again. I have been repping this guy's talent often around these parts because I love his ceiling and club-play performances... I thought he had turned the corner in the Canada game but he went right back to dismal USMNT self in this one. He had a single nice thru ball but the rest was awful. He has that Gio thing going where it looks like he isn't going full speed... and that is unacceptable in this situation. Someone needs to talk to this guy (and Gio IMO) about the importance of body language. It makes him look lazy when things are not going well.

Overall grades:
Turner: B+
Fossey: A-
Richards: A-
McKenzie: B+
Lund: A
Morris: A-
Musah: D
Aaronson: B+
Wright: C
Balogun: B+
Pepi: B+

LDLT: B
CP: A-
Tillman: C-
Cowell: C-
Cardoso: C
Wiley: C+

 

I think the bigger worry is that it doesn't seem like anyone other than Pulisic and a couple of new guys are even fighting it. You got your ass handed to you by Canada and this was your response?

I can believe that Poch can turn around the WC roster -- that team did play with intensity and fire, even if they did make some mistakes. But there's a decent number of changes since them, and I'm not entirely convinced the balance of the team hasn't shifted from that fire to something else. We'll see.

Bigger picture concern is this: Poch's teams are always incredibly fit, run a ton, outwork other teams. He's a very detailed tactical manager who works intently on defining positions on the field. And he's also known for pushing improvement in his players.

As a club coach, he has full control and a ton of time. But how many of these guys -- who express no urgency in a game -- are going to get into elite shape for the national team if their club doesn't require it? How many are going to study up film Poch seems likely to send them in advance of camp? How many are going to work on a skill for the national team that club may not prioritize?

That's his formula. Now, I'm not saying that the team can't improve with less than that -- lord knows they can from NOW, and even from the 2022 team. But to get anywhere near what Poch wants will require these guys to do work outside of camp.

And I'm having trouble squaring the intensity level of this team with that kind of work.

But perhaps they are just waiting for anyone to lead. I hope so.

 

No, he’s not an overreacting fan yelling at the tv.

He as well as anyone would understand the context of this being a rather pointless transition window. And like any relatively good coach coming into a new situation, he’ll be largely focused on fitting pieces to system, not what anyone else has done with the talent on hand.

 

My guess is that in either the October or the following window he will do something like throw Wes overboard if he's overweight or whatever, and make that serve as an example to the group of what has to change.

 

It's the opposite for me. He was a World Cup starter, plays at Milan and only Tillman comes anywhere close in terms of physical and tool potential.

And he was passive. He had more mistakes than that one, but it was far more that the team rolled with what, three regular outfield starters and he did not assert himself one iota against a much weaker team.

You'd think Aidan Morris was the veteran starter watching this game.

 

Aidan was definitely more aggressive defensively, but Musah had several line breaking runs and then put the ball in an attacking position. He definitely needs to play with a Morris (or Adams or Maloney) next to him, but I didn't think he was passive at all.

 

I'm just a little worried he's going to throw half the pool!

I know it's not likely that bad, but I do think a lot of the personnel changes of the post-WC era here have been relentlessly towards finesse players with lower intensity and work rates pretty much across the board.

It doesn't help to miss Adams, Weah, Jedi and good McKennie, of course -- toss in Christian and that's a quorum on outfield players who do seem to bring it most games, although Weston has been a swing vote. But there's something to critical mass, and we didn't have it.

I'd be fine with leaving home many of the soft players and only bringing the ones you kind of have to (Chris Richards, I am talking to you) in the hopes that they will follow the crowd. (As an aside, I think Richards was captain today to TRY and get him to step up in a leadership role on defense.)

But then again, maybe Poch will whip them all into shape much easier than I think.

 

We'll have to disagree. I think he disappeared in general, had a couple of good plays that he did his usual hanging onto the ball too long thing. He should have owned the midfield against New Zealand.

Maybe Poch will unlock that.

 

For all the hating on mls I bet you having mls guys would play with more then this group of players