MNT's 2021

[businesslawyer]

I still think he should have brought Pulisic to El Salvador. He could have saved him for the last 20 minutes if needed. And he was needed.

Love it. You think you know whether coming off COVID he was up to flying out there and playing on that date. So your expertise expands from Star Trek and backup QBs to COV ID recovery.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

So we've learned a number of things from the 3 games.

1. Miles Robinson is our best, most consistent central defender and if John Brooks wants to keep his slot next to him he needs to play for the US like he plays in league.

2. A. Robinson is our left back, period. Dest can compete for the right back slot with Cannon, Yedlin and Moore. Bellow is for the next cycle --I'd rather see Vines as the backup left back.

3. I don't want to overreact to Pepe from one game. That was a great game, and if he's not hurt he will be starting against Jamaica, but I need to see more. I thought Pefok played well against Canada.

4. So Aronson isn't coming out of the starting lineup any time soon. Does it make sense to tweak the formation to a 4-2-3-1, so Aronson, Pulisic and Reyna can play behind Pepe, and move freely between the middle and the wings?

5. So with all healthy, if the World Cup started today my first and backup teams at the moment, using a 4-2-3-1, would be as follows:

Pepe (Pefok)
Pulisic/Reyna/Aronson (Weah/Lleget/de la Fuente)
Adams/McKenney (Musah/Acosta)
A. Robinson/Brooks/M. Robinson/Dest, getting the benefit of the doubt (Vines/McKenzie/Zimmerman/Yedlin)
Steffen (Turner)

Some of the backup positions (centerback next to McKenzie, right back, the third withdrawn forward) are still wide open, but I think we have a fairly good handle on the starters and most of the second unit. Here's to everyone staying healthy so we can start to see what it looks like in October.

Richards should be at worst our 3rd CB

 

[Palatine]

Love it. You think you know whether coming off COVID he was up to flying out there and playing on that date. So your expertise expands from Star Trek and backup QBs to COV ID recovery.

What do you think Pulisic was doing when he got back to the national team?

He was going through strength and conditioning getting himself ready to play. A very limited stint like 20 minutes against against El Salvador would have been a reasonable step for such a regime. Win/win. Two days later, he played 90 against Canada. So he obviously could have gone.

I enjoy living rent free in your head. But please think before you post nonsense, it doesn't reflect on me, it just makes you look silly.

 

[outlaw]

3. I don't want to overreact to Pepe from one game.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So we've learned a number of things from the 3 games.

1. Miles Robinson is our best, most consistent central defender and if John Brooks wants to keep his slot next to him he needs to play for the US like he plays in league.

2. A. Robinson is our left back, period. Dest can compete for the right back slot with Cannon, Yedlin and Moore. Bellow is for the next cycle --I'd rather see Vines as the backup left back.

3. I don't want to overreact to Pepe from one game. That was a great game, and if he's not hurt he will be starting against Jamaica, but I need to see more. I thought Pefok played well against Canada.

4. So Aronson isn't coming out of the starting lineup any time soon. Does it make sense to tweak the formation to a 4-2-3-1, so Aronson, Pulisic and Reyna can play behind Pepe, and move freely between the middle and the wings?

5. So with all healthy, if the World Cup started today my first and backup teams at the moment, using a 4-2-3-1, would be as follows:

Pepe (Pefok)
Pulisic/Reyna/Aronson (Weah/Lleget/de la Fuente)
Adams/McKenney (Musah/Acosta)
A. Robinson/Brooks/M. Robinson/Dest, getting the benefit of the doubt (Vines/McKenzie/Zimmerman/Yedlin)
Steffen (Turner)

Some of the backup positions (centerback next to McKenzie, right back, the third withdrawn forward) are still wide open, but I think we have a fairly good handle on the starters and most of the second unit. Here's to everyone staying healthy so we can start to see what it looks like in October.

To your point 4, I really would like to see Reyna as an attacking central mid. Our version of Bruno Fernandes, but yes, also moving fluidly with Pulisic or the RW.

 

[businesslawyer]

Richards should be at worst our 3rd CB

You may be right. I haven't seen him play enough at any level to even have an opinion on that. The mere fact that Bayern holds his contract doesn't mean more to me than that Bayern held Julian Green's or that Spurs holds CCV.

 

[ZooCougar]

So we've learned a number of things from the 3 games.

1. Miles Robinson is our best, most consistent central defender and if John Brooks wants to keep his slot next to him he needs to play for the US like he plays in league.

2. A. Robinson is our left back, period. Dest can compete for the right back slot with Cannon, Yedlin and Moore. Bellow is for the next cycle --I'd rather see Vines as the backup left back.

3. I don't want to overreact to Pepe from one game. That was a great game, and if he's not hurt he will be starting against Jamaica, but I need to see more. I thought Pefok played well against Canada.

4. So Aronson isn't coming out of the starting lineup any time soon. Does it make sense to tweak the formation to a 4-2-3-1, so Aronson, Pulisic and Reyna can play behind Pepe, and move freely between the middle and the wings?

5. So with all healthy, if the World Cup started today my first and backup teams at the moment, using a 4-2-3-1, would be as follows:

Pepe (Pefok)
Pulisic/Reyna/Aronson (Weah/Lleget/de la Fuente)
Adams/McKenney (Musah/Acosta)
A. Robinson/Brooks/M. Robinson/Dest, getting the benefit of the doubt (Vines/McKenzie/Zimmerman/Yedlin)
Steffen (Turner)

Some of the backup positions (centerback next to McKenzie, right back, the third withdrawn forward) are still wide open, but I think we have a fairly good handle on the starters and most of the second unit. Here's to everyone staying healthy so we can start to see what it looks like in October.

This 100%

 

[ZooCougar]

That was one of the few half’s where the talent of the US Team really showed. There was even a little swagger.

The goals were pretty too.

 

[ZooCougar]

So Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson, Pepe man this team could be really good eventually.

Have fun using to more than one defender to lock down Pulisic.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

You may be right. I haven't seen him play enough at any level to even have an opinion on that. The mere fact that Bayern holds his contract doesn't mean more to me than that Bayern held Julian Green's or that Spurs holds CCV.

Well he’s actually played for the Bayern 1st team and showed out well on loan at Hoffenheim last season. He should be first choice for them again this season.

 

[meyers7]

As bad as it seemed the Sept WCQ's didn't turn out too badly. You should strive to get 3 points at home and at least 1 pt on the road. You do that, and you should qualify. And we got 5 points out of 2 away and 1 home game. We're still ok.

 

[HuskyHawk]

As bad as it seemed the Sept WCQ's didn't turn out too badly. You should strive to get 3 points at home and at least 1 pt on the road. You do that, and you should qualify. And we got 5 points out of 2 away and 1 home game. We're still ok.

Sure. But a tie at home, plus a tie vs a bad team on the road, then down 0-1 at half to another bad team on the road...that's awful. Let's hope it was the wake up call it seemed to be. We can't keep playing like we did the first 5 halves of qualifying. We haven't played Mexico or Panama yet and we need to hope that CR doesn't somehow recover their form.

 

[ZooCougar]

Sure. But a tie at home, plus a tie vs a bad team on the road, then down 0-1 at half to another bad team on the road...that's awful. Let's hope it was the wake up call it seemed to be. We can't keep playing like we did the first 5 halves of qualifying. We haven't played Mexico or Panama yet and we need to hope that CR doesn't somehow recover their form.

Should have been a 7 pointer.

 

[businesslawyer]

Both these positions are right. Did we play for six halves at anywhere near the level we want to and should be playing? Not just looking at goals and results but overall play? Absolutely not. And at halftime last night, I wasn't sure Berhalter would make it to October.

On the other hand, while the reasonable goal for this cycle was 7 points, given the 2 road games and the monkey on our back from last cycle we started with, 5 points was a perfectly satisfactory start towards qualifying itself. Now get at least seven in October when two of the games are at home and we'll be sitting in 2d with some daylight opening up.

 

[SubbaBub]

So we've learned a number of things from the 3 games.

1. Miles Robinson is our best, most consistent central defender and if John Brooks wants to keep his slot next to him he needs to play for the US like he plays in league.

2. A. Robinson is our left back, period. Dest can compete for the right back slot with Cannon, Yedlin and Moore. Bellow is for the next cycle --I'd rather see Vines as the backup left back.

3. I don't want to overreact to Pepe from one game. That was a great game, and if he's not hurt he will be starting against Jamaica, but I need to see more. I thought Pefok played well against Canada.

4. So Aronson isn't coming out of the starting lineup any time soon. Does it make sense to tweak the formation to a 4-2-3-1, so Aronson, Pulisic and Reyna can play behind Pepe, and move freely between the middle and the wings?

5. So with all healthy, if the World Cup started today my first and backup teams at the moment, using a 4-2-3-1, would be as follows:

Pepe (Pefok)
Pulisic/Reyna/Aronson (Weah/Lleget/de la Fuente)
Adams/McKenney (Musah/Acosta)
A. Robinson/Brooks/M. Robinson/Dest, getting the benefit of the doubt (Vines/McKenzie/Zimmerman/Yedlin)
Steffen (Turner)

Some of the backup positions (centerback next to McKenzie, right back, the third withdrawn forward) are still wide open, but I think we have a fairly good handle on the starters and most of the second unit. Here's to everyone staying healthy so we can start to see what it looks like in October.

Had the benefit of watching the replay knowing the outcome and agree with most of this. A.Rob and M.Rob are our two best defenders and there is a huge gap to #3.

First things first, that was a criminal starting lineup. It screams, I'm coaching based on minutes played. Half these guys won't be on the WC roster and they are starting a critical qualifier?

I agree on Pepe, but by default he is now my #2 striker behind Gioancchini, whom I want to see next round. Sargent does a lot of things really well, just none of them inside the 18, which is a problem if you are center forward and there are too many other guys we need to see in that spot.

Arronson has locked up the 3rd wing spot for the time being and 1st choice to back up Pulisic. I'm just not sold on him as a consistent contributor yet, but results should matter. I think Lleget is McKinnie backup and in the mix at RW with Roldon and Arriola behind Reyna. Weah will have a better shot at CF. Turner is #1 GK until further notice, he's done nothing but perform and looked good doing it. He's also playing regularly unlike Steffen.

The formation is an interesting idea, but I think this team will still struggle to score against good teams and therefore can't be pushing an extra midfielder forward. I'll stick with the 4-3-3 for the rest of qualifying.

 

[SubbaBub]

Updated Power Rankings after Honduras:

		Gioacchini
		Weah
Pulisic				Reyna
Arronson				Arriola
		McKennie
		Lletget
	Adams		Acosta
	Yueill		Yueill
A. Robinson	M. Robinson		Brooks	Yedlin
Dest	Ream		Zimmerman	Cannon
		Turner
		Steffen
		Horvath

Position Detail	Position Rank	Player	1-23 Rank
LW	1	Pulisic	1
RW	1	Reyna	2
DM	1	Adams	3	+1
AM	1	McKennie	4	-1
CB	1	M. Robinson	5	+2
DM/RB	2	Acosta	6
CB	2	Brooks	7	-2
LB	1	A. Robinson	8	+4
LB/RB	2	Dest	9	-1
RB	1	Yedlin	10	-1
G	1	Turner	11
ST	1	Gioacchini	12	-2
RW	2	Arriola	13	+1
AM	2	Lletget	14	+1
ST	2	Weah	15	+4
ST	3	Pepi	16	NR
ST	4	Sargent	17	-4
G	2	Steffen	18
AM	3	Roldan	19	+1
CB	3	Ream	20	-4
CB	4	Zimmerman	21	-4
CB	5	Miazga	22	-1
RB	2	Cannon	23	-1
G	3	Horvath	24	-1
AM	4	Musah	25	-1
LW	3	Hoppe	26	-1
ST	5	Zardes	27	-1
RB	3	Moore	28	-1
ST	6	Dike	29	-1
CB	6	Long	30	-1
LW/RW	2	Arronson	31	-1
DM	3	Yueill	32	-1
RW	3	Morris	33	-1
G	4	Johnson	34	-1
ST	7	Pefok	35	-1
G	6	Guzan	36	-1
G	5	Ochoa	37	-1
ST	8	Altidore	38	-1
AM	5	Busio
AM	6	Williamson
CB	7	McKenzie
CB	8	Sands
CB	9	Kessler
CB	10	Pines
LB	3	Bello
LB	4	Vines
LW	4	Konrad
LW	5	Lewis

 

[LIuconn]

Jury is still out on Weah for me. His first touch is suspect at best. And I need to see more from Gio before locking him into a starter role.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Jury is still out on Weah for me. His first touch is suspect at best. And I need to see more from Gio before locking him into a starter role.

Gio is 1000% a starter. Even if he hadn’t shown much (he has) he should start for the simple fact he can actually take on players with success, and we have a very short list of players who can do that. Also I think Weah has a good first touch for the most part and good instincts, his issue is always being injured and decision making. Also I think he’s more of a striker than a winger, where we have played him mostly.

 

[Palatine]

No one on this team shows a consistently good first touch. In their defense part of it they don't have much chemistry at this point. Your first touch is better when you know exactly where you re going when you receive the pass. As the window goes on and the chemistry improves we should see more sure ball handling.

Gio needs to start and play major minutes. Just his presence should open more space for Pulisic.

 

[businesslawyer]

No one on this team shows a consistently good first touch. In their defense part of it they don't have much chemistry at this point. Your first touch is better when you know exactly where you re going when you receive the pass. As the window goes on and the chemistry improves we should see more sure ball handling.

Gio needs to start and play major minutes. Just his presence should open more space for Pulisic.

Yup. As I said, Reyna, Pulisic and Aronson have to be on the field together with a striker.

The fields in Central America don't help with the first touches either, but we have to be able to adjust better than we have been. El Salvador and Honduras didn't have trouble adjusting. John Brooks, however, looked like he was trying to play a ball out of fescue the whole time.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Yup. As I said, Reyna, Pulisic and Aronson have to be on the field together with a striker.

The fields in Central America don't help with the first touches either, but we have to be able to adjust better than we have been. El Salvador and Honduras didn't have trouble adjusting. John Brooks, however, looked like he was trying to play a ball out of fescue the whole time.

Sands looked like he was running on it too lol

 

[upstater]

McKennie had another rough outing this weekend. It's starting to look like he's being played out of position, asked to attack, and because of that he looks lost. Juve is a lost team in general.

 

[LIuconn]

Tottenham dodged a bullet if they actually wanted to sign him.

I watched him enough last season at Juve. He doesn’t have the ball skills to keep up with top flight serie A players. He’s very athletic and can score some highlight reel goals but he’s not going to be an offensive catalyst, at best a destroyer that can get the ball to a playmaker. For MNT purposes he’s good for Concacaf but Tyler Adams does what he does better than Weston at the moment.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

His first touch and passing are not near where they need to be. He is and should be used like a skilled enforcer, in the Hector Herrera mold.

 

[navery12]

Tottenham dodged a bullet if they actually wanted to sign him.

I watched him enough last season at Juve. He doesn’t have the ball skills to keep up with top flight serie A players. He’s very athletic and can score some highlight reel goals but he’s not going to be an offensive catalyst, at best a destroyer that can get the ball to a playmaker. For MNT purposes he’s good for Concacaf but Tyler Adams does what he does better than Weston at the moment.

As a Tottenham fan there's no way they dodged a bullet. He'd be awful if they got him and great eventually since they didn't