USMNT: Hold My Beer

67YAZ

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Steffen came back and picked up a clean sheet against Rotherham this week. Looks like he faced no shots on goal, though.

I don't doubt Steffen will be on WC squad if healthy. I really like Sean Johnson and think he is much more dependable option...I also fear that Steffen's presence in the squad threatens Turner's place as the #1.

I hope Johnson can impress in camp.
 

67YAZ

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Speaking of goalkeepers, Matt Turner says he has been working on improving his distribution and feels like he's already made progress at it.
https://arseblog.news/2022/09/the-difference-is-huge-turner-reaping-the-benefits-of-arsenal-move/
I think it was at Gregg’s last press conference where he mentioned going to London, watching Turner practice, and chatting with the coaches. And Berhalter mentioned he saw effort to improve the distribution. I’m happy to see Gregg focusing attention on Turner. Matt being at the top of his game is essential for this squad to make a run in Qatar.
 

Senator Donut

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Steffen came back and picked up a clean sheet against Rotherham this week. Looks like he faced no shots on goal, though.

I don't doubt Steffen will be on WC squad if healthy. I really like Sean Johnson and think he is much more dependable option...I also fear that Steffen's presence in the squad threatens Turner's place as the #1.

I hope Johnson can impress in camp.
I've come to this conclusion as well. It will be hard to Steffen to break into the top two, and the third roster spot is irrelevant when it comes to actually playing on the field. Therefore Gregg will likely pick someone unlikely to rock the boat (i.e. Johnson), or maybe even Gaga just to signal to him that he's the heir-apparent.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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I think that’s in reference to the uniforms, but it’s been true of the play so far also. Midfield looks like they’ve never met each other.
 

Catcher Block

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Turned in for 90 seconds and watched Adams and McKennie both commit awful turnovers, one of which leads to a Japan goal.

Hopefully not a sign of things to come.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Aaron Long really helping the narrative of enraged Twitter maniacs everywhere by just shitting all over himself out there, yeeesh.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Is Vines supposed to be a stay at home LB, or is he just playing super timidly? He’s less creative than Ream was as a makeshift LB for Fulham, and it’s neutralizing Reyna also because there’s nothing happening on that side.
 

67YAZ

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Champion’s visible contempt for Twellman is more entertaining than anything we saw in the first half.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Champion’s visible contempt for Twellman is more entertaining than anything we saw in the first half.
Their announcer/color relationship is so awkward. At least once a game Champion tries to set Twellman up with idle chatter and Twellman just leaves him hanging and stops the flow dead. I thought it was gonna be the Lederhosen thing this game but he went with that one.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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That takes out the only two players who were somewhat effective going forwards in Dest and Reyna (which I get for health and match fitness reasons), so the tactical adjustments better be good I guess.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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US looking better, I’m never sure if Berhalter is good at adjustments or terrible at game planning, but we do this a lot from what I recall in qualifying also.
 

allstonite

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I;m no tactician or anything but to my untrained eye, Vines stinks. He’s useless out there. However, Aaronson might be my favorite player. He’s everywhere
 

tims4wins

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US looking better, I’m never sure if Berhalter is good at adjustments or terrible at game planning, but we do this a lot from what I recall in qualifying also.
They were definitely a 2nd half team during qualifying.

Edit: I'm not sure I would say he is terrible at game planning necessarily though. I doubt anyone would say Bill Belichick is terrible at game planning; however, he excels at seeing how the game "declares" itself in the first half and adjusting accordingly in the 2nd half
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Both halves we’ve had a stay at home FB tucked in with the CBS and there have been acres of space in front of that guy for Japan to attack into
 

67YAZ

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Big Walk’s long diagonals aren’t accurate enough. They’re not horrible, but they end up being 50/50s. I know Gregg wants these passes in the system, but we do t have a CB for it.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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There was a total of 10 - 15min at the start of the 2nd half where the US looked dangerous, but it’s all been garbage otherwise.
 

67YAZ

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There was a total of 10 - 15min at the start of the 2nd half where the US looked dangerous, but it’s all been garbage otherwise.
Yeah. Thank god for friendlies. This squad is not ready for prime time. We really need to see better reorganization and real cohesion against SA.

Today has confirmed that Aaronson and Turner are must-starts.
 

67YAZ

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Great finish. Canon dropped off for no discernible reason. He needs to be shoulder to shoulder starting outside the box.
 

Kliq

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They looked terrible. Aaronson and Turner I agree were bright spots, but almost everyone else was disappointing. The team isn't close to full strength with injuries to so many key players, but there is no reason to think they are going to be whole in November either.
 

InstaFace

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Big Walk’s long diagonals aren’t accurate enough. They’re not horrible, but they end up being 50/50s. I know Gregg wants these passes in the system, but we do t have a CB for it.
We have three who make those all day for their club, but Richards is injured, and if I mention either of the other two I break out crying. I guess McKenzie has that in his bag too, he just doesn't pull it out very often from what I've seen.
 

Arroyo Con Frijoles

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I'm by no means some kind of Tim Ream truther, but it does make me laugh when Gregg says he's not selected because he's not good in a high line, and then our center backs end up playing the entire game sat back. I'm sure it wasn't by design, but that's sort of the point, no? Same with Pefok on the other end of the field.

No matter, everybody except Turner stunk anyway.
 

nayrbrey

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For those that have played or coached at a higher level, is it a formation issue? I know they are ride or die with the 1-4-3-3, but with how they played today (Cannon as the pseudo 3 CB) would a 1-3-4-3 fit the current players?
 

Jimy Hendrix

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For those that have played or coached at a higher level, is it a formation issue? I know they are ride or die with the 1-4-3-3, but with how they played today (Cannon as the pseudo 3 CB) would a 1-3-4-3 fit the current players?
Badly I think, as it puts more players from our weakest position group on the field at the expense of our better players. I'm not one of our tactics/coaching aces through, so grain of salt from me there.
 

rguilmar

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Just caught the game. Did GGG dream that he had Brooks and Ream out there? I personally am not an Aaron Long fan right now, though if he could get back to his old form I would be, but he was absolutely set up for failure today. This had to be the worst mismatch of squad and tactics in a long time. The players played poorly, but why is the US trying new shit out leading up to the World Cup? There was 180 minutes left to work on whatever nuances that needed to be worked on, and half of that time was wasted while Gregg turned back the clock to the tactics he tried when he first got the job. The CBs, Adams, McKennie have their strengths but building out of the back (or in McKennie’s case, receiving and quick turns) ain’t it. This team is built as a high pressure team that was asked to play tiki taka with predictable results.

The two things that would set Twitter afire- Ferreira missing from close in and Long playing like crap- absolutely happened today. Probably best to stay off the platform for a few days.
 

rguilmar

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For those that have played or coached at a higher level, is it a formation issue? I know they are ride or die with the 1-4-3-3, but with how they played today (Cannon as the pseudo 3 CB) would a 1-3-4-3 fit the current players?
Gregg has been playing around with this for a bit. Cannon was very exposed against Morocco last window and the switches were just killing the US. It was essentially a 3-4-3 today anyways. Vines rarely ventured up the field in the first half with Dest on the right, then played almost as a LW for extended stretches in the second when Cannon came in.

I would love to see an old school 4-4-2 diamond for fun but that ship has sailed.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Gregg has been playing around with this for a bit. Cannon was very exposed against Morocco last window and the switches were just killing the US. It was essentially a 3-4-3 today anyways. Vines rarely ventured up the field in the first half with Dest on the right, then played almost as a LW for extended stretches in the second when Cannon came in.

I would love to see an old school 4-4-2 diamond for fun but that ship has sailed.
There were wide open attacks on whichever side the stay at home FB was on both halves, Japan seemed to easily sniff that tactic out and then march up the field in front of the stay at home guy who wasn't doing anything to stop them.
 

rguilmar

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There were wide open attacks on whichever side the stay at home FB was on both halves, Japan seemed to easily sniff that tactic out and then march up the field in front of the stay at home guy who wasn't doing anything to stop them.
It’s especially problematic for a team like the US with wingers who like to press high, and who have been coached to do so. There will just be massive gaps between that FB/CB and the winger that can easily be exposed, especially when the ball is switched from one side to the other. It’s a wrinkle that’s not going to work. I am concerned about all of these tactical changes this late in the game. Sure, a minor tweak or nuance makes some sense. But a pseudo 3ATB and trying to build through the CBs at this point? Seems like a waste of very valuable time together.

At this point I’d rather leave Cannon out of the 26 because putting him in the game will make it obvious what the US is doing and how to exploit it.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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At this point I’d rather leave Cannon out of the 26 because putting him in the game will make it obvious what the US is doing and how to exploit it.
Cannon’s not good enough to justify the tactical wrinkle and the tactical wrinkle’s not good enough to justify Cannon.
 

rguilmar

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I'm glad to see Pepi and hope he still has a real shot at the starting 9 spot in the World Cup. I understand that Jesus is hottttt for Dallas and the xG argument for him- that he has a higher xG because he gets himself in position to score. I also get that Pepi's move to Augsburg hasn't gone well, though the loan move is looking solid in limited time, and I understand the xG argument against Pepi- that he was outperforming his xG so much that a drop-off in goals was likely. In essence, if we look at the chance for Ferriera against Japan early in the game, the header he put over the bar, the argument is that he consistently gets himself in these good positions to score and at some point the law of percentages will work in his favor. If he has two .5 xG chances and neither goes in, just wait and he will score the next two .5 xG chances. But we have been waiting and waiting for non-minnow goals and at some point we just need to acknowledge that the chances he's getting, while good xG chances, or not good chances for him. The reality though is that the xG models we have access to essentially tell us the percentage that chance has of becoming a goal, but doesn't account for the player taking the chance. When I see the chances that Ferreira is not finishing, I keep thinking "Pepi would have put that on frame at least".

In a vacuum, I do like Ferreira quite a bit. This is when the US can totally dictate what happens in a game and he can just link up with the other attackers. We don't live in that world though. Whether by design or not, most of the USMNT chances will come from crosses, and I expect Pepi to do better than Jesus with those chances. Going back to that chance against Japan, does anyone disagree that Pepi is more likely to bury that than Ferreira? Those are the kinds of chances the US creates more often than any other. The USMNT is not great at breaking down a low block or passing through a defense, but does get the ball wide for crosses pretty easily. I think sometimes we (including myself) get too caught up in advanced stats and ignore the most important stat of all. Put Pepi in that same spot as Ferreira for this team and he is more likely to score.

Beyond that, the two most impressive recent performances by the USMNT were the two qualifiers against Mexico. Pepi started both of those games. He also started the 2-1 win at home versus CR which I thought was a great display by the US as well. Yes, he didn't score, but the team looked at its best with him on the field so he must add something besides just the goals.

TL;DR I hope Pepi shows up and earns the starting 9 spot back.