The U.S. men’s national team will seek a winning start to the Mauricio Pochettino-era on Saturday when Panama opposes them in the first of two October friendlies this month.
Q2 Stadium will play host to Saturday’s CONCACAF showdown, which will be the second USMNT-Panama meeting of 2024. Panama defeated the USMNT 2-1 in Copa America group stage play last summer, but the Americans will certainly have revenge on their minds with Pochettino beginning his spell as head coach.
Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Folarin Balogun, and Tim Weah are among the absentees for the USMNT due to respective injuries.
However, several familiar faces are back in international action including Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, and Antonee Robinson.
With the USMNT hoping to kick off the Pochettino-era with a bang, here is the starting lineup we would deploy the against Panama on Saturday:
GOALKEEPER
Who should start: Zack Steffen
Pochettino has already expressed his concern in Matt Turner and Ethan Horvath’s roles at club level, opening the door for veteran Zack Steffen to get his first opportunity in quite a while.
Steffen has played regularly this year for the Colorado Rapids following his return from Manchester City. The former Columbus Crew standout will be seeking his first cap since 2023.
Turner and Horvath could fight for opportunities this window but expect Pochettino to potentially go with the hot hand.
Patrick Schulte is also an option after remaining the Crew’s No. 1 goalkeeper in MLS this season.
DEFENDERS
Who should start: Joe Scally, Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie, Antonee Robinson
The absences of Chris Richards and Cameron Carter-Vickers will lead to a new pairing at centerback for the USMNT.
Miles Robinson has remained a consistent performer for FC Cincinnati and brings strong aerial abilities to the field. Robinson has previously been on the outside, but due to Richards and Carter-Vickers’ absences, will aim to make the most of this camp.
Mark McKenzie also gets the nod in our XI after growing into a regular for Ligue 1 side Toulouse. McKenzie has quickly made the adjustment to a top-five European league and deserves more of a look under the new head coach.
Veteran Tim Ream and Celtic’s Auston Trusty should also see minutes this window after remaining in the defensive pecking order.
Sergino Dest remains sidelined in Eindhoven meaning Joe Scally is the USMNT’s No. 1 right back. Scally split time in September with Marlon Fossey and I expect that to be the case again this month.
Fossey excelled in his USMNT debut vs. New Zealand and has continued to rack up consistent minutes with Standard Liege.
Antonee Robinson is back in the USMNT fold after receiving the September window off. Robinson has been one of Fulham’s better players during the early stages of the English Premier League season and remains one of the best left backs overall.
Kristoffer Lund will also seek minutes as he tries to claim down the No. 2 job behind Robinson.
MIDFIELDERS
Who should start: Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson
Pochettino could go a bunch of different ways in midfield but expect familiarity this window.
Weston McKennie has fought his way back into Thiago Motta’s plans at Juventus, which is a testament to his work ethic. McKennie originally looked destined to leave Serie A before the season began, but instead has jumped right back into the plans both domestically and internationally.
His role remains just as important with the USMNT.
Yunus Musah hasn’t hit the ground running under Paulo Fonseca at AC Milan but is important to the USMNT. His aggressive style of play paired with his tireless engine makes him a key cog of the midfield corps.
Brenden Aaronson has helped Leeds United to a fine start in the EFL Championship and will look to carry that form over to the USMNT. Aaronson’s pressing ability paired with his overall offensive awareness could be what Pochettino leans on in his tactics.
Malik Tillman, Aidan Morris, Tanner Tessmann, and Gianluca Busio will also see time this month, after delivering positive starts to the European club season.
FORWARDS
Who should start: Haji Wright, Josh Sargent, Christian Pulisic
Folarin Balogun’s absence from the USMNT roster opens the door to Josh Sargent, Ricardo Pepi, and Brandon Vazquez in the No. 9 race.
Balogun’s dislocated shoulder forced him out of USMNT action despite the forward scoring in each of his last three club matches. Sargent, Pepi, and Vazquez have all found the back of the net in their respective club seasons, but I expected Sargent to get the nod this time around.
Haji Wright is also an option at the No. 9 position but Tim Weah’s absence likely shifts Wright to the right-wing role, something he has continued to do at Coventry City. The strong mix of pace and physicality makes Wright sometimes un-guardable as an opposing defender.
Alex Zendejas is also an option at right wing, but I expect Wright to get the bulk of the opportunities there.
In-form Christian Pulisic remains the USMNT’s most important player. After winning AC Milan’s Player of the Month award for September, the 26-year-old has continued to produce in the final third this fall.
Pochettino will rely heavily on Pulisic’s playmaking and goalscoring abilities going forward.
What do you think of our projected lineups? Which would you start? Who are you most excited to see play? Are there any doubts you have?
Share your thoughts below.
Who should start?
People are missing the point.
We have one top flight player, CP. And maybe Jedi.
Based on what has actually happened on the field the last 6 years , everyone else is more or less on the same page. You can question the quality but you can’t question the quantity. It doesn’t really matter who starts. What matters is who shows up (See FITNESS) and are they capable of doing what the coaching staff asks them to do, which will probably be pretty basic.
Y’all are also forgetting that not only did they hire Pochettino but they hired an entire coaching staff who , if the hype is to be believed are very, very good and very experienced. Take advantage of that. Let them evaluate these guys , find out what they are best at and then give them a structure that works for what they can do best. It need not be sophisticated. The simpler the better.
The USMNT has three legs:
1. The coach and his staff
2. The players
3. The USSF
Leg one, Pochettino and his staff, are by far the most proven and accomplished.
Let them take the lead, because there is no time to fuck around with self indulgent IV approved “revenge” gestures like dumping the entire Copa America roster in favor of capping IV approved newbies guaranteed by him to be better.
FITNESS? Did anyone notice that on the physical intensity of this camp has been immediately heightened and intensified? Stress test these guys. If you can’t keep up you won’t play.
MLS or OVERSEAS? Irrelevant. See FITNESS. First prove you can get on the field then they we’ll talk.
TACTICS? See FITNESS. Fuck tactics, prove you can play for 90 minutes first. There’s no time for sophisticated shit. Whatever Pochettino is asking them to do it will be fairly basic vs Panama. Maybe they get fancier vs. Mexico but I doubt it.
In this first camp Pochettino and his staff are most of all trying to get these guys to develop an attitude. He knows they have more quality than the other side so he wants them confident in their fitness. The lesson is “Gio, your superior talent is wasted if your body won’t let you display it on the field”. He wants them to bully the other side into mistakes. If we lack a bit in the creativity, forcing them to makes mistakes is a big help.
The reality is a team like the USMNT have enough talent to beat anyone, on a given day. But under the previous management, better teams would sense how weak minded and tentative the USMNT were and not allow them to express that talent. The USMNT’s biggest problem was between their ears. And you could see that in every game they played. There was never any real buy in. Good opponents can sense that.
That is what Pochettino means when he talks about belief. If he can bring that belief out of these guys, if he can get them to develop that fuck the other team attitude that would be huge. The current roster is as good a place as any to start as long as Pulisic is there. Establish the culture first. Then you can bring in IV’s revolutionaries later for indoctrination.
i’ll let the coach speak for me: “The challenge is to create a team, is to know each other, also is from today to until the World Cup, of course, official competition like Nations [League], Gold Cup also, that they’re going to be an objective for us to win, because it’s about to win and win in every single game. But for us, the goal today, first camp is to know each other and to settle the principles for the future.”
you folks keep skipping past the first principles, finding the right people, and trying to find rapport between players, to trying to win. you’re not going to win with the wrong foundation set — wrong players, wrong tactics. you have to find the right people first. then work on rapport and assign the right tactics and teach scheme. you get the right people suited to a scheme and the wins follow. if you rush towards “i want to win” you find out later you took short cuts and you lose the ones you really want to win.
i am somewhat concerned he’s glommed onto the same personnel as GB and even some of his discards. that’s my idea of a useless short cut.
i am glad intensity is up but messi isn’t great because he hustles. teams i was on everyone hustled, or they didn’t see the field. taking that for granted, you then figure out the ballers who can actually work together. not only has this team been glacially slow to build and predictable, despite being a bunch of kids who came up together, they look like they just met. a lot of soccer is the ability to combine almost faster than people think.
there’s a reason i have pushed guys like ferreira, reyna, and at times aaronson. they actually combine with people and set up chances. i could give a crap less about possession. you want chances. and then you want team defense to get the ball to start more attacks to go for more chances. it’s a goals game, not a possession stat contest.
dude, i’ve made it crystal clear don’t tear the whole thing down, but instead rotate fresh players in at about a 25-40% clip. not completely new, not completely old. enough regulars for stability and where it doesn’t turn into sloppy january camp. enough noobs where we start finding help.
we landed on the wrong people. to find the right people quickly you need to make some room for some trial players every time. we do not have endless time to try them. we have a little under 2 years, and 1 more summer tournament.
personally i find it amusing to smugly think that a little more hustle and the same exact people gets it done. wasn’t the whole upside of the last 2 games, crap results aside, watching fossey and morris and schulte was what made it bearable. you can pretend the regulars are the endgame but that wasn’t even what we just saw in september.
IV,
More Gobbledegook and malarkey from you.
Define right people
Define wrong people
Define “a little more hustle”.
“rotate fresh players in at about a 25-40% clip. ”
Examples?
How long do you think that will take ?
you put together a team. bunch of snob all stars. you took it to copa. it got brutalized. too few chances. leaky defense. grow up. move on.
fitness and intensity, while desirable and potentially part of the equation, are how bad-to-mediocre teams cope as a sole solution. go out there and run hard. it’ll last about 55′ a game like it did with early klinsi.
you want to start winning games you need to find the right people and you need a scheme to create chances. you need goals. and you need a team defense you can play for 90′ and not just a little more than half.
4-2-3-1
—–Sargent—-
Till—-Brendo—-Puli
—–McK——-Mus—–
Jedi—Trust—-McZ—Scally
———-Steffen——-
Steffen did not practice on field on Friday. He was inside the training center on an exercise bike.
schulte
fossey miles trusty lund
musah
aaronson tillman
sargent jedi
pulisic
the CB and MF choices are pedestrian and xeroxed (as is most of GK), and we don’t have enough wing options.
as with the dempsey/landon era, if you are frustrated with striker production, you put someone out there who will score instead.
what i expect instead is something roughly like
steffen
scally ream miles jedi
musah mckennie aaronson
wright sargent pulisic
poor keeper, leaky d, sloppy mids, disappearing 9, meh wings. feels like 2020.
i am so underwhelmed by the CB choices i want to say play weston back there, try that idea instead of miles. i know people were hurt but ream and mckenzie stink and miles hasn’t looked like miles since his achilles. i buy this is safe more than i buy this is as good as we can do. and we’re gonna play 2 solid teams where if we’re not concerned with playing defense, we’ll ship goals.
FYI, Fossey has just been on the stationary bike the last two days. Probably won’t be available tomorrow. Steffen was only on the bike today so probably not available either.
What’s your rationale behind having a striker play out wide and a wide player playing striker? Get your best players further away from what they do best?
Pick something that no one would do so you can’t be proved wrong.
U19s 4-1 over Sweden. Jykese Fields (Hoffenheim, from Minot, ND) 2g, Cruz Medina 1g, Sweden own goal off shot from Figueroa. Zlatan’s son played for Sweden.
kudos to the Ferreira mentions, swear I was going to post it Q
cheers
i am a ferreira fan and agree he could be used swiss army style. and that poch at some teams has interchanged the forwards. but setting aside injuries he has suffered from some of the same team problems as undermine sargent, who is a good technical foward facing goal. which is that our offense for a long time has been back to goal striker play and struggled to find the 9.
i mean, i’d advocate ferreira and say he’s good at combining with people. we then wouldn’t find him enough. he’s still enough a gamer to pile up production, including at key moments.
so a lot of it, to me, is can poch get the transition game installed where we are attacking against small numbers and not trying to break down 11 people half court and find the buried 9. you do that, a false 9 is useful……………but so are strikers like balogun who like to be played behind the backline. it’s equally hard to play people behind the backline if the defense is back, deep, and in bulk.
ironically, if we did install the offense, it would be least useful to vazquez. but i want him because for years USMNY has been oblivious to Plan A may not work. i’ve seen very few games — jamaica being one of them — where we dropped the offense, put names out there, and just tried to make things happen. if we end up whacking crosses in you need vazquez. even if he would be a misfit for poch’s seeming Plan A.
Can we move on from Tim Ream and call up Henry Kessler or Jalen Neal.
If Neal is ready for the NT why doesn’t he play for LAG?
Several players been called up and they have barely featured for club. Also he lost his spot to freaking Yoshida. Ream was not featuring for Fulham and was still called up,
He lost his spot to Garces. Yoshida had started all year often next Neal. Also losing your starting spot in the EPL is a lot different than losing your spot in MLS. Just like barely playing in Germany, Italy, or Spain very different than you can’t get minutes over a 22 yr old Colombian with no international experience. Maybe they’re resting Jalen up for the playoffs given his muscle injuries last year, but if you can’t start every week in MLS you’re not ready for the NT.
That 22 year old Colombian did not have pot career ending hernia surgery. He had injuries and hernia surgery in 2023 have you missed that? he might be limited like Tyler Adams. Would rather him take his time than be reinjured over and over like Reyna and Adams. He is a unused sub call him up against some cocacaf team not like im asking for him to be called up for friendlies against top 10 comp like Spain Argentina or England.
So if he’s so fragile he has to sit out some MLS games why are you bringing him to play against Panama and Mexico? Either he’s not playing well or he’s an injury risk. Both of those should be blocks to international call ups at this time.
Again you are misconstruing me fragile Reyna was called up and still was given nat team mins. So you think 10-20 mins against Pan and Mex is to much, come on bro your being irrational and showing favoritism to other players who been fragile and was given nat team mins with no club mins after coming from Injury Reyna, Adams, Long. Again, my point is you get him back to nat team for cam appearance, to up his confidence form and pot get some Europe club scouts looking.
“fragile Reyna was called up and still was given nat team mins. So you think 10-20 mins against Pan and Mex is to much, come on bro your being irrational and showing favoritism to other players who been fragile and was given nat team mins with no club mins after coming from Injury Reyna, Adams,”
Reyna has proven his talent. With him it’s just a question of his health and ability to break into the BVB regular lineup. Same with Tyler.
If those two are healthy and fit they are already most likely starters.
Ream may not be the best center back at Fulham but that does not mean he is not the best center back for the USMNT.
That is not true of Jalen. He still has a ton to prove.
i have the first place team in the conference with playoffs approaching but hit a recent win one lose one pattern and have a defense shipping more goals than most of my potential competition. i pull neal. i win 3 straight and my GA drops. hmmm
to me he’s yet another back people want to pick for supposed passing as opposed to he can mark anyone.
we don’t give a crap about fragile on starters or did you miss how we handled reyna and adams over the summer only to have to re-shelve both.
similarly, sargent keeps getting called despite either getting hurt or not playing much or not impressing enough to get anything out of it.
the general impression is more status quo bias or even in-group bias looking backwards (eg steffen) than forward moving risk taking.
personally i thought serbia for neal was miserable, the counter-argument seems to be dubiously saying “but gold cup 2023,” which is hardly the advertisement being suggested. both are B windows. without even getting into my talent or performance thing, within the politics of this selection, he’s never been an A, even to sit the bench, and IMO a non-standout B.
while people like me hoped poch would mix it up, this feels like the regulars, which he’s not.
IV: I think they were fast tracking Neal to get him experience for the U23s to go to Olympics, but then he had the injury and possibly LAG blocking call up for Olympics. Injury definitely slowed down his development, missed last 3 months of MLS last year and first two months this year.
i think they “thought” neal, or che, or a few others would be the next CB. where are they? exactly. i doubt that’s just because they had a hangnail. none of them are making A rosters. they get called for B games and make basic mistakes. that gets you sent back to U23 or worse even under better coaches than GB.
i don’t think neal was fasttracked or he’d be at an A game even if it’s off the bench. like dest or musah.
nah, neal got same chance as morris or mihailovic or vazquez. and some of those names are around and others aren’t.
to me the problem is the B team gets that kind of steel cage fight for time experience while the A team barely churns unless someone gets hurt.
IV: Neal had sports hernia surgery and Che had knee surgery. Not many 21 or 20 yr olds feature as CBs for NTs. Josh Wydner missed almost an entire year with Benfica B with sports hernia as well. He’s finally back playing for his club (2g from his CB spot) he was selected for the U20s for their camp in Chile but pulled out to train with Benfica’s first team. Kobi Henry (20) missed the last couple months of last season with an injury as well, has made the bench a couple times for Reims. Your favorite dual nat Bryan Okoh (21) has missed most of the last two seasons with knee and hamstring issues. Five 21 or under CBs with high potential but they’ve been in the medical room more than the training room. Hard to fast track anyone who then misses 6-9 months with injuries.
Steffen has been terrible this year. Having one of the all-time bad seasons in MLS history based on goals prevented metrics (his are ridiculously negative). He is not a case for “had some bad howlers” but otherwise fine. He has been consistently bad, other than a couple of Nation’s League matches. There have been several American keepers in MLS who have been significantly better than him. It is a real bad sign that Poch isnt already aware of that. Or chooses to ignore it. Presumably because Man City.
one has to wonder how familiar he is with the player pool in such a short amount of time. not his fault but how can his knowledge of it be extensive? He’s learning it on the job
i assume someone with selection input/power has been pimping this choice since the day he came back to MLS, because i have kept hearing it’s time for him to come back, and i check his numbers and am like, huh? more than once this year. i was hearing it before poch so i assume it’s someone inside the organization with an obsession — and assumption his career would take off — regardless if it ever actually transpired. so, IMO, someone got their way. and i assume poch, who didn’t seem to do a ton of homework on personnel, just signed off and said, oh yeah, the guy at city.
but then reminiscent of how c. 2015 GB was going to take MLS by storm, and then he lost the final to portland at home within 15 minutes, and was never as successful in MLS again, and yet when it had an opening 3 years later USSF acted like it was winter 2015-16 still and he was the value guy.
to me when everything objective says no and it nonetheless got chatter then still happens, that was someone’s personal hobbyhorse who is in the inner sanctum enough to make it happen.
DaMA,
“It is a real bad sign that Poch isnt already aware of that. Or chooses to ignore it. Presumably because Man City.”
That’s one way to look at it.
The other way is that Zack is one of 4 keepers called up. That is not normal.
I think Schulte plays both games.
One way to look at it is that they get to look at Steffen, Turner and Horvath in person for themselves and decide. By the way Steffen failed at Man City. Why is that a positive?
If I’m your new boss DaMa and everyone says I should fire you I want to evaluate you for myself in person and maybe decide if you are worth giving a shot to before I take everyone else’s word.
This camp is a chance to kick the tires on the three amigos and see if anything is worth saving. They can then tell them what each one of them has to do if they expect to ever get another call up.
And then never call them again.
USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams is officially back for Bournemouth, Andoni Iraola has confirmed.
Speaking to BBC Sport Tuesday, the Cherries boss confirmed that during the international break, the U.S. international will be training with the senior team with a goal to return against Arsenal in their next Premier League match.
“He’s coming from a period of 18-20 months where he has played very little football, so we cannot rush anything. He has completed all the checks and is ready to train with the group. I hope he’s going to help us from the Arsenal game.”
LLLEEETTTSSSS GGGGGOOOOOOO!!!!
“So we cannot rush anything” like last time when you had him on minutes restriction during NL then three days later with travel played him 90 minutes during your first match?
quozzel,
“Jesus Ferreira for future camps as a 10. He is VERY much Poch’s cup of tea as far as what he looks for in his 10’s.”
How so?
In addition to Q’s response below, Poch in the past has had his front four attackers constantly interchanging Ferreira can operate in all four positions RW, LW, AM, and CF. He hasn’t had his best last 14 months with injuries and learning to play with Musa, but if he can find some consistency I don’t think he’d be out of the question.
quozzel,
The most important things for an international keeper in order:
1. Consistently mistake free
2. Run their routine goal keeper duties flawlessly
3. Occasionally pull off a spectacular save.
We’ve all seen a lot of Zack but Pochettino hasn’t. My guess is he needs to play Zack and Schulte.
Zack’s problem is that he is prone to the occasional howler. When he does that he kills the soul of the team, ruins the confidence of the defenders.
I have not seen a lot of Schulte. He may be far more boring but if he can stay away from those soul sucking mistakes I would take him in a Columbus minute.
Overall I prefer Turner but his confidence appears to be in Guzan-like territory.
it’s part howlers in the net (CR) and it’s part giveaways in the back trying to build from our own goal line (Mexico). setting aside i think we should be free to launch the ball sometimes on goal kicks or under pressure, we tried sweeper keeper with him already and it didn’t work. he was piling up passes to the wrong shirt that came right back at us rapidly and often got scored. which individually might be a rough critique for a specific player, except it happens to so many of the keepers and backs, it’s a general failure that screams jettison the tactic in general and judge players by how they execute something else instead.
this is to say, if we get rid of the dumb playing from the back, then it’s can steffen consistently play well in the back and stop the horvathesque howlers, and distribution but likely judged on a longer ball.
How is Steffen the hot hand?
I haven’t been watching much of the Rapids, but by all accounts, outside of the Leagues Cup he’s been pretty poor to average.
@Jake your right he has been lackluster tis season. Schulte and Celentano has more goals disallowed and shuouts than Steffan this season so far.
I completely disagree. The word “inconsistent” applies at times…”lackluster” is absolutely not a word I’d use. Steffen’s had some bad games but he’s had some exceptional ones too.
You might as well resign yourself to it: unless he completely blows up – whereupon I think it’s probably Schulte Time – Steffen is going to be our starting keeper again…and it won’t be because Pochettino is a bad coach. But it’ll be one or the other – Steffen either completely melts down under the pressure, or he wins the starting gig outright. There won’t be any in-between with him.
I personally think he wins the starting gig. I know what I’ve been seeing from him lately.
Turner’s too good to cut completely but I’m not sold he starts either game. I think it could well be Steffen and Schulte who get looks this camp.
quozzel,
The most important things for an international keeper in order:
1. Consistently mistake free
2. Run their routine goal keeper duties flawlessly
3. Occasionally pull off a spectacular save.
We’ve all seen a lot of Zack but Pochettino hasn’t. My guess is he needs to play Zack and Schulte.
Zack’s problem is that he is prone to the occasional howler. When he does that he kills the soul of the team, ruins the confidence of the defenders.
I have not seen a lot of Schulte. He may be far more boring but if he can stay away from those soul sucking mistakes I would take him in a Columbus minute.
Overall I prefer Turner but his confidence appears to be in Guzan-like territory.
and if folks remember, turner got the job because for a period we seemed to drop the sweeper keeper stuff and pick the most consistent keeper. horvath and steffen can both play very well in spurts but also had howler issues more often.
i see turner as suffering. because we have asked him to play shorter again and given his club situation he looks more rusty.
i still think given what a lot of these usual guys do — mess up — when they get their turn, that it should favor a fresh face like schulte. but the US’ pattern tends to be to turn in narrow frustration circles among the usual suspects, and to occasionally revive dropped players, bradley, zardes, etc.
I wish we could see:
—————————SARGENT————————-
–
——H. WRIGHT——MUSAH——-PULISIC——–
–
———–MCKENNIE——–TESSMANN—————
–
–JEDI—MCKENZIE—-M. ROBINSON—FOSSEY-
–
————————–SCHULTE—————————-
–
in a 4-3-3
Aaronson is not physical enough for Panama and would be bullied at LM.
Scally doesn’t have recovery speed to make up for team errors on the flank.
Against Panama, we need DMs that can tackle and play out the back (we’ve seen Cardoso, so let’s give Tessmann a look).
Gianluca Busio for Musah
Brandon Vazquez for Sargent
Johnny Cardoso for Tessmann
Malik Tillman for Wright
Alex Zendejas for Pulisic
Aidan Morris for Mckennie
………but if we are going with the 4-3-3 AGAIN, then heaven help us!!!
Cardoso out bizzy
+1
Aaaah true!!!
This is a friendly with a brand new coach who may have seen a lot of video, but hasn’t really seen the team together in person. So, IMHO, matchups don’t matter one bit. He needs to throw out a bunch of different players in different combinations.That should apply for both games. Next window we are playing Nations League, so Poch needs to do a lot of evaluation this window.
Haji has been playing left wing not right and Christian has seen so much success on the right side I hope he is left there with Haji on the left. Be nice to see Sargent start with those 2. It could be a triple M midfield with Morris, Musah & McKennie. Fossey was very good going forward and is a better replacement for Dest. Scally defends well bet just doesn’t provide much on the attack.
Christian has been playing left wing with USMNT so maybe Poch stays with that.
Maybe for this camp. When Balogun and Weah are back they’ll almost certainly be #1 and #2 at left wing. I think Balogun starts at LW. His work rate is very good and his instinct would be to play in the inside channels as a second striker, which is what Pochettino likes. Pulisic then almost certainly moves to RW because despite the fact that he’s a right-footed player, his instinct is still to play the inside channels as well, particularly when he’s playing on the right.
Weah will not be a right wing for Pochettino unless Pochettino completely switches up his preferred style. Weah’s instinct is to beat somebody around the corner as a wide player and that isn’t what Poch wants at all; that’s the space he’s going to want Dest or Scally to operate in.
At #9, Pochettino wants a pressing, physical guy who can combine and run until his legs fall off f…that says Sargent to me, and I think Brandon Vasquez shoots all the way up to #2 because his workrate is close to being as good as Sargent’s. Pepi’s stock likely falls because he’s not terribly physical enough for his size and he’s not known for his work rate or pressing, and it’s hard to develop that aspect of your game when you’re not playing much for your club.
Haji Wright’s work rate is what’s going to kill him with Pochettino. He’s a very big guy, and he doesn’t track back well at all and since he doesn’t press all that well either he’s not going to be the #9. He’s a very good second striker when he can play off a target man and counter with a team that defends in a mid-to-low block, and get on the end of crosses or make runs in behind defenders. But Pochettino doesn’t use a second striker…or again, he never really has before.
We’ll see how it goes. But I’d personally expect to see lots and lots of Aaronson and Sargent early, IMHO, and it wouldn’t shock me if Zendejas started that first game at RW with Pulisic on the left…if Zendejas doesn’t start at RW, it’ll be Aaronson with Tillman in the 10 spot. (I could see either.)
Poch is likely going to set the tone early: guys who work for the team are going to be rewarded, the guys who don’t (or can’t, because of build or stamina) are going to see their stock fall.
I’d also keep an eye on Jesus Ferreira for future camps as a 10. He is VERY much Poch’s cup of tea as far as what he looks for in his 10’s.
quozzel,
“Jesus Ferreira for future camps as a 10. He is VERY much Poch’s cup of tea as far as what he looks for in his 10’s.”
How so?
Vacq-
He’s very technical, he can make runs in behind – he was the second-fastest guy in MLS behind Cade Cowell and his ability to time his runs off a guy’s back shoulder is exceptional – and his stamina isn’t just good, it’s freakin’ insane. In the Gold Cup a couple years back he’d play a full 60-65 minute shift as a striker…and when most strikers would be blown, he’d then move to the 10 spot and run and hustle and chase some more. I always personally thought Ferreira was miscast as a #9 mostly because nobody else was really holding up their hand; I always thought he was a 10 for a high-pressing team.
Ferreira might be the best pressing player I’ve ever seen. And he will literally do it the entire game. He’s also tactically sophisticated and combines very well in tight spaces with other technical, tactically sophisticated guys.
That is very much Poch’s cup of tea. Keep in mind Pochettino wants to play a high line, and play the game in the other team’s half. And press, and press, and press some more.
Q: Balo doesn’t usually play on the wing. Not saying he couldn’t but that’s not something he’s used to doing. In Ligue 1, Championship, and EPL 80 apps as CF, 3 as LW. Two of those were sub appearances which might have been formation changes that Transfermkt doesn’t account for.
Wish I could agree about Musah’s aggressive style and tireless engine. He is one of our best at carrying the ball forward from our own end, but the further up the field we go, the more passive, indecisive, out of ideas he is. He really needs to clean up, start refining that part of his game if he wants to play at Milan. He also seems to slow run out of gas sometime around the 60th-70th minute every game.
you use the word “carry” and i’m gonna say that makes both him and weston misfits for the new era. to me they “tank” downfield in a line then pass a ball slowly to a wing who tries and usually fails to dribble someone, then plays it back and forth a couple times, gets bored and crosses.
what you need in this offense from an AM is someone who gets their head up and hits a 30-yard pass between the backs to a running striker to play in transition. so you want interior creative players with engines to press instead of sherman tanks who just battle downfield slowly, whack it wide, then maybe go play backside garbageman on the cross back in.
to me if musah has a chance it’s as 6. win it, get it forward. as i kept saying GB’s failure was to grasp that his crude MF didn’t fit what he was trying to do. it has all the supposedly correct Big Names. but it’s not good enough at defense to be so plodding, nor that great in possession really. without reyna there was no central creative force. it all goes wide. it’s all blood and guts. not enough goals. nor enough defense to justify the diesel in the middle.
Curious how Poch will approach the window. Both friendlies, probably wants to get a good look at as many players as possible. If rotation, then you’d think we would see the full A team in the second match against Mex. What’s the A team? No idea. The above lineup is as good as any, although I second the call for Morris to get a real chance with the top group at some point. Still think Pepi has the highest ceiling of our strikers. Fossey has performed better for the US than Scally recently. And hoping CP’s minutes are managed some so he can go back and keep it going at Milan.
Not sold on Steffan starting as keeper. I would rather start Shulthe. I remember recently coming here on yanks abroad and Horvath got a pass back and he didnt trap it in time and it went in his own goal and he has lost his starting spot at Cardiff City ever since. Beaudry, Eyestone(Brentford U21EPL keeper), Kochen, Calentano, Slonina, and Brady I can see snatching some of the backup num 1 spots and pushing the likes of Horvath, Turner and Steffan out.
I’d love to see Aidan Morris get a start. ‘Boro’s local papers consistently grade him as one of their best players.
Tim Weah in red white and blue boxing gloves, for a ceremonial red card to celebrate catalyzing Berhalter’s departure. 2024 player of the year.
Dave P lmbo lol😂