I have been calling for a 3 back system for years on here. 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 would both work. I tend to favor the former because that gives a good balance between attacking and defending and ort FBs are far better suited to a wingback role than a straight up FB role. It allows them to use their speed to get forward and Robinson looks to have a decent delivery into the box while Yedlin crossing could be better, he is still effective getting forward in a variety of ways. The 3 CMs in the formation can be aligned a variety of ways depending on the situation to become more attacking or more defensive as needed by simply making sub or 2. 3-4-3 can be utilized also when we want to go more all out attack, but we would need better "wingers" to make that work. Either is better with our overall talent pool than 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. IF we had a Jones or IF EPB can step it up into a solid DM, then maybe we can have more tactical flexibility. Tactical flexibility is one of our weak spots as a national team though. Too many players struggle with changing tactics. That is an area Earnie Stewart must address with our young players going forward so that when the coach needs to make adjustments they are not flailing around the field like they were against Mexico when Klinsmann correctly employed a 3 man backline against El Tri. They simply couldn't (or wouldn't) cope. THAT has to change.
For everyone saying what a great job Sarachan has done I have one question: How have we gone 10 months and 7 FIFA Friendlies and not had one minute of a Adams/McKennie double pivot? Malpractice.
Or could it also be that Sarachan is simply not good at his job and does not have the capacity/vision to field a better team? I mean, the 4-1-4-1 he put out against Mexico was just terrible. From concept to personell to execution. The US only got better after injury forced change. I would not have minded at all if someone like Adams had strolled to the sideline to point this out to Sarachan during the game and ask for a switch the way Bradley/Jones did to JK that time.
Klinsmann loved Beckerman because Dreds cleaned up any mess in front of the back line. Kyle was a phenom zone 14 protector who was a top US eligible player as far as active defensive events in '11, '12', and '13. The thing that is not talked about much is that Beckerman was a physical, nasty, trash talking (english and spanish), ball winner who would run over his grandmother, toddlers, and cute puppies in order to stop an opponent's counter attack. Trapp has none of those attributes. It is insulting to Kyle to pretend that any number of players could play the Beckerman role as well as Beckerman. Lets also not forget that after starting off in the first 5 matches of Klinsmann's tenure, Dreds soon fell behind first Edu and then Williams on the depth chart in '12. As capable as he was, Dreds was exposed against athletic teams and was essentially dropped after the loss at Jamaica. Beckerman's resurgence in '14 was mostly based on injuries to Edu and Williams. The #6 slot on the pitch is a defensive midfielder. @Bob Morocco and @Susaeta have clearly laid out the responsibilities of that slot. Trapp does not check many of those boxes. We need to find players who can check off most of the boxes.
If Beckerman was on the field for any of those games where Pulisic was getting hacked down, while Bradley and Nagbe discussed brunch plans during the stoppages, there would have been some payback. That Jones was replaced by Nagbe and Beckerman by Bradley let every hack Central American player do whatever they wanted to Pulisic. Trapp is just not that player either. He seems as devoid of emotion as post-MLS Bradley. The USMNT has generally played with a Beckerman, Mastroeni, Armas, type. I think they are critical in CONCACAF now. Morales is that type, not young though. Canouse can get a look. Adams is probably going to fill out over the next few years but is already pretty good at the professional foul and the message foul. His baby face lets him get away with it much of the time too.
You got that right. You're scenario is too perfect or too naive, not sure which applies. McKennie is a good young prospect. I hope he has a long and glorious career... but he will never be a "hard" man midfielder like Jones. That's just the way the biological and sociological cookie crumbles.
Well, whomever it is in the future can look back to December 2016 when the 3-5-2 was last used by USMNT in a qualifier. Nobody knew what they were doing and it was a disaster. I think 3-5-2 could work We played a 3-5-2 /3-4-3 inDec 2016 against Mexico and it was an embarrassing, unmitigated disaster. So much, that it was abandoned after 30 minutes. Anyway, a 3-5-2 might work but definitely takes time and effort to implement properly.
DCU prejudice showing, but Russel Canouse is an up and coming option. Plays a true 6, is savvy in his shielding of the backline, has bite in the tackle and can transition into offense well. He needs seasoning.
Re Trapp, the distinction I would make is he is that DM or sweeper you played with growing up who tried to do it by positioning and stepping in front of plays, but who could not bail you out when you needed speed or a hard tackle. He could do the "finesse slide tackle" where you slide on a loose ball and corral it, but not tackle through someone with power, perhaps having chased them with speed. Put differently, he couldn't bail you out enough. Illustration, the guy runs around the endline on Trapp as he falls over, gets a ground pass in where the forward finally gets tackled. Trapp tried to use the endline as his friend, put a little weight on the guy, a lot of little smart defender tricks, but he couldn't keep up, fell over, and he never just went down and crunched the man. The play is finally resolved when someone else does a hard slide tackle. As an athletic defender, personally it drove me nuts to be deployed with someone who wasn't athletic or mean enough to provide real cover when mistakes were made. Particularly at the international level, teams get so fast you can't just make it a touchless trig homework exercise. Can you keep up with an opponent with track speed. Can you get stuck in if necessary. Personally I wanted mobile players willing to get stuck in. To be fair to Trapp, I don't see a lot of the type, period, right now. There is currently no heir to Jones I see on the field. I am looking for someone to step up because I think the type is a CONCACAF (and world cup) necessity. I think Trapp is the incumbent to begin with if Berhalter is hired. If not, I can imagine a new coach giving them each equal chance and that Trapp's Princeton Backdoor Cut approach to the game doesn't necessarily win out. I don't think a new coach puts up with many repeats of plays like the Mexico one I mentioned. That just looked unathletic and soft from a ruthless, athletic cleanup position.
Check out the MLS flavors thread and add your voice to those of us who have been calling for Canouse!
This is why all our players should strive to play at the highest level they can get to. This is the way the top leagues in the world set up. Players move and flow where it works best. If we used 3 CB's and two in front, the 4 midfielders would not have to defend as much, but still have that responsibility. Conversly, your two 6's would be able to attack when that is the flow. This also brings into light the moving without the ball. This formation would need recognition to transition from ball winning to attack. I'm not sure what formation MM plays having not seen a game yet, but they all seem to have drifted from a flat back 4.
More broadly, my thing in general was that for fielding 3-4 DMs they were just passing the ball around endlessly for a half. I hold that against not just Trapp but Acosta, McKennie, the others. I mean if you're only going to start one real winger and not many players with ball skills, I expect some bodies flying around. We instead passively let them connect pass after pass and then if the ball got won it was in the backline or keeper when they tried for the last pass. I am critical of Sarachan for the tactical level decisions but the DMs on the field, it's like, taking for granted what Sarachan tried, I'm expecting for Mexico to be the team struggling to connect one player to another. Really, stalemate. Didn't reflect very good on any of the mids.
I am watching Wood, oh he at pains to stay in the B.1, look lost, and you're telling me the problem with the team is players need to sign with their best club possible.
That actually was the right call by the coaches. The problem was that the players either couldn't execute it or wouldn't execute it. Not sure which. So that is somewhat on the coaches, but IMHO mainly on the players. And more specifically, on our player development programs. Players should be able to switch tactical systems without looking like they did that night, but for some reason they weren't and often aren't able to. This really limits the team. That is what I meant when I said ES must get more emphasis on tactics into our youth programs so they are more flexible when they play for their clubs both here and abroad and when they step up to the Nat. Otherwise you are selling their soccer education short. Anyway, no matter who the national team coach is, he is not going to have the time to drill a team in tactics much other than in the camp prior to a major tournament. So the players have to come into camp ready to play whatever system the coach demands.
Do explain how a formation the players cannot execute is the right call by the coaches. This is my whole point, in discussing coaches with a missionary bent, of tactics need to match the personnel on hand. That where you would like the the program to go is dreamland if the players to go there aren't in the system yet. We don't have m/any specialist DMs around right now. We basically retired them all out. OK, why on earth do I play some sort of bunker formation premised on a bunch of legbreakers stalemating for 45, 60, 90 minutes. Klinsi could do that in 2014 because he had Beckerman, Jones, Bradley. We had trouble winning balls in our midfield for 30 minutes. I mean, doesn't the argument in favor of stalemate bunkering almost refute itself based on how the first 30 went? Or how Brazil went? Or dropping down a notch on results in both the European friendlies when the other team came back? The US led the Hex in goals for. What they continue to have -- hand wringing about wishing we were even better aside -- is players who can attack. So what worked was the last 45-60 where we parked on their end. Parking on their end is also defense by other means, ie, they're too busy defending our options to be coming at us like they were first half. Personally I have historically liked defend and counter tactics for us, but for them to work we need midfield ballwinners. I don't see anything close to a Kante to win us the ball and send the cavalry off the other way with haste. I see the attackers who could run downfield, but I don't see the ballwinners to put the zeroes on the scoreboard and outlet the ball to get it started.
I agree, but at same time it is on the coach to have the players in a system/formation they can execute. If the players aren’t tactically flexible for whatever reason, then that is what they have to work with. Maybe in another generation. I also agree that the camp before the WC is where there is enough time to drill new tactics (opportunitywith GC, also) The coach would have to feel confident in implementing a new system as the time to prepare is precious.
The front runner for the US coaching job has no problem with Trapp's abilities in a deep-lying role. BS, beware And where was all this Beckerman advocacy when Bob was showing no interest? Nowhere. When JK brought him in, there was condescension from BS and the media. Beckerman was a converted/failed a-mid who nicely fit as a deep-lying player into RSL's diamond. He was not the MLS Claude Makelele or whomever some posters have beentrying to build him into. The guy at the base of a diamond is going to rack up defensive incidents in front of the backline. Why? Because that's what the system is set up to do. Bedoya, Jones, and Bradley provided the steel and movement in the Ghana match. Beckerman was a clean up guy. You could put a champagne midfield in front the Mak because he could do the running for two. Likewise, Cesc Fabregas could be paired with Kante. Beckerman? How did that pairing with Bradley in a 442 work out against Argentina?