On to the next one, Never want to underestimate an opponent but looking at the players Panama called up they seem to have less quality of then the Wales team we faced today. I full expect to dominate possession again, will we be able to turn that possession into scoring chances this match?
i agree, playing with a striker on the pitch would be a step in the right direction. i want to see the same back 5 to start, with richards getting the full second half- i want that written on the whiteboard before the match starts. horvath and cannon in the second half is fine, but id rather it be with cannon replacing dest than moving him left. my reasoning is i think the back 5 we saw today is it for now. i thought they worked really well together, strong chemistry, covered each other well, knew where to be as the outside backs got forward. thats the big cautionary line, the "reason" we cant have two attacking fullbacks...and its not remotely true. so i want them to go again. i want richards to have the chance to win that spot from miazga- but right now (this roster, this camp) thats from the bench. i want to get another half of what is pretty close to our best 11 while we have the chance. theres plenty of room to mess around in other places. hence richards on at the half. horvath and cannon coming on however much berhalter wants in the second half. i want robinson to get all 90, though. an actual left back is incredibly important. similarly i want adams/mckennie starting (anyone should want that), but im not remotely set on musah as the third. i want reyna with those two, but reyna/musah/ledezma/lletget getting the full 90 (thats a write-in option from greggs mom). but that third spot is somewhere we could play around. soto has to start. i mean...cmon. nico can play there, but with his club he plays on the wing, and im not even sold on weah as a 9 at this point (im not sold on his fitness/form right now period)- so lets use the only guy whos actually playing cf AT cf...if for no other reason than coming away from TWO matches with no real evaluation of very green wing players cause theyre in situations they will/should never be in again would be managment malpractice. i already said i want reyna central, i dont know that that means i want musah on the wing. im not against that, but im thinking more a half for each maybe. i hope johnny gets more time in the middle as well, when we get loose in the second half with subs...hopefully much earlier than we made changes today. id like uly and nico wide to start this one, if only because that would be a far more attacking 3 than we saw today, along with more attacking "contribution" from the middle 3 with reyna in there. aside from that i dont really care. ledezma, otasowie, etc...whatever. after the 60th throw em on if you want.
I'm thinking... Llanez-------Gioacchini----------Weah ------------Reyna-----Musah------------ -----------------Johnny-------------------- Robinson--Brooks-Richards-Cannon -----------------Horvath--------------------- Subs: Ream for Brooks at half (throw the guy a bone, rest Brooks) Ledezma for Musah '60 Dest for Weah (play as a RW) at '60 Soto for Gioachnnni at '75 Konrad for Llanez at '75 Otasowie for Reyna at '75 Of course if Adams and McKennie play I'm ok with it.
I’m going with... —————Soto—————— Weah————————Reyna ——Wes—Tyler—Musah—— Dest————————Cannon ———-Brooks—Miazga——— —————-Steffen————— Subs: Richards (Miazga) 46 Johnny (Musah) 46 Llanez (Weah) 70 Gioacchini (Soto) 70 Ledezma (Adams) 70 Konrad (Reyna) 80 Notes: -I’m not sitting Antonee - I just want to see Cannon one game and test Dest on the left. -I’d like to give Johnny Cardoso more of a chance to prove himself. For this reason, I’ll have to pull Musah. -I’d start a true CF. -I’d give Weah a long run out. For this reason and the reason above, Konrad comes off the bench. -I want to keep the consistency of Brooks-Miazga going, but I do want Richards to get some minutes.
Given that nobody is leaving camp, I'd bet the core guys get the start again, even if they might get subbed at 45-60 minutes. It doesn't make sense to keep Adams, McKennie, Brooks, etc. around just to have them sit on the bench.
I’d start the same midfield and back four but would stick in Richards as brook’s partner. Replace adams with Johnny at half. I’d start Soto up top, Gio on the right and have him tuck under Soto. Would start anyone of the other wingers except Konrad on the left. I’d start making significant changes at the 60 minute mark. GGG has a history of doubling down on mistakes and I think he feels pressure to get a result. I hope we do not see a repeat of yesterday’s experiment
I'd like to see basically the same team minus Konrad and Lletget. Put on Weah for Konrad and play any actual striker up top, any of them. If you must play a false 9, make it Reyna. If Panama actually brings their top team, they may actually be a bigger challenge than that Wales side with almost all of their starters rested. If we play like the first game, expect another 0-0 because we did dominate midfield and with that lineup will likely do so again and the defense was pretty sound. But, we created nothing against Wales and unless there are changes I see no reason we would create against Panama.
I think we'll see something like this: —————Lletget—————— Konrad————————Ledezma ——Wes—Johnny—Otasowie—— Robinson————————Cannon ———-Ream—Richards——— —————-Horvath————— -Lletget was flown all the way from LA. He'll play in both games. -Johnny and Otasowie audition for backup spots in the midfield three. -Ledezma takes on Reyna's role as central attacking mid on the wing. -Dest sits after post-game criticism from Egg. Subs: Uly for Konrad Adams for Lletget...shifts Wes up top Reyna for Ledezma Odunze for Horvath Yunus for Otasowie Final score: 0-0
I believe it is usually a mistake for a coach to criticize a player publicly in a presser. There are occasions, however, in which a coach can do so in a calculated way in order to motivate a player--but the coach should do so rarely and very carefully. Typically, I think these sorts of conversations should happen privately. But, to do so after a long layoff and only a couple days of training seems a bit unfair. Obviously, Gregg has a very particular role in mind for his players to work within. However, Dest looked like the player who posed the biggest threat going forward and the unfortunate part is that when he got forward with the ball he often had no one really available to play the ball to--which, I think is directly related to some guys being asked to play in unnatural positions they are not accustomed to and don't have a feel for. I don't think Gregg's comments were appropriate, but I also think Sergiño is the kind of kid who will take it all in stride.
The USMNT and GB needs a win against Panama. We looked very strong in the midfield so I wouldn't sub out Wes, Adams or Musah. I would stick w/ Gio as he is a budding superstar and I expect him to play better now that he has gotten his feet wet. AR also looked tentative... but I think he has played well enough in the EPL to warrant another start. Besides... I am not a giant fan of Cannon. He isn't poor per se.... just not half the player Dest is IMO. Lastly.... MM looked good... lets give Richards a chance to play. This is my lineup: Uly -------- Soto -------- Gio Wes ---- Adams --- Musah AR - Brooks - Richards - Dest ------------- Horvath ------------- Subs: 1. Johnny in for Adams if the game is tight or Owen in for Adams if we have a legit lead 2. Ledzema in for Wes 3. Gioacchini in for Soto 4. Weah in for Gio 5. Ream in for Brooks
I think we're going to see a lot more rotation than some of you do............ --------------Soto----------------- Llanez--------------------Weah -----McKennie-----Ledezma---- ------------Otasowie---------- Ream--Brooks-Richards-Cannon -------------Horvath-------------
---Llanez---------Soto-----Weah----- ------------------Ledezma---------- -----------McKennie-------------------- --ARob--------Cardoso-------Cannon --------------Ream--Richards----------- ------------------Horvath------------------ Gioacchini for Weah at half Otasowie for Cardoso at 60 Musah for McKennie at 60 Reyna for Llanez at 67 Dest for Cannon at 67 Lletget for Ledezma at 75 KDLF for Soto at 75
When I was doing roster assessments for CONCACAF teams, a few months ago, I didn't have a good feel about Panama's quality. A really hard team to judge. A handful of Segunda Liga players in Spain. Anderlecht. Some top teams in lesser South American leagues. They beat Costa Rica twice last month. Hard to get a feel on them, in some ways. They always seem tougher than we think they should be.
Their lineup yesterday is certainly a bunch of world travelers. --------------------Ecuador--------------------- ---Panama------Spain(2)------Spain(2)--- ------------CostaRica----Peru---------------- Austria------Malta------Chile-----Belgium --------------------Uruguay--------------------- the bench had guys playing in Turkey, Slovakia, Israel, and the good ole USA.
Gregg said a couple days ago that he would mostly try to keep the core of his lineup intact for the Panama game. So I think your lineup makes sense if that's still his thinking. I would also like to see Richards get significant minutes in this game, but that doesn't necessarily have to be from the starting whistle.
-----------------Soto----- ------Reyna---------------Weah------ ----------Wes--------Musa---- ----------------Adams--- ---Jedi--------------------------Dest ---------Brooks----Miazga------- ----------------Steffen-------- Drop the false nine. Let Reyna play inverted to this right footedness----it'll be easier to cut inside to create. Give Weah 45 minutes.