Acosta is mistake-prone, but for some reason, he doesn't do it vs Mexico. I don't know why. Maybe he is due.
Combination play, he's cleaner on the ball, can work more effectively with our other young attacking players without needing to be the focus to be effective, he also has an absurd work rate on the defensive end. I'll freely admit, I had Dike 1B going into the summer, and now I have them basically even, and start whichever one is the better match for an opponent. I tend to think we should use Sargent in games against European foes and South American powers like Brazil, and Dike against Concacaf sides, AFC squads, CAF, and weaker more grind it out Conmebol sides. But I may be full of it, I'm just speculating: For me Sargent makes more sense against foes expected to beat us because his work rate is so excellent on the defensive end, and he'll be less likely to have bad touches botch combination play/attacks, and Dike makes more sense against teams weaker or less likely to hold possession because he can just bully goals, and we won't need as much of the work rate on the defensive end. I tend to fear that Berhalter may just see him as a guy whose raw, and not as technical and not as well suited to his "system" while Sargent can be placed smoothly within it, and execute the finer points even if he doesn't score goals. I think Gregg needs to rethink this. We need to see Dike play a lot more with our first choice midfield so we can see if he's an asset or a liability, I'll add that he showed some nice skill on the ball on his third goal the other night. The one positive in all this is Dike's production, if it continues, will force Berhalter's hand to give him a bit more love in the sets of qualifiers coming up if he can continue to score goals against the better sides (Canada, Mexico, Honduras or Costa Rica, whatever).
23!?!?!?! Ahead of who. Giving him credit for his first quality performance in 20 I'm 100% behind, but he's got nothing close to "in the 23" in his repertoire right now. Who are we leaving for him? McKennie? Adams? Musah? Hell no. Lletget? No, Lletget is fine, and I like how Roldan played, but Egg loves him some Lletget, nothing gets that guy benched other than a need for rest. The wingers? We've got four or five top of the line wingers and better ones injured. Ahead of Yueill? Absolutely. Ahead of Acosta. No, Acosta has way more versatility, particularly in positions of need. I don't see him in the 23, I don't see him in a theoretical 25 or 28, I see him as finally worthy of inclusion in a call up for some B/C level tourney, that's it.
I think that's precisely where Egg's issues with him lay. He's envisioning Sargent playing better in combination with Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson and Weah than Dike would because Dike isn't as experienced w/that speed of play, and teammates. Is he right? I don't know. Scuffed has mentioned more than once that Sargent doesn't have that touch and deft of feel with the ball at his feet that the wingers do, he's a little more clunky, a little less "sticky" so to speak, but he's still got a cleaner touch than Dike does, and I think he's a bit more used to facilitating, and of course his defending and work rate are ridiculous which in a World Cup Group stage where we're likely to be underdogs in 2 of 3 games (and if we're really unlucky, 3 of 3). Dike can flat out destroy Concacaf, easy as pie, the only concern is the monumentally moronic refs, if he was getting shafted in the championship, how bad will it be in concacrap? Probably nightmarish, particularly on the road.
I have a hard time getting this. We go to PK's against Honduras if not for him and he's about to hit 50 goals for his career in France and Switzerland including multiple Europa League goals (including knock out goals against a legit Bundesliga foe). I thought he showed better than he had in March, and was more in synch, but did look a bit sluggish. He's not a super pacey guy to begin with, but he seemed slower than he looked in France and Switzerland for me. Hoping he can improve, but as is, he's now scored a goal in about 160 minutes or so, nearly had another against N. I and nearly had an assist in that game. Give him time.
No doubt, but in fairness that was six years ago (I can't believe that was six years ago, I'm so damn old).
pic.twitter.com/ejUDnHqovf— regional contender (@return_leg) July 18, 2021 A little passing comp for the Roldan truthers.
He heard the Berhalter complaint and was certainly much more aggressive in attacking forward with the pass than say Lletget was v Haiti.
Very few, really. Dike has an excellent work rate, in addition to actually being able to score goals. Against teams that are better than the US, he can hold up the ball.