USMNT Talk

[Slick Rick]

You know that formation we ran tonight?
Let's never do that again.
Thanks.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

My hot takes:

Drek Shea: goal was well struck, but was terrible otherwise.

Jermaine Jones: has always been undisciplined, having him in the back line is a horror show. First goal he lost his marker. Two big turnovers were blown by Chile, but he could have been responsible for three goals.

Jozy: finished goal well, otherwise is just lost out there. His lazy pass turnover in midfield led to goal.

Mix and Bradley pairing was great. Mix's assist was beauty, I don't know who we have in the pool that adds that attacking creativity. And he played good defense.

Besler and birnbaum were fine. Wood didn't do much, Dempsey played well, but he was basically alone up there. Yedlin good attacking, mostly good defending one on one, but two goals came from his man.

Zardes looked good, active, created chances.

 

[BxLio91]

Yedlin's first touch is still awful and he keeps on losing track of his man at times. He's going to get picked apart in the PL.

 

[Ryan_Kost12]

Rimando and Wondo shouldn't have been on the team,both are too old to do us good anymore.

 

[Espovino]

I really don't like Brek Shea, I think he's the most overrated American by far. Yeah he scored last night and it was a quality finish but hes nothing special. I just don't understand the hype about him

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

The first US game I've watched in a very long time, and first game I've actually payed attention to. (Mix and NYCFC and MLS has turned me into a fan of the national team now) but a couple of points I could take from just that game.

• Jones shouldn't be a CB. Loses concentration and tries to be too risky back there. I also think his athleticism is wasted in the back line. Move him a bit further up.
• Hated the formation that was played.. Shea is clearly terrible tracking back, and it gives Yedlin too much to do. Either play him at RB and let him stay there all game and shut his man down (preferably) or play him further up and use his speed to run into channels. When he's asked to do both he doesn't do either that great.
• Wood is terrible, and I mean terrible. First time I've seen him play, though so maybe it was a bad game for him.

Now the good things

• Mix and Bradley in the midfield is wonderful. They floated around so much and interchanged often it doesn't necessarily matter where they play, although I would have liked Bradley deeper than Mix.
• I thought Jozy played decent. Took his goal superbly, and often tracked back to cover for either Shea or Yedlin on the outside.

Overall it was a really fun game to watch

 

[BxLio91]

No, that was a typical Bobby Wood NT game.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Klinsmann is playing turnover machines all up the spine. Jones, Bradley and Altidore give the ball up so much, nothing can get started through the middle. Bradley, I am willing to wait on, since I think he is still coming around from the injury, but I am ready to be done with Jones and Altidore. We have many better CBs, and plenty of (at least) equivalent forward options, even Zardes looked better in limited time last night.

 

[Gene]

The NY Times rates the players:

Mix Diskerud: Fresh off a move to New York City F.C., the Norwegian-born Diskerud was strong in the first half and made a great play to cut the ball back on Altidore’s first-half goal. Defensively, he also broke up several of Chile’s attacks in the middle of the field. Another solid and complete performance. Most important, when he left, the Americans were in front, 2-1. Rating: 6.5

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/sports/soccer/player-ratings-us-2-vs-chile-3.html?ref=soccer

 

[doctorhoosier]

Klinsmann is playing turnover machines all up the spine. Jones, Bradley and Altidore give the ball up so much, nothing can get started through the middle. Bradley, I am willing to wait on, since I think he is still coming around from the injury, but I am ready to be done with Jones and Altidore. We have many better CBs, and plenty of (at least) equivalent forward options, even Zardes looked better in limited time last night.

Did Bradley really have that turnover machine rep before the Portugal game? I'm not sure that's totally accurate.

Jones, I totally agree on. That guy's good for one god-awful turnover a game, which is magnified when he plays that psuedo-CB role.


Edit: To your points, Nic -

• Jones shouldn't be a CB. Loses concentration and tries to be too risky back there. I also think his athleticism is wasted in the back line. Move him a bit further up.

I'm actually of the opinion he's not athletic enough for that spot. He's very poor in the air, which is how two goals (one was called offside mistakenly) were given up on his watch. He is, however, fantastic at the destroyer role which is the primary responsibility of the central back in that 3-5-2. He's also a major asset when cycling possession back there - you're able to actually play out of the back, which we hadn't been able to do in years.

• Hated the formation that was played.. Shea is clearly terrible tracking back, and it gives Yedlin too much to do. Either play him at RB and let him stay there all game and shut his man down (preferably) or play him further up and use his speed to run into channels. When he's asked to do both he doesn't do either that great.

I honestly loved the 3-5-2. When they switched to the 4-4-2 in the second half is when you saw the major issues with Shea tracking back. I'm surprised you're making the comment about Yedlin, because the 3-5-2 is specifically set up to take advantage of what he's great at. He is absolutely perfect for that wing back spot in this formation. Perfect for it. And I thought he was about as good as could be expected in the first game out - he was a threat in attack and his recovery speed was on point (as usual). However, the talent in the back 3 wasn't quite where it needs to be to play that formation effectively. It's an entirely different method of organizing a defense, so the guys weren't all that clear on where they fit in.

• Wood is terrible, and I mean terrible. First time I've seen him play, though so maybe it was a bad game for him.

Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you there. Part of the problem is that he's a different kind of striker than USMNT fans are used to, but he's not particularly useful in the roles that the US has asked him to take on.

I agree with your positives. Mix was much better defensively than I expected, and I think Bradley looked a lot more confident than we saw him last summer.

The team though has to be more assured in defense, and has to hold the ball better. That's gotta change.

 

[Nicholas Constantino]

Did Bradley really have that turnover machine rep before the Portugal game? I'm not sure that's totally accurate.

Jones, I totally agree on. That guy's good for one god-awful turnover a game, which is magnified when he plays that psuedo-CB role.


Edit: To your points, Nic -

I agree with your positives. Mix was much better defensively than I expected, and I think Bradley looked a lot more confident than we saw him last summer.

The team though has to be more assured in defense, and has to hold the ball better. That's gotta change.

Regarding the 3-5-2, it was the first time I've really seen Yedlin play, so that's what I got from it from this game. I just thought that his man was allowed to get crosses in because he was still in the process of checking back. To me it seemed like if he was always on defense he would stay tighter to his man and not allow him any space to dribble or cross.

But then again I haven't seen much of him, or the US team at all, so I'm sure you would know a lot better than me.

 

[NYCFCFan10]

Regarding the 3-5-2, it was the first time I've really seen Yedlin play, so that's what I got from it from this game. I just thought that his man was allowed to get crosses in because he was still in the process of checking back. To me it seemed like if he was always on defense he would stay tighter to his man and not allow him any space to dribble or cross.

But then again I haven't seen much of him, or the US team at all, so I'm sure you would know a lot better than me.

Yedlin's weakness has always been his defense. He's much improved in defense though.

His strength is beating people in a foot race and curling a ball into the box.

There was a game awhile back, NE vs. Seattle, Yedlin was playing for Seattle, NE spanked them like 5-0. After the game a NE player said, "We just picked on Yedlin because we know his defense sucks." or something to that effect.

 

[doctorhoosier]

Regarding the 3-5-2, it was the first time I've really seen Yedlin play, so that's what I got from it from this game. I just thought that his man was allowed to get crosses in because he was still in the process of checking back. To me it seemed like if he was always on defense he would stay tighter to his man and not allow him any space to dribble or cross.

But then again I haven't seen much of him, or the US team at all, so I'm sure you would know a lot better than me.

Yeah, Yedlin's more of a wing back, so he generally gets too far forward regardless of formation. It's an asset when he's on offensively, but he's definitely not a defender in the traditional sense.

He was fantastic in the game against Belgium in the World Cup checking Hazard, so he's got the potential there. But he's still got a lot of improvement to do in terms of picking his runs a bit better.

 

[Z4CH3B99]

Should we be worried that we are consistently losing friendlies on a regular basis?

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Positives: Bradley, back to pre injury form, mix, wasted at DM, zardes, will be starting forward by the end of the year.

Negatives: Shea and yedlin. Neither can defend, ibarra, offers little except running around quickly, hopefully the team is moving away from this, Jones, not a center back never in position.

Neutral: Dempsey, awesome goal, otherwise non existent, jozy, poor passing, I don't know what he offers, besler, didn't have much to do, doesn't distribute particularly well forcing mfs to come to the back.

Nice to see the young guys get cameos, but I thought the game fell apart after they subbed out mix.

Nice game, but it was Panama.

 

[Kubah]

Should we be worried that we are consistently losing friendlies on a regular basis?

Can't get to excited about friendly losses or wins... it is more about how we played. The only results that matter are Cups/tournaments for the senior team. u17, u20 and Olympic results are nice too, but the World Cup overshawdows everything (obviously).

I think the problem people have is that we are looking bad while losing. I am not pushing the panic button though... I want to see what the Gold Cup brings.

 

[Kjbert]

Aston Villa have discussed their open managerial position with Jurgen Klinnsman

 

[BxLio91]

The soccer media hates him probably more than us, imagine if he bailed to Aston Villa?

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I personally love Klinsmann.

We agree on Poku though

 

[LostAnvil]

from Reddit: US drops to 31st

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-rica-achieve-highest-rank-ever-us-slip-no-31