As always, and this is why he gets subbed out early for Juve a lot, McKennie drifts and kills the shape of the team. Add that into having the touch of a mix of Jozy and Zardes and he was awful. Reyna doesn’t play well out wide as he does under the striker. I’d rather have Reyna there than Aaronson. I seem to hear a lot of the “oh they just started playing together” nonsense. These guys have been in like camps for years together, played on youth teams, its not an excuse
Adams was the only thing that kept it from collapsing on itself. Valuable player, will be needed extensively. I think El Salvador would have poured it on if he wasnt disrupting and showing excellent composure
Good defensively, but absolutely no playmaking. We couldn't successfully slip someone through the defense with a pass the entire night. I'm not exactly sure why McKinnie decided he was a dribbling fool...
Once again can't complete passes. Just cannot advance the ball. I put this on coaching since it has been this way for a decade.
If it’s been this way for a decade of JK, Arena, Sarachan, and Berhalter, wouldn’t that suggest it’s the talent and not the coaching?
Seems obvious to me that Reyna belongs in that leftish 8 spot instead of any of our other options. Like to the same degree it seemed obvious for 20+ matches that Yueill didn’t have it and was ruining everything. That level of obvious.
Tangential, but yet another reason I think Adams should have the armband over McKennie is that I think Adams is the more sure fire starter, and tonight is a good example of why that is.
Only one thing counted in this game and the US completely failed at it: be convincing as a team. The pass completion rate was a f!cking low 72%, actually worse than the opponent. What happened to the confidence of the Nations/Gold Cups? Take the tie and 1 point, for the moment. But concentrate, get the team confidence back, try sh!t, and play at the known level of team skill. Just do it.
Adams was tenacious but still below par for me and his passing left much to be desired. McKennie mishit his final ball regularly, way too sloppy. Aaronson does not belong centrally, pushed off the ball too easily and runs away. As a whole they gave no support to the forwards. They defended decently.
As lined up, Dest, de la Fuente, and Aaronson all gravitate to the same space. Same for McKennie, Sergeant, and Reyna. And people wonder why our attack looks like garbage. I’m tired of these low expectations when we have the best assemblage of talent we’ve ever had but our manager has zero ability to put players in roles they are comfortable in or set them up to succeed.
Aaronson was the worst player in midfield (likely the whole team aside from Sargent and maybe KDLF) by a substantial margin. Adams was good but was way way too deep at times when we were in the opponents box. McKennie was a lot better than people are giving him credit for when you watch the game a second time. Overall, the lack of shape and tactical confusion left a ton of spaces which basically made us lose the second balls.
The one midfielder I was most disappointed with was McKennie. Adams played well. Gio, Aaronson are young and will have games like this. KDLF is newer and only was basically called up and started on the back of a good 3 games to start the season. But McKennie, he has been here before. He is Mr. Outgoing, Mr. Social Media and Mr. Juventus. For all of his off the field flair and hype, he looked so bad last night. Dribbling into defenders, lazy, dumb passes. He was never a factor. He just wasn't a stabilizing force at all. I honestly wonder what he brings besides wonderful intangibles like "grit" and "hustle". He doesn't seem able to pick out a progressives pass or dribble the ball forward. He wasn't that great being a defensive force. I believe he was our oldest player in the midfield or attack, and you need more from that type of player.
Adams was exactly what we wanted for this game. Best player on the pitch on either side, quite clearly...
I don't mind Aaronson not having a great game in his first away qualifier. I am concerned about his ability to play in the center, though. I believe I've seen enough to know that he and we are much better served to let him play wide and have someone else play centrally. He'll end up drifting wider to find the game and we won't get the incisiveness that we were looking for from him, anyway.
I agree totally, and am surprised it was Aaronson in the middle and not Reyna. Aaronson has always looked better for club on country out wide. Aaronson needs more time to learn how to operate in the middle (plus 6 more months in the gym), and Reyna is operating the 10 spot at a higher level in a higher level league. So not sure what GGG was thinking there.
I believe that Berhalter was hoping that Gio would be a goal threat. However, given my choice of Gio and Aaronson, I'd rather play Gio centrally and Aaronson wide than the other way around. I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to see a 343 against Canada with only Adams and McKennie in central midfield, though.