USMNT Thread Part VIII

[Savant]

Sike

Yunus on there twice.

don’t get the point of starting Lletget but I guess Berhalter can’t help himself.

 

[Gecklund]

Yunus on there twice.

don’t get the point of starting Lletget but I guess Berhalter can’t help himself.

He’s a good player with international experience. With such a young lineup, he will do well to be a sort of veteran. Yes Adams/McKennie/Brooks have good experience as well but outside of them it’s a very young lineup, especially if you switch Lleget for someone else.

I think my biggest problem is there’s no striker. Is Reyna going to be playing as a false 9 or is Konrad going to be moved up top?

 

[kingsboy11]

Looks like Llleget will be the false 9. Not sure about that tbh

 

[kingsboy11]

Overall I think it was a promising first half. The midfield trio of Musah, Adams, McKennie and the Miazga/Brooks partnership looks really strong. Lleget, Konrad and Robinson all looked shaky. Wouldn't mind seeing Weah or Llanez come in for Konrad and Giachochinni in for Lleget

 

[Gecklund]

Overall I think it was a promising first half. The midfield trio of Musah, Adams, McKennie and the Miazga/Brooks partnership looks really strong. Lleget, Konrad and Robinson all looked shaky. Wouldn't mind seeing Weah or Llanez come in for Konrad and Giachochinni in for Lleget

I’d say Adams/McKennie were by far the standouts. Adams is so smart in his positioning and so athletic. McKennie has definitely gotten more skilled since he last played. Brooks looked good and showed why he’s the unquestionable starter when healthy. Dest showed he should start at RB. Everyone else either didn’t do much or didn’t do enough. Reyna and Konrad looked a little lost. Musah and Lleget both had a few moments with Musah growing into the game as it went on. Miazga looked passable but that’s about it. Robinson is probably our best option at LB but that’s a huge problem spot. This game is hard to judge on since we had no striker for 75 minutes though.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dest, Adams, McKennie, and Musah were fun to watch. Reyna had a weak game. He’s been bad for about a month now, so it’s not too surprising. Brooks was good at the back. Steffen good enough, but not much to do. Everyone else was weak. That was a C-team from Wales. Even though that was nowhere near our best team, we should be able to beat them.

 

[kingsboy11]

Yeah clearly a lot of work to done in the final 3rd. There's been a lot of improvement holding onto the ball and pressing as a team. Still a lot of work to be done, but I think the word everyone was using today was promising.

Good: Musah, McKennie, Adams, Brooks, Dest

Alright: Steffen, Miazga

Meh: Reyna, Konrad

Bad: Lleget, Robinson

I'm a bit confused regarding Lleget. Apparently the Galaxy didn't want to release him which I found interesting considering we let Jonathan Dos Santos leave with El Tri when we were eliminated from playoff contention. It just seems odd to me that Berhalter brings him in once Sargent and Pulisic can't join and then makes him fly all the way to Wales to play a position he never plays. I think Lleget could have a place on this team, but certainly not in this role. Not sure what Berhalter's mindset was. Just play Soto or Giachochinni even if you don't think they're ready. Would rather have a natural striker in that role

 

[Gecklund]

Yeah clearly a lot of work to done in the final 3rd. There's been a lot of improvement holding onto the ball and pressing as a team. Still a lot of work to be done, but I think the word everyone was using today was promising.

Good: Musah, McKennie, Adams, Brooks, Dest

Alright: Steffen, Miazga

Meh: Reyna, Konrad

Bad: Lleget, Robinson

I'm a bit confused regarding Lleget. Apparently the Galaxy didn't want to release him which I found interesting considering we let Jonathan Dos Santos leave with El Tri when we were eliminated from playoff contention. It just seems odd to me that Berhalter brings him in once Sargent and Pulisic can't join and then makes him fly all the way to Wales to play a position he never plays. I think Lleget could have a place on this team, but certainly not in this role. Not sure what Berhalter's mindset was. Just play Soto or Giachochinni even if you don't think they're ready. Would rather have a natural striker in that role

I think the idea with Lleget was to have a vet there. Adams/McKennie have had some experience but are still young. Miazga hasn’t had much experience especially lately. Brooks can only do so much on the field by himself. The rest were in their first cap, first in a while, or early in their USMNT career. You don’t want to throw a roster of inexperienced players out there without anyone to help lead them. Lleget had a few good plays in the build up but obviously isn’t a natural striker. I think I would have liked to see Lleget in the midfield though (although Musah did better than I expected especially towards the end). A midfield three of McKennie/Adams/Lleget could have been pretty good especially with a natural 9 in front of them. Ideally though our starting 11 in games that matter looks something like:

Sargent
Morris-Reyna-Pulisic
Adams-McKennie
Robinson/LB-Brooks-CB-Dest
Steffen​

 

[kingsboy11]

I think the idea with Lleget was to have a vet there. Adams/McKennie have had some experience but are still young. Miazga hasn’t had much experience especially lately. Brooks can only do so much on the field by himself. The rest were in their first cap, first in a while, or early in their USMNT career. You don’t want to throw a roster of inexperienced players out there without anyone to help lead them. Lleget had a few good plays in the build up but obviously isn’t a natural striker. I think I would have liked to see Lleget in the midfield though (although Musah did better than I expected especially towards the end). A midfield three of McKennie/Adams/Lleget could have been pretty good especially with a natural 9 in front of them. Ideally though our starting 11 in games that matter looks something like:

Sargent
Morris-Reyna-Pulisic
Adams-McKennie
Robinson/LB-Brooks-CB-Dest
Steffen​

That's fair about a veteran presence, but why not someone like Aron Johansson who has been killing it in Sweden and probably earned his way to get back into the squad after not being involved in a couple years. And especially when Pulisic and Sargent couldn't hang around.

 

[Gecklund]

That's fair about a veteran presence, but why not someone like Aron Johansson who has been killing it in Sweden and probably earned his way to get back into the squad after not being involved in a couple years. And especially when Pulisic and Sargent couldn't hang around.

Maybe something with the virus prevented him from being called up. Also hasn’t played for USMNT since 2015.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Finally got around to watching. That MF was great and I wouldn’t mind watching Adams/McKennie/Musa for a long damn time

We need a pure goal scorer to make this squad. Even a selfish poacher. With Reyna and Pulisic flanking a CF that could finish and that MF, we are in business.

 

[Gecklund]

Finally got around to watching. That MF was great and I wouldn’t mind watching Adams/McKennie/Musa for a long damn time

We need a pure goal scorer to make this squad. Even a selfish poacher. With Reyna and Pulisic flanking a CF that could finish and that MF, we are in business.

I’d want to see Musah against a better team before fully making any judgements. Wales played at best their B- team.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I’d want to see Musah against a better team before fully making any judgements. Wales played at best their B- team.

That’s fair. He’s playing for Valencia this season as well so we should get a fair amount of tape on him against solid competition.

that is if he even ends up with the US.

 

[John Price]

 

[John Price]

 

[kingsboy11]

I know Ream is there for a veteran on the backline, but man I really wouldn't be upset if I never had to see him with the national team

 

[John Price]

Scored his first international goal.

 

[Savant]

@Evilo know anything about this Gioacchini guy? Plays for Caen

 

[John Price]

 

[Gecklund]

That’s what we need from Reyna. Seems that Gioacchini is a straight poacher which is exactly what this team needs when full strength. Musah and McKennie looking good. Dest doesn’t look bad but is much better on the right.

 

[Evilo]

@Evilo know anything about this Gioacchini guy? Plays for Caen

Not watching Caen this year, they have a boring coach who said his goal was to play defense.
From the stats he seems OK at best. 3 goals in 8 L2 games. 10th in scoring.

 

[kingsboy11]

I was pretty pissed after we gave up the first goal, but everything after that was wonderful. Its crazy what having a natural striker does to your team. The midfield trio of Musah, McKennie, and Adams is once again fantastic.

 

[ecemleafs]

lucky no VAR. that was a borderline red for mckennie.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

 

[kingsboy11]

Overall I think there's a lot to be excited about with this current group. Some thoughts on some of the players.

Reyna: I expected a bit more from him tbh, but I thought he looked a lot better today than he did against Wales and scored a wonderful free kick to boot. Do have to remind myself he just turned 18 and still getting serious minutes at Dortmund

McKennie: Thought these two games were the best he's ever played for the national team. His dribbling and passing ability has grown so much over the past year and feels like he's learned a lot in the 2 months he's been at Juve.

Adams: Really solidifying that 6 role as we all knew he would. Wish he could've played the full 90 in both games, but we do need to see some of the other midfielders. My opinion of him hasn't changed, just needs to remain healthy.

Dest: Well at the moment he's the best right back and left back on the team. He's just so dynamic on the ball and going forward that it's just another weapon to utilize.

Robinson: I was hoping for a better performance now that he's a EPL regular and given how bad his previous performances were for the national team. There's still a lot to like about him and there's no reason to think he won't continue to grow as a player.

Musah: I like to equate this to like a kid finding a brand new toy and just begging his mom to bring it home and keep it. He was incredible alongside Adams and McKennie. I knew nothing about him as a player and now here I am like a week later thinking to myself that he can already start for this team at 17. Incredible talent and we should be doing everything we can to recruit him.

De la Fuente/Llanez: Listing them together because I feel like they are both kind of the same wave length in terms of national team quality. You can see the potential in them, but both are very raw and both need more minutes with Konrad having a tougher hill to climb. I think this experience will be good for them and hopefully they can bring it back to their club teams.

Gioacchini/Soto: I need to make sure I spell Gioacchini's name right from now because he's put himself on the radar tonight. Another player I knew nothing about, but he looked the part. He's got the natural strikers instinct that this team needs, but needs to work on his penalties. Soto looked great as well. I was down on him over the past year at Hannover, but looks like he might turn it around and find his game like he had the U20 level.

Weah: I was hoping he'd get more minutes than he got, mostly just to get his confidence back up. He's had a tough time with injuries the past year and he's finding it hard to break in at Lille so that's mostly what I was looking for is to just get him some playing time really.

Ledezma/Cardoso: Like the look of both players. You could see in Ledezma that there were times where he looked a little bit nervous and unsure with his decision making and ball control, but his 2 assists to Soto highlight the qualities that he has in his game dropping dimes like that. Cardoso looks like a solid cdm. Decent size and good on the ball. Another player who has thrown in his hat into the ring.

Not commenting on the centerbacks and the goalies because we already know about them. And Richards and Otasowie didn't have much of an impact because of when they got subbed on.

Very curious who Berhalter is going to bring in for the domestic camp next month. Hopefully we see more of the same age bracket that we saw with this camp. I don't foresee any current MLS player, other than Morris, who could find themselves in the starting 11 from this current group. But it will be interesting to see players like Ebobisse, Dike, Sands and maybe Busio potentially in that camp.