Comments

1. GB just announced the starting lineup…
   Tillmans name didn’t come up, De La Torre or Tessman to start.
   In Reading his comments…. Well, I’ll just say the pucker factor returned

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2. Lost in Space,

   BJ did Gio a big favor by finally allowing him to play the #10 in what I think was the best game Gregg’s team ever played, and Gregg was nowhere to be seen.

   It’s convenient that Gio is hurt. It will give everyone lots of room to speculate about what if Gio had been healthy.

   “GGG could clearly better evaluate and select players from the pool.”
   You’re correct. Gregg has known Gio since the day he was born and more than any player Gregg should have known what he and his family was like. He should have known what he was dealing with.

   And sure, Gio might have been a dick about it but Gregg was PAID to handle that kind of situation. Gregg has kids of his own and has no doubt dealt with many diva shitbags in his day. So given what he could have gotten out of Gio and what he did get out of Gio I think of that as his greatest failure. It was as if Gregg did not want to deal with Gio and his helicopters at all. Believe me, I have a great deal of personal experience at procrastinating and avoiding dealing with unpleasant problems.

   At the very least I would have expected Gregg to do what I would have done , which is use the injury /lack of fitness excuse and leave Gio at home and off the World Cup team. For as much as Gregg got out of Gio , it wouldn’t have made much difference.

   And besides he got nothing out of Scally. If Joe and Gio had been able to contribute anything at all to the World Cup, it could have made a big difference.

   ” Additionally our pool is still relatively young….so we could see some drastically improve over the course of the next 2 years”

   100%, if we could just get 2-4 young ones to develop to anywhere near what we hope they will, we would be much better off.

   Reply

3. I will suggest that a USMNT team set up to qualify out of CONCACAF, the Hex, or whatever it was last time, is NOT the same as the best USMNT team for a world cup. Having Pulisic, Balo, Gio, etc dribble and get kicked off the field in a qualifier in – lets say – Guatemala is not always going to get the right result. However, where the skilled players are protected a bit more in the finals, they are clearly the best team. As a result, not having to qualify may be a great benefit to the USMNT.

   I think the best we should do in these friendly windows is have our best 11 play the first game, and then let them go back to their clubs. The second game we have the rest trying to play their way into the team and work on chemistry.

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4. I may be in the minority, but with the fact we don’t have qualifying this cycle, we need the core group of players playing together every chance we can. Therefore I think we should roll out our best possible XI every game, than use subs early to get the 2nd stringers and/or new guys reps.
   In these 2 matches we should have the bulk of possession so run out something close to our Best XI to start than make 2 subs @ half, 2 subs @ 60 minute mark, 2 @ the 70 min mark.
   Game 1:
   Turner
   Dest-Richards-Ream-Robinson
   McKennie-Aaronson-Musah
   Weah-Balogun-Pulisic
   Subs: Scally & McKenzie, Tessmann & Tillman, Pepi & Paredes
   Game 2:
   Horvath
   Dest-Richards-McKenzie-Lund
   McKennie-Aaronson-Musah
   Weah-Balogun-Pulisic
   Subs: Scally & LDLT, Tessmann & Tillman, Pepi & Cowell

   Reply

   • I’d agree with that philosophy when we play two high quality opponents. I’m not sure top players will get much from playing that many minutes together this window.

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     • Down the stretch last cycle we struggled to create goal scoring opportunities against some CONCACAF opponents who aren’t much better than what we’ll be facing this weekend. We just couldn’t seem to unlock teams that bunkered. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that we’ve solved that problem….so I disagree that our top players wouldn’t get much this window playing that many minutes. We need practice unlocking a low block & counter team as much as we need practice against high caliber opponents who’ll have bulk of possession or play us straight up.

   • Lost in Space

     “I may be in the minority, but with the fact we don’t have qualifying this cycle, we need the core group of players playing together every chance we can. Therefore I think we should roll out our best possible XI every game, than use subs early to get the 2nd stringers and/or new guys reps.”

     That’s not going to happen.

     Meaning ,there’s nothing really wrong with your idea but I notice that , while every USMNT manager has their own philosophy of how to build a team, I’m sure they all tried to do as you suggest when it was practical.
     The problem is, it often is not practical for a national team.

     I know, the USMNT should be the most important thing in the lives of every player with a US passport. And they should hold their breath until they turn blue if their clubs don’t support their international team efforts.

     There is only so much any international manager, even AI Gregg can do
     We borrow our players meaning we have no control over what their schedules are like. That’s why a lot of our USMNT managers worked/work hard at having a good rapport with the clubs, because the clubs can fuck you up pretty easily should they wish to. Remember, even Earnie Stewart of PSV , Gregg’s dearest buddy , with whatever influence he may have on their manager, is paid by PSV and their interests have to be first in his head. After all Earnie is a professional.

     1. Often times when international games come up that is usually when most clubs would prefer that their guys rest. Instead we expose them to further injury. Reduced rest increases the chances of injury. That’s one reason clubs don’t love national team duty. Getting Gio broken bones in the Nations League have fucked up not only Gio’s personal “comeback season” but also BVB’s season. I can see Terzic getting fired over BVB’s tepid start. Before he got hurt in the NL, Gio was looking to me like someone BVB could have used right about now. Players getting hurt on national team duty hurt everyone, badly.

     2. One of the most important things this cycle will be the increasing number of USMNT players playing together at PSV, Juve, and Milan. And Gregg had no significant input on that happening

     It’s not a ton but every little bit helps. For example if Yunus and Pulisic get 20 games together in this season at Milan that would be a reasonable expectation. But that’s a ton more than they would get in the same time period with the USMNT. Plus all that practice time together.

     In 2021, the USMNT played 22 games, in 2022, 16 games and so far in 2023, they have played 12 games.

     18 games for the USMNT, along with associated practices. in a calendar year seems like a reasonable average.

     Given an average of 3 days of practice (about 4 hours on average) for each game that’s 54 days worth of practice and 18 games, spread out over the year for a player if they are called in and play in every game. These figures are a little rough but they are close enough for government work and roughly in the ballpark.

     Next find a USMNT player who is a regular starter for his club:

     Season 21-22
     Jesus Ferreira
     MLS 33
     US Open Cup 2
     MLS Cup Playoffs 2

     Total 37 games in a season avg 5 days of practice /week, 1 game per week (maybe more) 37 x 5 = 185 days of practice

     The point?

     Start alongside Jesus at Dallas FC: Get 37 games and have 185 days of practice with him.

     Do the same at the USMNT: Get maybe 18 games and have maybe 54 days of practice with him.

     And at Dallas you are serving that time consecutively, not doing a two game stint over a couple of days interrupted perhaps by months in between. That interruption dilutes the “cohesion” significantly, I think.

     That extra edge that our PSV, Juve and Milan people could hopefully get with each other may not be much but then again, I notice that Timmy Ream and Jedi who were joined at the hip in the Fulham defense all season, were arguably two of our best in Qatar.

     Does anyone think that is a coincidence?

     Built up a relationship at Fulham have Timmy and Jedi ,that can weather the months in between better than, for example the relationship either Timmy or Jedi individually have with Zimmerman, CCV or Tyler, players who each one of the Fulham players only sees occasionally.

     This team did well at Qatar so massive tactical changes seem unlikely at least initially. If that happens it will depend on how the team fares, especially in Copa America, which is a crucial learning tool for the manager and the team.

     I hope I’m wrong but other than our present player pool members maturing and/or getting back to being fit and healthy I don’t see any more big game changing players like Flo dropping into the mix from outside what we’re all used to.

     I expect that Gregg will start out with something close to what we had at Qatar except for Flo (and no Tyler). If that goes well , I expect Gregg will say “I’ll change my formation when you pry it from my cold, dead hands” .
     Gregg sticks to his convictions until he doesn’t.

     Reply

     • Vacqui – Yes most managers “Try” to get what they believe to be the Best Possible players on the field whenever possible. Yet last cycle GGG constantly called less capable players into camp and often used them in games. So when you state….”I hope I’m wrong but other than our present player pool members maturing and/or getting back to being fit and healthy I don’t see any more big game changing players like Flo dropping into the mix from outside what we’re all used to.”…we may not have any new talents dropping into our laps, but GGG could clearly better evaluate and select players from the pool. Additionally our pool is still relatively young….so we could see some drastically improve over the course of the next 2 years and overtake someone who is currently in our best XI. These two activities could drastically improve the team as a hole.
       “I expect that Gregg will start out with something close to what we had at Qatar except for Flo (and no Tyler). If that goes well , I expect Gregg will say “I’ll change my formation when you pry it from my cold, dead hands” .
       Gregg sticks to his convictions until he doesn’t.”
       This is something that has me very nervous. The “interim” managers used a 4-2-3-1 with Gio at ACM to great success when the
       “A-Team” was together. The team was more balanced and free flowing. Granted we didn’t have Adams at the time, but it helped create more scoring opportunities. If GGG goes back to the 4-3-3 with Gio as a wide player I fear we’ll regress and struggle to create goals again. Sticking to convictions when you’re winning and playing well is fine….but when struggling it’s a different matter. If GGG hasn’t learned from his mistakes of last cycle we won’t progress to what we’re capable of becoming.

     • Lost in Space,

       BJ did Gio a big favor by finally allowing him to play the #10 in what I think was the best game Gregg’s team ever played, and Gregg was nowhere to be seen.

       It’s convenient that Gio is hurt. It will give everyone lots of room to speculate about what if Gio had been healthy.

       “GGG could clearly better evaluate and select players from the pool.”
       You’re correct. Gregg has known Gio since the day he was born and more than any player Gregg should have known what he and his family was like. He should have known what he was dealing with.

       And sure, Gio might have been a dick about it but Gregg was PAID to handle that kind of situation. Gregg has kids of his own and has no doubt dealt with many diva shitbags in his day. So given what he could have gotten out of Gio and what he did get out of Gio I think of that as his greatest failure. It was as if Gregg did not want to deal with Gio and his helicopters at all. Believe me, I have a great deal of personal experience at procrastinating and avoiding dealing with unpleasant problems.

       At the very least I would have expected Gregg to do what I would have done , which is use the injury /lack of fitness excuse and leave Gio at home and off the World Cup team. For as much as Gregg got out of Gio , it wouldn’t have made much difference.

       And besides he got nothing out of Scally. If Joe and Gio had been able to contribute anything at all to the World Cup, it could have made a big difference.

       Additionally our pool is still relatively young….so we could see some drastically improve over the course of the next 2 years

   • Lost, can you give a few examples of what you consider his failures last cycle? I suspect he wouldn’t agree with you on any of them so there isn’t reason to expect he would learn anything. I am not defending him as I think his tactics were poor for several reasons but I don’t think player selections had anything to do with anything you would consider to be a failure. He never intended to play at the WC the way he played during qualifying and he didnt. They essentially automatically qualified with a game in hand and were in the highest pot they could have expected in the draw. Their WC performance was exactly as expected by most people that aren’t bias by their allegiance to the US and they lost to a team with better players and significantly more depth. Musah, Weah, Dest, and McKennie were only 60 minutes fit. Reyna was about 30 – 35 minutes fit. Pulisic got hurt and was questionable how long he could go against Holland. Sargent missed Holland due to injury picked up against Iran. With the exception of Pepi, the drop off to the players behind the first 4 listed and Pulisic was drastic and IMO, there were no players not on the roster that would have changed that. If you think there were, I would interested to hear who you think they were.

     Reply

5. I don’t know that anyone cares a lot about who starts this match. What people care about is how many different players start the 2nd match. We don’t need to see Turner, Ream, or Pulisic starting both matches. Even Balo doesn’t need to start both.

   Reply

   • Agreed. Personally I’d start my regulars Game 1, with plans to swap them out for Game 2. My personal focus would be on getting the new guys as many minutes as possible…in particular I’d be looking to bring Tillman, Tessmann, Cowell, and Parades at the earliest opportunity Game 1, and I’d start them all Game 2.

     In particular Tillmann and Tessmann are the two I’d really, really want an extended look at to see where they’re at. Both will likely factor down the line, I just don’t know if they’re ready to yet. But it’d be awesome if they were.

     Game 1:
     Turner
     Dest-Richards-Ream-Robinson
     McKennie-Aaronson-Musah
     Weah-Balogun-Pulisic

     Game 2:
     Callender
     Scally-Robinson-McKenzie-Lund
     de la Torre-Tillman-Tessmann
     Cowell-Pepi-Parades

     Reply