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USMNT - What is our answer if Adams isn’t back soon?

Posted on 5/31/21 at 5:30 pm
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 5:30 pm
Clearly Acosta and Yueill aren’t ready, and John Brooks seems to have been exposed due to his style of play when Dest or Cannon are pushing up.

What would you do, given the reins?

Personally, I don’t think that we have to have a #6. It seems natural to me to do one of two things if Adam’s can’t go:

1). Play Yedlin at RB and slide our center midfield a bit deeper, focusing on playing the wings and ensure we have coverage. I’ve seen McKennie play as a deep-sitting 8 with Juve at times, and he is pretty decent at it.

-or-

2). Switch up to a 3-5-2 using McKenzie and Miazga outside of Brooks. Gives Brooks stability and doesn’t hang him out to dry, and one of either Dest or Cannon/Yedlin can push up while the other maintains relative depth.


It is clear that we are about to have growing pains because not all of the squad has played together between the backend and the midfield.

The attack will be fine. It is the strength of our squad.

Additionally, who is the third midfielder if Adam’s can’t go? Do we slide one of Aaronsen or Reyna in there, or does Lletget get the call in those scenarios?

Call me over-reactionary, but I think IF we beat Honduras, Mexico will carve us up if we don’t fix our shite really fricking fast.
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 5:47 pm to
Between this board and on twitter, I've never seen so much doom and gloom overreaction following a friendly loss in Europe where we pretty much played evenly with a top 15 team without our starting goalkeeper and two best players.

Yes, there are some things to be concerned about, but I think there are things to be positive about as well... if we lose to Honduras, then we start melting again.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 6:24 pm to
Ok, frick me for some critical thinking and evaluation I guess.

Posted by GeorgeTheGreek
Sparta, Greece
Member since Mar 2008
68468 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 6:29 pm to
Someone listens to those two buffoons on the Total Soccer podcast. Neither of which do I think are exceptional at reading the game. They also sound like nerds.

Yueill did just fine with the exception of some longer distribution and one, noticeably, poor touch in the midfield.

Adams is obviously the answer, but without him ... Acosta then Yueill will be serviceable enough.
Posted by GeorgeTheGreek
Sparta, Greece
Member since Mar 2008
68468 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 6:30 pm to
Agreed.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 6:34 pm to
quote:

Acosta then Yueill will be serviceable enough.


For what?

quote:

Total Soccer podcast


Never heard of it. No time for podcasts usually.

quote:

Yueill did just fine with the exception of some longer distribution and one, noticeably, poor touch in the midfield.


If Yueill was playing the #6, he was way out of position most of his playing time.
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 6:54 pm to
quote:

critical thinking


You said Acosta and Yueill clearly don't have it and then are acting like we may not beat Honduras.

You were definitely critical... I'll give you that.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 7:13 pm to
quote:

You said Acosta and Yueill clearly don't have it and then are acting like we may not beat Honduras.

You were definitely critical... I'll give you that.


Remind me what minute Bobby Wood scored our equalizer against Honduras in qualifying last time around? Obviously we had a 6-0 match against them as well, but to think we will just wipe the field with them is stupid.

To say we are leaps and bounds above Honduras without even having ourselves organized is asinine at best.

I think we beat Honduras, but I don’t think it is too far-fetched that we need to fix some shite.
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 7:21 pm to
quote:

Obviously we had a 6-0 match against them as well, but to think we will just wipe the field with them is stupid.



I think there's a better chance that we beat them 6-0 than need a Jordan Siebatcheu late equalizer.

quote:

To say we are leaps and bounds above Honduras without even having ourselves organized is asinine at best.


We are leaps and bounds better than Honduras.

quote:

but I don’t think it is too far-fetched that we need to fix some shite.



There's a difference between "need to fix some shite" and "we're going to get boatraced by Mexico"

I lean in the middle, but am closer to the former than the latter.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 8:04 pm to
quote:

I think there's a better chance that we beat them 6-0 than need a Jordan Siebatcheu late equalizer.


I agree. My point wasn’t that we will lose to Honduras. It’s that we are living a dangerous life if we play like we did against Switzerland.

quote:

We are leaps and bounds better than Honduras.


Not if we play like we did against Switzerland. In that case it will be uncomfortable.

quote:

There's a difference between "need to fix some shite" and "we're going to get boatraced by Mexico"

I lean in the middle, but am closer to the former than the latter.


When did we last beat Mexico in qualifying?

When did we last beat Mexico in a meaningful match?

We’ve been getting boat-raced by Mexico.
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 8:14 pm to
quote:

It’s that we are living a dangerous life if we play like we did against Switzerland.


We had some mistakes, sure, but we played pretty well overall against Switzerland.

quote:

Not if we play like we did against Switzerland.


Honduras can't counter like Switzerland can. Should we be wary of the counter? obviously, but if we play like that against Honduras, we win 2-0 or 3-1.

quote:

When did we last beat Mexico in qualifying?

When did we last beat Mexico in a meaningful match?

We’ve been getting boat-raced by Mexico.


We haven't beaten them in a meaningful match since 2013, I'm not denying that. And I'm not sure we even beat Mexico, but I think it will be a close match.

I think this is the first time in a while (if we play Pulisic and Adams) that we will have more talent on the pitch than them.

Seriously, relax. We weren't that bad against Switzerland.
Posted by pvilleguru
Member since Jun 2009
60453 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 8:24 pm to
Of the starters in the last competitive game vs Mexico (2019 Gold Cup), only 6 are on this roster and 2 or 3 of those aren't starting this time around (Ream, Miazga, and maybe Cannon). Of the players on the bench in that game, I don't think any of them are on this roster.
quote:

We’ve been getting boat-raced by Mexico.
Of the last 5 games against Mexico, only 1 has been a loss of more than 1 goal.
Posted by hendersonshands
Univ. of Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
Member since Oct 2007
160203 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 8:49 pm to
Yueill is fine. I didn't watch the second half vs. Switzerland but we looked fine in the first half before all of the subs.


Also, John Brooks was one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga last year and maybe the biggest reason Wolfsburg finished 4th in the Bundesliga.


You need to calm down.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 9:28 pm to
quote:

Of the starters in the last competitive game vs Mexico (2019 Gold Cup), only 6 are on this roster and 2 or 3 of those aren't starting this time around (Ream, Miazga, and maybe Cannon). Of the players on the bench in that game, I don't think any of them are on this roster.


And? That just proves my point that overall we have BEEN getting showed up by Mexico.

quote:

Of the last 5 games against Mexico, only 1 has been a loss of more than 1 goal.


Got it. 0-5 against Mexico, if not more (not checking how many matches) in competitive matches.

Glad to have you as an ally in this.


Hendo,

I did not say Brooks was bad. I said his lone weakness seems to be when he has to cover for a winger who was caught upfield. That is going to happen a ton with our personnel and play style, so I simply suggested a potential fix for that issue.

I’m not ready to burn things down, and I don’t need to calm down. It is a simple discussion (or was meant to be, anyway).

How do we fix issues going into qualifying? If you guys all think things are fine and don’t give a damn if we beat Mexico or not, then cool.

How did I get the attention of almost every “Greg Protector” here in one thread?

Guess I should just be ok with the status quo of American soccer performance and not discuss potential problems on a message board.
This post was edited on 5/31/21 at 9:31 pm
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 9:33 pm to
quote:

How did I get the attention of almost every “Greg Protector” here in one thread?


I make a thread titled "Fire Berhalter" and I'm a protector?


Interesting.

quote:

Guess I should just be ok with the status quo of American soccer performance and not discuss potential problems on a message board.


We can discuss potential problems... in fact, a lot of that happened in the match thread, you should check it out.

What you're doing became a borderline melt the second you questioned if we can even beat Honduras because we lost 2-1 in an evenly matched game at a top 15 team without our best players.
This post was edited on 5/31/21 at 9:35 pm
Posted by pvilleguru
Member since Jun 2009
60453 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 9:38 pm to
quote:


And? That just proves my point that overall we have BEEN getting showed up by Mexico.
Kind of proves the point that bringing up our "recent" past against Mexico is meaningless. shite, we haven't even played them since 2019.

quote:

Got it. 0-5 against Mexico
1 win, 1 draw, 3 losses.
This post was edited on 5/31/21 at 9:39 pm
Posted by pvilleguru
Member since Jun 2009
60453 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 9:53 pm to
quote:


To say we are leaps and bounds above Honduras without even having ourselves organized is asinine at best.
We are much better than Honduras right now.
Posted by DByrd2
Fredericksburg, VA
Member since Jun 2008
9889 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 10:09 pm to
quote:

What you're doing became a borderline melt the second you questioned if we can even beat Honduras because we lost 2-1 in an evenly matched game at a top 15 team without our best players.


I didn’t question that. You read that sentence in the OP in a different voice than what was intended. I don’t think it is smart to assume a dub in sports before the match, especially against a team that has caused us problems during qualifying before.

In terms of missing players, we played what may possibly be our exact starting back four, which was a huge problem even in the first half. The main two we were missing were Pulisic and Adams. Yes, Lleget started and scored, but he is likely going to see time in qualifying. What’s wrong with analyzing how they all played together from the midfield back?

Side note: You’re investing a lot of energy in something you don’t have to participate in if you don’t want to. If you don’t want to be in the thread, don’t. Discussion does not equal melt.

I’m being level-headed and analytical about the match because it was supposed to be our tune-up for Honduras. Several of our players have no in-game chemistry, so there is some potential for volatility. I figured that was fairly obvious.



Pvilleguru,

It shouldn’t be hard to understand that the benchmark for the USMNT is beating, or being competitive against Mexico. Come on now…

I just want to see us not have an ocean of space between our back four and everyone else.
Posted by Broski
Member since Jun 2011
78808 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 10:16 pm to
quote:

I didn’t question that. You read that sentence in the OP in a different voice than what was intended


You literally said that if we play like we did against Switzerland, then we will likely lose to Honduras.

quote:

we played what may possibly be our exact starting back four


Without Tyler Adams, who is basically part of the back 3 when we're on the attack and facing the counter from that attack.

That's a very big piece missing that you have failed to mention and haven't even acknowledged when I've mentioned it.

quote:

I’m being level-headed and analytical


What analytics have you provided?

quote:

Side note: You’re investing a lot of energy in something you don’t have to participate in if you don’t want to. If you don’t want to be in the thread, don’t. Discussion does not equal melt.


Comments like these are why this comes off as a melt for you.

Someone goes against what you're saying and your plan of action is to say that they are wasting energy and should leave the thread.

Not a good look, mate.
This post was edited on 5/31/21 at 10:18 pm
Posted by pvilleguru
Member since Jun 2009
60453 posts
Posted on 5/31/21 at 10:19 pm to
quote:

It shouldn’t be hard to understand that the benchmark for the USMNT is beating, or being competitive against Mexico

And we're there.
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