First 30 minutes were terrible. We had no energy, and couldn't keep hold of the ball. One thing I've noticed is that Sarachan has often gotten the formation way wrong from the start, and has to adjust. We've had a couple of games like that where we start poorly, but start having more success towards the end of the first half. Next 30-40 we were the better team. Then the subs came, and we can't play street ball with England. Guzan made a save or two. He can't pass out of the back, but his shot-stopping is mostly good enough. Yedlin struggled with his marking early on, like most of the team. Got better as the team improved. Miazga looked bad. He does not pair well with Brooks. They don't have any speed in the pairing to cover for each other. Brooks played well up until the third goal where he was awful, but not a bad match from him. Villafana doesn't belong. Trapp struggled with his marking early in the first half, but was very good afterwards. McKennie had a few nice offensive sequences, but nothing that led to any goals, and he was anonymous in the possession game and defensively. Green made some good decisions to keep possession, but nothing offensively. Pulisic was decent. He can't carry a team. He was one of the better players on the field. Weah was invisible. He plays reserve team football in the French third division. He belongs in the U-20's. Wood is very mediocre. Adams was active and made some nice plays, but his best position is still a problem. I don't think he's the #6 that some think he is. He does not look like he wants to be the last line of defense in midfield, nor does he have the passing for the position. Positionally, I think he wants to run around and find the ball. That creates the Adams vs. McKennie problem for the #8. I'd still prefer him at RB, but his game will play somewhere. Acosta added nothing. Asking him to take defensive responsibility is not a good strategy. Saief, Lletget and Moore didn't have many notable contributions.
What I want to say about it is that it doesn't make any sense. We have had TEN friendlies in 2018. We have had an interim coach the entire time. We started Trapp at the #6 in 8 of them, Bradley in 1, and McKennie against a hapless Bolivia team that our u20's could have competed with. It was a colossal wasted opportunity and waste of time when we could have been evaluating different players and combinations, and seeing how different guys stack up against good competition. But because we went 400 days without hiring a coach, Sarachan got to hold out hope that he was going to have a chance to be the guy for way too long, and so the team tried to grind out results rather than us being able to use that time to build and evaluate like we should have been able to.
It is not difficult to find another option to Trapp. If he's the defensive midfielder and the opposition is setting up shop in the middle of the park with ease from the opening whistle, that means he has completely failed to do his primary job. That's not some high bar to get over to find a replacement. Pretty much any midfielder we play could fail just as easily. Hitting a decent switching pass a couple times per game isn't worth the trade off of failing at the primary job of a #6. We need to get over playing defensive midfielders who don't defend. It's bizarre.
I was referring to 2022. Anyway, 2026 should be the final nail in the coffin for the MNT when it loses every match in stadiums in its own country where the entire crowd is rooting for the other team. 2026 could very well be the last time the Senior MNT participates in a World Cup.
That is just not true. Mentality and focus stems from management. Sum of parts greater than the whole, etc. You are right in a way. Any new coach would not make a difference. A good to great coach would/may have at least stopped the curb stomp.
Oh, I am. At you. If you think any other team CONCACAF, let alone the teams we'd meet before the Hex (Guatemala, El Salvador, Curacao, etc.) comes close to the English team we played this afternoon, you simply have not been watching. Would you like to make a sig bet?
Christian Pulisic on #usmnt coaching situation: “It's tough. Dave [Sarachan]'s doing what he can. He wants to win these games just like we do. It’s going to help a lot when we get a permanent head coach moving forward, a guy who has a real plan and a style of how we want to play"— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) November 15, 2018
While watching the game did you have doubts who is our best player? That's a repeat of Donovan story: he is so much better that it's fashionable to say that he isn't as great as advertised.
With Donovan it was entirely different. He had to score one and assist one for people here to say he had an ok game. Pulisic can totally fail and help concede a goal, and people will still say he was "one of the best."
A good/great coach could go back to the old USMNT stance of defend first, gk stand on head and hope to grab a goal on a set piece here or there. Could limit the damages but still odds are against winning against the kind of quality England brings. It was a friendly so glad we didn't resort to that kind of play although we will need to when it is a real match.
Weah? Weah is a defender so the less you hear his name the better. That means he is playing a good game and he did. Our right side was being torched til Pulisic moved left and Weah was moved over to the right to help Yedlin defend. I thought Weah was our best defender on the night. Sarachan's plan worked to perfection. B.t.w., Pulisic defends better on our left, attacks better on our right. Moving him to the left where his defense shines was the right thing for Sarachan to do.
Trapp isn't a cm in a 2-man central midfield. And, at this point in his career, Weah isn't a wide mid. These problems make sweeping proclamations about 'quality gaps' not so credible.
Names please I don't think Trapp has ever built his career on being known as a "defensive" midfielder. Is that the way you've seen his role during those 8 games he's started this year, primarily as a defensive mid? I don't think most observers would describe his role in the middle of the field that way. I'm not saying he's done a bang-up job but if you're going to criticize him, at least judge him on what he's been asked to do not on what you think he should be doing. Apparently too high for specific names to jump over.