The U.S. Men’s National Team started strong in its friendly against Chile, but eventually had to withstand pressure from its CONMEBOL opponent to earn a positive result.
Ultimately, the teams settled for a 1-1 draw at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in the third minute, benefiting from great control and service from Gyasi Zardes.
Zardes was able to hold up a long pass from Ethan Horvath and played Pulisic in one-on-one toward goal.
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder chipped Gabriel Arias to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage. It was Pulisic’s 10th goal for the USMNT, making him the youngest player to reach that milestone.
Chile would answer in quick succession, taking advantage of sloppy defending by the USMNT. Oscar Opazo’s deflected effort off of Matt Miazga beat Horvath to the right side of the goal.
Pulisic’s night ended before halftime, as the 20-year-old was replaced by Sebastian Lletget due to a reported right quadriceps injury. The injury came four days after fellow midfielder Weston McKennie suffered an ankle ligament injury against Ecuador.
Zardes had the best opportunity in the second half to put the USMNT back in front. After good control inside of the box, Zardes had a look in the direction of goal but skied his effort into the stands.
Defensively, the USMNT bunkered down and was able to keep Chile off the scoreboard for a second time. Matt Miazga and Michael Bradley put in strong shifts outside of the opening goal while Cristian Roldan was also among the top performers on the evening.
The USMNT end March still unbeaten under Berhalter and will be in action next in June prior to the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Depth Chart with Berhalter System as I think he sees it
Center Forward: Zardes, Altidore, Sargent, Morris, Wood, Nova, Ramirez
LW: Arriola, Weah, Lewis (as sub), Ebobisse, Amon
RW: ? (It can’t really be Morris, Baird, and Yedlin, can it?)
L10: Pulisic, ……………………………, Lletget, Saief, Mihailovic
10/8: McKennie, Roldan, Nagbe (?)
Passing 6: Tradley
Hybrid: Adams, ………………………… Lima, (could Acosta play here?)
Traditional RB: Yedlin, Lima
CB: Brooks, Long, Miazga, CCV, Zimmerman, Omar
LB: Ream, Lovitz, FJ
GK: Steffan, Johnson, Horvath,
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Unknowns: Gall, Holmes, Gooch, Zelalem (looked good in USL can he move up to SKC, kind of a Tradley player but worse in defense)
U23s that could work in with good club time: Miles Robinson, Haji Wright (looks unlikely to get time this year), Parks if he can get minutes at NYCFC.
U20s (if they don’t get released for WC but are available for GC, otherwise Nations League): Dest, Akinola, (There are several others with lots of potential but I don’t see them getting pro minutes if they also are going to WC in May.)
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Here’s the thing if you are a DM with US eligibility start showing you can accurately make long diagonal passes either over or between the lines and you will have a chance to make the team. If guys out there really are better than Tradley they should start showing it.
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I’m sure I missed someone. I’m still not sure we will see all of the European players for the GC, several have changing situations and may want to be with their clubs during preseason or could move this Summer. Would love to see everyone’s GC roster assuming everyone is available.
So the bradley haters need to accept the fact that the question is who is the best person to play the deep midfield role that Berhalter system ahs. It’s pretty clear that McKinney and Adams are going to be used in other positions. Whether oor not that is a wise choice is debatable but that is the choice the Coach seems to ahve made at this point. Thus the Question is is bradley a top 3 player in the US pool for a deep midfielder role. And the answer is clearly yes.
Other takeaways, Gonzalez, Baird, and Ream have no business on this team as they are not top 3 in the pool at those positions.
Why is that clear? To me, Bradley looked woeful yesterday. Trapp is quicker, stronger, and better on the ball at this point (though he is not much of an upgrade). But what happened to Danny Williams? And Kelyn Acosta (honest question, because I never watch them play)? I’m sure there are others in the pipeline that I’m forgetting. Why not bleed in one of the younger guys? There HAS to be someone better than Bradley. Even if there isn’t… there HAS to be.
Williams had an ankle injury about this time last year, returned for 83 minutes in December before injuring his knee. Acosta has struggled the last two years and showed up to January camp out of shape and was sent home.
Williams is still recovering from an injury and Acosta just has not shown enough. Bradley stil, has a lot of upside and one being he sees the field really well and can open the field with a mid to long pass. Especially, diagonal balls that completely change the angles on defending. McKennie and Adams have yet to show that in their arsenal. Trapp still looks like a freshenan playing with the varsity.
He completed 91% of his passes, led the team in tackles, and created a clear cut scoring opportunity. If he looked terrible to you, you don’t know what you are watching.
@CLOVER362 You are spot on with your assessment. Unfortunately, I’ve spent too many hours watching players like Herrera, Fabinho, Fernandinho, Matic, and Kante deliver outstanding defensive displays while also aiding the attack with incisive passing and quick interplays, that when I watch the mediocrity of Bradley I quite literally don’t know what I’m watching. I think most professional players are able to complete 91 percent of their passes when 90 percent of those passes are sideways and backwards and to players who are standing less than ten feet away.
Roldan is a turn over machine. Only use him against minnow concacaf teams. Do not use him for qualifying or FIFA tournaments. He was so bad I would not use him at all at the Gold cup.
I understand having a backline rotation with the short turnaround in mind, but Ream? Gonzo? Yedlin? Lovitz? Half are too old to be bothered with and the other half can’t do their jobs. Maybe the idea was promoting composure on the ball — which is what selecting Ream screams. But they are so bad at their main jobs they literally hand back what they offer. Personally I’d rather see Lima and Parker and people who play physical defense. Berhalter’s obsession with his 433 and emphasizing the attack seems to be replicating rather than departing from last cycle’s misguided tactics, where we scored 17 but also allowed 13. I’d rather have at least the second tier of backs be people who can stop someone as opposed to passers who are even worse at defense than the first team.
I mean, at least one reason I think Gonzo is out there is similar to Trapp/Zardes. Gonzo and Berhalter overlapped at LAG and he mentored the young Gonzo. So that relationship, which in international soccer terms should be irrelevant, overrides what we all saw with our own two eyes in Port of Spain. Other coaches have had their Bornsteins but not seemed to be so far out to lunch in terms of what the lineup should look like, and not so bad of, my guys will play.
When the rubber hits the pavement your unproven player choices usually crash. Like how you used to call for Robinson at back. How has that worked out?
I suggest that we should all nominate THE IMPERATIVE VOICE to be the new USMNT manager. He has so much “IDEAS” of how the US national team should be run and managed. We may even win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar under his genius leadership.
Bradley gets a 1 out of 10 for his performance (the ‘1’ being for his exceptional pass in the first half). I honestly cannot believe how many people on this site are claiming he played well. Vidal made him look like a child, constantly turning him inside out. I only recall Bradley breaking up one play in the second half before immediately turning the ball over again. And he got nutmegged, which was icing on the cake. Honestly, I hope Berhalter gets over-confident and schedules a rematch with France in the near future. Maybe when Pogba and Kante destroy our midfield, Berhalter will replace Bradley with, oh I don’t know, Adams?
By the way, I usually loathe Zardes as much as Bradley, but last night he really surprised me. I lost count of the number of times he sprinted into good positions only to have his teammates let him down. He’s growing on me with each performance.
I wonder what effect Berhalter’s squads will have on overall confidence. Yedlin did not look like a Premier League player last night. Sargent and Weah couldn’t even make the roster, but they have to sit and watch Morris and Baird run aimlessly around the field. If I were one of these European-based players, testing myself against good competition day-in and day-out, I would be quickly losing respect for this ‘philosopher coach’.
Seth,
“I lost count of the number of times he sprinted into good positions only to have his teammates let him down”….excellent observation
I am sure Zardes will get talked up for the assist, but all too often he just disappeared, and he as a speedy player had repeated ground cross service he couldn’t get on. If you watch closely his runs tend to be straight up and down the field, which is very basic for a pro player. Even I as a specialist defender knew in a men’s league game when I was an emergency forward to sometimes make near post runs, or to delay and sit top of the box. He just runs headlong to the 6. And the thing is, like at some other positions, if you use someone every time and they produce occasionally, the production becomes a defense and the lack of anyone else getting to play becomes a shield. The irony of the lineups this week is forward was the one spot I thought we had some world class talent we could use, and this instead still looks like camp cupcake.
World class talent? Weah can’t get minutes in the SPL? Sargent who hasn’t scored in a match since Christmas and has played a total of 200 professional minutes? Neither could score against Egypt or the Netherlands U23s. Wood who Hannover has begun not even dressing?
Sargent, Wood, Weah, Pulisic, Jozy. Maybe Morris and Arriola. Zardes should be so far down the pecking order it’s not funny. And yes I think Sargent, Weah, and Pulisic are potentially world class, and them sitting behind Baird or Morris or the like is in fact idiotic. Whether they are playing a lot or not. It’s a simple talent thing. More talent in their little fingers, even picking up splinters, than the guys playing have. In case you missed it we got 2 goals in 2 games, one of which the opposing team just parked the bus, and the other with an aggro Chile that should have given plentiful counter chances, which we lacked the skill to even execute. Bradley would ping an outlet wide, we’d get in the final third, and they couldn’t complete passes, hit accurate crosses, or avoid tripping over the ball.
I like how you try to throw Pulisic in there like he didn’t start both games and wasn’t the main focus of our offensive game plan. What you really wanted to say was there were two players with World Class Potential, who aren’t playing much for their clubs because that potential has not been realized and who couldn’t score in two U23 matches that could have been called in.
Given Zardes had three bad touches which led to dangerous give aways around midfield. He was the best player for he US. His willingness to work at both ends was critical when the US needed it most. Zardes used to be very straight in his runs because that is now Arena coached players, run the channels. Last night his runs were really smart and well timed. I think it was the sequence where Pulisic took on world with his run into the 18. Zardes wanted the ball right away and smartly got back on sides and went diagonally far post. Pulling defenders away from Pulisic. This well so well done by Zardes!
Think we learned quite a bit here, for good and bad
-Brooks and Long should be our starting CBs, then can have miazaga, Zimmerman, CCV for cover there
-I liked the wrinkle of going to 5 in the back, just would like someone like robinson or FJ on the left wing
-Bradley and Trapp seem locked in a battle for that sole holding mid spot
-Still need better from the depth at the No 10s after pulisic and mckennie, was pretty disappointed by Roldan and leteget, would like morales and saief to get looks in those spots
– On the wing I like arriola and baird but I don’t like them starting, hoping morris makes a jump or weah starts getting some time
-Kinda feel the same about zardes, he’s fine just cant go into a tournament as our starting 9, bring in jozy and hope sargent develops
still not using our full compliment of subs.
So? Use 8 subs then go on to beat teams like Italy, Holland, Mexico and Germany after they haev all been made? What does that prove, teach? Helps the insecure, delusional self loathing, uneducated US fan, but did it help in any way over the last 8 years. It’s simply nice to have a hard working coach, with a way he wants to play and an organized team that plays for him, without the coach blaming everyone else for his lack of ability. Been a long time. Four games in. Work in progress. Until the U20’s and U23’s start matricluating into the team we are what we are. Limited. At least there is organization, a plan, spirit, hard work and a coach who may not be a big name, but isn’t a manipulative politician/ used car salesman, who was tacticly inept, lazy and would blame everyone and anyone else for his obvious shortcomings. I’ll take this any day. Already reminds me of Bob bradley a lot, and he was loathed by most “uneducated fans” (most Us fans at the time) because h eplayed to the teams strengths, was organized, worked hard, was responsible, and who didn’t take advantage of the embarrassing/delusionla US fan base. In hindsight he is respected now because he can actually coach! Back then not so much. Seems eerily familar already.
We tied the game and looked tired and out of ideas. So. I understand work in progress but within a game also counts as its own “in progress” and we didn’t seem to try too hard to win the game. We kind of came out hard like a road team does, got a goal, and then gave up the equalizer and lost the initiative. FWIW this was the first game this year that looked like a full dress international played at the appropriate standard. I thought we looked initially organized but his selection sucked and he couldn’t find a button to change the game or even really make us more competitive. And he did continue the idiotic recent tradition of not using all our subs. This is our only chance to see players. And while people like to talk about “the game changes when the subs come in,” when you’re tied 1-1 I don’t understand running from that. It was like 2 desperate coaches playing to a milquetoast result. You think that, against a faltering Chile team that got hammered by Mexico, helps us turn the corner?
You probably should have written half of that in ALL CAPS and used a lot of exclamation points. That might have aided your polemic against the uneducated class of soccer-viewers.
I don’t think ‘education’ is the reasoning behind my lack of enjoyment when watching Berhalter’s system so far. You’re right: he isn’t throwing players under the bus; rather, he using what he has. But that rhetoric is also misleading. He is throwing some players under the bus, making decisions that puzzle even educated viewers of the game. Players like Yedlin (who gets replaced by a holding midfielder), Weah (who gets replaced by MLS youngsters), and Sargent (who gets replaced by a guy who has been injured for the better part of the past year), and Adams ( who has to accommodate Bradley and play out of position). Why didn’t we see Andrew Wooten? Or Romain Gall? Or Julian Green? Or Alfredo Morales? Or a number of other Americans playing abroad? Some may be injured, but the point still stands.
Obviously, you are welcome to agree with Berhalter’s assessment of the player pool as well as his unique implementation of it via his formations, but don’t claim education as your reasoning for doing so. Opinions are just opinions. Now you’ve heard mine.
I have said elsewhere on the thread I didn’t like the selection. But when your team looks tired and lacking in ideas, and is tied, it’s independently tepid to not be putting some of the subs on to try and change that. Like I said, not everything has to be big picture, some of it is game management within a fixture. In previous games he seemed to repeatedly start the wrong people and then get the result late on subs. This one they came out well, lost the initiative, and then didn’t sub meaningfully. I haven’t yet seen them play a good team for a well worked 90 minutes where the coach seemed to know what he was doing the whole time. And this is where I mention he’s a midtable career coach and not the guy whose team lifted the trophies. SAF would find a way to win this kind of game. A mediocre coach plays out his tie and resists changes that would risk his milquetoast.
part of what you are missing is one point of friendlies is not so much playing for a result as identifying or comparing talent. if the team is struggling, you should be getting different players out there to see if it is a quality issue — ie, the players out there aren’t good enough — and to see if the sub does a better job. i get berhalter and USSF want to say “I am undefeated” but if we show up to GC with this bunch we will get shellacked in the knockout round like 2015 (and his undefeated string will be gone, too).
Well said, TK! So sick and tired of the unappreciated, uneducated so-called US fans who pretended to be expert.
Imperative voice,
“We tied the game and looked tired and out of ideas. So. I understand work in progress but within a game also counts as its own “in progress” and we didn’t seem to try too hard to win the game”
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??‼ ….like we literally ran out of ideas and creativity, and just decided to see the game through….with no spark or special play to create something in the midfield in order to get things going…..like we just flat-lined without Pulisic
the early sub for Pulisic i think altered GB’s subs game plan down the stretch….who else did you want to see besides the guys he did sub in? Only qualm i had was that he didn’t sub Lewis in earlier
Mexico beat the same team 3-1 last week, that is your reality check. We look more organized but undermined by poor personnel selection, neither optimized (best team) nor experimental, instead fairly quirky and still nostalgic. And we don’t seem to pay attention to how the players play, as Lletget continues to be a bench player, and Ramirez and Lima picked up splinters this weekend after strong showings in the last set of games.
We needed a better CM. Better yet, Tyler Adams was missed in this game as a CM. The player who has the wheels and endurance to contribute on offense, be strong on defense, break up counters if need be and maintain pressure / possession in the middle. Trapp is not it, Bradley is definitely not it and as long as anyone of these guys are only field the quality of our midfield drops (and a couple of long balls over the top is not going to change that ?). Neither player had a bad game or any player on the field for that matter, and they looked involved in the plays, but like a team down a man, EVERYONE will still be involved yet the team would be struggling for possession.
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With MB / Trapp starting we needed ALL OUR BIG GUNS on the field to even out and counter where they fall short. Right when Pulisic left the field he seemed to walk away with our “talent” and we seemed to automatically lose the midfield (even though Lletget was involved in the game)….like Chile’s slight respect for us was gone ?. Not only did our overall talent level drop, we automatically looked out of sync. Our touches were all of a sudden poor, players were being hurried, we didn’t have the speed, creativity or tenacity on the team anymore, and nobody looked like they were in control or was going to step up and win the game……..in other words, with the last of our big guns off the field we looked like our former self……a whole bunch of “movement” with nothing happening, and we have all seen that flick before ?.
we are still stuck in the last cycle’s loop of favoring a DM for offense as opposed to sweeping skills. he does hit some nice balls. but it’s a contest between teams where we trade away defense for that offense. same thing was true of last night’s backline, which seemed to be a horrifying set of defenders but who all seem to share the trait of composure on the ball. if we won all our games 4-3 you might accept it but this this was the first tense contest of the year and we tied on a single goal. i agree that we need new CM ideas because we seem to lack dedicated CAMs and DMs good at their posts and instead have 8s and a broken down Bradley.
We needed Adams, but what can you we made an agreement assuming McKennie would be there and then he wasn’t. Trapp didn’t start by the way he came on.
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We do need more offensive CMs but it is not like we can just pay a transfer fee for one. I think Holmes has earned a shot based on his stats but I’ve never seen him play. Anybody else is 18 or younger and has serious defensive questions. We are a long ways out from Qatar, we need to be patient.’
Dude, the message of these two games was Trapp and Bradley are his DMs and Adams is his RB that tucks in as a quasi mid in the attack. I think Adams is a solution at DM. But the point to friendlies is identifying multiple such solutions and leaving them at that spot. Adams is not even playing the spot, much less being left there. And at CAM he left off Green, still uses Lletget as a sub, and is avoiding experiments. If anything, he is trying to force the same people who didn’t quite work for Sarachan.
I am fine with patience but I also like to see active learning taking place, ie, figuring out at least some of your errors and fixing them each time. I am starting to see mistakes like Lovitz repeatedly make team sheets, and starting to see people like Lletget play well and not be promoted. That doesn’t come across like a coach developing somewhere, that comes across like someone stubbornly holding on. And then he has 4 guys about 30 years old out there who collectively went off the cliff last cycle. If anything I’d almost argue he’s defensive, not building somewhere I should be patient for. If you are going to bring in older players I want results NOW. Otherwise this is a well duh exercise in going around in circles, and not even new ones.
Johnnyrazor
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1. Who said Wil Trapp started in this match by the way ? lol?????
2. “assuming McKennie would be there and then he wasn’t”….. How does that address the fact that MB / Trapp are the weak link on a chain we are trying to strengthen???
3.”We do need more offensive CMs but it is not like we can just pay a transfer fee for one”….. Hmmm let me see ? :
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Alfredo Morales – CM Bundesliga experience at least
Darlington Nagbe – CM – ask Tata Martino ?
Russell Canouse – CM (DC United) – spark for DC United (Hoffenheim youth experience)
Sean Davis – CM (NYRB) MORE DYNAMIC – Good partnership with on of our best CM
Kevin Acosta – DM (Colorado) – Yes he’s a Defensive Midfielder with not so good first touch but at least he is quick, has make-up speed and can shoot
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Bradley and Trapp are not bad players by a long stretch but they bring nothing “special” to the team to be regulars in terms of Ball control, creativity, dribbling ability, shooting ability,aerial ability, strength on the ball, speed, quickness, high league / level experience etc…..
Sorry Bizzy misunderstood your / as an either or, my mistake.
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I don’t think Bradley or Trapp was the issue on offense on either night. I don’t think Bradley offers much going forward other than we will only be playing CONCACAF opponents (and apparently Venezuala June 9th) for the next year so he won’t hurt. Roldan was pretty awful on offense last night and honestly McKennie didn’t do much either.
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Berhalter wants another offensive-minded attacking midfielder to fill the other side opposite Pulisic so we can have balance. None of those you named are that. You want to put Adams in the Tradley role, but limits his abilities by keeping him farther from goal and locking him into a much more defined space. If you didn’t look at the lineup and just turned on the Ecuador match 30 minutes in you would have said “Look Adams is playing CM like he’s supposed too.” I think Acosta could be an alternative to Adams at Hyrbid, but again then you are not using all of Adams talents. Canouse could fill the Tradley role, but I watched DC the other night and really focused on him and he wasn’t that impressive, but I’m not writing him off on one game. Morales, is just a worse Adams, not really that 8/10 player either. Davis has worse numbers in MLS than Roldan, he could be effective against lower Concacaf, but wouldn’t be any better against top 25 teams.
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Nagbe might be the only one on your list to fit that 8/10 role that Roldan played last night, I thought he’d be called in but ATL likely asked to rest him given their early CCL schedule.
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You are right neither are special, the problem is there isn’t anyone special at this point in their career to replace them either.
I absolutely think Nagbe will fill that role next to pulisic, or GB may realize Pulisic is best suited out wide allowing mckennie to stay inside with nagbe.
Bradley
There is zero doubt he is on the decline. So the great passes he made and the fact that he hung on defensively, most the time, this game, after a bad game means I am happy for him.
That’s all.
He and Trap p are not the long term solution.
I just can’t understand why American players have the worst first touch on the ball. Horvath was horrible with his distribution. Not impressed at all. Meanwhile, Mexico steamrolled over Paraguay with Tata Martino, who was my choice for HC.
Mexico has better players so that’s not really surprising. Paraguay has played 5 total matches in 2018-19 and are 0-1-4, they are not good.
Always good signs when you bunker down at home. Its really hard to get behind US soccer. New coach but we are who we are.
Troll
Bunker and hope for the best. We’ve all seen that movie before.
there is a difference between bunkering and getting pinned back. we got pinned back because we systemically were trying to build from the back and couldn’t possess the ball long enough to get upfield, and then lacked midfield and backline ballwinners to end the siege. in short, a lack of quality. go back to my comments on selection above.
Probably what should have been expected given the lack of Adams and McKennie. I thought the game was pretty even until Pulisic went out even though Chile had more possession at that point the US was still very dangerous. Chile then really took over until Berhalter changed formations which seemed to be effective.
– Pulisic and Zardes clearly benefited from the week of working together, looked more in sync
-Miazga and Omar were good enough defensively, but neither can play the ball out of the back like Long and Brooks
-Yedlin showed why people were excited that he had been moved to wing
-Really wished we could have seen what Adams and McKennie would have done with Vidal
-Horvath looked good enough to be a back up the level of pressure was so different though it is hard to compare his distribution based on this match
-Bradley did fine but showed his legs are lacking against top-level teams
-The team was very left-sided there were times I forgot Roldan and Baird were out there.
-Seems like there is plenty of room for Gall, Weah, Manneh, Holmes, and others to still break in on the wing. Both Baird and Arriola got into good spots but usually lost it before anything came of it.
-One odd observation that’s the first time I’ve seen a Bradley interview after a match where he looked like he enjoyed playing soccer. Probably reading too much into it, but the guys seem to enjoy the new staff.
the first ten minutes were truly exciting, including the usa goal in the 4th minute. then chile said, “excuse us? we’re the copa america champions, and you can’t have the ball anymore.” and then they took away our ball for the rest of the game. and so for the rest of the game, we were very sad. 🙁 🙁 🙁
Those who can’t wait to jump on Bradley’s errors will be pretty disappointed by this game. In fact all of Zardes, Gonzales, and Bradley had very good games. Not a great game for those who think only new faces should be on this US team.
Ream pulled off his patented bone-headed play, but was outstanding otherwise.
I was not impressed with any of the subs, except perhaps Lletget.
Horvath did all you would expect of a keeper and hit Zardes with that long ball that Pulisic finished off.
We learned that Bradely is still better than Trapp, relearned that Pulisic is great with some open space to exploit, that the transformation of Zardes under Berhalter in the last year was pretty amazing, that Arriola can carry the ball with speed, but still fails on the final ball, Baird looked very good (but if he had finished that long ball Bradley put on his foot, he would have looked great), Miazga and Gonzales are solid CBs, and that Lewis can unsettle a defense.
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Yes, I know the Bradley haters will say that McKennie, Adams or Trapp would have done better than Bradley, but in truth they would not have in this game at that position.
I don’t know how you can claim that nobody else would have done better than Bradley in this game. And I thought Bradley was adequate, but not special. He made a couple nice long passes, a couple missed passes, he broke up some plays but also looked slow at times jogging around as Chilean players around him went by and got in dangerous positions while he lagged the play. Perhaps Trapp playing well, would have broken up a couple more plays and been tracking players better since he covers more ground, but maybe he doesnt make quite as many passes, or doesnt get open for the short pass as many times- so I think there’d be tradeoffs. But, did we learn anything new about Bradley… should we keep relying on an 80% of his formal self Bradley as he gets worse and worse as he ages. Ands Tyler Adams- we have never seen play this position for the NATs so I don’t know how you can judge that.
Gonzales I thought did ok, but we have better options with higher cielings who should be getting the playing time.
Zardes- I can see why he gets the start and he can make plays. He can also be frustrating at times doing dumb stuff, but I don’t mind him being a starter for now, as long as we still consider trying other guys since we know he is an incomplete player. To me, it seems like Berhalter is playing every game like its a 100% must win game and his job is on the line, rather than thinking about the next 4 years.
It is true that Adams brings lots of energy to the game and I really like the way he plays, but he does have tendency to get forward and abandon his defensive responsibilities. He is getting better at that, but. Adams cannot hit long balls as well as Bradley, that 50 yard pass to Baird’s foot is something very few players can pull off. He would not have been as effective as Bradley in this game at that position.
I did not see where Bradley got beat by speed, a few times in the first half, when he was faced with 2 or 3 attackers, he might have picked the wrong one to cover, but that was as much down to the lack of help he was getting as it was to his choices. I recall he lost one 50-50 ball, but won the others and only one time gave the ball right back.
Right now I would say the best 3 CBs are Long, Brooks, and Miazga. I do wish Miazga would put on some more muscle, Mass does matter when you are trying to stand your ground against a determined attacker close to goal.
Roldan had such a poor game. How can he be one of the top performers?
I totally agree! He makes Bradley’s job so much harder. Roldan does not hold onto the ball at all when defenders are near him. His turnovers were always around midfield or the defense third. Roldan is a magnet to be pressed! He is all hustle with little polish