I just want to see more Luna, Tillman, Richards and McKenzie as the partnership moving forward and more 4231, but rather see the 6 splitting the CBs on that 3 in possession, rather than making a FB do it. I’ve zero interest in seeing Agemayng, Wright, the older Aaronson, Ream, Robinson or Turner.
Wright has the best combo of talent & experience by far at the striker position. You just worry about the work rate to not break down any press we apply. That's probably what Poch has been thinking. If he's played, it's easier to hide him on a fb, than the CB's/GK. I'd throw him up top, tell him to not be so stop start, and if he can't, promptly sub him at half. Bring in Downs. He's the wild card to emerge at this camp. Then he could be a rare striker producing for us in a top 4 league too going into the WC. Just don't know he's a refined guy we can use as a backboard either, from what I know. Might well still need time to round out, if he gets there.
From Pochettino’s comments it sounds like there will be a lot of rotation in terms of the lineup tonight.
Do you know who does, Atletico Madrid, literally. They see all his play for Betis as a 6 and they are buying him because of it.
I think Johnny probably makes the World Cup squad, but I think it is hilarious that the USMNT fanbase is both: "Berhalter made these players too complacent" AND "A guy can have over 1,000 minutes and absolutely blow for a tournament straight and I'd still call him in for the World Cup without trying anyone else because badge." I think Johnny is talented enough that he will show something over the next, checks notes, likely 6-7 games, but if he doesn't, you absolutely have to go looking elsewhere. I really don't want to ever hear the word accountability from some of you. Just wow.
It's a deeply insecure fan base. Subotic played for Dortmund until 2018, but his final cap w/ Serbia was in 2013 for under-performance. If he had stuck w/ the US, there'd have been a large contingent calling for him to the end, just like they did w/ Chandler. I recently got in an argument w/ that DHC guy who even resorted to revisionism Timmy was actually good for us. BadgeFC is some's identity.
the broken record is getting tedious .... we clearly understand your opinion here .... FTR - I say put him back out there tonight and see how he handles the adversity ... Pellegrini is a pretty good judge of talent - and he seems to do quite well for Betis. in addition - Tillman did not show well for the US his first few matches - and it seems now he is hitting his stride for the Nats. I will say this - I would like to see Downs out there .... we have seen Agman and we have seen Wright ... neither one of them has provided a spark.
Who is "good" or not is so subjective and heavily based on personal biases that you should not pretend there is any objective basis for it. Was Bornstein, Lichaj, Lovitz, Trapp, Yueill "good"? How about Scally, How about Brad Evans.
Fair enough, you can have the last word on Johnny. I'd also like to see Downs. I think Wright might be useful, but I'd rather see what Downs can do. Would like to see Luna on the ball more. I think LDLT is important if the US is going to play through a press. I am curious to see Paxten, though I am not sure where he would line up.
UEFA 2B is still pretty goddamn good. Beat Italy in Euro 24, nearly beat Germany, only lost to a very good England team on the coin flip that is a penalty shootout. If we ever sniffed results like that in a major tournament, this fanbase would go apoplectic. In a good way. My impression of Switzerland too has been that while they don’t have a lot of marquee level talent—no Mbappes or Cronaldos or Messis—they do have a very competent core of very good regular players who play consistently together so they have enough reps to have the kind of experience as a unit that makes them perform better as a whole than the sum of their parts would suggest. So I expect this to be a major test, more so than Turkey. If we can hold Switzerland even, that would be a good outcome. A win would be phenomenal, and given the B-level roster we’ve got, a pretty major upset. All this presumes the Swiss field their best players or most of them, as Turkey did.
I think Tessman, LDLT, Morris, Sands, and Busio are all moving up the depth chart as Johnny falters. I expect 1/2 of them to make the final roster over Johnny.
If I had to bet on it, I wouldn't. Johnny has some really strong skills. I don't think he's ever going to be as good in international play as in a highly organized club structure, just given the differences in style of play. But he is almost certainly our second or third best defensive midfielder (and by that I mean second most defensive overall midfielder, not just second best CDM), even if you really want to play him in more of a double pivot. But Poch plays a lot of double pivot. I can see a number of the guys you listed make a roster, but I think there's a lot to overcome for some of them. LDLT certainly looked good, and Tessman can hit a long pass but neither is the defender Johnny is if you are trying to bring an Adams backup. I don't think Morris, Sands or Busio are actively moving up the depth charts -- Sands hasn't even been called in. Maybe he will play so poorly that Poch decides that a McKennie Musah double pivot or something is his backup plan to Tyler, but I think he's got a pretty good shot to make it.
Is this not getting dangerously close to "Badge FC" social media USMNT lineups with big Euro club crests if we're just accepting that the professional talent evaluators at billion dollar clubs with their veteran scouting and analytics departments may know what they're doing and that the multi-billion dollar international transfer market for professional soccer players is actually relatively efficient...
I do NOT really care who plays in this "warmup." But i do care about how they play. I just want to see some effort and a lot of variety in the movement up the field. Many of the previous matches I knew, simply watching on TV, exactly what the players were going to do before they did it and if I could read that so could the actual players on the field. I am long past expecting skill or intelligence from the current USA squad but effort and variety do not require either skill or intelligence. Oh. The slower we play the faster the other team reacts so we need to really try and play fast. That does not necessarily mean running fast it means that no player should slow down the play every time he touches the ball and the number of back passes should be limited. To put it simply I am tired of the USA playing "not to lose" and I want to see the USA "play to win."