Whomever this ---hat is, needless to say, this is the first and last set of player ratings I'm reading from him. Absolutely ludicrous.
MATCH RATINGS GK Freese - 7 - I give myself a seven as well LB Jedi - 7 - Nothing to complain about. Just leaned on ‘em CB Ream - 7.5 - Good in the air and solid distribution per usual CB Richards- 8 - Commanding RB Freeman - 7 - Like Jedi but more withdrawn DM Adams - 6 - Nothing catastrophic but a lot of stuff we didn’t need CM Tillman - 9 - Best day in the shirt. Could use some shooting cajones but that was masterclass otherwise CM Mckennie - 7 - Run, target, repeat. RWB Dest - 8 - Spilled one in front of goal but overwhelming in the first 45 LAM Pulisic - 9 - The Blue man at the Bernabeu is back ST Balogun - 9 - BALOGUUUUUUUUN CM Berhalter - 6 - He was fine ST Pepi - 6 - Struggled to get on the ball but not a major detriment RWB Weah - 5 - Uneven TALISMAN Reyna - 8 - Some people are just born not giving a ********
That's two astute observations, in my humble opinion, both regarding Berhalter, and the effect of finding our left flank later in the second half.
Yes, I wanna lean on Poch there. Paraguay had the most tackles in CONMEBOL. This was preparation. I have to think Poch did his homework.
I take issue with your 6 for Tyler, and 7 is probably generous for Freese, but it's not a bad take overall.
Good is an understatement!!!!! Besides the annoying yellow card which he has a habit of being a petulant lil shit at times TA stopped so much stuff early and made Ream and Richards lives so easy today. They barely had to do anything because TA was zapping Paraguayan possession out of existence
Agreed, all four of them. Plus, most of our returning starters except Ream are better versions of themselves now than they were in 2022. (Well, maybe Tyler Adams is a push.)
maybe I need to rewatch. Idk man. He got megged, allowed crosses…I mean he wasn’t terrible. Enciso is not Fernandesh or Guler Yildiz
Sure. But media was reporting BS. Was packed. Jordan/Austria we'll see. But even if they get 30-40k in Levi's for those games it still makes bank and outdraws previous WCs. People around the world don't get just how big NFL stadiums are. Not defending FIFA, but this WC is gonna crush all records. A few (even a lot) of empty seats won't change that.
We jumped on Paraguay early and never gave them a chance to put their defensive block in place. The runs by Pulisic, Dest, and others opened them up with surprising ease, and our press never gave them a chance to regroup. This was a great team performance against perhaps the best defensive team in South America. Unfortunately we coughed up another soft goal when our center backs couldn’t clear a bouncing ball, and the midfield failed to come back to cover. Paraguay was never going to come back from 3 goals down, but we seem to make at least one of these mistakes every game. The central defense will be our undoing if we can’t tighten it up.this has to be Poch’s top priority
Most satisfying moment other than the goals was when the yellow on ream was reversed and given to Almiron for diving. Paraguay are violent and they cheat. Nice to see them get called out and sanctioned for it.
Yeah, I think that's a bit of Malik. He's not a hyper aggressive player. Some of those late were also exhaustion. Dude was a machine today. I will take that any day when he defends like he did, connects like he did and then got into attack. I'd love to see his distance numbers -- he was everywhere. I am not going to penalize for those late misses because he was such an important part of the rest of the game. My only concern is if we need him to do that for 90 ... I don't think it's possible. He was done.
Dest in Weah's spot as well, up from RB. Can I take a bow for suggesting Tillman to CM weeks before the roster announcement? And Dest up the pitch and Freeman at RB? Though those were a bit later. Tillman is stronger, faster, and a better offensive contributor than Tessman, Morris, Cardoso, Berhalter, and Roldan. Plus it allowes Wes to play as an attacker. Freeman as the RB is a bigger, faster, stronger, and better defender than Dest. Him at RB means Dest pushes up. Weah is faster, but Dest is trickier with the ball and not slow. Dest at RW means Wes at CAM, where he is best as he can float and roam more rather than being tied down more at RW or CM. The other thing to remember is that Dest and Jedi have both had long term injuries and are only recently back. Adams as well. Richards lately. Freeman has broken out in the last year. The 343-ish buildup is pretty recent. And Tillman/Wes in CM has only happened in the last couple weeks. This XI. These tactics. This shape. It is all really new.
Part of why we were able to push some many guys into overloading positions in the attack is that Tyler kept a tight ship and, most critically, didn't allow Paraguay a free run at Ream and the back line except for that one lapse by Tyler and the whole back line on Paraguay's goal. It was one of our few switch-offs in the back today. Not merely the only one that was punished. Paraguay aren't a bad side. They got the one goal that their game plan needed on virtually their only opportunity. They just couldn't handle all of our overloads and attacking élan.
We were discussing at the watching party and I said he looked like a South Park character. Someone nearby searched and found a South Park ringer for him and I died laughing.