If you have a world-class regista, and a team that dominates possession, that can be a lot of fun. You know what else is fun? Playing a midfield that covers a lot of ground, slows down opposing attacks with hustle, speed, and positioning, and trails the attack when possible. If you have three of those guys, and we have at least two, you can have a hell of a midfield. If you have two of those guys, the third midfielder can be a higher-sitting playmaker assigned to almost always make his way into the attack.
No,I didn't. There is no doubt that they are not playing possession to disorganize the other team with the ball in Cuba or against Canada. They haven't done it successfully all year. One or all of the following are reasons: 1. Gregg can't teach it 2. Gregg doesn't select enough players that can play it I don't think either of these is true: 1. The players that could play it don't exist 2. The players that have not been able to do it after 11 months just need more time 3. 11 months is too short a time period to teach it
Maybe. In a small sample is it all Canadian mistakes? Or was it Yueill and Mckennie and Lletget being able to deal better than Roldan and Bradley? Davies at LB probably gets forward pretty easily and at will against the passive mid-block. He was exploited by the more aggressive 4-2-3-1. Even if Davies was caught out in Toronto (if he had played there or Lauryea e.g.), the USA would just pass it back and sideways giving all Canada's (and Mexico's, and Jamaica's and Curacao's and Uruguay's and Venezuela's) players plenty of time to get back and in shape. Agains the passive USMNT, you can play anyone anywhere. They were not going to press you or come at you. All you had to worry about was a 70 yard Pulisic solo dribble. McKennie and Yueill being physical and active and shielding Brooks and Long, made David disappear. Again, one sample, hard to know which is true.
There is a lot of crazy talk. It would take only one change in the pattern to put it to rest. I'm not saying it is true, just saying that the circumstantial evidence is there. Just like, "all rosters have to be 2/3rds MLS". It might be crazy, but every roster has been 2/3rds MLS. It would only take Gregg dropping Lima and Trapp and Zimmerman and Turner (all didn't play) for ARobinson, Holmes, Miazga and Horvath for it to not be true once. But it has been true every time. Was thinking of doing a whole thread of conspiracy theories that could be disproven but never are. Like, "an exhaustive international coaching search was conducted".
Well, in a few years we'll have a veteran Tyler Adams and a veteran Weston McKennie. Maybe Berhalter is on to something there, and maybe Bradley is just a placeholder. Just a thought.
I think Bradley was a placeholder for Trapp. He was going to be backing up Trapp at the Gold Cup. It was Trapp that Gregg had Sarachan play all during 2018 in that spot. We called it a "Lone 6" and bemoaned his lack of defensive presence or acumen. But it was the same thing Bradley/Trapp are doing now. Trapp just played so poorly that it forced Bradley to be the starter. Plan B, Adams was hurt. You have to play pretty poorly to be dropped by Gregg if you were one of the anointed. You don't even get dropped, you just don't play. Yueill was a real blessing and Gregg can thank Almeyda for saving his job because Trapp in the Orlando game probably doesn't end as well. Almost all the guys that Gregg selected for Cupcake, that he has spent the most time with, that have played the most minutes, can't play his system. The only evidence that we have seen that Gregg realizes this is that he has changed the system and not the players for one game.
So a fading minor league player is holding the most central spot instead of two major league players simply because they’re young? Yikes.
And is the constant rotation of captains this year a placeholder while waiting for the return of Adams?
I don't know if it was a placeholder for Adams. But it certainly suggests that Bradley was not considered a long term option.
When he gets there, he'll receive the most apathetic golf clap ever barely heard. It's too bad. I used to be a big fan. But, he's a horrible fit for the role Jay's Brother is putting him in.
Can't see any soccer-related reasons for Bradley still being on the team, he lost any value as NT player at least 3-4 years ago.
It boils down to the same thing. You're going to have at least one deep lying midfielder. Either you play a guy there who can defend or you don't. Jay's Brother is saying, "if everyone is healthy, my deep lying midfield ain't going to be able to defend."
Bit late to the thread, but I'll say this. We won handily, Cannon got enough caps for a work permit, no one got hurt. That's all I can really say regarding this match. Ffs guys, I know Gregg's managing is so bad it makes us pine for the days of Dave Sriracha Sauce, but we did what we needed to do. Onto the Nations League semifinals in June. Here's hoping the March friendlies show signs of encouragement (and if they're going to Europe for those, here's hoping I can book flights, falls on my spring break after all!)
Not sure how much you can read into it but Morris had three assists against Cuba the first game playing RW. He and Cannon were on the same page - play quickly and into space.
Yes, but I think that it has become apparent that this project is for Qatar, but mainly for the following world cup. I think that these guys want the team to be able to have control enough to be able to dictate the field against many teams in 2026.
what makes you say that? 90+% of the MLS guys will be clearly out of the 23 by then. That means that this "exercise" is wasting time with 60+% of the players wont be part of end goal. How does that make sense? If that were the goal, why wouldnt they go all in the u23s and only use older guys who they think will still be around in 7 years?
To state the obvious, Berhalter will be the manager in 2026. Regardless of how bad the results are along the way. Regardless of whether we qualify for 2022.
Earnie said it himself (paraphrasing): “There is no pressure on Berhalter, he will be here until he decides to leave for Barca. We already went through an exhaustive hiring process. I see progress, the group and the system are infallible. We refuse to have our vision swayed by short term issues like you plebes; logic, common sense, results or reality are not in my spreadsheets. We are not arrogant, just always right, all the time” - Earnie Michael Scott Stewart
I mean, I'm sure you realize that the angst is not in the last 2 results. The angst is from people explaining away/hoping that Berhalter would have adjusted his rosters or tactics, and the fact that he did not do that at all. Beating Canada and Cuba? Good, at least we're not the 7th best in CONCACAF by now. Yet, for example, I still see Lovitz at LB. LB is a position of weakness that has caused hundreds of pages of debate in the 7 years since I've joined here. Yet this is the first time that I've ever seen where there is a universal consensus that he is not good enough. That's why there's so much of the same arguments going around. 95% of the board feels upset, to varying degrees, about the rosters and the coach. So we all go round and round hashing and re-hashing why we feel *insert level of negativity here* about this team.
It is hard to put much in that, Cuba were terrible. In general, it seems the RW has top read off the RB and 8 and come inside and do lots of things. The LW just looks to run in behind when the 10 gets the ball. Another way to put it...Morris can play LW just like he plays for the Sounders. RW he has to do different things.
To me Zardes, Lovitz, Roldan, Bradley, Trapp and Ream will not get us to Qatar. So why are they around? This is the time to go young and to get those younger guys some action. I do not see Berhalter letting go of those guys or letting go of his “system”. Get the best 11 - 15 skilled young players and experiment with them in different formations and roles. Don’t see Berhalter doing that either. Don’t see us going to Qatar as a result.