Post-match: USA v Bolivia Post Game

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by tbonepat11, May 28, 2018.

  1. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Marvell Wynne won an MLS Cup. Eddie Johnson made a World Cup team.

    Pivotal players get held to a higher standard, so it makes sense that Pulisic would then be so.
     
  2. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm gonna have to pause you a bit here on a guy that won a World Cup and Champions League final. He was more past his prime once here and NY didn't have Gattuso types to allow him to flourish. Your point was well taken in pointing out deficiencies can be managed or even hidden. If Parks comes close to Pirlo level I will be very happy.
     
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  3. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    I dont recall him being beaten badly so can't really comment. I apparently deleted the game so can't go back and watch.

    I agree that isnt a great (good?) defender and not that surprised. He has played mostly as an attacking player his whole life and focused on that part of the game. The good thing is that a player can learn how to defend at just about any age. Since Benefica is focused on working with him to be a dmid, I'd think his defensive skills should be adequate to play a #8/#10 type of role in another year or two.

    I'm also not sure I have a good gauge of his quickness. I thought that whole paragraph was lazy and what we'd see from some poster on here making an offhanded post.

    Even if he is slow and never develops defensively, his offensive skills would likely make him useful for our national team. We need people who can possess the ball as well as quick/fast athletes who can defend. Ideally our players can do both, but it is ok for every player to not be great at everything. Enough attacking ability can offset defensive capabilities with the right supporting players.

    I read someone mentioning the glut of central midfielders and the lack of true wingers. The glut is what is enable us to eventually move CP out wide and know he will get the ball. The numbers are we have always lacked and will get of tactical flexibility and wont be severely weakened by an injury or two.

    Not a complete list or just categorizing for simplicity, but this young group can be the basis for our midfield going forward...

    #10 - Pulisic, Green
    #8 Parks, Hyndman, Delgado
    #6 McKennie, Adam's, Durkin

    We could play with Mckenie behind Pulisic and Green or sit Durkin or Parks behind Mckenie and Adams. Maybe we'll need to play Mckennie and Adams to get a Parks or Hyndman on the field.
     
  4. TheHoustonHoyaFan

    Oct 14, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This brings up a very important point that many BS "youth experts" seem to miss.

    The modern game has significantly changed since the days of El Phibe and Juan Riquelme. The modern game is faster and requires more running. Most studies show that players are running 40% more distance with a similar increase in high intensity sprints than they did when those players were weaving their magic.
     
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  5. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Pirlo was 36 when he transferred to NYC. They had him playing a role he hadn't been playing with Juventus or Italy.
     
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  6. TheHoustonHoyaFan

    Oct 14, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #356 TheHoustonHoyaFan, Jun 1, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2018
    I am not a Doyle fan but other other media and posters have noted Keaton's dreadful defending in the Bolivia match.

    Starting at 5:20 in the following highlight you can see examples of:

    great: sublime ball at feet skills.
    poor: does not pick his head up and misses sending Novo in 1v1.
    5:25 dreadful: face up 1v1 defending.

     
  7. smokarz

    smokarz Member+

    Aug 9, 2006
    Hartford, CT
    And what exactly did Johnson do at the WC?

    Did Wynne win the MLS cup by himself?
     
  8. onefineesq

    onefineesq Member+

    Sep 16, 2003
    Laurel, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kane has significantly more speed, to my eye. I would like to see him pattern himself to become something akin to the Dennis Bergkamp I remember at Arsenal. He has decent enough touch and smarts to at least play that style, and be effective (not saying he gets to Bergkamp's level, obviously).
     
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  9. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    Thanks for sharing. I dont agree on the decision to shoot and if he continues to play defense like that, his career will be limited. I just dont know why people need to try to read so much about a couple plays in a 20 yo first cap of a useless friendly.

    Maybe he should have passed, but Parks is 22 yards out in the middle of the field and would have to navigate a defender on his left side to play Novakovic wide or in on goal.

    Back to Doyle... He considers Parks for "his WC roster" as a dmid, but chooses Trapp. All of that seems odd to me. Along with taking Villafana and Vincent as his left backs? His first objective in everything he writes is to market MLS. He has got to make a pay check, but I certainly wouldn't want to stoop to constantly hyping those players and ignoring dual nationals.
     
  10. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    What did Pulisic do at the WC?

    Who does?
     
  11. smokarz

    smokarz Member+

    Aug 9, 2006
    Hartford, CT
    He does sh*t, when he gets there. Which is vastly greater than what Johnson was able to do (or did not do).

    Exactly, on Wynne.
     
  12. TheHoustonHoyaFan

    Oct 14, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    EJ has 19 Gs in 63 matches for the USMNT including 2 on a water soaked cricket pitch at A&B that got us a must point in WCQ Group 2014. He also was a big reason we won HEX2014 scoring the match winning goals v Panama and Mexico.

    If Sargent or Weah turns out to be as productive for the USMNT as EJ, they will have done well.
     
  13. I had no idea we invaded Germany. But hey, to get to Pvtin we have to cross through it.
     
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  14. SamsArmySam

    SamsArmySam Member+

    Apr 13, 2001
    Minneapolis, MN
    Check out the three fantastic touches that made this Bergkamp goal.
    Yes, I'd be OK with that.

     
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  15. nobody

    nobody Member+

    Jun 20, 2000
    What's interesting to me about Parks is that he is looking to be one of our more skilled young midfielders, but at Benfica, they are trying to push him back into a more defensive roll. Kind of shows just where our players' skill level is situated compared to countries that are known for producing highly skilled players. Also, this creates a problem if our more skilled players get pushed back into defensive rolls for their clubs.
     
  16. FirstStar

    FirstStar Hustlin' for the USA

    Fulham Football Club
    Feb 1, 2005
    Time's Arrow
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Payback.
     
  17. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    A player getting pushed into a more defensive role should make him more well-rounded.
     
  18. TxEx

    TxEx Member+

    Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, FC Dallas
    Aug 19, 2016
    DFW
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    I think they know he's an #8. They're playing him deeper to work on his defensive game. He's never going to be McKinnie in that regard but not being hopeless and a complete pylon will make him a better player at the 8. He needs a another full year of coaches in is ear about defense but the rest of his game is so tantalizing that Benfica is going to find ways to get him out there.
     
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  19. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    Well, they have Felix (18 y.o.) or Carvalho (21 y.o.) playing the more attacking CM position, and both are doing a good job at it.
     
  20. Bob Morocco

    Bob Morocco Member+

    Aug 11, 2003
    Billings, MT
    Like many people he has incorrect opinions. I don't think selecting a player with thousands of good professional minutes at a position over a player with a couple dozen minutes at that position qualifies. He has been a long time fan of Vincent, since his days playing with Morris at Stanford. I watched a decent amount of those Stanford games and almost all of Vincent's minutes with the Fire and I don't rate him as highly.

    I advocate for selecting the best players. You advocate for rewarding players for signing with teams in Europe, the more prestigious the team the greater the reward. You want to socially engineer outcomes by changing incentives while I find the current incentives adequate and the cost to results in the WC not worth it. Doyle believes more in my paradigm but he closely watches more MLS games and fewer European games, especially those not featuring national team regulars, so his opinions are based on a different sample.
     
  21. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    The only soccer related question will Trapp should answer is: think of the best two syllible name for a soccer player in MLS.

    Parks was a milk toast rookie out there. Just think if he had 35 caps by now because his dad coached? Then he could be defensively out of position and no one would care.
     
  22. Bob Morocco

    Bob Morocco Member+

    Aug 11, 2003
    Billings, MT
    Playing against players his own age Sargent has good speed (he often rotates into wing positions) and better strength and he's already pretty robust. What most stood out to me is that he has awareness, he is decisive, and while he didn't have a great touch, he wins 1v1's/is able to create space for his shot. That play were he slid to win the ball at the top of the box and came away with it is not an isolated incident. He also seems to have a good deal of composure in front of goal. Stylistically he could become a very well rounded forward, potentially our most well rounded forward ever.
     
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  23. juveeer

    juveeer Member+

    Aug 3, 2006
    Ummmm........what does that say about MLS?
     
  24. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    It’s difficult to compare bench warmers on the major leagues to minor league players. Many of the USMNT MLS players wouldn’t touch the field for major league teams. It’s quite wrong to say that you advocate for the “best players” as if that is anti-thetical to those who sign with major league teams as youth players.

    BA’s decision to not even bring in major league starters was a major cause of us missing the World Cup. He relied on his minor league players and they failed to get us a point vs a T&T C-team.
     
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  25. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    Who did Arena miss?

    Most of them were injured in October. Chandler with the Achilles tendon problem, Williams with a hairline crack in the foot, etc.

    Aron Johannsson had been months without playing. Fabian Johnson had looked like crap for the NT, same for Ream.

    The only one that can be blamed on Arena was not playing Cameron, who had been fine until the Costa Rica game.

    But people need to check the injury history of our guys in Transfermarkt: 2017 was a brutal year, most of our guys in Europe were out for long periods of time.
     
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