It hurts me to say this, but I completely get why Acosta and Lletget are starting midfield today. I wish we didnt need that parachute, but we do.
We're a Third Tier (#21-#32) NT playing the reserves. This looks exactly like what you'd expect. And I think we'll win, Qatar is burning itself out. Also, as noted, and the reason why we're sort of soccer's archvillain, we're experts at beating, in the end, teams that play better than us.
Lletget has Jackson Yeuill-itis right now. Not sure why he's so scared to dribble or pass forward, but not sure what he's doing on the field.
27 minutes in….I have no idea what our midfield is trying to accomplish in possession. I can’t even figure out what they’re attempting to do.
The answer is “just don’t lose the ball” — everything sideways or backwards with the occasional 5 yard forward pass.
A problem i see up is that we are making ultra safe pass after ultra safet pass, and rather than slowly ratcheting it up, we suddenly pass it, well, into traffic. We aren’t making “calculated risk” type passes.