My posts here, I’m aware of this, keep saying the same thing: “Encourage Musah to drive the ball towards the opponent’s goal.” He’s ball secure, and has the speed, ball control, and explosiveness to unbalance a defense. We have never had a player with his combinations of skills and attributes.
I'm not saying it is hindsight or criticizing at all. But when we talk about something like rotation that has pros and cons, and the results are mixed (and yes, a loss at Panama but two home wins are by definition mixed) then it is very hard to say what decision would have yielded a better result because only one choice proves out in the real world. If the team had gotten 9, it'd be easy to say he probably made the right call. If the team had gotten 3, it's more likely it was the wrong call. But six points, and we're talking a whole lot of hypotheticals with not a lot of basis to say one has a better outcome or another in the sum total of the window. That's all. I land on heavy rotation being a very conservative move that raised our floor. There's small changes I would have made but I'm not confident at all that it changes the point total.
That's all very reasonable, but I would just point out that: a. All told, there's a lot more than one or two posters here and many, many more out there who have issues with all of MLS, or have issues with several of the older MLS players you see some value with, like Arriola or Zardes. I agree that there are plenty of reasonable posters who use shorthand, etc., but there's a broad swath of opinions, and when people respond, they aren't often talking about you. Arriola is a perfect example. Dude had a good window and there's a ton of posters on here like "I never want to see Arriola again." b. I think what is probably a bit exhausting on my end is the sort of never-ending march of overstated drama. Whether it's the Arriola graphic or the call-backs to 2019, there's a lot of positioning isn't of reasoned commentary. For example, you mention Jonathon Lewis. And I agree that the Gold Cup invite was dumb, but it is worth noting that Lewis has less than 300 national team minutes. Or the endless players Berhalter is in love with and will never drop, like Michael Bradley, Wil Trapp, Jackson Yueill, and Sebastian Lletget. Yes, the guy gives players more chances than people would like, but in August people were telling me Lletget was a literal lineup lock and would play 270 in September. Musah wasn't available, McKennie played one game, and Lletget still only played a game and half worth of minutes even with two dudes ahead on the depth chart not available. Or the constant callbacks to 2019 without acknowledging that the alternatives to many of the call-ups are not anyone anyone wants around anymore. People were angry at the MLSers called up then ... of course, everyone they wanted as an alternative was either hurt, like 12 years old or literally never mentioned anymore. It's just the revolving door and lack of acknowledgement of certain facts. Berhalter likes certain players, but even if Arriola was going to play 2.5-3 games this window, it doesn't mean he's locked in for even next window, especially since the #1 and #2 winger were not healthy. Is he going to play more than zero? Probably, but I see no need to repost that minutes tweet 45 times just to make a thing out of it. We both know that Berhalter likes Arriola, but he's not the #1 winger. He's probably #4 at best, and there's no certainty other people won't pass him.
So, I get why everyone loves Hoppe. But I kind of feel like the flair and attitude of Hoppe has people thinking he's more productive and better than he's been. Hoppe has one goal and one assist for the National Team in 375'. That's not bad, but I'm not sure where the instant offense comes from. Yes, he can do some things on his own, but there's a lot of guys with better scoring records for the USMNT given the competition -- Hoppe's assist came against Martinique and his goal was a nice header but not exactly the type of goal that inspires this confidence in his scoring ability. I'm not trying to criticize him, so there's no need for defense here. He just has gotten this sort of reputation for scoring that is more or less matched by like Cristian Roldan recently. I like Hoppe because he tends to put good shots on goal, Costa Rica cameo aside where he missed about three great chances to end it, and I do like his swagger. But in the Gold Cup, because he was the only creative dude on the roster, he got to freestyle a lot, and was basically all over the place for better or worse. You can't have a lot of people on a team doing that and maintain any shape in international play, so when Hoppe plays with the A team, he's generally not the guy you want doing that. I'm not saying you're wrong. But I think a lot of the things that people like about Hoppe with the National Team aren't necessary things I want in a striker with the lineup around them. I kinda want the guy making the run that the dude with the ball expects. I thought he demonstrated some really high upside in the U17 World Cup because he's got the athletic tools and some strong offensive tools, so I was not the least bit shocked that he got snapped up. But he was also a really poor defensive player in terms of getting caught upfield and making mistakes. I think every goal the US gave up was behind him and he wasn't in the screen as an outside back. So I'm pretty shocked that he's become a really solid defender by many accounts. Yes. I would have just looked for cohesion. Do we really need to rotate centerbacks?
Lletget and Arriola are "blockers" for up-and-coming players that just about everyone sees as an upgrade to them. Abroad coaches see the value of these youngsters but GB is very slow at recognizing it. Once Weah got healthy, he should have been tried more than the 5-7 minutes he was getting. The love for Lletget and Ream was also very obvious. GB knew Musah was better than Lletget but still went with his MLSer, is like he is looking for excuses not to play Musah ahead of Lletget. Ream is another case, he has been taking so many minutes from MRob and Richards. Even a casual soccer viewer can see Ream's shortcomings. And finally, what game plan has GB put on these kids. The new buzzword from him is VERTICALLY, guess what, the few times most of the kids got together with fewer MLSer they played the same as we are now playing under this Vertical label.
Complaints about how Musah has been worked in are hilarious at this point. He was brought to the Nations League camp and not used in those games because he was coming off a tough end to his season with Valencia and probably wasn’t match fit. We won the Nations League anyway, got him a nice medal and everything. He then started the Costa Rica friendly to keep him part of the group. He wasn’t called in September due to injury, which allowed him to work back into Valencia’s lineup. Then he started all three games of this last window, starring in two wins and becoming — at 18 years old — one of our core players heading into a World Cup year. Hard to see how his situation could have been handled any better to this point.
I don't think he is at all. The fanbase is obssessed with youth and what's new and assumes that every young, foreign player is instantaneously better, ready to play 90 and has no weaknesses. For example, Arriola got called in over Konrad ... I saw Konrad the first window. He's nowhere near a complete player, and his skillset clashed badly with two players who have played very well for us. I'm sure we'll see more of him, but all we get is the circular reasoning that he's better because he plays in France. He's very young, with a lot of potential and will likely improve, but he's also got weaknesses. He's plays for Marseille because they can cover his weaknesses and exploit his pluses very well, and also because he will get better. But that doesn't mean he's always the best option of the USMNT today. And here's the other thing ... it's okay to phase in young players so that they get a chance to play in a situation to succeed, get confidence, etc. He's never gotten 5-7 minutes. He got some small time way back in December when he came off his first injury, but he got 18', 60' and 74' in Nations League. Coming off another injury, he came back this window and got 22', 68' and 73'. Yes, he wasn't going to get the start, but he would have likely gotten pretty decent sub minutes. He's looked pretty fantastic for us in sub minutes, able to absolutely massacre a team with tired legs, and good but often disappearing as a starter. Which is not unusual -- most guys look better than a sub. You've painted this weird picture where he's been left on the bench a ton, but not really. I think he's only not played in the Honduras Nations League game -- where there was no Paul Arriola, btw, and it's not really shocking that we're not trying to run out a dude who has had constant hamstring issues 270 minutes in 3 days. This is exactly what I mean when I note that people aren't really sticking to the facts. He's not getting 5-7 minutes. This is easy to look up. He had 164 minutes this window. It's weird, but the only times that we're talking about here are... checks notes ... weirdly, the two Nations League games where perhaps he was not quite ready to be cap tied. And even if it wasn't that, it's not a crime that Musah played -- again, checks notes -- 104 minutes that window. He played most of the Costa Rica game and came on as a sub against Switzerland (where he was a big part of why Switzerland scored the game winner, btw). It's funny. While we're on Lletget, everyone here was like "he's a guaranteed starter! See!" And everyone insisted he'd start all three games of the first window -- he was more of a lock than Pulisic. Weirdly, he's started two games in WCQ out of 6, including not even starting game 1. It's almost as if your theory of irrational love and loyalty to a player isn't really true, and that Berhalter may have other reasons for his decisions. But nah, you'll keep being wrong about these things but insisting they are true. Just because you got overemotional and upset about it in June doesn't mean you were right to do so. Yep. And a casual viewer should be able to understand his strengths as well. The guy has trouble with speed in space, but is otherwise one of our better passers, aerial defenders, organizers of the defense, and it's not shocking we want some veteran leadership out in the defense when everyone else is 12. He's also only played in one WCQ match. Despite people claiming he was going to be there all the time. I find it funny -- when Ream was getting most of his minutes, no one was screaming for Robinson. The cognoscenti here were screaming about CCV and Miazga and how "there's a reason Robinson is still in MLS." So let's be clear, people didn't want Miles until Miles had a bomb Gold Cup. Which people didn't want Miles to be the starter at. They were screaming as to why we didn't have Miazga and CCV and Richards. You don't get to claim Berhalter buried Miles Robinson with Tim Ream when you didn't want Miles to begin with. As for Richards, I love Richards. But does anyone want to pump the brakes a little bit on Richards? It's not like he dominated the Costa Rica game, a game in which we dominated on the whole time. I had people telling me that if we had just played Richards against Panama, pressing us, on the road, that he would have solved the midfield problem with his line-breaking passes. Instead, in a home game where we owned the ball, he was decent? good? Did not show any real passing, was bad in the air, may have committed the penalty, but ultimately bailed us out of a bad spot and was otherwise unremarkable. He's also had a couple of injuries that have slowed his integration. I saw this as somehow who, if I had to bet, would say that he's a World Cup starter for us. But I mean, it seems like a perfectly normal integration plan of a young centerback. I don't even understand your point here. Arriola is the lone MLS player that has been referenced for the vertical component (versus Konrad). Weah is a very vertical player, Pulisic can be when he wants (and Berhalter referenced). There was never a divide there. I also find the whole mocking of verticality hilarious. Apparently people want through balls but don't want people to run onto them? This isn't that hard if you aren't trying really hard to hate everything Berhalter does.
Yeah. I mean I would have liked to see Musah in Nations League, but whatever the reason, it really isn't this massive miss considering he played over a game's worth of minutes that window. Same with Weah. That sub appearance against Jamaica was the perfect kind of thing to make his integration a success.
Yeah, at the time it concerned me. But I trust Gregg knows full well that Musah is on another level than Seb. Given both options, I’m hoping Musah is always penciled in higher in the pecking order.
That's more the argumentum ad populum, more commonly known as the "bandwagon fallacy." Since 90% of the people think top leagues have only top players, they conclude if a player is in a top league he must be a top player. Which is bonkers. 200 years ago everybody believed infections were transmitted by the air and all you needed were odorous spices to keep them at bay. If someone said there were little creatures floating around transmitting them and washing your hands was better than smelling rosemary and lavender, he'd be put in the mental hospital.
Usually, I don't respond to long responses. But I'll bite. Arriola was supposed to have played vs CR even when he wasn't being effective. Weah's call wasn't because of GB great game plan but rather by luck for us. As to Konrad being a one-dimensional player that only looks for runs down the line in the vertical scheme of GB. That is not how he has been playing for us. I assumed he was instructed to pinch in as much as he can because that is how Pulisic plays. Konrad has the speed to beat players down the line. Early during the friendly season of 2020 and early 2021 Weah only played spot minutes. He only started to get minutes at the start of the NL. If he was supposed to be an integral part of the team, why didn't get more playing time in the friendlies season. You using stats beginning at the NL games is moving the post. Konrad only got 45 minutes in the Wales game. They went to him only 5 times and three of those were strayed passes to him. GB didn't call him again until the beginning of the qualifiers. To me, that is erratic player management because Konrad's game hasn't changed since his first invite, his return call was all based because Marseille tried the kid. In other words, GB didn't regard him as being at the same quality level as Arriola. If Arriola was such a strong winger why is he still in MLS? because he is a one-dimensional player that is not clinical on top of that. There are stats of minutes played for the past 18 months, and the top 2 are LLeget and Arriola.
That is just nonsense. Berhalter was asked about Musah by reporters during NL and replied that he used Lletget because he believes that Lletget has goals and assists in him. Berhalter preferred Lletget over Musah at NL no ifs, ands, or buts!
Maybe things weren't quite as straightforward as you'd like to believe, THHF... 1446481165481877512 is not a valid tweet id
It's not moving the post. We had European players in November, March and then Nations League. The December game and January camp were not in international windows and players did not need to be released. In November, Weah wasn't playing for Lille at all, still struggling to return from injury and he had like 30 minutes in the last 18+ months. He had gotten hurt in August of 2019, then played once in the Spring for 10 minutes and reinjured himself. He actually got more minutes in November camp than he had with Lille all season to that point. He came to the March camp but didn't play and left early to return to his club because of COVID restrictions. Or maybe he never actually came because of it -- I don't quite remember, but he was called up. The wingers on that roster were Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson and Gioachinni, He would then reinjure himself in April, and only play 23 more club minutes all season. Still, he came to Nations League camp and played. He then injured himself AGAIN in late August, and missed the September window. If we're keeping track, over two years, Weah has had at least four injuries plus COVID screwed him out of a camp. Yes, in two games he rode the bench behind Arriola or was intended to, but did actually play in those games ... and he's also coming back again from injury. Oh, and he literally lost 18 months to hammy problems, but please, let's play him 270 minutes over a 3 game window! The only game in which he was available and didn't play was the Honduras Nations League match, where Aaronson got the call. Not Arriola, who wasn't even on the roster. So aside from the decision to go domestic with the Gold Cup and give the European players the summer off, which you know, given Weah's track record doesn't seem like a bad idea, what am I missing? The answer is nothing. The answer is people want to bitch, and they make up shit like Weah only getting 5-7 minutes or they cite dumb stats like the Arriola one that are misleading without context. But hey, you get to be a grown adult and complain, so win for you!
This is incredibly naive, but I expect nothing less. You're a remarkable pedant when it serves your purposes. I'm still waiting for that source on Acosta getting kicked out of January camp because ... what was it again ... he didn't kiss the ring or something? For someone who insists on a concrete source on everything, it struck me how liberal you were on rumor-mongering when it served your argument.
Musah was heavily recruited for over a year. He has played every friendly that he was available. Yet, he was deemed not ready for NL games was that because he lost his starting place with Valencia? If so, then GB is going by club performance rather than his own assessment of the player because three days Musah played his usual game against CR in a friendly. To my recollection, Musah is the only recruited player that got his own video when he decided to commit to the USA. Imagine that.
So you comment on Berhalter preferring Lletget over Musah at NL is Acosta dissing Trapp at GB's first January camp? I see the connection
I mean I would have played him in the Nations League, but we won the Nations League and he’s started every qualifier for which he’s been healthy, I guess I don’t understand what there is complain about.