I think we finally found a spot for Green. Well.. maybe. Anyway that was the most interesting development of the match. Mexico just kind of lost their cool and handed the game to us in the end.
My 1st thought: is it the time we should only put 2 of Trapp, Adams, WM, Acosta on the field and give one more spot for attacking creator ( either #10, wingers or another foward) 3 of them are dupliated and hurt our attacking threat.
I don't know what you guys are talking about w/r/t Trapp. Trapp spends the entire game getting the fans involved by hitting passes into the stands, and you guys crap all over him? SMH...
Since so many of our players are young and inexperienced, i'm not gonna close the book on any of them, not even Trapp. Having said that, Moore is far from ready for this level. He can stay at Reus the rest of the year. Nick Lima, you're up! Plus, the 4-1-4-1 does not fit our pool. Shoud be 4-2-3-2. Trapp was set up to fail, and Sarachan is to share in the blame. Also fault DS for no wing players to start. This is why i wanted Gall called up. To be fair, i'm not shure Weah can't play wide-- we'll have to see how he develops. Intriguing idea to play Green as a 10, cause i'd pegged him as LW. So does Chris Pulisic move out right, then? And for all the praise for Green tonight, let's not forget about Kenny Saief. If not for his injury, he'd have been on this roster, and i still project him to be our starting LW.
I'm sounding like a broken record to myself so I can't imagine what it looks like to other posters, but I really like Miazga and our CB potential. Really high on the potential of that position depending how club situations pan out and that doesn't include some of the sleepers in MLS. These tactics have been very bad. As much as I want to blame youth, Sarachan really showed his inexperience coaching high level youth talent coming from good clubs. The first half was a wet diaper of a midfield. McKennie should be a 6 until he proves otherwise at club level. Adams is going to be an amazing 8 and he has to have clubs interested in him, I would be amazed if a good Euro coach hasn't had guys looking at him [same with Acosta to a lesser extent]. Trapp is a smart player, but he didn't have a clear role and is past the point of improvising as the game changes. I've been down on our attackers, but it's legitimately refreshing to see Zardes, Weah, and Green play hungry. When players are hungry I always assume they are willing to do what the coach says.
And these players are best played at FW (Weah) and Green (CAM/SS) why do we need to force them out to the wing if we don't have to?
Quite a bit of praise for Green here and in the pbp thread. I'm not really on board. He had some decent moments, but he also coughed the ball up too many times and killed too many attacks from where I sat. Naturally he looked slightly better when we went up a man and the field opened up a bit, but prior to that he looked too slow of thought. And speaking of slow of thought, I viewed much of Zardes' performance the same way. I saw praise for him too, and I think it had more to do with what he did with the ball. The problem (and it's been too true of too many of our players over the years) is what he was (and wasn't) doing without the ball. He was often too slow to anticipate where the ball was going, and too slow to move into good positions. Twellman included him in the group of players he suggested could use their speed on the counter (if we were capable of springing one), but I haven't seen much to make be believe that Zardes' speed is so special. After his shaky performance the other night, I was very impressed with Robinson. Not just his attacks down the flank and the assist, but the way he confidently held the ball and played it along the back line as we killed off the game. CCV and MM did a nice job tonight.
Also to be fair to Trapp I don't think he's as useless as some make him out to be. This wasn't his best moment but he has had good moments with the team since being called in. I do think he's more of a situational player rather than an automatic starter as he has been for Sarachan. Once Green came in Trapp's play improved
Formations are not fixed. Green is the kind of winger who cuts through the middle. It's common, specially in Germany.
Any win against Mexico is a good win. I don't know what people expect. These players aren't that good. If you expect us to be great, you should change your expectations, given the players at the coach's disposal. Mexico was even worse than we were. They were dreadful. Our program is still a couple of years away from being capable of putting out a good lineup. The first half approach was awful. This counter-pressing approach is backwards. It is not how we should be playing football. It didn't fit the personnel either. The CB's are too slow to be defending big spaces ahead of them, Trapp is uncomfortable playing high up the field in midfield, and I actually think Adams is done a huge disservice when he's painted as this master pressing CM. Thats often when he plays his worst football. He looks undisciplined, and slow to react to movement in that type of set-up. The game completely changed when we took off McKennie, and brought on Green. That changed the shape of the midfield, and got rid of this pressing approach. We played a more possession-based game where players were playing more to their strengths. As for the individual performances: Steffen was decent. He didn't have many saves to make, and the one questionable play he slipped. The field was terrible, and players were slipping the whole game. I can't fault him for that. Moore adds nothing in possession (he's a negative in possession), but he holds his own defensively and is athletic. I'm not convinced we don't have a lot of better RB's options though. The CB pairing was a bad fit. Those two should not play together. They are forms of the same player with Miazga being the further along of the two. They didn't play bad, but that was mostly because Mexico was dreadful, and I think a full-strength Mexico with that first half set up from us is exactly the type of game that would expose them. Lichaj was the worst player on the field, but he was playing out of position. He still should not be getting caps. Its a waste of a cap. Trapp was out of sorts in the first half. Trapp is a useful player and one we should be trying to use as a starter (until a better option emerges), but if we are going to try this counter-pressing approach, you might as well not use him. That doesn't fit his game. He did much better once we switched the formation, we played more of a possession game, and he was allowed to play deeper. Adams struggled with the pressing approach, as well. I think Adams is seriously mistyped, and that causes a misunderstanding of what he could do. Adams did much better in the second half playing as a #8 in a two man CM. He was the best player on the field in the second half. What he is not is a double 8 or a #6. McKennie was anonymous. He's been that for a couple games in a row. I'd still like to see him in a more sensible midfield formation. I think he's another who has suffered from this three man holding mid formation that clearly doesn't work. I get the approach from Sarachan. He doesn't have any quality CAM's to use, but its hurt the effectiveness of players like Adams and McKennie for a couple games now, and it hurt Trapp in this first half. No more of this three holding mid formation. McKennie's replacement Green was active. I still don't like what he brings, but he's active in a NT shirt. Acosta was ineffective as a RM. Hard to evaluate. He's a #8. Weah was ineffective. He wasn't terrible, but playing him as a winger doesn't make much sense. I think US fans and media need to stop talking about his 1v1 ability or pace. It allows for this type of usage of him where you stick him out of position and think he'll create plays because he's not as terrible as Arriola or Green as a winger. If Weah was going to start this game, it should've been as a #9. Zardes was ineffective. We've seen this many times. He's not a NT player. He's doing well at the club level this season in a system that makes it very easy on CF's. I thought Robinson added a lot. He was helped out by the fact that Mexico got a red, and he's much better when we are in possession than out of possession, but it was a nice performance for him after the terrible one against Brazil. None of the other subs did much.
I think it was a game where fans were begging for aggression and Green provided that. We aren't going to pass our way into the box, so anything is better than nothing...
I cannot stand weak players. Maybe it’s a personal thing, but if there’s one thing a soccer player can improve on and it’s upper body strength. Perhaps the most underrated essential quality of a soccer player. And, Trapp has NO upper body strength.
Sure it wasn't playing up a man for most of that period with little defensive responsibility and ball pressure? You have to take the results after that point with a grain of salt for that reason.
A win is good, but i don't think I can ahndle many more Sarachan coached games. Thank you for giving the youngsters PT but Earnie please get someone ASAP. Mckennie was a disappointment,but so was Trapp. And with acosta playing as a winger the midfield was putrid. Defense was alright.
I wasn't disappointed in Trapp. I sort of expected him to be this bad against Mexico. Wes is breaking my heart though. And Miazga is better than I thought. Now, if only my prediction of Green making it to some mid-table BuLi comes through... but it's unlikely, at the club level he's still more a 2.BuLi type.
Another toothless performance, this time against a Mexican C team, at least as long as the players were in even numbers. Sarachan continues to trot out too many piano movers and not enough piano players. I am sure we really needed that 4th defensive midfielder playing on the right wing.Didn't Klinsmann get destroyed here for playing that type of line up? If I was not being nice, instead of piano movers, I would say we have too many: It is sad and depressing to see a couple of Mexico's young attacking players outshine our much hyped young players. Nice to see us take advantage the extra man by being a bit more adventurous, and have it pay off. The 2 center backs, Steffen and Green played well, and I will agree with Taylor that Robinson made a difference, although I'm not sure it was balance as much as the extra man at that stage. Come on Earnie, get us a coach before the next Friendlies....
Amazing how much better the team looked with an actual AM and a natural LB on the field, imagine how we might have looked with a real RM/RW on the field . The first half was pretty much entirely on Sarachan for #1 starting four holding mids and #2 playing multiple people out of position. Once those issues were (mostly) resolved the team played much better, even before the red card happened the tide had turned. Green the MOTM for me, the game changed pretty much immediately with his insertion into the lineup. Miazga and CCV also had strong games in central defense.
He has signed with RB Leipzig. Leaving after MLS season. First international goal in an excellent season. so far. Congrats.
Green, honestly, might be more of a 2Bundesliga type due to the fact that he’s pretty one dimensional in that he’s your second striker type forward, and unless you’re a young Wayne Rooney, most coaches in the top leagues are going to need you to do more.
Trapp had a shocker of a first half but he was tidy in the second. Not sure he deserves MB levels of scorn yet. Similarly, Miazaga was looking a bit caught out and forced to foul too often in the first, but turned it around in the second. Green was indeed quite good, but I'd stop short of saying he dominated. Steffen again looks like he's claimed the number one spot, Zardes and Weah had some slick link-ups in an otherwise dull first half. Decent overall as far as friendlies against a lesser strength Mexico go.