We used to bemoan the Lost Generation. I think we will look back on this time from Berhalter to Poch and bemoan the Misled Generation. We've never had more players playing at a high level. We've never had worse coaching.
Badge FC means nothing. All that matters is the grit and heart you show when you put on your nation's colours. This generation has not shown that aside from the '22 World Cup and a few games against Mexico.
I think players competing at high levels means something. We had one coach who asked a group of young players to think their way through games and play his system, even though it wasn't a good fit for them. We had a stretch of interim coaches. Now we have a coach who is making poor call-up decisions, has a flawed defensive setup, and yet another coach who seems determined to force the team to play a system ill-suited for them. What we lack is talented players being placed in positions to succeed, playing their natural game, and playing on instinct in a system designed for their strengths. And I suspect the incohesion has created a culture of indifference, driven by player frustration. Players know when their coaches are not good enough.
Unfortunately we won't know until it's too late. If Poch and staff are trying out guys - and have the sense to see who is not making the cut - what else are they supposed to do? (although I think I could have saved them a few experiments) but there are some real danger signs. I think the most egregious is Ream. If there's a place the "lazy" tag might really make sense with Poch is sticking with Ream for 90 every game. That's a big risk to take on a player his age - and more importantly, I'd say we need a few others to step up and take charge. Adams and CP should be the other "leaders" on the field for this team and it does not feel like they are directing things enough to my eye - esp Adams. Maybe he grows into it, but he's in the perfect spot to be a midfield general and on-field coach, he has the abilities and I hope he steps up more going forward. I don't understand why we ignored the width so much - esp Sarge. Once Balo started going wide it opened things up a bit. Otherwise the SK box was so packed that we never got good opportunities. Weah was ignored much too much in the 1st half - no balls over the top and the diagonal for him to run onto - which he's good at and which opens space for us - and set him up to drop at times and take on defenders... Dunno why he was ignored - instructions or lack of vision, but seemed weird. We really tried to force it down the middle so much and there was very little room to operate there and we're not that kind of team.
I already responded to Clint Re: "Zawadski is a CB not a DM" on the other board, but fine I'll post it here: [NOTE THIS WAS ALL BEFORE THE ROLDAN CALL UP] 1. Zawadski is listed as a midfielder on the roster, not as a defender. 2. Zawadski is the only other defensive midfielder on the roster besides Tyler Adams, so unless Adams is going to play 180 minutes, which would be unwise given his injury history, Zawadski seems likely to play as a defensive midfielder. 3. On the other hand the roster has 4 CBs, which ones are you expecting Zawadski to play ahead of at CB? Not sure why you mentioned CCV as he's not here. So Zawadski ahead of who out of Richards, Ream, Banks, Blackmon? 4. If Zawadski is used as a midfielder, and we're fine with Poch omitting the "McKennie, Johnny, Musah, Tessmann, etc." group of midfielders from this roster, that leaves Aidan Morris and maybe James Sands as the alternatives Poch didn't go with, but Morris top of the list based on recent performances: 1962457644741939573 is not a valid tweet id
Also you'll never guess how "frustrating" it is arguing with two people who think the only reason someone may prefer Malik Tillman to Cristian Roldan is because "Clint, Tillman plays in Yurp. Roldan plays in MLS. That’s as deep as the analysis goes." How's that looking? Congrats to Roldan on his 38th cap today by the way...
Impressive! Whatever happens Poch will always have that huge 2-0 victory over Panama in a meaningless friendly in his USMNT coaching debut, thanks to Yunus Musah who he turned into a wide player and then stopped calling up so he could start Sebastian Berhalter in the midfield in 7 of the last 8 games!
Well the Korean coach probably isn't telling their fans that all the games he's losing don't matter because it's not the World Cup yet... not sure how US Soccer is supposed to sell overpriced tickets for friendlies to USMNT fans when this is the message coming from the coach after yet another loss: Headline quote from Pochettino: "We need to start winning when the World Cup starts."
Check the date. That was written last summer, after Tillman’s stint with Rangers. Not his season with PSV. You should deploy your search engine wizardry to find our comments about Tillman this summer. Me, I thought he and Luna were the players to get excited about. Im not sure how I feel about having a stalker though. Mostly honored, I guess.
pochettion has not once had his full pool healthy for callups...theres always guys out with injurues or whatever but he is running the show like he has 3 or 4 years to figure it out.... he doesnt. he is clueless beyond belief. i simly cannot believe how badly he is managing this team
poch actually doesn't know what he's doing. this really isn't even an MLS vs USMNT/Euro thing anymore. the reality is this guy literally should not be coaching this team. like he really seems kinda off his rocker in these press conferences. either that, or he has far too much inherent disdain for american soccer that he cannot be trusted with this job.
he clearly is just saying what he needs to say to keep the job as long as he can....i mean, getting this salary with such little accountability. its a dream for any charlatan.....we saw the same with klinsman and ggg.....theyre gonna say what they need to to manage the narrative nowadays, managing the public narrative is perhaps the most important aspect of a managers job security.....and poch is slick talking......i mean, people who know whats up arent buying his snake oil......but enough will to keep him in power.....its all so nauseating
He might be the worst coach in modern USMNT history? Seriously, this team has been so bad. It was terrible in Berhalter's second tenure as well so the players are certainly culpable. Crashing out in the group stage in a home Copa America is unacceptable. But 7 losses in the last year with Poch. We've fallen very far. In the original Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley or Jurgen Klinsmann eras, would we ever have lost a home game to a national team outside the top-10 2-0? That literally never happened as far as I can remember, and it's happened multiple times this year alone under this charlatan of a coach.
So the "let's hire an elite coach, an outsider" honeymoon is finally over? Wonder if USSF will get rid of him if he loses more games in the next window. And who would they hire to take over and have a quick turn around?
It could possibly be the case that an elite coach is the right move, but that the elite coach must also be willing to put in the hard work of tracking our diaspora’d player pool and our unconventional soccer culture. Also Poch is like not that elite. He’s the guy who had Harry Kane on his team to flatter him in England.
he didnt win his french league with mbappe neymar and messi on the same team! i dont follow epl and didnt really know much about pochettino other than knowing he has a name and speaks well.....but now that i see him for what he is, hes trash his approach to coaching this team is so arrogant....and also so ineffective....hes trash
Puppetino has had the most severe fall from grace of any manager I can remember [in terms of rate of fall]. Even more so than Ten Haag or McLaren. And the most hard earned.
Update: This is the second time Poch has called up Zawadski only for Zawadski to pull out of camp having played zero games... is he secretly holding out for a Poland call up? More importantly, will Poch call him up AGAIN next window?? Jeff Carlisle: U.S. Soccer spokesperson says that Sean Zawadzki suffered a knee injury in training before the South Korea game. He is no longer with the usmnt. No details on the severity of the injury. Hey at least Zawadski cares and is trying hard and is not a lazy bum who's always pulling out with an injury like some of our spoiled guys in Yurop... You know who's not watching Zawadski, mister smart soccer watcher Clint? Anyone who watches the USMNT. Because he never manages to actually play for them despite getting called up!