oh yeah? bringing in a guy on the eve of the world cup bumping and/or moving ahead of established players (pepi, ferreira) with almost no previous involvement? and not being very good to boot? theres certainly something absurd here...
Yeah MLS' own Matt Doyle has been pushing that line, which is what makes me suspect Gregg is already closing in on a new deal with US Soccer. Six of the eight quarterfinalists have coaches in their second cycle (five of those consecutively). https://t.co/Lfk4q8dVLr— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) December 7, 2022 Most of the teams in the quarterfinals are either footballing powerhouses that win World Cups (Brazil, Argentina, France, England), or in the second tier that go far and compete for big trophies (Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia)... the only one of the eight that is not is Morocco... do they have a second cycle coach or a significantly newer coach than that? < thinking emoji > "there goes the narrative"
Haji Wright has been involved with the US setup since he was like 15 or something. He's fought his way in Europe for years as an American probably even keeping in touch with many of his former youth national team teammates. He was brought in to a pre World Cup camp months before the tournament. I agree that he was a shock selection, but his situation is nothing like Regis'.
I know for a fact that at least one team in Italy with an American owner is at least monitoring Gregg. Teams in Italy with American owners include Roma, Milan, Spezia, Parma, Genoa, Venezia, Florentino, and this is cheating but Bologna. Roma and Milan I know for a fact are nor searching for a manager. But I do think Europeans were a bit more impressed with our performance at the World Cup than Americans were. Take that however you'd like to. Now again I am a proponent of 1 cycle coaches, but I also think from how Gregg runs the national team he'd be an attractive option for European Clubs. Cannot rule out the possibility, though unlikely, of a short term extension to take over somewhere in Europe at seasons end
That was if Gregg started Ferreira vs Iran (as some on this board were suggesting, it was a response to those projected lineups, not some statement out of the blue) in a must win game after not playing him at all in the previous two games. But Gregg did not, because even Gregg is smarter than the Gregg fanboys who don't know talent evaluation or soccer in general and so just select lineups with whoever they think genius Gregg would put in, which is how they end up with guys like Long and Ferreira starting (or Lletget or Zardes once upon a time) and then Gregg hangs them out to dry because he's not as dumb as his fan club, and actually does learn some things over time even if it's not quite as fast as some would hope. Of course he did finally start Ferreira vs Netherlands and it was the soccer version of a horrific terrorist attack, which is why he pulled him at halftime... The point is, some people are actually capable of independent thought (maybe even know ball a little bit) and don't just regurgitate what they think Gregg will do like Baath Party loyalists.
So because Morocco hired their coach only months before the World Cup, that's what we should do? Got it.
Man that dude is just a narrative provider for the pro-Gregg contingent. His rejoinder ("Sometimes I criticize him!") is weak, because he reliably backs him on all the major in-or-out decision points.
I think maybe if you almost never criticize Gregg or his decisions, it's possible you are more of a Berhalter guy" than you care to admit? "This cycle where we had the most talented player pool in USMNT history was a big improvement over the previous cycle which was the single biggest disaster in USMNT history." ...Well yeah, but that doesn't really tell us anything useful.
yeah, hes boys with pulisic and mckennie- you dont get +1s to the world cup. he played 29 more minutes than regis before their respective world cup debuts. hes played just over a third as many minutes as p-funk, who has been roundly dismissed for more than 2 years for not having "experience in the team". you can go ahead and pivot to form, if you want- just make sure you dont dont check the numbers against pepi, sarge or ferreira. but please, tell us more about how he celebrated getting drafted by the galaxy with apple pie, which is why its totally different
I'm not sure of Gregg's overall reputation in Europe. He flamed pretty hard at his one gig there for offensive reasons. His teams pretty much played the same since. So I assume it's going to be a team who will want to consolidate and nab a few big wins. So you're probably not getting mid tier teams with an ambition to rise. Again, could be totally off base and he may be viewed as a tactical genius. I don't see too many teams jumping to sign him because he is American and like it or not there's that stigma right now. They could probably get a cheaper European coach who would do the same things. My guess is Gregg is simply trying to leverage for a bigger contract. Which is smart. I personally do not rate Gregg as a manager. He is making the same mistakes he did two years ago, late subs, late or no tactical adjustments after the opposing team adjusts. Just a general rigid play style that hampers offensive flow and scoring. What he does well is build a cohesive team and a good culture. At the club level he will be able to overachieve because of his ability to get a team to defend, but needs the right offensive players to play his vision out. Much easier to do at club level. So I hope he goes over seas and does awesome. There's really no need to bring him back as the US coach though, gotta be better.
In the Swedish second division. With the Swedish equivalent of a superclub. Backed by AEG money. Gregg was so horrific that the fans broke in and confronted him en masse!! Klinsmann is heading to Tottenham!!
Shocking news flash from the city: Journalist employed by MLS is pro-MLS. Seriously, what do people expect Matt Doyle to be? He's PAID BY MLS. Of course he's going to be pro-Berhalter. He'd also be pro-anybody else who formerly coached or played in the league. That's HIS JOB. Shrug. I think Berhalter was a good choice for this "transition" cycle. Provided a good environment that players wanted to be a part of as he almost completely turned over the squad to the young players. Was excellent at recruiting dual nationals. Won the Gold Cup. Won the Nations League. Qualified for the World Cup. Advanced to the knockout rounds at the World Cup. Check. Check. Check. Check. He did everything we could expect. I DO NOT think the talent level of the USMNT is that of a top 8 national team in the world. So, there's that. All cycle I heard the doomsday folks freaking out about results. Psychologists would call it "calamity thinking." Why would any dual-nationals want to play for Berhalter!? We're going to suck at the Gold Cup and Nations League!!! Berhalter should get fired! We aren't going to qualify for the World Cup with Berhalter! Fire him now! We can't possibly advance from the Group stage with Berhalter! It's a disaster! None of the doomsday scenarios actually occurred until the frickin' round of 16 at the World Cup. Would I rehire Berhalter? No. I think we need a better X's and O's guy if we expect to exceed this level of performance at the 2026 World Cup. But the negativity about Berhalter goes completely over the top. Its like people on this board can't admit that they were wrong about EVERYTHING this cycle. Their doomsday predictions were a waste of emotional energy. Where's the accountability. Like the person who started a thread with a title of "We won't make it out of the group phase if Weston McKennie starts." Hello? That person was demonstrably as wrong as you could get. 100% wrong. Who would take that person seriously ever again?
No one is shocked, at least you can admit that's what's happening here unlike say @don Lamb so good for you 1. Well it's interesting that you say that, I would not have guessed it from your posts nothing from them necessary reflects that to be your view... 2. Why so much focus on people who are total nutjobs? That is almost like a straw man argument, in that they're easy enough to knock down. Are there really no criticisms that are more legitimate than that? "Where's the accountability?" You mean for nutjobs and their bad opinions, what are you suggesting, old school "Cuckoos Nest" style institutionalization? I never got all worked up over some "We won't make it out of the group if McKennie starts" thread... know why? I didn't know such a thread even exists. That's what ignore lists are for!
If I were involved in the decision my biggest question would be whether I was convinced the next coach could truly integrate the younger players into the Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Dest (Wright, Acosta?) core. They’ve been together for a long time and are very fond of each other. For me it’s a big question given decisions around Gio, Scalley and Pepi. I’m not saying I couldn’t be convinced….but I’d need to be convinced.
Only thing I'll point out about Gregg at Hammarby. While yes he was fired for a lack of offense. He took over a team that was 11th in the second division before he got there and got them to 4th. So it's not like he was completely inept either
I'm not disputing Berhalter's record at Hammarby, but they are not remotely "the Swedish equivalent of a superclub". They've won the Allvenskan exactly one time, in 2001.
That ought to be non-negotiable. It is straight up mismanagement not to be integrating the next generation talents into the mix in a logical and understandable way. It would be criminal (not literally) not to do so at the current stage of US talent development. There is no defensible explanation for protecting the current core from competition at their positions because they like each other. How well players blend to form a team that is greater than the sum of their parts has very little to do with friendship. The Fed will really be making an historic blunder if they keep Berhalter through 2026 (or even for longer than one more year).
Basically where I'm at. I think he will try to improve, but I think the bigger improvement will come from players. I think he's better than a LOT of options, probably most, but there's definitely improvements out there. I would say this: I think the people constantly freaking out about Reyna will find that Berhalter will incorporate him substantially going forward. He's always been a Berhalter favorite, but his lack of availability coming into the Cup is something we know can be an issue, especially since his role would be similar to Pulisic out there. On the flip, we're not breaking from Earnie's general principles even if Berhalter goes. And it'll be interesting to see what he learns from this World Cup. We rode our horses, and I imagine that was influenced by the failure @Panama with a fully rotated squad and the success @AZTECA when we chose not to punt a game (very similar to the tie v England). The other thing is ... I think as the pool actually improves, we'll have less depth issues there. I think people are a bit exuberant over the quality of some of the reserves.
I think both would have been similar. They would have pushed for something more proactive and then pulled back at the World Cup. Jurgen perhaps even moreso as he's simple more aware of the gap in quality to the endstate. Look at LVG. The Netherlands is more talented and deeper than us, and he went conservative. Jurgen would have tried, but he knows we ain't Germany. I frankly find it a bizarre that people want to be more proactive as a means to get further in the tournament. We could have played more proactive to perhaps more cleanly get out of the group, but do people really think we should have been more aggressive against the Netherlands --> Argentina --> Brazil? We could play more offensive, or we could play for results. But I feel like people are simultaneously claiming we didn't win pretty enough but we also needed to play a more winning style... Loading up on offense against better teams is not a winning strategy.
Maybe "superclub" is an exaggeration but I believe the big clubs in Sweden are AIK, Hammarby, and Djurgarden in Stockholm, and then Malmo and Gothenburg...
I still believe in a lot of the elements behind it. But yeah, there's the flipside, that 8 years of consistent work and play together makes a much more cohesive squad. And also self-selection -- really good coaches last longer. But yeah, definitely makes me question some of my assumptions there.
No club (of any size) is hiring Gregg. But the USSF will renew his contract because its run by amateurs and it's just the easy thing to do. He did an acceptable job, but really only that. He should get an appreciation dinner and wished well, but he's not the right guy to move the program forward from here. By every metric, the team was consistently way too imponent on offense to expect any better going forward, so keeping him is a statement about the soccer culture in the US: "top 20 is fine with us."