Pochettino Masterclass In The Making?

Pochettino clearly is a mad genius hatching a masterful plan: Get the USMNT to perform so poorly that the U.S. will have no expectations of its national soccer team for the upcoming world cup. This will remove all pressure from what will now be an underdog team with a point to prove. The A players will show up raring to go and the U.S. will win each match 15-0 on the way to a shocking world cup title. There's not way that can fail!

 

If that was his plan it’s backfiring because the “replacement” guys are doing so poorly it puts no pressure on the A Team guys.

 

Camel, meet needle.

 

Alternatively they could be thinking pfffttt and starting to line up their tee times for the next time they expect to be called in because they know Poch won't kill his reputation on these guys.

 

That said, he clearly wasn’t trying to get a result from either friendly. I do believe he will try to win the Gold Cup, so I don’t think we’ll see several of the guys that played in the friendlies when the games begin to matter.

 

Well I don't think he's hiding any secret ammo. The Gold Cup guys will be guys drawn from the guys who played in the friendlies. But yeah, some of them may not play or will hardly play.

 

I think we did fine and I was encouraged following the Turkey match.

The Switzerland, one was a disaster of epic proportions.

Props to Poch, for being accountable, following the match.

I’m hoping for a solid performance in the gold cup, moving forward.

at this point, color, me concerned. And most of my concerns are around our Coach.

 

This can be revisited for further discussion after the Gold Cup.
If we get grouped Poch's "master class" will be a failure and he should be replaced by just about any coach that is both moderately competent and available.
If we get out of our group but no further then I will be willing to say Poch's stay through the WC should be tentative and reevaluated closely.
If we win even one knockout round match he should be almost a lock to continue.
If we win the whole thing or even lose in the semis then Poch is a solid lock to get the USA to the WC.

There are scenarios where that does not work for me but they will be fringe cases.

Personally, so far, Poch is a big disappointment for me but he just "could" be lulling the rest of the world into a false sense of security.

 

The Turkey match was fine. Obviously, you need to cut down on mistakes, but the team there can win the GC.

 

Lol we're not getting "grouped" this is friggin Concacaf not the World Cup or Copa America or Euros

We are in a region with countries like Guadaloupe and Martinique and El Salvador that can't afford soccer fields

 

You hit it on the nose! I had no worries after game 1, but after game 2 and stuff I read/heard, I am almost in favor of firing Pochettino. He got the roster epically WRONG, bringing in players who were clearly and utterly not up to the level of competition. Poch should have known that ahead of time. Where was his scouting of his own prospective players? Based on the game performance, it was minimal bordering on hearsay or none at all. To me, that is an acceptable reason to fire him given the few opportunities to get players together.

Further, from what I understand from listening to Pulisic, he volunteered to come and play the friendlies. That tells me that McKennie and Weah might have done the same (and possibly Musah). Poch apparently declined CP's offer/request, saying he wanted only one roster for the two sets of events. That was a massive decision error and the US was forced to embarrass itself as a consequence. My 2 cents.

 

We don't have to "go to Central America" because the US is hosting the Gold Cup just like it hosts EVERY Gold Cup.

As for comparing the Gold Cup group stage to traveling for World Cup qualification:
The US has lost one Gold Cup group stage game ever.

In this case we just have to beat, at home, a two small poor island nations that are barely functional.
I'm guessing you don't have to worry about criminal gangs led by cannibals taking over your city?

 

Once again US soccer screwed everything up extending a coach beyond one cycle. Foreign coach, domestic coach, Gulati, no Gulati, the Fed keeps shooting their own foot incessantly.

If this was the beginning of a cycle we’d be right on time. Yes this absolutely looks bad and there is some real weird choices being made.

However it’ll be easy to say this after the dust settles, but difficult now; Poch is a good manager and the right man for the job.

This will come together at the WC, similar to disaster of a qualifying campaign in ‘02. We will have decent showing this GC and at least make the final imo.

 

In his press conference announcing the roster, Pochettino was asked about some of the European-based players left off in favor of MLS players. He said the players were at the same level. Tuesday night showed that’s simply not true.

this is deeply concerning.

 

spot on and I pretty much agree with all of this.



(for some reason, I can’t copy and paste the first part of your post).
However it’ll be easy to say this after the dust settles, but difficult now; Poch is a good manager and the right man for the job.

This will come together at the WC, similar to disaster of a qualifying campaign in ‘02. We will have decent showing this GC and at least make the final imo.[/QUOTE]
This is the part where I disagree.

it’s a difficult time to be coaching, especially in the United States.

understanding the culture, understanding the player pool, understanding the timeline, these are critical variables to immediately get on top of.

Poch did an outstanding job at Tottenham, but certainly had mixed reviews at his other stops.
There is more to coaching a national team, than a club. The learning curve was always going to be steep.

I’m not as optimistic as you about our future, though I am hopeful regarding the gold cup. Certainly, we will know more about Poch, following these next few matches.

His performance has left much to be desired, at this juncture.

 

He doesn't know the players. Watching the tapes obviously beneath him.

 

This is the part where I disagree.

it’s a difficult time to be coaching, especially in the United States.

understanding the culture, understanding the player pool, understanding the timeline, these are critical variables to immediately get on top of.

Poch did an outstanding job at Tottenham, but certainly had mixed reviews at his other stops.
There is more to coaching a national team, than a club. The learning curve was always going to be steep.

I’m not as optimistic as you about our future, though I am hopeful regarding the gold cup. Certainly, we will know more about Poch, following these next few matches.

His performance has left much to be desired, at this juncture.[/QUOTE]

I completely understand your reasoning

This is the part where I disagree.

it’s a difficult time to be coaching, especially in the United States.

understanding the culture, understanding the player pool, understanding the timeline, these are critical variables to immediately get on top of.

Poch did an outstanding job at Tottenham, but certainly had mixed reviews at his other stops.
There is more to coaching a national team, than a club. The learning curve was always going to be steep.

I’m not as optimistic as you about our future, though I am hopeful regarding the gold cup. Certainly, we will know more about Poch, following these next few matches.

His performance has left much to be desired, at this juncture.[/QUOTE]

That’s all fair, but for one thing Poxh was a shining success at Espanyol and Southampton, both of which are more analogous to us, as he took a bunch of underdog kids and whipped them into shape.

I just don’t see any evidence in my years of following this team that the run up to the World Cup has anything at all to do with how we perform in the actual tournament, if anything the inverse is true.

He’s the best manager we’ve ever had by miles, that doesn’t guarantee anything, but it’s not nothing.

 

I think not. I think you are imposing order on what is actually seat-of-the-pants chaos.

 

Here are my concerns

1. He was hired, almost as a backlash/reaction to his predecessor.
2. He’s never coached a national team, before.
3. There’s no evidence that he is scouting players.
4. There is evidence that he’s hobnobbing in Argentina and Europe (perhaps not taking the job as seriously, as expected despite getting paid $6 million a year.) he’s expected to move on back to Europe following the World Cup.
5. As of yet, Pochettino doesn’t seem interested in recruiting dual nationals, much.
6. Concerns and criticism were expressed following historical losses/poor performances, on our home soil in the CONCACAF Nations cup versus Panama and Canada.
7. 6. He’s 5-5 since taking over including the first 4 consecutive match, losing streak since 2007. His three consecutive losses and his first 10 matches (now four) tied a record by Manny Schellscheidt back in 1975, that’s 50 years.
8. First time the United States has shipped four goals in a half since 1980.
9. First time the United States has not had a shot on goal in a match since playing Argentina, Copa America 2016.
10. He’s not American and doesn’t understand the complex nature of the culture, players, fans. Some, might see this as an advantage, I do not.
11. First time I can recall key players taking a break a year before a World Cup.
12. The starting lineup against Switzerland was almost in the abomination/clueless category.
13. Poch doesn’t seem to have a handle on the player pool less than a year before the World Cup 2026.
14. Former players, Casey, Keller and DaMarcus Beasley have spoken publicly about how bad the United States looked, Against Switzerland.

This is worse than the usual concerns. We have enjoyed a year out from the World Cup.

 

If these guys win Gold Cup, then that would place some pressure on the A Team guys who it should be remembered had failed against Panama, Canada, and Mexico. Defeating bulk of Saudi, Canada, Panama, T&T, and Mexico enroute to winning the title would especially place pressure on the A-Team guys.

As for the friendlies, with a high-quality MLS-level keeper, at worst, the team loses 2-0 to Switzerland. There were other areas that could've been tweaked, such as using a true defender at left back. Switzerland scored 4 against an xG of 2.27.

 

Well, it worked in 1993-1994, otoh, didn't really work 2015-2017.

 

It also worked in 2002 after the 1998 debacle.

 

Okay but besides all that things are looking pretty good right?