That was terrible. I think a big thing for the U.S. is that I don't feel like our mentality in this country is he same as others on the attack. The Brazilians are going to take the ball and go every time. Each player is confident to take on anyone in front of them, they look to push it ahead and score. The U.S. doesn't play with that quickness, confidence or aggressiveness. Now our D is just folding as I type this, fuck it.
We need some younger CMs. Jones looks slow out there, Beckerman was poor his last outings. We need some more athleticism there .
We're just too slow on the ball. Nobody has any idea where they're passing to until after they receive the ball, take two touches, and look up.
I wish Howard was in there just so I could see him rip somebody's head off with his bare hands. edit: gloved hands*
I mean Yedlin has a long way to go but at least he'll take a guy on and try to break down the defense. Only problem is it doesn't accomplish dick when the 4 closest guys are just standing around watching him.
When we get the ball in the final third no one is making any runs. I'm not sure what our game plan is. We don't try to attack down the flank and drive in crosses, we don't play 1-2s at the edge of the area, we aren't trying to get runs in behind the defense. What is our attacking identity?
It reminds me of my how my fucking U14's play. "I don't have the ball so I don't have to do anything"
Watching last night was like watching a pick up game. Guy with ball - other guys stand around waiting for a ball or just watching. Whereas other teams run forward and overlap and put on pressure, it seems like once we get close to the final 3rd, the strategy is to stop, pull the ball back, and have everyone quietly jog into their predetermined positions and wait for further instructions. i dont know if we lack creativity to the point our coaches are like "JUST GO STAND OVER THERE GOD DAMMIT!!!" or whatever but its boring as hell to watch. Plus even when we start to get into our "stand in your assigned spot" formation, we are likely to just cheaply give the ball away anyway. And Jozy as a long striker is just totally pointless at this point since no one is making the runs to give us numbers. Maybe it makes sense if we have 4 attack minded MFs but ......nah.
JK needs to start calling in some new faces. Pretty clear at this point that the current group isn't going to get the job done. Feilhaber, Nagbe, Finley, Lleget, McCarty, Miazga, Hedges. Need to redo the midfield. Push Bradley back down the pitch. Put somebody creative above him. Allow him play defense, distribute and make late offensive runs. We need to establish a CB pairing. Alvarado/Orasco is laughable and they have never played together, so not sure what they are going to accomplish against Brazil other than bloopers. Nor is it going to help us prepare for Mexico. Team is legit terrible right now like probably wouldn't pick them against early 2000s squads, which is sad. We really only have 4 quality players GK, Bradley (plays out of position and is typically ineffective), Fabian, Dempsey, so really only 3. 2 of which are injured.
This is only a small part but they said yesterday that Brooks had a knock so they held him out. Sounds like he would've started otherwise
To be fair outside of 2 come from behind victories in friendlies after a bunch of subs the last year has been horrendous and full of head scratching decisions that make you question the coaching and direction of the team.
I was very hopeful when Klinnsman came in but I've been on the Jurgen out bandwagon for a while. He has never seemed like a good tactical coach and often makes baffling line up decisions. At this point, the only thing he seems to do well is recruit duel nationals but what has that got us? He better beat Mexico next month.
I do think Jurgen is good as a guy who is credible to challenge our system of talent development though. So for the long term I see a lot of value. I dont know how many guys out there could come in that US Soccer would actually listen to as far as how to disrupt things. That said the short term decisions and grudges he holds against guys I could do without.
Bradley as the 10 just continues to baffle me. I mean I'd list his biggest strengths, in no order, as follows -Fitness -Initiating the attack -making long, late runs -long balls (when he's on) Literally none of those things are a good fit for someone playing high up the field
Klinsmann is still making squads like it's day one and he doesn't know his players yet. It's mind-boggling. You know Bedoya isn't a holding mid. You know Bradley isn't a 10.
Jugen seems to experiment way too much, but he has the power to get people in the US program to listen. If Bob Bradley said he wants more people to play overseas, or to do B instead of A, how many people would actually listen? it's tough, he has good results in bigger games, but also does silly things that makes you wonder what we're doing. the experimentation needs to stop, and he should pay attention more to what position our guys play in the MLS.
This is true. But it also doesn't help when your CAM gets the ball near the 18 and it ends up being a drop 80% of the time. Bradley is definitely far from the only problem though.