When we added a center back late, I thought, well, this either is going to work or it isn't. It worked. Credit to GB. I found the 4-4-2 look in the 2nd half interesting. The team really seemed mentally prepared for this specific scenario. They were just this smidge more aggressive, and it really worked. Oh...does anyone have any thoughts on Gio?
The subs were wacky (Shaq? Really?) but like I said, this is a results tournament. And we got the result. I dunno what's going on with Gio; but they advanced anyway, and I'm not going to let this "controversy" sully the win.
zimmerman sub I get, but Shaq moore. In this situation........how many weeds exactly were smoked during that decision? Someone needs to straight up ask Greg the Gio thing and stop beating around the bush
Excellent game plan and solid first half. We were getting a lot more guys in the box and that made us much more dangerous. I still questions some of the subs, but I was completely fine with the decision to close up shop and defend to keep the result, it's something good teams need to be able to do. I just wish we had another midfielder that could lessen the drop off when we pull out one of MMA. When one of those guys needs a rest, we either have to lessen the sturdiness of our midfield or we have to play a lesser quality player so that's always going to be a tough call. Wright was less than he looked against England but putting him on made sense in theory. I will never understand the Shaq Moore over Scally call, but I'll take him over Yedlin. Aaronson could have easily been Gio, but that's a close call. I though throwing on an additional center back down the stretch over throwing on another attacker was the right call.
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The way we made Iran look like Spain pounding us in that famous Confed Cup win for 30 solid minutes is a carbon copy of the end against Wales. That is a coaching issue. Greg got us through, so he gets a literal passing grade, but we cannot pretend there were not multiple knife's edge moments in the end caused solely by Iran throwing bodies at us. I still think Greg needs to fix this issue, but I also think he has managed to fix several others so he has a lot more slack in my book now. Win or lose against Netherlands, I can't claim he hasn't at least met expectations. Now if he can fix that issue... well, I might become one of his biggest cheerleaders.
I don't think Gregg thinks of it as an issue, that is the way he coaches and always has. He is a super risk averse defensive minded coach. I disagree with the approach but it has worked for him so far (barely) so kudos to him. I actually think it's a valid tactic in the knock outs against teams that are better than us. It might give us the best chance of success. He was exceedingly lucky today however that one of those late Iranian chances didn't go in, or the ref didn't decided to have a brain fart on one of those late calls in the box.
Lots of takes on GGG and how his tactics go and what we "should" be doing in the second half. And while I don't fully disagree I will provide some devils advocate appetizers on GGGs behalf; I don't think we are near as good as the fans think we are. Certainly, we do not have the depth nor the experience to keep the pedal pushed down late into the second half. We simply do not have good depth in most spots, our starters have been leaned on for all 3 games now, most of our starters are back ups at their club (and thus are not 90 minutes fits, let alone 90 in 3 games in what, 10 days?), and some of them are even still coming back from injury. So I think for the most part GGG is playing it smart by going defensive and I am not sure what else we can realistically have done. And before people say: "PUT IN REYNA". I have to say, please. Come on guys. What is this, Fifa? What is this expectation that Reyna is going to come in, put his food on the ball, slow down time, and single handedly drive the game for us? Is it all the times he never did that for the NT before? Or has he shown that at all in his 300 minutes for Dortmund this year? The kid is still getting back up to speed for his club team, where he isn't even the 1st or 2nd most impressive wonderkid there anymore lol. And don't get me started on the strikers. Wright goes from "GGG is a total moron for not calling him in, how can he do this, it's a sin, we need to call the president about this" to "wow he's actually not that good, is he" REAL damn fast around here... So yeah, for this team, once we sub in Aaronson, we basically have nothing left offensively.
He somehow looked like the slowest, most tired player at the end despite only laying 20 something minutes
Well, we got through. Barely. Sargent over Wright was absolutely the right call. CCV had a shaky moment or two, bilut was mostly OK. The rest was pretty obvious. Pulisic & Sargent getting hurt sucked. Aaronson for Pulisic made perfect sense. We have the lead and Aaronson is a better defender than Gio. Aaronson likely starts vs the Dutch if Pulisic cannot go (not optimistic). He played well. Acosta for Wes is negative. But I get it. Wes is not 90' fit. LDLT is coming off injury. Acosta is a better defender than Gio. Wright for Sargent is what I'd have done. To utilize the height defending. But aside from one nice play Haji did not add much. That he was not energetic enough pressuring the ball. For those who do not get the Moore sub, he is a better defender than Dest (or Yedlin). Dest is on a yellow and is not 90' fit yet. That being said, Moore fid not play particularly well. I know Scally stans will be up in arms, but Moore playing with Zimmerman at club helps. Zimmerman for Weah was parking the bus. And with 20 min or so left, a bit too long. Every sub was made with defense in mind. Understandable.
Starting lineup was good. Subs were crap, except for Zimmerman. Even Aaronson. Playing prevent D in the 80th is dumb, especially when you know there will be 10 minutes of stoppage time.
First of all, let's not forget the opponent. Iran is a side that thrives from absorbing attacks and starting excellent transitions from a low block. They are bad at breaking down a low block themselves. In the first half, we did very well against our opponent even though the situation was favorable to their preferred tactics. No arguments there. In the second half, we had the advantage and could then go on the counter. Going defensive and low block in this situation was the right move because Iran sucks at breaking down a block and is vulnerable on the counter. However, our attack was neutered by Pulisic being hurt and the officials allowing hard fouls by the Iranian defense. The subs seemed to be geared to bringing in physical players to weather the fouls over skillful players to unlock the offense. I don't think this was wrong but I think Berhalter missed some opportunity by not putting Morris instead of Wright to provide more speed to track down long balls and bring more danger from his speed.
Berhalter once again simply baffling. Our team deserves better. - Wright was useless. How is he better than Pepi, again? - Acosta brought zero to the table. We immediately started getting overrun. - Moore was useless. No Scally is ridiculous. - No Reyna. What else can be said at this point? - Zimmerman and 3 CBs is a move with like 5 minutes left, not 25. Overall, our talent outshone them. The game was way closer than it needed to be. We are fortunate they didn’t finish one of their chances after we bunkered so early.
I did not like contributions of Moore or Acosta or Wright at all. I mean we don't really have any better options defensively than Acosta in the midfield, but Moore just doesn't look up for this. He's looking panicked every time he's out there.
You've completely ignored the first half. Our third good first half in a row. That is also a function of Berhalter's management. He's been good and bad. I don't want him back, I think he was brought in to rebuild the confidence in our program around our young guys and he's done that, and he really has nothing more to give to this program anymore than that, but if you're going to come in and kvetch about him with every single post in this forum, at least have the perspective and intelligence to look at the whole picture.
I don’t mind Acosta in that situation if it is a double pivot with Adams and an attacking midfielder in front (Aaronson would work there — he often plays there with Adams in a double pivot behind him at Leeds — as is Reyna). Acosta as an 8 doesn’t do anything except put us on our heels. Except against Mexico. I want Acosta full 90 against Mexico.
The tactics were fine. Really good first half. Not sure how much to put on GGG for the 2nd half defensive pucker. Should have learned from the Wales game. One mistake and we go home. Something was wrong there. The subs all made sense, but the players themselves were poor. Aaronson for Puli there, 100%. That turned out ok. McKennie had to come off. With the lead, Acosta makes sense, especially considering the other options. That said, subbing in Acosta is a surrender. Sometimes you have to, but blech. Sargent off made sense as well. I'm ambivalent really Haji v. Jesus there. Not anymore though. Haji's tournament is done for me. worthless. Dest I guess needs to be managed. But Shaq Moore after last game, absolutely not. Do not put in Shaq Moore. The Zim sub worked full stop. Head the ball the F out of there.
The only rebuttal is who else do we have to kill of games when Weston and Dest can not go 90 mins? I get the Reyna gripes for sure but other than that what else do people want? The subs talent level in MF and attack is a fairly good drop off and that just is what it is.
It ended up being a "right" decision, but if it was a wrong decision this would have been talked about to the ends of the earth with the greatest scorn that our fanbase has to offer. With the way the match was going, were we in a situation where the best defense could/should have been pouring it on the offense? The Iranian subs, while they brought energy, were not the quality of the players that they replaced. Carlos showed his hand early, and we could have responded by passing them into oblivion. We were doing it really well, and Iran was also getting tired with no answers. Instead, we parked the bus with two purely defensive subs. Was that the right choice when our possession game was giving them so much trouble?
That is not an unfair criticism. I do tend to focus on what needs to be fixed. For me, 9 of our starting 11 are (should be) written in pen. The only questions are RCB and CF. I thought CCV was a good move by Berhalter. He is not as strong in the air as Zimmerman (and maybe a half notch below in quickness), but he is better with the ball as less prone to brain farts. So I liked that change. As for Sargent, I am a strong proponent of us needing more attacking creativity if we are playing the MMA midfield. I think our team would be best served with Reyna in place of a CF (could be set up as a false 9 or more of a 4-4-2 diamond midfield with CP at LF and Weah at RF). Aaronson would also fit that slot. As it is, we continue to look fairly toothless in attack with our horseshoe distribution. However, Sargent played really well today. Surprised me. Best I’ve seen him in a US shirt (as I said in another thread). Kudos to Berhalter for getting the starting lineup and tactics right. All in, though, as I said 9 of the 11 are obvious, and the combination of poor second half tactics and baffling subs cost us 2 points in match day 1, a chance at 2 points (and potential group stage win) in match day 2, and almost cost us advancement today. That’s the best I can do