I'm writing this before extra time. Gregg's tactics are like a Picasso painting...all the elements are jumbled up into something ugly. Like, look at our first XI. It looked for all the world that we would play wide and direct. I mean, with McKennie and Acosta as the central mids in a 3-4-3, anything else is stupid, right? I present to you...Mexico's first goal. I get taking off Dest, whose attacking focus was isolating Ream in space. I mean, me, if I was going to go 4 in the back, I'd take off Ream, but Dest wasn't playing well. I present to you...Mexico's second goal. Pulisic is not playing well for us. Either Gregg is telling him stupid things, or CP is taking it upon himself to do stupid things. I know which one my money is on. Our talent is well ahead of Mexico's. Except for one key thing.
Horrible starting lineup and somehow maybe even worse subs. Saved by McKennie headers and some individual magic by Pulisic and Horvath. Love beating Mexico. Feels good. But I don’t feel better about Berhalter than before.
Berhalter says....******** you! terrible first half, much better after that. I thought we were way better then them from minutes 45-75 and then lost our mojo. was a chaotic concacaf crazy match. Really big for this generation to pull out a win. Will make a difference in future matches.
The win will paper over some truly bizarre lineup and sub choices. For me, the verdict is now in on Berhalter. He's had the games, the time to experiment, and all that. He's not the guy.
this team is good enough to win in spite of the coach. The Ream thing was bad, that cant be overlooked Sargent needs the pine, he aint it Some of the subs were head scratchers, namely taking off Giovanni. Hes got a big Lletget crush that Im not sure can be explained and we need an explanation about Musah, now.
As I'd posted in the pbp thread, GGG actually went with something the team had had success with. Instead of pushing that bs single pivot 433, he clearly had done some research. Obviously, players like Acosta, Ream, and Yedlin won't be key starters going forward, but they brought experience from that last successful match against Mexico.
Berhalter nearly ruined our chances with his ill-advised opening lineup, clearly intended to provide a platform for Dest to shine, and that was a complete failure. And then he adjusted. And adjusted. And in doing so beat Martino in the battle of in-game management.
Everybody has repeated again and again, Adams is the single most irreplaceable player in this team. Whatever the haters say, Berhalter provided two game plans without Adams and won both games.
Doesn’t explain how bad we played where we couldn’t even pass the ball before immediately turning it over.
The opening lineup was reasonable but somewhat risky given the lack of pace at the back.. Mexico weren't blowing away the team or anything.
They dodged a bullet. Beerholder was bailed out by goalkeeping and three special players. Other than that we were shit.
I thought he was okay this match. There were some glaring mistakes, i.e.: Ream at lb, esp. after they brought on Lainez. Reacted very slowly and it cost him. Got bailed out partially by Wes' goal almost immediately after. He also shouldn't have taken off Gio. That seemed pre-planned. Pefok for Sargent, in retrospect, probably wasn't warranted. We just needed to eat Sargent's lack of scoring relative to Siebatcheu, because Jordan doesn't supply you any press. Mexico just cut right thru us after. I liked the initial 3-man back-line. It helped cover for Dest's deficiencies, for one. Didn't need as much to compensate for Acosta. He's more solid defensively than Yueill, but a wreck w/ the ball. We could question him for Acosta specifically, but it was a better option than Yueill when you needed defense. The tactics were mixed. More solid at the back and select press up higher (until Siebatcheu came in at least). And it seemed like he wasn't so dedicated to building out from the back against Mexico's trap. But he ironically did it a lot off dead balls, which is the last time it should be done. Good enough to win. If he pushed the same buttons as against Honduras, they would have lost this one comfortably. He's a more sensible coach when his back's up against the wall.
Note: NEVER, EVER let Lletget in on a set piece again. CP was money for all but one of them and the US had looks every time he delivered.
that is another one , absolutely have to question the coach there. Pulisic's set pieces are so much more dangerous that Lletgets
At what point do we measure a coach's influence on getting the team to persevere and fight back? I feel that's points for Gregg at the very least. As for his x's and o's, good formation, wrong personnel (cough Ream, and Dest at LWB, it's clear that experiment should be over.)
Siebatcheu did a solid job with the press. Ream was never ideal, but had experience from the previous result against Mexico. Dest is fine as a right back/ right wing back. At this point, it's probably best to leave him there.
The 343 can work but you have to put Richards in there for Ream, and get Dest's ass over to the right. Adams and McKennie have enough engines for 3 midfielders it seems. Weston could have gone another 30.
It's something that I can see working in the future at times, but I still prefer the MMA midfield as our biggest strength looking forward.