MNT’s 2022 | Page 27 | The Boneyard

MNT’s 2022

They move the ball so, so slowly. There wasn't much urgency swinging it around, probing for cracks.

As soon as we pull it out of the last 3rd we allow the D to reset.

And when that D is anchored by Virgil and other 6-3+ center backs, not much will work.

We looked tired from the start. Can't expect to outrun and out-hustle good teams
 
HuskyHawk said:
Some weird decisions. Reyna is our best distributor and it isn’t close. He needs to play. Agree on Aaronson.

Jedi is super useful, but his passing in the attacking 1/3 is awful. Dest pushes too far forward and is vulnerable to counters. He’s also not strong on the ball and gives up possession.

Neither CB has the recovery speed we need to play our pressing style. They need to address that. It puts too much on Adams.

Overall lack of physicality is an issue. If we had off the charts speed and skill we could survive without it. Big, physical teams just manhandle us and nobody can hold ground and get a solid header on corners.
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I liked the efforts by Jedi and Dest. Dest looked great until he left a man unmarked for a goal.
 
Berhalter should be replaced but he will not be. So repeat the same talking points three and a half years from now.
 
Shocking 1st half, shocking 2nd half.

Netherlands suckered the US in the 1st half. I couldn't believe that was Berhalter's plan against a team of this quality. Did he really think the game against England showed he could match wits with teams like this? It's just embarrassing to see us floor it against them and the only logical outcome is the one that actually happened: we're exposed on the backend. I have no problem with our players attacking, our attacking players that is. I do have a problem pushing EVERYONE up when the game is 0-0.

That being said, I found the Netherlands just lost all composure from the middle of the 2nd half on. I was shocked to see them so careless on the ball, turnover after turnover. You are up 2-0 against a team with no goal scorer. What are you doing? LOL. Ridiculously good chances in that situation for the US.

Berhalter was bad all game but de Gaal was criminally bad in the 2nd half.

I hope the Portugal coach bags out of this world cup so that he gets fired, because I'd love to see Santos step in for us. He would get the most out of this group of players. Bring in a professional coach, please. Claudio Ranieri. Etc., someone who has experience with national teams.
 
I think i'd rather have my 13 year old daughter be gifted the ball in the box, all alone with only the keeper to beat, than Haji Wright getting it there.

Haji Wright will not be on this team in 4 years.
 
.-.
We had 2 1v1 opportunities with the Dutch keeper and we don't score, that pretty much sums are our quality and ability to finish. When do you ever see that with a top team??
 
Jaker said:
We had 2 1v1 opportunities with the Dutch keeper and we don't score, that pretty much sums are our quality and ability to finish. When do you ever see that with a top team??
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That’s because there is no difference between Haji Wright and Gyasi Zardes.

Amazing that we were so bad at Striker. We left Pepi home. And Reyna played only 57 minutes and can be as impactful as Pulisic.
 
SubbaBub said:
Guys who weren't ready for this level

Zimmerman
Musah (yet)
Sargent
Wright
Ferreira
Arronson
Reyna (yet)
Morris

Guys to build around for 2026
Turner
Robinson A.
Robinson M.
Dest
Adams
McKennie
Pulisic
Weah

Desparately need at least 2 CB's and 2 strikers in the pool.
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Reyna not ready? We were so much more threatening with him on the field. He should have played at least 200, not 60.
 
We need
Excalibur said:
Reyna not ready? We were so much more threatening with him on the field. He should have played at least 200, not 60.
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Seriously. He's not ready because Greggg says so?
 
SubbaBub said:
Guys who weren't ready for this level

Zimmerman
Musah (yet)
Sargent
Wright
Ferreira
Arronson
Reyna (yet)
Morris

Guys to build around for 2026
Turner
Robinson A.
Robinson M.
Dest
Adams
McKennie
Pulisic
Weah

Desparately need at least 2 CB's and 2 strikers in the pool.
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Musah, Aaronson and Reyna not ready?

Are you on Fentanyl? Like right now?

Musah is going to move to bigger club because of his performance. He turned heads.

The other two were wasted. Impossible to judge.
 
.-.
Aaronson is one of Leeds' top 5 players
Total baller. Gregg chose not to use him
 
Excalibur said:
Reyna not ready? We were so much more threatening with him on the field. He should have played at least 200, not 60.
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He didn't do jack with his time. Embarassingly, Morris had more impact in his cameo.

The very young guys, Musah, Reyna, Wright were not tight enough in their skills or awareness to threaten an upper tier squad like NED. You can extend that to everyone except Pulisic and Dest. The first touches were beyond horrible for a knockout WC match.

The NED cosch rightfully loaded up on our fullbacks and central midfielders and dared the US to play long and make quick, decisive plays in the final third. We flat out refused to do that for the most part and instead tried to play through the middle where we turned the ball over repeatedly. Then when we did get the ball wide, there were zero threatening crosses to our undersized, club footed attackers.

Way too many guys looking for personal glory instead of making the smart play. Reyna and Musah topped this list but they weren't alone. NED gifted us at least two Wondo level sitters. CP just missed and Wright embarrassed the entire nation with his "effort"

All told, it was a good WC for a team built to gain experience for 2026. There will be a lot of them returning. The next coach better start playing these guys together more and mixing in new players where we need help. Making the final 8 at home is the standard for 2026.

I think a normal WC, in the summer with more training time will benefit the US.
 
Excalibur said:
Reyna not ready? We were so much more threatening with him on the field. He should have played at least 200, not 60.
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He played some beautiful balls that our other guys simply weren’t ready for. Kind of like Andre Jackson making a great pass to someone who wastes it.
 
SubbaBub said:
Guys who weren't ready for this level

Zimmerman
Musah (yet)
Sargent
Wright
Ferreira
Arronson
Reyna (yet)
Morris

Guys to build around for 2026
Turner
Robinson A.
Robinson M.
Dest
Adams
McKennie
Pulisic
Weah

Desparately need at least 2 CB's and 2 strikers in the pool.
Expand ...
We’re set for ‘26 everywhere but for a striker and 2 center backs. One can see potential center backs already on the radar, starting with Richards. We need a striker better than was here. We’ll never know if Pefok would have made a difference, but rationally he should have had a shot. In 4 years, maybe Pepe will be the guy
 
.-.
SubbaBub said:
He didn't do jack with his time. Embarassingly, Morris had more impact in his cameo.

The very young guys, Musah, Reyna, Wright were not tight enough in their skills or awareness to threaten an upper tier squad like NED. You can extend that to everyone except Pulisic and Dest. The first touches were beyond horrible for a knockout WC match.

The NED cosch rightfully loaded up on our fullbacks and central midfielders and dared the US to play long and make quick, decisive plays in the final third. We flat out refused to do that for the most part and instead tried to play through the middle where we turned the ball over repeatedly. Then when we did get the ball wide, there were zero threatening crosses to our undersized, club footed attackers.

Way too many guys looking for personal glory instead of making the smart play. Reyna and Musah topped this list but they weren't alone. NED gifted us at least two Wondo level sitters. CP just missed and Wright embarrassed the entire nation with his "effort"

All told, it was a good WC for a team built to gain experience for 2026. There will be a lot of them returning. The next coach better start playing these guys together more and mixing in new players where we need help. Making the final 8 at home is the standard for 2026.

I think a normal WC, in the summer with more training time will benefit the US.
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There is a new normal with 48 teams , groups of 3 and no ties in 2026
 
Excalibur said:
There is no reasonable argument that we weren’t better with Reyna in the field.

LOL at “personal glory”.
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Were we? There is no irrefutable evidence of that once you comcede that anyone would have been better than Ferreira/Wright.

I saw a lot of mindless drubbing into 3 defenders at the corner of the box before turning it over. At least Weah did a decent job of getting the ball up the side.

McKennie not being able to go 90 really affected the sub patterns, but we had a ton of interchangeable guys with the same faults. Not a single attacking sub forced the opponent to change anything about their approach.

NED couldn't have been happier about our wide possession and cross game.
 
businesslawyer said:
We’re set for ‘26 everywhere but for a striker and 2 center backs. One can see potential center backs already on the radar, starting with Richards. We need a striker better than was here. We’ll never know if Pefok would have made a difference, but rationally he should have had a shot. In 4 years, maybe Pepe will be the guy
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I think we need a few different strikers. We can’t adjust the offense very much right now. I’d like a big target striker and a guy who can hold it up. The creative guys we have need to work on finishing. Maybe Pefok can become the target we need.

I‘m not completely sold on Dest either. Maybe with better CBs I’d worry about him less.

Compared to the past, we’re in fantastic shape. Never know who might come out of nowhere too. Turner did. A walk on at Fairfield.
 
Before we demand a striker. Think. How many teams in the tournament have a proper "number 9" ?
 
.-.
SubbaBub said:
3 or 4 matches a week. Do you think an avatar is the same as insight?

Btw, this guy agrees with me.
www.theguardian.com

What did the US lack most at the World Cup? Football intelligence

The deficiencies on display throughout USA’s defeat to the Dutch suggest that more work was needed before Gregg Berhalter’s squad arrived in Qatar
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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He agrees that a guy that he says should have played more wasn’t ready?

That article was a major indictment of Berhalter.
 
Excalibur said:
He agrees that a guy that he says should have played more wasn’t ready?

That article was a major indictment of Berhalter.
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He said he was a wildcard, which he was. Turned out the players GG chose played better. We can't know what happens if he plays just his most dangerous players but we do know NED's opinion.

Memphis was quoted saying the US was all bark and no bite. That sums it up perfectly for me.

We can argue this guy over that guy, butnthe truth is other than Dest, Robinson, Pulisic, and Adams (who themselves made huge errors that gave up goals) the rest of the squad was interchangeable.

We need a different type of player to fill the gaps. The scrappy, technically mediocre, physically underwhelming player is the US prototype. We have a ton of those guys. How about someone who can mix it up in the box, or take a decent free kick, or someone with the knack for being in the right spot at the right time.

Watch these other matches and see how these other teams space themselves on offense and defense. We look nothing like them.
 
.-.
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