Stu & Alexi showed their depth chart right after the game. They crushed the midfield.... Starters - Reyna, Adams, Mckennie Bench - Musah, Bradley, Lletget Depth - Aaronson, Yeuill, Roldan This is a great write up MB90.... 21. Michael Bradley | 35 | Midfielder | Toronto FC With Adams and McKennie firmly embedded in the U.S. midfield, Berhalter won't necessarily need the defensive cover and steel that Bradley brings to the table. There's no doubting his leadership would be a boon to a very young squad even if he might not quite fit the high-speed direction of the national team.
What did Bradley do, or vice versa, to jump over yeuill? I thought everyone was in agreement that yeuill had passed MB? Plus, wasn't torontos best form when MB was injured n they didn't lose a game?
LOL. The upcoming? Corruption that is being done to have Bradley ride the curtails of the next generation into the 2022 World Cup is disgusting. Videos were put out of Bradley jogging like an ass in both the 2010 World Cup (after the worst pass to clark in US WC history) and in 2018 vs Colombia while holding the Armband. MB90 on the team Will be a major Locker room issue again. They already pinning this crap on Brooks again, by making up a qoute that Cherundolo did not say. Lets blame Brooks again, so Bradley can be disguised and all is normal.
PLAYERS UNION/ MASSIVE LAWSUIT. USA players.... you have every right to be the legitimate #23 in 2 years if we make it. DONT LET CORRUPTION steal your dream. on a side note: nobody talks about Bradley anymore. Which is a good thing for Bradley as well. it shows we just want him to move on. They got to keep forcing him on us.
They are just guys who paid to say what they are told. I'd like to see more of Johnny Cardosa. He looked really composed in his 20+ minutes. He has so much more potential than what we have been watching. For context, Johnny just turned 19 in September, Yeuill turns 24 in March and Bradley turns 34 in July. Otosowie is a physical specimen who is comfortable on the ball as well. Lets go with slow white guys who are limited players.
Well you can pick the likes of Lletget, Roldan, Bradley, Altidore, Zardes, if you want to win in 2022 , or you can give the likes of Reyna, Weah, Dest, Musah, Sargent valuable experience of playing in the World Cup. Tbh the less experienced players probably have as much chance of reaching the QF as the old guard, so why not focus on them?
I don't think Dest is as good on the left, but others do. Time will tell. But if you can get away with only brining 3 FBs, like the USWNT in 2019, that would allow you to bring an extra forward. Having an extra forward would allow you to bring Altidore. Altidore and one of Sargent and Zardes is asking or injury trouble a la 2014. But if you can bring all three, or any two and Altidore, then you are covered. But younger players are coming for all these guys. I also don't agree you have to have older players or experience. Plenty of experience in the last Hex. Plenty of older players. Further, Roldan and Lletget and Zardes have zero WC experience and only 17', between them, of Hex experience. Just because you are old, doesn't mean you have experience. Brooks, Ream, Pulisic, Morris, Altidore have experience; do you need more than that?
Since this is the Berhalter coaching thread, thought I'd stop in and say thanks to Gregg for doing well against Panama. All in all, this window turned out to be really interesting. First thing he did well was the midfield. Musah was a big deal and not a lot of people considered it even a possibility so props on the recruiting front. Also, goodbye to the way the 6 had been played under Berhalter along with the more static midfield setups and hello to a midfield constructed of three dynamos with Adams at the base. This is a big, dramatic change and very much in line with what a lot of people had been hoping for. Then, you move to the front three and we saw a tale of two games there. Game one, the false 9 journeyman midfielder up top and a lot of confusion. Frankly, this line was a disaster in the first game, but letting the kids get some experience and bang in some goals was a really nice way to go in the second. This setup had the additional advantage of letting Reyna drift centrally as he prefers and saw us get more out of him as well. So up top, horrible first game, much better in the second. On the backline, not a lot happened, no big changes just more looks at where best to play Dest and whether he compliments Cannon or Robinson best. I honestly don't think much got settled because Dest was obviously the best fullback, while Cannon and Robinson were both decent but neither being revelatory. With Dest being better on the right, this issue will keep cropping up if it doesn't just keep bouncing back and forth throughout the cycle. Would have liked to have seen more of Richards, especially considering Miazga's struggles so nothing really progressed there either. We didn't really learn much of anything about the center backs we didn't already know and we didn't get much accomplished as afar as time together for a lead pair or any potential additional pairings. Basically a push along the backline. In goal, he went with Steffan as expected. I'd have liked to have seen Horvath get a half somewhere just to keep him in the mix, but nope. So an understandable but uninteresting series for our goalies. Basically, Steffan is the man and anyone else is going to have to really do something to change it if it is possible to change at all. First game subs came too late and made little difference, kind of blew it in that game. In the second game, more players got chances in places they were able to perform and they came in sooner, much better job not only with opening game plan but with subs in the second game. I'm going to give Berhalter a B- for the window. He got a lot of guys games and developed a much better new midfield setup and seems to be settling in on how we will play up top. He's also showing increased flexibility and a willingness to alter his system to fit the pieces available. But, the first game was a wasted opportunity and nothing was settled along the backline while the front line was more or less limited progress in game 2 after a disaster in game 1.
I thought Reyna played on the left most of the first-half. He drifted over to the right a couple of times but he spent very little time centrally.
You're probably right. I felt like I saw him be able to drift more behind the play with some players in front of him more often where he is better passing, but that can happen wide as well.
Caleb Porter just won his second MLS championship with a different team. I always liked the style of play he brings to his teams. I wonder if one day he may get a chance or did he burn too many bridges to get a chance.
I had the exact same thought. Impressive coach, albeit maybe a bit difficult to get along with for some folks.
And here I was told the reason Berhalter never won anything in MLS is because you couldn't expect that of someone coaching Columbus. With the money they spend there, no one could win anything. Hm.
I believe it's been pointed out several times that with new ownership, the team went out and got players like Nagbe, Mensah and Lucas Zelarayan -- the latter being the clear difference in this game. Throwing in $10M+ in player acquisition costs and probably another $5M+ in salary in MLS is a pretty substantial upgrade. The Crew had under a $11M payroll in 2019; no one's published 2020 but I'm betting the increase is close to 40%.
Didn't realize their was an ownership change. \Guess I was under the impression that they were still quite a way under the top spending teams in the league. So, now they're one of the big spenders for players? Coaching change didn't make any difference, got it.
Perhaps the coaching change did make a difference. But the roster and payroll changed substantially as well.
Look at LA Galaxy and their payroll. There is a perfect case of buying expensive won't get you a championship.
When did I say spending guaranteed a championship? Point me to the team that has won MLS Cup recently with a low payroll, though. Seattle, Toronto, Atlanta are all near the top in payroll, transfer fees or both. Columbus and Portland both spent for star players, even if the their payrolls weren't necessarily at Toronto's level. SKC in 2013 was probably the last team to win without being near the top in acquiring talent. This shouldn't be a shock -- it's how it works in every league. I'm not even sure the point of the argument except people like to say anything to criticize Berhalter.